Fun Failure

I had this great idea!  Use an old wood cook stove to do my canning on.  There's always so much to be done on the stove during the summer, and why have all that heat in the house using expensive propane?  Well, it took about 3 hours to get the beets boiling, and I never did get the water bath to a boil, so it was brought inside, and of course only took a few minutes.  Our great attempts were certainly fun, and great for pictures :)

Home Canning

I love preserving the harvest!  All those jars look so pretty.  So far I have only been playing, nothing serious yet.

I have tried several new recipes this summer.

These are two new relishes.  Dixie Relish is made from Cabbage, Onions, Green Peppers and Spices.  Red Root Relish is made from Red Cabbage, Beets, Onions and Horse Radish.

I tried both of these last night, and was quite pleased.  The Red Root has a very strong flavor.

So far, I have 9 quart jars of Dill Pickles.  These have always been a favorite in the family.  Very simply made with a brine solution, head of dill, and minced garlic.

New for me this year are Bread & Butter Pickles.  I have only recently learned to like these, as dill were always my favorite, but I now enjoy these more.

Since I had never made Bread & Butter's before, I decided to try all 3 variations in my preserving book.  British Bread & Butter's are my favorite.

British are made with apple cider vinegar and brown sugar.  Traditional are just that, and Zesty are made with horseradish and grated ginger root.

Powdered Goat's Milk!

Yes, it really can be done!  It takes a long time, and lots of heat, but it can be done.  I started with 3 quarts of milk, and ended with about 3/4 of a quart.

Start with finding a method to evaporate your milk.  I used a hot water bath canner so that I could use the rack to set canning jars with milk in it.  I filled 6 quart jars half full of milk(wide mouth jars work best), filled the canner with enough water to come up about 3/4 on the jars, and turned the heat on high.  I found that the more stirring I did, the faster the evaporation would happen.

When the jars were only a 1/3 full, I then poured the milk into an electric skillet, figuring that this was a more efficient way to heat the milk, and it gave it a more open surface.  Maybe next time I would just start this way.

Once it became like a runny pudding, I then transferred the milk to cookie sheets, and placed them in the oven at 200°F.  Watch these carefully, as one of the sheets burned on me, and I lost all that milk!  Once it became a very thick substance, I transferred this to the fruit leather tray of my dehydrator.  After many hours, I turned the substance to help it dry on the other side.  When it became hard, I put it in my Vita-Mix and gave it a good whirl.  This was a bit chunky and still too moist, so I put this back on the tray in the dehydrator, and then after many more hours, I put it through the Vita-Mix again. 

Voila! Powdered Goat's Milk!

I store this in a jar in my refrigerator.

Making Yogurt with Goat's Milk

I have found several ways of making yogurt.  The first time I tried making it, it flopped.  The next time was a success!

Here is the success recipe:

2 qts. goat milk

2/3 c. dried goat milk

1/2 c. plain yogurt (from the store)

2 T. honey, optional

In a large saucepan, mix milk, dry milk, and honey.  Heat to 200°F and hold there for 10 minutes.  Make sure you use a thermometer for this.

After 10 minutes, remove from heat and place saucepan in a bowl of cold ice water.  When the milk reaches 125°F, remove pan from cold water bath.

Remove 1 cup of warm milk and mix well with yogurt.  Stir back into milk mixture.

Pour mixture into warm, sterile containers to incubate.  There are many methods to incubate your yogurt.  I use my food dehydrator.  You can also use a thermos wrapped in a towel, or any container wrapped in a towel near a wood stove, or a commercially made yogurt incubator.  The key is to keep the yogurt at about 110°-115°F.

Enjoy your delicious homemade yogurt!

First Attempts at Making Cheese

With Ruth, the goat, came a book on raising dairy goats.  This has been a wonderful resource, as we know nothing!  Well, in this book there are several recipes for what to do with all this milk.  The only one that I had all the ingredients for was one called, "Vinegar Cheese".  I have now learned that this is a "fresh" cheese.  It is a white cheese, and pretty much very bland to the taste.  It certainly does not taste bad, it just doesn't have much taste.  You can use it just as it is in several ways, like salads or in scrambled eggs or fajitas.  I have found that I like to mix it with herbs, especially garlic, and green chilies or jalapenos.  I then will press it for about 24 hours, which will make a wonderful cheese to add to your sandwich or on crackers.

To make this cheese:

With a double-boiler, heat 2 quarts of milk to 185°F.

Slowly, add 1/4 cup of vinegar, turn off heat, and allow to separate into curds and whey.

Skim off curds into a colander lined with cheesecloth.  Tie corners of cheesecloth and hang, I use the knob on my cupboard door, and allow to drip for a couple of hours.

At this point, if you desire to add ingredients, turn cheese out from the cloth into a mixing bowl, and add desired ingredients.  Mix well.

Or, you can put the cheese into a container as it is to use as a crumbled cheese.

I like to press mine.  I made a mold by constructing a box out of pine wood that measures about 8" x 3 1/2" x 2".  I only made 4 sides with an empty bottom so that the extra liquid can come out the bottom.  You will want a "follower" made out of a thick piece of wood that will press down on the cheese.  I use a large C-clamp as my press.

I have made this cheese 3 times now, and with great success.  This was definitely a very good first cheese to make.  I have now ordered the different cultures that are needed to make other cheeses, and I am looking forward to experimenting more!

Cheap and Simple Yellow Jacket trap
Caveat: Despite the nuisance yellow jackets create, they do a lot of good as well. As predator insects they control many pests. You may find that eliminating yellow jackets increases the need for you to spray for pests in your garden and around your home. Use traps only when the yellow jacket situation is intolerable.
Step 1 Obtain a plastic bottle and cut a small hole in the shoulder, large enough for your finger, with a utility knife. Put an inch or two of water in the bottom, squirt a good squeeze of dish detergent into the water.
Step 2 Take some jelly or some other preserves that is sweet, get it on your finger and smear it around the inside of the jar, near the hole. You can increase effectiveness by using a pleasant odor in the jelly, such as a drop of vanilla or peppermint. Caveat: Never use honey for this. It can spread bee disease; bees are vital to your food supply.
Step 3 Yellow jackets will climb in and begin feeding. Most of them are not bright enough to find their way back out via the hole, so they drop into the soapy water. Instantly they are trapped, and in a minute they are dead. You'll have to clean out the dead, and replenish the jelly now and then.

Practical Tips

Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass
Use a dry cotton ball to pic k up little broken glass pieces of glass-the fibers catch ones you can't see! Another trick is to use a fresh bread slice to pick up all those little pieces of glass.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuumTo get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- voila -- static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easilyit comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the era ser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, esp. if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Take baby powder to the beach
Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When your ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.