Finding Contentment

Photo blog & GOOT

This week the boys have been sick. Samuel is lots better. He seemed to have an ear infection and be teething, and I panicked and gave him lots of echinacia when his ear began draining gunk out of it (he told us it hurt frequently) and put a drop of colodial silver in it as well. He never complained after that.

Elijah has been coughing, and we put GOOT on his feet in a desperate attempt to help him. He'd been coughing for half an hour, we applied the GOOT, he was much improved for about 2 hours. We marveled. We took the socks off. Shortly thereafter he began to cough again, painfully. So we put socks on him last night with more GOOT and put it on Samuel as well. I didn't wake up to hear Samuel cough once. Hooray! Our house does smell like an Italian restaurant and I crave garlic bread, though!!!!

Samuel, my sick one. Holding cheese sticks he could never bring himself to eat!

He fell asleep like this. The weight of the pillow must have felt good???

I canned 18 pints of new potatoes despite the boys been sick.

Elijah sleeping . . .

Elijah playing with our cat. The kitty was flipping his tail around and playing with him - they both really enjoyed it!

Jonathan made Elijah his first fort while Samuel was asleep. Elijah just crawled right through it! We were a bit suprised, since Samuel was VERY cautious about stuff like this at Elijah's age. However, Elijah has certainly proved over and over that he is not his brother! He was fearless and Jonathan was thrilled that he enjoyed it!!!

I went and picked blackberries Thursday night. It was very warm. I can stand the heat when I'm not pregnant, but it was obvious to me this time that I was! LOL It was 92 degrees when I started and 87 when I stopped, but I picked 10# of blackberries. And it was SO WORTH IT when I got home! (I had two boxes but only one is pictured below.)

Elijah loved them!

Samuel and Daddy enjoyed them . . . .

And the stains came out of the carpet and off of Purple Boy!

So all's well that ends well . . . at least when it came to our blackberries!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

~Ashley~

Freezing Sweet Corn w/pics

I bought 12 dozen ears of corn and Jonathan and I put them up yesterday. Here's how it all goes down. You get about one trash bag of corn husks per box of 4 dozen.

You throw the mainly de-silked ears in a big pot of boiling water. Stick the lid on for 5-6 minutes.

Take 'em out, put them in cool water in the sink.

I have done this by myself, but not this quantity. So, my wonderful husband cut the corn off the cob. (Oh, and this part tends to get backed up pretty easily so after a while he had quite the pile to work on!)

Elijah woke up from his nap part-way through, so he chilled on the floor chewing on a corn cob. This whole process is not really hectic, so we were able to keep a good eye on him. Though for a while I was husking, boiling, carrying them to the sink, then bagging the cut-off corn. I was busy!

This is the end result. After 2.5 hours, we had 45 meals of the best sweet corn EVER! Each bag has 3 cups in it, which is a big deal, because in past years we've only put 2 cups per meal. But now there are more than just me and Jonathan around the table! And Elijah already shows great promise as a Champion Eater. So we increased it to 3 cups, and I tried not to think about the extra 22 meals or so we didn't have as a result. I would much rather enjoy my boys and watch them eat corn than have more corn go farther! But I also may need to buy another box of corn or two this summer yet!

Anyway, this is how we do it.

~Ashley~

Making Kefir From Powdered Cultures

Kefir is a cultured milk product similar to yogurt only thinner and much easier to make and reculture. If you would like to know more specific information on kefir I have an article written by a friend of mine on my site to give you more info. You can read that HERE. It has all the wonderful qualities of yogurt with the good probiotics your body needs to stay healthy.

Kefir can be made in two ways. One is to purchase kefir grains (you can read more about this in the above mentioned article). You soak milk in the grains, strain the grains and put the grains back into a clean jar and fill with milk, let it sit on your counter overnight and the next morning it is ready. I have made kefir with grains in the past. There were a few things I did not care for. One was it was a lot of maintenance. Unless you stop making kefir you have to strain it out daily and that adds up to a lot of kefir to use every day. Also the longer I made it the stronger the taste became and my family was not too thrilled with it. So I purchased some powdered kefir cultures and made it and was so much happier with the results. This is the method I will show you how to make.

I like making kefir because it is so easy! It is much easier to make than yogurt. You don’t need a lot of equipment other than a large stainless steel pot, a thermometer and a few canning jars. I use 2 2-quart jars but you can use 4 1-quart jars if that is what you have.

Besides that you will need one gallon of milk (I use whole milk) and a package of powdered kefir culture. You can purchase your cultures online at Leeners http://www.leeners.com/cheesesupply.html#buttermilk . I have purchased cheese cultures and rennet, kefir cultures, yogurt starter, buttermilk starter and more from them many times. They are a GREAT company with excellent prices and I highly recommend them.

After your cultures arrive in the mail you can gather your needed items together and get ready to make kefir!  This pictures shows the jars with their lids (I buy plastic lids from Walmart or Azure Standard, they are made by Ball), a thermometer, the packet of culture and one gallon of milk.

Pour your gallon of milk into the stainless steel pot and put it on the stove.

Set your oven at medium high IF you will be watching the pot. If not you can set it on low and stir occasionally as it heats up. In any case stir now and again and check the temperature of the milk

As soon as it reaches 86 degrees remove the pot from the stove.   Open the packet of kefir cultures, sprinkle over the milk and stir until dissolved

Now it is time for pour the mixture into your canning jars. I like to use a canning funnel for this job. It is not absolutely necessary but helps keep the mess at a minimum.

Fill both jars to the top

Put the lid on them and let them sit out on the counter for 12 to 18 hours. I try and make this in the later afternoon and then just let it sit on the counter till morning.

When the time is up you can open the lid and there is your kefir! As you can see it is nice and thick.. but not as thick as yogurt. The consistency is more like thick buttermilk.

When you start to run out of kefir it is even easier to make more.

Fill a clean canning jar ¼ full of kefir. Pour milk to the top of the jar. Cover and leave out at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. And that is it!!
 

Kefir can be used in place of milk or yogurt in smoothies. That is how I like to use it most often. I have used it also in place of buttermilk for baking. But my favorite use is in smoothies.

Here is a delicious and simple strawberry kefir smoothie recipe that is perfect for these warm summer days.

Strawberry Kefir Smoothie
Crystal Miller


1 heaping cup fresh strawberries (frozen will also work)
1 cup kefir
Honey to taste, optional

Gather your ingredients together

Put kefir and strawberries into your blender.

Turn your blender on high and mix until all is smooth (taste to see if you want to add a little honey for sweetener at this point).

Pour into a glass

Serve to your eager and appreciative family!  :)

And enjoy!


 

Hope...

I did this for the freezer this morning..

I did up seven quarts of zucchini and one quart of blueberries for the freezer. It is so hot and humid here today. I will pick more blueberries and beans and zucchini when the sun goes down tonight..

have a nice weekend.

Thanks for stopping by Sister Brenda