Yogurt Update

I'm still making yogurt about every two weeks -- two quarts at a time.  A couple of months ago I came across a new method on Passionate Homemaking, and it is so much faster than what I was doing!  Yesterday it only took me about 30 minutes to go from milk in the refrigerator to milk culturing on the counter.  With the old method, I heated and cooled the milk in the jars which took for.ev.er.  This method heats and cools the milk in the saucepan, so it takes a little bit more attention to make sure that I don't burn the milk.  However, the added speed and convenience are totally worth it.

I start with a half gallon of the best quality milk I can find.  This week it was Natural by Nature Grass-fed Milk, but I prefer to use PastureMaid's non-homogenized milk in glass bottles that I can get at the indoor farmer's market.

I pour the milk and 1 T vanilla into a 3 1/2 qt saucepan and heat over medium until it reaches 180 degrees (about 20 minutes).  Next I set the saucepan in a sinkful of cold water and let it cool (about 10 minutes) to about 112 degrees.  Per the instructions on my culture packet, I sprinkle the culture over the milk and let it rehydrate for two minutes.  Then I gently swirl the culture into the milk.

I carefully pour the milk into two quart-size canning jars and screw on the caps.  Then I place both jars in my largest stockpot and fill it with hot tap water.  Then I set it on the counter and let it culture for 12+ hours.  Since I tend to make this in the early evening and let it culture all night, I usually refresh the hot water before I go to bed.

Technically, I'm supposed to culture the yogurt at 110 degrees.  My yogurt would probably turn out thicker if I did so, but that temperature is difficult to maintain without a yogurt maker.  The best way to come close to that is probably to use the cooler to incubate the yogurt.  Per Kitchen Stewardship's instructions, I fill my stockpot with water and bring it to a boil.  Then I line a large cooler with a towel (so the pot does not melt the plastic) and place the pot of steaming hot water and the yogurt jars side-by-side in the cooler.  With the lid on tight, it stays moist and steamy in there for a long time.  Once it's done incubating, move the yogurt to the fridge to chill.  I really can't be bothered to dig out the cooler right now, but as we move into fall and winter, I'll probably have to do so.

Peaches!

Mama K called me at work on Thursday to see if I wanted her to pick me up some peaches at Kaelin Farm Market.  Yes, please, but not too many.  Ha.  I came home to a half bushel of very ripe peaches on my dining room table.

Friday night we processed 30 c of peaches and stuck them in the freezer.

Saturday night we canned 6 quarts of peaches.

This afternoon I made a peach pie.

And now the peaches are gone!

Lacto-fermented Pickles

I was so excited to make lacto-fermented pickle slices with cucumbers from my garden this year.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, and I don't even know how to describe what I got.  Effervescent pickles?  The pickles have a certain fizziness that triggers my "don't eat that" reflex.  That's usually how you tell if something's gone bad, right? 

I'm trying to eat them.  We'll see...

Home Sweet Home

We just got back from vacation on Saturday -- 2 weeks of eating fried chicken, french fries, greasy sandwiches and very few vegetables.  I couldn't wait to get back into the kitchen!  I hit up the farmer's market yesterday morning to pick up good eggs, milk, beef and veggies.  J made tomato sauce with the San Marzano tomatoes from our garden.  I used the milk to make 2 quarts of yogurt.  (I have a new and improved yogurt method that I will post about soon.)  I also sliced up one of our pickling cucumbers to try out Nourishing Traditions' lacto-fermented pickles.  They are currently fermenting on the counter, and I have to wait until tomorrow to try them.

Unfortunately our garden suffered a bit while we were gone even though Mama K came over to water regularly.  The sugar snap pea plants are completely done, as in dried out and brown.  I'm afraid we may have completely missed bean season, although I'm holding out hope that another batch will appear.  Our herbs were huge and mostly gone to seed.  Note for next year -- don't go on vacation during peak produce season!  Luckily our tomatoes have been loving the hot weather.  The Green Zebra is literally breaking under the weight of all the tomatoes.  Mama K picked a few ripe tomatoes while we were gone and put them in the fridge for us.  We sliced up the most amazing tomato last night.  I think it was a Brandywine.

