100 things to do for FREE

I found this site that lists 100 things to do for free... thought they had some pretty good ideas.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/07/17/100-things-to-do-during-a-money-free-weekend/

Anything Goes Muffins

I'm all about ease in the kitchen and let's face it, sometimes you get a craving for something and don't always have all the ingredients. What do you do? Run to the store or just forget it and eat something else...
I got this great muffin recipe from a friend, its called Anything Goes Muffins. You can substitute so many of the ingredients that you almost never make the same muffins twice.

2 C flour (white or whole wheat)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (opt - but I usually add it because of its great health benefits)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 honey (I've used brown sugar before in a pinch, though I prefer honey)
1 egg beaten
1/4 C oil or yogurt
3/4 C Milk or Juice
1/2 C raisins (craisins or other dried fruit work nicely)
1 C fruit or shredded vegi like zucchini

I mix all wet ingredients then add in all dry ingredients - mix until wet.
Bake at 375 F for 15-20 mins.

Enjoy!

Pancakes and a starving toddler

I jumped out of bed this morning remembering we don't have anything quick for breakfast. Okay, so pancakes for the kids. I mix up the batter quickly and my husband asks for some eggs over-easy. Cool, I can do that. I cooked up the eggs first, since he had to leave to go to work, while my almost two year old is hugging the syrup and watching my every move in great anticipation. The eggs by the way turned out really well - not over cooked and not broken - success!

Then the thought occurred to me... why not whip up a bunch of pancake batter and keep it in the fridge?? I suppose you could do that with waffle batter, muffin batter, etc. What a wonderful idea, I thought, then I just have to wait for the griddle to heat up - no more starving kids and breakfast will be on time.

I did something different with my pancakes this morning and they were amazing! My some-of-the-time picky 6 year old ate three (when other days one will fill him up!). My usual pancake recipe calls for oil but I put in some of my homemade yogurt instead... the result was yummy creaminess. I bet it may be a little healthier as well.

Homemade yogurt

Okay Wow, I haven't written in a long long time. My goal this year is to write at least once a week. Lets see how long that lasts...

I wanted to share with you my joy in homemade yogurt. I love yogurt! You can eat it plain, add any fresh fruit to it, put it on potatoes, spread it on toast, whatever your taste-buds like. My husband found a recipe online and since we are always looking for ways to save money - and for me, to dabble in the kitchen, I jumped on the opportunity. The fact that making yogurt is soooo super easy was great too.

Since I can't remember the site (I searched for it later with no luck) I will tell you from memory how to make it - its that easy. Start out with whole milk - You could use a lower % fat or goats milk if you'd like - I just think whole milk works better. You'll also need a starter yogurt. This is any store bought yogurt that is plain and has live/active pro-biotic cultures in it... ya little things that are alive! Great aren't they?

It'll take two tablespoons of yogurt per quart of milk. First thing I do is put a quart of milk in a sauce pan and heat it to 180 deg. F stirring the whole time. Takes about 8-10 mins. Then pour the milk into the jar or containers that you'll be keeping the yogurt in. Now it's time to cool the milk down - don't want to kill all those friendly critters now do we? You're aiming for a temperature anywhere between 110-120 deg. F. This will take anywhere from 45 mins to an hour and a half (depends on how hot or cool your house is). Now's a good time to turn your oven light on (just the light will keep it warm - cool huh?) and get some dish towels handy.

At this point take a little of the cooled milk and your store bought yogurt and mix well in a separate bowl. Add this mixture to your jar and mix well again. Cover the jar with plastic wrap and put the jar on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish, covered with the dish towels. Place your incubating yogurt in the oven and your job is now done! Leave the rest of the work to the happy little cultures. They will turn your milk into yogurt in about 4 hours. I'd suggest leaving them alone for several more hours because it'll be very mild at this point. Taste it if you like... the longer you leave it the more tangy or sour it'll become. If you need to turn your oven on for a second to raise the temperature that's okay. I leave mine for about 8 hours - I suppose you could leave it upwards of 12 hours or more. As soon as it gets to your desired tangyness put the jar in the fridge - this'll halt the process and might help thicken it up a little.

You might notice that your homemade yogurt is somewhat "runny"- at least compared to store bought ones. This is perfectly fine - all the liquid has great pro-biotic stuff in it - I just stir it back in. If you prefer your yogurt thicker go ahead a strain it with some cheese cloth before placing it in the fridge.

Now enjoy your yogurt... doesn't it feel good to know you can make something that doesn't have all that added high fructose corn-syrup and other additives? You'll also be saving money - or at least stretching your dollars. I'm currently on the WIC program and so all my whole milk is essentially free - also since my toddler likes to eat yogurt mixed in or with things then I'm not misusing it (I personally think they give you way too much milk anyhow)

PS it would be a good idea to get a kitchen thermometer - that way you wont have to play "guess what temperature the milk is"...