Homemade yogurt... What a flop! But the cottage cheese was quite tasty!

With the price of yogurt being what it is, I decided to try my hand at making our own yogurt. I researched recipes and ideas and found a few sites that made it sound so easy. Even a moron can make it! Really? could you send the moron to my house because my last four attempts ended in sour milk. I was afraid to use it for anything.

Yogurt Flop #1
The idea behind it was that you heat milk to a certain temp, which I did. Then cool it down to a certain temp, which I also did. Then add a plain yogurt with live "cultures" (read as bacteria, MWAHAHAHAHA!) in it and stir. Put it in a crockpot with the lid on and cover with a heavy towel. Leave it for however many hours and VOILA! You have... sour milk? WTF?

Yogurt Flop #2
So I tried it again, this time I used the crockpot. Apparently I am an idiot when it comes to yogurt making. My next batch needed to be heated in the crockpot for however many hours, which I did. Stir in the yogurt again, which I did and then wrap it in a heavy towel. This time I wrapped it in two towels and then let it sit overnight. when I opened the crockpot the next morning, I was really hopeful because it kind of looked like yogurt (but not really). I went to stir it and it was rather soupy and smelled like rotting... something. Ew. It was GROSS!

Yogurt Flop #3 and #4... I give up!
My two batches went about the same. Flop and FLOP! One of them I actually was afraid to do anything with. Is yogurt supposed to foam? I don't think so. Anyway, I poured it down the sink too and hoped it wouldn't eat through my sink or the pipes. It didn't.

Cottage Cheese!
I finally gave up on making yogurt and decided to try something equally scary. Making cottage cheese! The idea is that you buy a quart of buttermilk in a certain type of carton. I bought the only one I could find and hoped for the best. Then you boil it in a pot of water (still in the closed carton) for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit overnight.

I'll be honest, the smell was, uhm, well...  fragrant. Let's just put it that way. I was really worried. The kids thought I had lost my mind and my few friends that came over swore off ever eating at my house again.

The next afternoon (I totally forgot I was making cottage cheese!) I opened the carton, gagged and then poured it into a drainer lined with cheese cloth. I let it drain for awhile. I wasn't sure what it should look like so I just waited until it didn't look totally scary. Then I dumped it into an empty, cleaned cottage cheese container.

Okay, so it didn't LOOK like cottage cheese and I spent nearly a half hour trying to convince my kids to try it first. I ended up with the short straw and went first. It wasn't bad at all. Actually, it was the best cottage cheese I have had in awhile since we moved from Tennessee and I can't get Mayfield's dairy products anymore. My oldest son was like "Oh hell no I am not trying it! I know that trick!" That's where I eat something and pretend it's delicious until he takes a bit... then I spit it out because it actually is putrid.

I eventually convinced him to try it. He liked it too! It was more like a super soft cheese spread than cottage cheese but the flavor was awesome.

I'll have to keep attempting to make yogurt. I'll let you know if I ever succeed.

Gluten Free Biscuits and Gravy

My sister in law, Tammy, made a comment on facebook about southern cooking and it really got me thinking. I found a gluten free biscuit I like but it would be even better smothered in gravy. Being allergic to wheat, I haven't found any gravy I can have. I decided to try making a gravy but wasn't sure how to start. Zack asked what I used for the biscuits and said "buckwheat oat flour". He suggested I try starting with that. I played with it a bit and ended up with a really delicious biscuit and gravy. It was a touch sweet so next time I'll try using buttermilk powder instead of powdered milk. Here's the recipe:

Gluten Free Biscuits and Gravy
You will need:
1 recipe of Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuits
4 TBSP bacon grease with no bits in it.
      (In theory, you can use olive oil, butter or some other grease. I will experiment with that later.)
2 TBSP Gluten Free Buckwheat Oat flour (mix 1 Tbsp Buckwheat flour and 1 TBSP GF Oat Flour)
1 TBSP Pepper
A dash of salt (or more to taste)
2 Cups milk (I used prepared powdered milk)
2 TBSP Arrowroot starch (for thickening)

Make the biscuits according to the recipe. They will be done before the gravy.

Gluten Free Gravy


Start a pan heating on medium heat.

