Homemade yogurt cheese

I recently received a recipe for Lebneh, which is a traditional middle eastern cheese made from yogurt and herbs, from someone reading about my yogurt making adventures.  It is a great way to use up my milk and make something yummy to eat.

It is a very easy and absolutely delicious way of making a yogurt cheese and is a delicious spread to put on crackers.  Everyone who tried it loved it!  This would be so great for a nice summer lunch with iced tea and some cold roast chicken and a salad.

After I made the Lebneh (recipe to follow) I bought some Naan, which is an Indian flat bread, at Walmart.  It was yummy but at 2.50 for a package of two a bit to pricey for me to make a regular purchase.  The kids begged me for a taste and loved the Naan so much I decided to find the recipe online and make it at home.  



Well here is to success because not only was it really simple to make, but it also turned out great.  I smeared it with the Lebneh and the kids liked it just plain.  Although Submarine Captain wanted to put peanut butter on it.  They all asked for thirds and it was gone in one afternoon.  Husband really enjoyed it and made some broad hints that I should make it daily.  LOL!

In the following recipe link they said to use a grill, but I wasn't about to go and make a fire in my grill just for that, so I used my cast iron pans over my gas stove and it worked just fine.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/naan/Detail.aspx

Lebneh Cheese

3 1/2 pints of yogurt
2 1/2 fl oz virgin olive oil
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp dried mint (optional)
1 tbsp finely chopped thyme (optional)

Place all the ingredients in a large glass bowl and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon until all are thoroughly combined.

Line a large bowl with a double layer of sterilized muslin, leaving plenty of material overlapping the sides, and pour in the yogurt mixture.

Tie the ends of the muslin together and secure it tightly, then hang it over the bowl.
Leave it to drain in a cool place, such as a larder or unheated room, between 42-46 degrees, for 2 or 3 days. (On hot days, put it on the bottom shelf of your fridge.)

Chill the well-drained mixture until it is firm to the touch - this makes it easier to handle. Shape desert spoon sized amounts into 1 1/2" balls.

Chill the balls if necessary, so that they keep their shape, then arrange them in a sterilized jar.

Pour virgin olive oil into the jar, making sure that all the cheese is covered, rap the jar several times to ensure that there are no air bubbles present, and then seal.

The cheese is ready to eat immediately, but will improve with age, and it can be kept up to six months. It's good as an appetiser, spread on on pita bread

Chloris recipe tweaking

I used chives and garlic in place of the herbs specified and it was great.  I also used Herbs De Provence and that was amazing too. You could make tons of combinations here to suit your tastes.  Also I didn't bother with the cheesecloth thing, I just put it into a paper towel lined colander over a bowl in the fridge and then covered the top with saran wrap to keep it from drying out on top.  Worked just fine!

Starting seeds indoors with the right grow lights

Here is a great article on the different lights to use for starting seeds.

How to Build a High-Tech Indoor Garden This Winter

By Adam Verwymeren

Published December 29, 2010 | FoxNews.com

The dark days of winter are upon us, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on gardening until the spring. Grow lamps are becoming increasingly popular in gardening circles these days. And new breeds of low-power lights make them affordable options for those looking to keep a kitchen stocked with green herbs through the winter months, or those just looking to jumpstart their seedlings for next spring.

Before going any further, we need a quick scientific crash course. Plants need fairly intense light to grow, and the intensity of light in measured in a factor called lumens. The higher the lumen value of a bulb, the stronger the light and the better your plants will grow. For noticeable growth, you’ll want a bulb that puts out at least 4,000 lumens, and some bulbs can produce upwards of 40,000 lumens.

But a light’s intensity isn’t the only thing you have to look for; the temperature of the light is also important, a value measured in kelvins. Temperature in this case refers to the color of the light: the bluer, or colder the light, the higher the kelvin value. The warmer, or redder the light, the lower the value.

High-noon daylight is fairly blue, around 5,600K, and it’s important to get a light source in this range to ensure strong plant growth. However, most plants also require light in the red and yellow ranges — somewhere around 2,400K — to flower, produce seeds or bear fruit, so it is good to have a mix of both in any good grow-lamp setup.

