REAL Food Recipe – Greek Style Yogurt

 

Making your own yogurt is super simple.  Using ingredients you purchase at the grocery store and a few “high tech” supplies you probably have hanging around in your house (or if you know someone who does) you can make some delicious and very nutritious healthy yogurt for you and your family.

To get started you will need: 

One small picnic cooler or a small plastic tote with lid and a comforter to wrap it in

One large pot

One small sauce pan

One candy thermometer

One wooden spoon

One whisk

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Four pint size jars and one half pint jar with lids and rings or similar size jars and lids you’ve recycled.   

Prepare your equipment by filling the pot with water and bringing it to the boil.  Place your clean jars in the sink and fill with the boiling water.  You can also run the jars through your dishwasher if you prefer.  Put your lids and rings in the small sauce pan and cover with the remaining hot water just to soften the seals on the lids.

 

Now assemble your ingredients: 

1 half gallon organic whole milk

1/2 cup organic cane sugar or monk fruit sweetener (optional)

1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract (optional)

1 6oz. container organic plain whole milk yogurt* 

*You will only need to buy the yogurt cup this one time to use as a starter and you will want to make sure is does not contain any additives or emulsifiers, just simple plain all natural ingredients.  

Place the milk in the pan and stirring constantly over medium heat bring it up to 185°.  Do not let it boil and DO NOT scorch it.  Once the milk reaches temperature remove from heat.  Fill your sink a few inches with cold water, add ice if you need to.  Carefully set the pot in the cold water careful not to let water get in the pot.  Stirring occasionally allow milk to cool to 120°.  Remove the pot from sink and add sugar, vanilla and yogurt starter.  Use a whisk and thoroughly combine.  To make plain yogurt omit the sugar and vanilla.

 

If you are not using canning lids fill cooler to just under
the lid on the jar you are using as it may not have a watertight seal

Pour the yogurt into your jars and put the lids on tightly.  Place jars in cooler.  Wash and refill the pot with warm tap water that is 120°.  Pour water into cooler to cover up jars.  Close lid on cooler and place cooler in draft free place for 3 hours. Do not move the cooler or open the lid during this time.  At the end of three hours remove jars from cooler, wipe dry and place in refrigerator overnight.  Enjoy!

 

NOTE:  Be sure to save the half pint jar of yogurt as the starter for your next batch.  There are no preservatives or additives in this yogurt so you will want to consume within two weeks.

 

This Month's 2024 Extreme Budget Grocery Spending – March

 

I began this month with a lot of wonderful food options in my regular pantry and freezer as well as my deep freezer and my LTFS.  In the refrigerator I had three corn tortillas, a few slices of whole grain bread, five low carb dinner rolls to have with soup, a two pound bag of carrots, about two pounds of russet potatoes, one onion, four granny smith apples (I really need to do something with those, I’m thinking Dutch apple pie for Easter) just less than a pint of cream, a 16 oz and an 8 oz package of block cheese plus a partial block, a package of cream cheese (really needs to be used up too), a new container of sour cream and one of cottage cheese, some assorted condiments and three partial bottles of salad dressing.  Not a bad start to the month at all.

 

My first shop of March was to pick up a handful of sales items on my list.  First up was a three pound bag of mandarin oranges on sale ($2.99) at Albertson’s.  Next was to pick up two packages of asparagus on sale for $1.49 a pound plus I had a 40¢ OFF coupon and two free items I had FREE offer digital coupons for – a ten count package of flour tortillas and a bottle of store brand salad dressing.  I was thrilled to happen upon a markdown pot roast which made it home with me for $3.69 a pound.  Not the best price I’ve ever seen, but definitely the best I’ve seen in quite some time.

 

My next trip to the grocery store was much bigger.  For my “big haul” I went to Winco in order to stock up on a few things for my pantry and fill up the crisper drawer in my refrigerator with some fresh produce.  I was also running low on cream (emergency!) for my coffee so I definitely wanted to pick up some more of that.  I quick stroll through their meat department netted me another marked down pot roast for $8.20.  It was 4.5 pounds making it $1.82 a pound!  Now that is more like it!

My final trip for groceries was to simply pick up a head of lettuce at Trader Joes so I could use up the last of my grape tomatoes along with a few other veggies and make more green salads during the final two weeks of the month.  It had been a good long while since I’d had a banana so I also picked up a couple of those too.

 

I did not have any nonfood purchases last month so my $50 budget for the entire year is still holding strong at $39.52 left to spend.  My fingers are crossed that I can successfully do this part of the challenge and not go over budget.

 

To begin the month of March I had my $50 budget plus $36.33 of unused funds to rollover for a grand total of $86.33.  I concentrated quite a bit this month on finding items I could can and add to my LTFS which included the two pot roasts and a large package of lean ground beef so I was very grateful to have that extra rollover amount this month.  The total I spent on food came in at $73.94 with $12.39 still remaining.  I’ll be rolling that amount over and adding it to my April budget which will have me starting the month off with $62.39.  I can work with that!