Pour in the grease and let it heat til it's nice an melted. Add the buckwheat oat flour and the salt and pepper. Stir and let it heat for a few minutes. I think I actually let it heat for 5 minutes. Usually I wait til the flour is browning nicely but since Buckwheat is a dark color I couldn't really tell.

SLOWLY pour in the milk while stirring constantly to keep it from clumping. Keep stirring. It will start to thicken a little but mine was still very thin for a gravy. That's when I got the idea to add arrowroot starch.

Take the arrowroot starch and put it in a small bowl. Add some gravy to the bowl and start stirring. Keep stirring until the lumps are all dissolved then pour the arrowroot starch mix into the pan while stirring constantly. It should thicken up pretty quick.

Remove from heat once it starts to thicken but continue stirring for about a minute.

Serve over the Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuits and ENJOY!

For more recipes, click here.

Gluten Free Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuit

Since I found out all my allergies back in August 2010, I haven't been able to find a bread I can eat. For the most part, I don't miss it at all, or at least that is what I have tried to convince myself. It didn't work. I want a sandwich, or biscuits or something!

I spent the last the last year searching and experimenting with recipes trying to find ANY bread I can eat. Either they can out like bricks (I could built houses with some of the bread recipes) or they looked beautiful but tasted like crap.

This week, I was in another experimenting mood and found a biscuit I can eat, that tastes great (everyone is eating them... my kids, guests, friends) and that have a lovely bread feel to them. Here is the recipe!

They taste great with gluten free gravy!

Note: I added clickable links to each ingredient.

Gluten Free Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuits
Makes 12

Nutritional Info
Calories 125.5
Fat 5.9
Carbs 15.1
Protein 3.5

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C Oat Flour (Note: Not all Oat Flours are gluten free.)
• 3/4 C Buckwheat Flour
• 1/2 C Amaranth Flour
• 1 TBSP Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Arrowroot Starch
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/3 C Powdered Milk
• 1 TBSP Buttermilk Powder
• 1 C Hot water
• 1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Canola Oil

Preheat the oven to 450.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl (from oat flour to buttermilk powder)

Add the oil and water. Stir thoroughly.

Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet. I use an ice cream scoop and get a beautiful 12 biscuits with a teensy bit left over. They don't expand a lot so you can put them a little close together.

Bake for 10-12 minutes (I usually go the whole 12 minutes).

Let cool and enjoy.

I LOVE these with butter and blackberry jelly. I keep meaning to make a sandwich with them but they don't last very long.

I got smart today and made a buckwheat/oat flour mixture by mixing 1 part buckwheat flour to 1 part oat flour. I think I did 3 cups each. I mixed them together well and put them in a new container by themselves. Now when I go to make the biscuits, I'll just add 1 and 1/2 cups of the mix. I am good! And so are the biscuits!

If you try this recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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Melting Pot Cabbage Soup

My friend, Nikky, showed me how to make an incredible cabbage soup. I love it because you can switch it up easily to make a different soup each time. Here is the basis to it and then the recipe that I made.


Melting Pot Cabbage Soup

Start by chopping about a pound or two of meat into "stew" sized chunks. Ground meat works well too. Cook in a skillet with a bit of broth, water or cooking wine until cooked through.

Add chopped veggies to the cooking meat. I like to add onions and garlic. We've also added squash, eggplant, carrots, broccoli, celery or any other vegetables you like. Saute until almost tender.

Add two cans of cream of something soup or about 4 cups of spaghetti sauce. We've also added tomato sauce instead.

In a stock pot chop a head of cabbage into bite size pieces. I like to mix red and green cabbage but either one is okay. Add broth or water to it, just enough to cover the cabbage, and cook until tender.

Add the meat mixture to the cabbage mix and stir thoroughly. Add any seasoning you want. I like to add a bit of basil, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. About two tablespoons for each seasoning is good for me.

When it is done simmering, you can add cheese, sour cream or cream cheese to add to it, or just eat it as it is.

One pot lasts us a couple days. I portion out the Melting Pot Cabbage Soup into ziplock containers so I can take some for lunch.