The final thing you want to check for is a light’s wattage. Keep in mind, watts measure energy usage, not how much light a bulb produces. So when looking for an efficient light source, you want something that will produce a lot of lumens per watt.

Just about any type of bulb can add a little extra something to your garden’s growth, but many won’t do this very well. So let’s consider the options.

Incandescents

Want to fry your plants and bankrupt yourself with huge energy bills? Great! Grab an incandescent bulb! These heat-producing energy-hogs should be avoided at all costs. Sure, the bulbs are dirt cheap. But with the high cost required to run them, you might just as well buy tomatoes from the grocery store. Heck, you can even spring for the fancy organic kind.

Fluorescent Lights

A growing favorite with the greenhouse DIY set, fluorescent lights used to be too weak to produce full, flowering plants. However, with the introduction of compact fluorescent lights — those curly soft-serve creations we’ve been told to switch to for the last few years — fluorescents have become a viable option and are especially well-suited for beginners.

Because of their compact construction, these bulbs can pump out a good amount of light in a small space. And since they run cool to the touch, you can place them a couple of inches from your sprouts and seedlings, maximizing efficiency.

Compact lights can work great as spotlights on a few plants, but if you’re looking to plant rows of seedlings, you might want to consider a few T5 bulbs, which look like skinnier versions of fluorescent tube bulbs. Despite their trimmer profile, these bulbs actually produce a lot more light than their traditional counterparts.

Both kinds of fluorescents come in a range of color temperatures, so you can mix both cooler and warmer lights, depending on whether you are looking for growth or flowering. But before you run to the closet to grab a couple of compact fluorescents, take note: to get really effective results, you are going need a bigger light source, something in the 125 watt range, which costs about $30, and produces about 7,000 lumens. Though not as powerful as some light options, this will be more than enough to start seedlings or buck up a few potted plants.

HID Lights

The reigning favorite amongst gardening enthusiasts, HID lights — short for high intensity discharge — come in two types: metal halides and high pressure sodium. Metal halides come closest in reproducing the glowing tones of true sunlight and are amongst the most efficient, producing about 39,000 lumens with a 400 watt bulb, enough to produce things like peppers and tomatoes. On the downside, these lights pump out a lot of heat. So if you’re not careful, you can reduce your garden to potpourri. Because of the high heat, halides need to be kept three or four feet away from plants, which means the lights are going to illuminate a far larger space than fluorescents, making them a better option for larger indoor gardens.

High pressure sodium lights emit a much redder light, so they aren’t very useful if you are looking to coax a few sprouts from the soil. But they are great in the later stages of a plant’s life when trying to get it to produce fruit or flowers. Like their halide siblings, these lights run very hot, so they can be a little tricky for novice growers.

LEDs

LED systems are the latest craze to hit the shelves. They can cut power use in half, produce almost no heat and last around 10 years, but a lot of greenhouse aficionados say they just don’t have the growing power of other light sources. The lights are also pretty costly, and bathe your plants in an otherworldly purple glow more akin to an imminent alien abduction than the sun’s golden rays. That said, as costs for these units come down and the technology improves, they promise a low-powered alternative for those undeterred by the sci-fi sheen they cast.

Once you have decided on a bulb type, setting up a grow rig is as easy as slapping the bulb into the appropriate light fixture and setting up a reflector so that as much light as possible is directed at the plant. If you’re looking to make one yourself, your local hardware store likely carries all equipment you need. And if you’d like an easier approach, readymade units are available as well.  

Finally while you might be tempted to keep your lights running 24/7 in a quest to grow veggie behemoths, remember, plants need their sleep just like you do. In general, giving plants at least 8 hours of darkness each day will help them flower and produce better fruit.

Easy Home Made Yogurt

Making home made dairy products may seem intimidating at first but I can tell you most are so easy its worth a try.  Probably the best thing to start with is yogurt.  Not only is yogurt  incredibly easy to make at home it is healthier and allot cheaper than store bought too!  Homemade yogurt can be made with fresh milk from a cow (I did when we had our milk cow) or milk from the store, or even powdered milk. Then you just mix in what sweeteners you like and fruit and there you have fresh, healthy, cheap yogurt.

