Crockpot Yogurt

 My cousin told me about making yogurt in the crockpot, and I thought Yes!!!!! I buy organic yogurt, at $4-5 a quart, I can definitely make it cheaper!

The Recipe:
1 gallon of milk (whole milk is preferred, but if you use another grade, just add in a packet of gelatin when you add the yogurt)
1/2 cup of yogurt with live and active cultures (I used Stoneyfield, it doesn't matter if it's flavored, it makes plain no matter what)
1 packet of plain gelatin (only if you are not using whole milk)

my crockpot :)

Cook the 1/2 gallon of milk for 2 hours and 45 minutes on low.

Turn off the crockpot, and let the warm milk sit for 3 hours.
Then add in the yogurt, and gelatin (ONLY if not using whole milk.

This is after the 5 hours and 45 minutes, just before putting in the yogurt.

I apologize, it won't let me flip this picture around,
but this is what unflavored gelatin looks like.

After mixing in the yogurt and gelatin, wrap your crockpot in a towel, and leave it
to sit for 10-12 hours (I did mine overnight).

After leaving it to sit overnight.

It's ok for it to be a bit watery, this is normal.

My yogurt!

Laundry Soap Update!

So, I opened it up last night, and diluted my first batch!

It looks rather watery at first, keep in mind, this is not
the concentrated soap we have become accustomed to.

I took these to try to show the consistency. It almost looks like egg drop soup in consistency.

I bought a 2 1/2 gallon water container to put my soap in.
Fill it up 1/2 way with the soap (mine has tic marks along the side
which makes this easier), and the rest of the way with water.

There you have it! Here's a link for the original post with the recipe (http://homesteaderswife.blogspot.com/2012/06/laundry-soap.html). Let me know if you make it and how it works out. I'm going to wash a load tonight using it. The recipe says to use 5/8 cup in a top loader, but I think I'm going to try maybe 1/2 cup, since it says 1/4 for front loaders.


*****UPDATE***** (July 14, 2012)

We did a load with it last night, using 1/2 cup for the top loader, and it did beautifully! It didn't suds up, like a liquid does, but neither does most powders that we have tried. Hubby put in one of his dingy, stinky socks to really test it. It came out white, soft and smelling wonderfully. I did forget to say I put in quite a few drops of lavender/tea tree essential oil in it before diluting.

More Yummy Drinks...

This morning, I decided to try some more vitamin waters! For me, I made a strawberry kiwi. For hubby, I made a lemon ginger (he's been begging me for about a week to try this). We haven't tried either one yet, but will when we get home. Again, these need to be refrigerated for 4 hours to let the juices and color transfer.

 

I also made some homemade lemonade! Yum! We've been making a gallon every week, and it usually lasts us about a week. My recipe is 10 lemons, the rest of a gallon of water, and 1 cup of sugar.

Homemade Vitamin Water!!!

I found this on facebook a while back... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150978082177436&set=a.114480717435.99528.104062822435&type=1&theater. I finally got around to trying it. I decided to try Raspberry Mint first. I didn't get a picture, but it was wonderful!

Last night I wanted to make one up for tomorrow, I make mine in a quart jar. The one I did for today was a mixed berry (raspberry, strawberry, blackberry & blueberry) & mint. It was wonderful as well! I did decide today to drain the berries out of it before drinking it (they loose all their color & flavor to the water, and get mushy). I also added about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar to the quart jar, for just a bit of sweetness. May try adding honey, not sure yet. Give it a try and come back and tell me what flavors you tried and what you like best!

Laundry Soap... Finally!

 I finally got around to making laundry soap! I had been putting it off, wanting to get a few other things done first, but I only have a few loads of liquid store bought soap left (I have a box of powdered, but I may save it for in case I can't afford to make liquid sometime). The whole process took maybe 30 minutes. That's shredding the soap (I used a salad shooter), boiling the soap, and mixing it all up. So easy!

I used a stockpot to melt my soap,
I was afraid it might boil over, and I was glad I did!

Before turning on the heat. This is 1 bar of Fels Naptha,
and 4 cups of hot tap water.

Boil on medium high heat. You don't want to go higher than that.
I did, it boiled pretty high!

For some reason I can't get this photo to rotate... Sorry!
This is how high it boiled, after turning it down, while stirring it!
I was very glad I used a stockpot!

All melted. I let it sit long enough to 1/2 fill the bucket with water (hot tap water).

I bought a new 5 gallon bucket for this,
as I wanted it to not have had anything else in it.
I'm sure this isn't a requirement.
I got mine at Home Depot. I spent around $5 (I think) for the lid and bucket.

This is the bucket 1/2 full of hot tap water, the melted soap,
1 cup of washing soda (NOT BAKING SODA!!!)
and 1/2 cup of Borax. Stir very well, until all the powder has dissolved.

All done! After stirring the mixture, fill the rest of the way
(I had to move mine, so I didn't fill it completely to the top...)
and then stir again. Let it sit overnight.

I won't be able to post tomorrow, since the library will be closed for the 4th, so I will try to post on Thursday after I've opened it up! I may do a load with it on Wednesday or Thursday to see how it does!