Here is the recipe I used to make it:
 In the skillet

Chicken, 1-1/2 pounds cubed.
1 large red onion, diced (I would have done more but I couldn't open my eyes)
1 bag peas and carrots
1 jar Prego brand spaghetti sauce mushroom flavor
About 1/2 cup of Marsala cooking wine. 

In the stock pot
1/2 head of green cabbage
1/2 head of red cabbage
Mushroom broth, 1 box, Imagine brand
Enough water to fill the pot enough to cover the cabbage.
Then I added more cabbage until it heaped over the top of the pot.

I cooked it down some and then added
1/4 cup basil (The cap fell off while I was shaking it)

1 TBSP each: pepper, garlic powder and onion powder
2 TBSP Italian seasoning... I think... I might have added tarragon. I can't remember.

I added the meat skillet mix to the stock pot slowly, stirring it in with every couple of ladle scoops. Once mixed, I let it sit and simmer for an hour or so (I was busy). Then portioned it out in my ziplock containers for work (3 containers, 1 for each day) and we ate the rest over 2 days.

If you try a variety of this dish that you like, let me know! I am always looking for new ideas.

If you try this recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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Homemade Pumpkin Syrup Recipe

My children love my “homemade” pumpkin pancakes (make pancake mix, replace the milk with canned pumpkin, add a dash of pumpkin pie spice). Usually we just pour good old maple syrup over them or my homemade version of maple syrup. 

This week for pancake day I had all the ingredients for the pancakes but I was missing the crucial ingredient for the syrup, maple flavor. So I started looking around for something to put on top of the pancakes and I had a moment of genius! PUMPKIN!
Here is the recipe I used.

Pumpkin Syrup
You will need:
2 cups brown sugar (or 2 cups white sugar + 2 TBSP Molasses)
1 cup water
Pumpkin (I used canned pumpkin)

In a pot, mix the sugar and water and heat until steam starts to rise off the sugar water. Make sure the sugar is dissolved. 

Then start adding pumpkin and stir it in the syrup mix. I started with 2 TBSP and then added more until it was the right pumpkin taste for me (and OMG, it was delicious!)
Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then turn off the heat and let it sit there while you are making the pancakes. It will thicken as it sits.

Our reviews
Miles and I thought it was very good. I could drink it for the taste but diabetic coma just doesn’t sound that fun. Miles said it tasted great with the pumpkin pancakes. Sadly, I can’t eat pumpkin pancakes because I am allergic to wheat. But I still think the syrup is awesome!
Mendel 2.0 said it was very good, tasted great with the pancakes but… seriously mom, it’s WAY too pumpkin tasting. So next time I will start with the 2 TBSP pumpkin and have the boys taste test.

I suspect you can make this with other flavors like, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and even sweet potato. Get creative and let me know what you come up with!


If you try this recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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ABC Muffin Mix: Breaking Down the Cost

     I got curious about how much each muffin would cost if I made the ABC muffin mix and then made every batch of muffins. I made a list of everything I would need and assumed that I had nothing on hand. I also assumed that I made the muffin mix and muffin batches according the the ABC Muffin Mix directions. Here's what I have...

The short answer:  
 Each muffin will cost .19 if you make 24 muffins. If you make 42 muffins like my batch did then the muffins will cost .11 each.



The Long answer: 
Breaking it down by ingredients and using Amazon.com for pricing...



18 cups of flour. 

There are about 4 cups of flour to 1 pound of flour. So you would need a 5 pound bag of flour. The cheapest I found it online is $3.75 for a 5 pound bag of Hodgson Mill flour.

5 cups of sugar.  

The best answer I can find is that there are about 2 cups of sugar to a pound. So a five pound bag of sugar will make 2 batches of muffin mix. Since we're only making one, we'll only need 1/2 the bag. The best price on Amazon is $2.75 for a five pound bag of Domino sugar. 



2 1/4 cup powder buttermilk or powdered milk.

I found this bag of instant Non Fat Milk Powder from Barry Farm for $3.99 and the extra can be used for other cooking projects. While I don't like the taste of powder milk as a drink, it works fine in cooking.



Baking Soda and Salt


  I can find baking soda and salt for about $1 a box. This is about all you will need for the recipe.