 The first thing to choose is what kind of yogurt you want to end up with.  Go to the store and try several different plain yogurts and you will be able to taste differences in flavor and consistency.  This is because there are dozens and dozens of yogurt cultures, and each on produces a different flavor and thickness of the finished product.  So pick the yogurt you like the flavor and thickness of the best.  I used a Greek yogurt this time but I usually used tillamook because it produces a sweet, mild, and thick yogurt.  You can experiment to find the yogurt you like best.

Now this recipe may seem very unscientific but it's just that I've made it so often that I don't need to look at the book anymore.  Where I learned it is from my favorite book of all time for all homesteading knowledge.   Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living.

This book will give you all the temps, times, etc that you need for yogurt making but this is how to do it.

What you'll need:

Large non reactive saucepan
Large non reactive bowl that will fit in your crockpot or several sterile quart mason jars
1 Gallon Raw, Store bought, or powdered milk
1 pint plain hopefully organic yogurt with live cultures from the store
Large crock pot with a warm setting


So how to do it.

Take out your yogurt starter from the fridge and let it sit for about an hour to come to room temperature.  This helps the live cultures in the yogurt do better once added to the warm milk.

Turn your crock pot to warm and fill half way with hot water from the sink.

Then take your milk and pour it into a non reactive saucepan like stainless steel. If you are using store bought milk just warm it up till just warm to the touch but if you are using raw milk do next step.

 Scald your milk to kill any other bacterias that you don't want competing with your yogurt culture.  Then cool to warm to the touch of a clean pinkie finger.  

Then pour into a non reactive bowl made of glass or stainless steel.  Add your yogurt from the store and mix well with a wire whisk.  I use one of those small yogurt cups per gallon of milk.  Whisk in well and then cover with saran wrap, do not use aluminum foil! Or pour into clean quart mason canning jars.  I find the mason jars work the best and you can put them right into the fridge when the yogurt is done. 

Next set the bowl or jars into the crock pot being careful that the water doesn't overflow.  If need add more warm water to the crock pot.

Now just let sit.  Try not to agitate the milk and do not stir it.  This will mess with the setting process.  In about four to six hours, sometimes more, sometimes less,  you will see the the milk has magically turned into yogurt and is thick and solid looking.  The longer you let it "cook" the thicker it will become but it will also become more tangy so beware if you like mild yogurt.

Take it out of the crock pot and put it in the fridge to cool overnight.  Next morning enjoy your home-made yogurt!  This should keep in the fridge for at least two weeks.

I use my homemade yogurt for tons of things.  I use it in place of buttermilk, sour milk, and sour cream in all my baking recipes.  It doesn't change a thing  in the finished product and is so much cheaper for me to use my own homemade than buying store bought.

Simply Perfect Whole Wheat Bread

Ever since I started my bread making journey I have been searching for that perfect bread that consistently turns out well and also can make great sandwich bread.  That is the key, sandwich bread that is not course or grainy.  But sadly much of my bread turns out grainy and although it tastes great it just cant be used for sandwiches.  I really really want to bake all our own bread.  My rolls are heavenly, my pies divine, my cookies yummy (cant take credit here I just follow the recipe)  but darn it all my bread will just not turn out for sandwiches.  I was on the point of giving up when I found a post over at one of my favourite blogs Paratus Familia. 

Enola Gay is one of my mentors, she bakes all her own breads and in a wood cook stove too!  So when I read her post about a bread that turns out perfect 99% of the time and also makes great sandwich bread and also is whole wheat I knew I had to try it.
Well Enola is no liar, this bread not only was easy but it turned out perfect and sliced up beautifully for sandwiches.  It tastes divine and is whole wheat which is great because I am trying to change our family over to whole wheat breads.  I can't believe how well this turned out!

Check out her blog because it is just so fun and encouraging! 

http://www.paratusfamiliablog.com/2012/05/whole-wheat-bread-that-will-have-you.html

Simply Perfect Whole Wheat Bread

In a large bowl mix:

3 C warm water (110°)
2 T dry yeast
1/3 C honey

Stir in:

5 C bread flour

Let sit for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly (sponging).