I almost forgot...we came back from vacation with 10 lbs of frozen sour cherries!  Take a look at the tasty pie I made.

Garden Update

Our little garden is cruising right along.  We've had two good harvests of sugar snap peas, and we will probably do one more tonight.  The plants don't seem to be re-generating peas as quickly and some of the leaves are turning yellowish brown, so we may be near then end of the season for sugar snap peas. 

Next up to eat are the peppers.  We plan to use our banana peppers to make stuffed peppers tomorrow night, and the green peppers should be great in chicken fajitas on Tuesday.   

We've just started to see the first reddening of our tomatoes and should have a good crop in a few weeks.  A few cucumbers have appeared and the largest is probably 3 inches long.  Our herbs are growing like crazy, and we have a batch of dill drying in the basement.

Breaking Down Chickens

J and I attended a knife skills class at Crate a few months ago, and one of the things we learned was how to break down a chicken.  This part of the instruction was not hands-on, so I was nervous that it would be more difficult than the chef made it seem.  I finally had the chance to put what I learned to use this weekend, and it was so easy!

I ordered 4 freshly butchered Freedom Ranger chickens from Freedom Farms and picked them up on Friday at the farmer's market.  The chickens were $15 each and weighed probably 4-5 lbs each.  On Saturday morning, J sharpened our knives and I went to town on the chickens. 

First, I removed the legs and thighs from the body.  Then I removed the breasts and finally the wings.  I separated the legs and thighs and de-boned the thighs.  I also removed the skin from the breasts.  I saved the carcasses and thigh bones for broth.  I vacuum-sealed all the pieces into the portion sizes we use the most: 1-2 breasts per package, 4 thighs per package, 4 legs per package and all 8 wings in one package.  Our freezer is full!  We really haven't been eating much chicken lately, so this stockpile should last for several months.  We also still have a whole chicken in the freezer that I bought from another farmer's market vendor a few weeks ago. 

It took me probably 30-40 minutes to break down the chickens and then another few minutes to vacuum-seal all the bags.  I feel somewhat guilty using so much plastic, but if I want to eat pastured chicken, I have to have a way to store it.  It's really a catch-22.  For humanely-raised and butchered meat to be affordable, it really needs to be bought in bulk and in season and then used up over time.  Vacuum-sealing and freezing is the only good way to do this.  I could buy meat as we need it from the grocery store and have the butcher just wrap it in paper, but then we are supporting factory farming.  I figure, we are trying to reduce our use of plastics in other areas, so freezing meat in plastic is an okay compromise in order to have healthy meat to eat throughout the year.

Homemade Butter

We try really hard to keep up with our meal plan each week so that we don't let ingredients go to waste.  Sometimes, however, things just don't go according to plan.  This past week we ended up with an unused pint of Natural by Nature grass-fed cream that we had intended to use for pasta with cream sauce.  As we neared the cream's expiration date, I went searching through Home Cheese Making hoping to find a cheese recipe that called for a pint of cream.  It turns out I was making things too complicated -- the best use for leftover cream is to make homemade butter with it.  I was amazed at how easy this was.  To make cultured butter, you can apparently add a bit of yogurt to the cream in the first step and allow it to sit on the counter overnight before shaking.  Easy peasy :-)

1) Pour cream into a clean mason jar; tightly screw on lid. 
2) Allow to sit on the counter for a while to bring it to room temperature.
3) Shake the jar vigorously for approx. 5 mins or until you have butter.
4) Pour off (and reserve) buttermilk.
5) Scoop butter into a bowl; add cold water.
6) Knead butter with a spoon to release additional buttermilk.
7) Pour off water; add more cold water and repeat process until water stays clear.
8) Refrigerate butter.