Cinnamon and nutmeg are a little pricier but I found them at the Dollar Store for $1 a bottle. You won't need that much of these 2 items.

The cost to make the mix: About $16 to make.

Let's Make MUFFINS!

For actually making your ABC muffins (just plain old muffins, nothing fancy, no toppings) each batch of mix will make 5 batches of 24 muffins each.

Let's pretend I got motivated and made every batch! I would need:

20 eggs (4 eggs per single batch). You can buy 20 eggs for $4 (expensive eggs) at the grocery store. I don't have a good picture for eggs, sorry.


15 tsp vanilla extract. I highly suggest NOT using imitation. It tastes better with the REAL vanilla extract. That being said... Vanilla extract is a bit pricey so we'll go the poor people route and use imitation vanilla extract for $1 a bottle at the dollar store. I think I used 2 bottles. So $2 is the total.


A side note: When out of vanilla extract, I have been known to use whiskey, vodka, other extracts or Disarono Amaretto Alcohol (The Disarono was the best muffin batch I ever had!). 

2 Cups water... If you really want to get picky and break it down for the price of tap water, feel free. Mine is added into my rent so it's free!

1 cup Vegetable Oil... 

 
If I bought this bottle of vegetable oil, there would be 24 cups of oil. If we divide $11.54 by the 24 cups, then our 1 cup of oil is .48


Of course if you are frugal, you probably won't be spending that much money on vegetable oil.




This brings our total (rounding) to $23 for 120 muffins. Or a cost of .19 (nineteen cents) per muffin.



While making the first batch of muffins, I managed to make 42 muffins instead of the 24 they say the batch makes. That means all 5 batches will make 210 muffins total. For a cost of .11 (eleven cents) per muffin!


If your ingredients cost less, then each muffin will cost less. With my last batch of muffins, I managed to get the cost of each muffin down to 7 cents each. Not bad! And very frugal!

What to do with that leftover Thanksgiving Turkey!

I like to do what I call rubber turkey. I'm assuming you are going to have so much turkey your eyeballs spin. So this is what I do.

Divide the turkey into two sections.

FIRST HALF

Day 1 Make a 15 bean soup (you can buy it in the bean isle, follow package directions). When it's done you add in chopped up turkey. Now you have 15 bean and turkey soup.

Day 2 of the 15 bean soup (assuming there is leftovers) add spaghetti sauce to it. Cook noodles but DO NOT ADD THEM. Heat a can of Veg*All or mixed veggies. Mix the noodles and veggies together. When you go to serve the soup, put a scoop of soup, a scoop of noodles and veggies into a bowl. Stir together. Now you have minestrone soup.

Day 3 of 15 bean soup (assuming there are leftovers). Add a can of chili beans and some chili powder. You may want to season this a little more. Bake some cornbread. Now you have 15 bean chili w/ turkey and cornbread.

Day 4 of 15 bean soup (assuming there are leftovers). Serve over cooked noodles, cover with cheese of your choice. It's actually quite good. Now you have a chili-mac type dish. We call it Mac-a-noodles.

Day 5 of 15 bean soup (we rarely get this far). There usually isn't much left. Sometimes it's about 2 cups left. Take a block of cream cheese. Dump chili on top. Nuke in the microwave until the cream cheese and chili is blended and smooth. You have the best d*mned bean dip you'll ever taste! Serve with corn chips.

Second half of the turkey (remember you separated into 2 sections).

Half it again. One half will make this casserole.

Boil 2 cups of rice.

Mix with a can of cream of something (your choice) soup.

Put half the rice/ cream of something soup mix in a 9X13 pan.
Layer turkey, sliced cheese and mixed veggies. (any order, it doesn't really matter).
Layer with rice.
Layer with cheese.
Layer with some of your leftover stuffing (or make a box of Stove Top to layer it with.)

Heat for about 10-20 minutes. This is Leslie's Casserole. (That's what we call it)

The rest of the turkey

The last of your turkey will be for sandwiches, hot turkey and cheese melts (toasted, grilled/ wraps or sandwich style/ closed or open sandwich)or using with other recipes that are offered for the question.

Enjoy!

If you try this, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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