Mix in:

3 T melted butter
1/3 C honey (in addition to the honey already added)
1 T salt
1/2 cup wheat germ2 - 4 C whole wheat flour

Mix in enough flour to make a wet ball of doe and then turn out on a floured counter or board.  Knead in more flour to make a doe that is able to be handled for about 10 minutes.  The dough should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl (or counter) but still sticky to touch.

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough.  Cover with a dishtowel.  Let rise in a warm place until double.

Punch down and divide into 3 loaves.  Place in greased 9x5 inch loaf pans and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.

Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes; do not over bake.  Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter when done to prevent crust from getting hard.  Cool completely. 

Old Fashioned Potato Rolls and Bread

I started experimenting with bread recipes back in Wyoming (we did allot of new things in Wyoming)  when I didn't want to bother running into town for a loaf of bread.  I had never baked bread before so the whole process was a great learning experience.  I used to think baking your own bread was difficult and fiddly but now I love it.  There is something so comforting about the smell of baking bread.  When my children come in from playing they sniff the air and excitedly shout "are you baking bread?".  These are also a top request from my mom for any dinner she comes to.  She calls me ahead of time and asks very sweetly if I'll have made rolls.  If I haven't threats ensue!  But this recipe is so fool proof that its a snap to make.  Totally worth it :)

Baking is a really great skill to have if you are wanting to eat a more healthy organic diet.  You can control the quality of the ingredients and keep out all those health giving preservatives   For us with four children and two adults we go through a lot of bread so buying organic bread would be terribly expensive.  It's so nice to be able to produce just as good of a product with a fraction of the cost.

This is the bread recipe that I have found produces a light and excellent textured bread no matter what.  The flavour is very good and goes great with butter and jam.  It keeps for a few days without going stale due to the potato.  But what I really love is to make it into rolls.  We try to have rolls with every dinner and this recipe makes enough to last us a weeks worth of rolls.  I put mine into a big Pyrex baking pan and find the rolls turn out better when nudged up against each other.  It takes a few more minutes to bake that way but I like them better.

The recipe comes from a book I picked up at a yard sale for the ridiculous price of $2.00.  I usually wont pay that much for a book but I really wanted this one.

Better Homes and Gardens
Old Fashioned Home Baking
Page 45

Old Fashioned Potato Bread

1 1/2 cups water
1 Medium potato, peeled and cubed
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (make this by adding 1 tbs vinegar to the milk and let sit while the potato is boiling)  I also use just regular milk and it turns out fine but without some of the flavour
3 tbls sugar (I have used 4 tbls before, and sometimes use brown sugar to give it more flavour)
2 tbls butter
2 tsp salt
6 to 6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast (I use three)
all purpose flour

In a saucepan combine the water and potato.  Bring to a boil.  Cook, covered, about 12 minutes or till very tender.  Do not drain.  Mash potato in the water.  Measure water mixture and add more water to make 1 3/4 cups if necessary. Return to saucepan and add buttermilk/sour-milk, sugar, butter, and salt.  Heat or cool as necessary to 120 to 130.  In a large bowl combine 2 cups flour with the yeast and mix well.  Add liquids all at once and beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds scraping bowl.  Beat on high for 3 minutes.  Using a spoon stir in as much of the flour as you can.

On a lightly floured surface knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. (6 to 8 min total).  Shape into a ball. Place in a greased bowl.  turn once so that the top of the dough is covered with the fat so it wont form a skin.  Cover and let rise in a warm place till double in size (45-60 min)

Punch dough down.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide in half.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  Lightly grease two loaf pans.  Shape each half of dough into a loaf.  Lightly dip tops of loaves in the additional all purpose flour.  Place in pans flour side up, cover and let rise till nearly doubled, about 30 min.

Bake in a 375 oven for 35 to 40 min or till done.  If necessary cover with foil the last 15 min of baking to prevent over browning.  Remove bread from pans and cool on a rack.  Makes two loaves

Rolls

Prepare as above only when shaping before second rise divide into 12 balls for each half of dough and lightly dip tops of balls in the flour.  Place evenly on greased baking sheets just far enough that rolls don't touch.  Cover and let rise till nearly double. About 30 min.  Bake in a 375 oven for 20 to 25 min or till golden brown.