 

So far I feel like I’m managing this grocery challenge really well.  I’ve found my groove and mapped out my strategy as I will be navigating the coming months.  The fact that I was able to add seventeen pints of home canned chili con carne to my LTFS and pantry plus have plans to can up those two roasts has given me even more confidence in what I am doing.  I’m eating very well with a good variety of choices and have had virtually little to no food waste.  I’m pretty darn happy with my progress so far.

 

Ancestry Tracing

 

Whenever I need to slow down and relax I work on a project I’ve had going off and on over the past twenty five years.  Now that I’ve completed my photo album project by getting all of the loose and unprinted photos into albums I feel like I have more time to devote to this other project.

 

The album on the far left is the one I'm
placing all of my written stories into

For quite some time I’ve been tracing my ancestry and writing down stories about the things I’ve been told and information I’ve discovered as I’ve been tracking down where I come from.  This has been a long held passion of mine and I find it so fascinating.  I can happily lose myself for hours combing through documents, newspaper clippings and countless websites learning about relatives I haven’t had the chance to know and learning little things about them.  Often I find myself saying “Wow! I think I get this trait from them!” or most often “Holy cow! I had no idea.”

 

I used to love visiting with my grandparents and great grandparents and listening to them tell of various things they did, who they spent their time with, how they met their husbands or wives and about their wedding day.  Even small things like their favorite recipes and how they liked to garden or sew.  Little quirks or habits they had.  Funny stories about mishaps and the misadventures they went on.  There seemed to be a lot of those stories.  If only I’d had the presence of mind to write those things down at the time.  I’m doing it now, as best as I can.

 

After using websites like Family Search and Ancestry.com as well as many other archival sites I’ve amassed quite a bit of information and my family tree is huge.  My ancestors had a lot of kids back in the day.  It can overwhelm me at times with too much information so I’ll take breaks and then plunge right back in.  Taking notes and then writing when the information is fresh in my mind is really helpful so I don’t forget.  I’ve had those moments where I’ve looked at something I jotted down and wondered “what was this for?” or “who was I working on?”  Eventually I figured it out, but sometimes it was a real brain teaser.

 

As part of the medical research I participate in with the Mayo Clinic I had my DNA analyzed for a genome study.  The heritage part of that study stated I am mostly Western European which I pretty much already know, however it also said I am 15% Sardinian.  I’ve yet to discover anyone in my family from that area of Italy or Italy at all for that matter so, hmmmm.  What do you suppose that means?

 

I’ve hit that point where it is time to introduce myself to my extended relatives and see what they may know.  Do they have any additional information?  How about photos?  Documentation?  I’d love to find out more and if I can make new acquaintances in the process wouldn’t that be cool!  I know a lot already, but I’d love to know more.  Do you find this stuff fascinating?  Boy, I sure do.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 103

 

Spring has sprung and I had another great week!  I spent the majority of the St. Patty’s day weekend working on a project that is near and dear to my heart, I’ll be telling you all about it on Wednesday, but the main reason for this was to make sure I sat on my butt and rested a lot.  The culmination of several busy and very full weeks had me pretty much exhausted.  I think I hit the wall on the previous Friday afternoon and I really needed to take a break.  I got some good sleep and ate some great food over that weekend so by this past Monday I was ready to get back to it.

 

I worked a few hours Monday afternoon and on the way home I popped into Trader Joes to pick up a head of lettuce to help me use up the remaining produce I had in the fridge to make fresh green salads throughout the week.  While I was at it I grabbed a couple bananas for only 19¢ each as I’d been craving a banana of late.  I have to hand it to Trader Joes for keeping their prices steady and not doing what all other stores have done.  Since the pandemic I’ve noticed only a small increase on some of their products, but for the most part they’ve kept their prices pretty much the same.  It got me thinking, I really need to do more of my shopping there.

 

On Wednesday I took myself for a walk around our state capitol before having a picnic lunch in the park across the street.  A lady about my age sat with me and we had a wonderful conversation about all kinds of things.  It was unexpected, but so enjoyable.

 

Statues of Lewis & Clark with Nez Perce Chief Twisted Hair

After I got home was able to spend half an hour outside cutting up most of the limbs I’d pruned from the apple tree the week before and loading up my wheelie bin for Thursday pickup.  I also gave a couple of cuttings to the bunny to chew on which she has loved.  This week I’ll be cutting up what is left and getting that to the curb for pickup and that will be the end of this project.

 

As a reward to myself for a week well done I went to the cheap seat movies at 4:00 that afternoon and saw Anyone But You for only $3.  I thoroughly enjoyed that movie and laughed so much.  It has been way too long since I’ve been to a movie and laughed like that.  I definitely hope to do that more often.

 

Ways I Saved $$: 

With the warmer weather I was able to shut off the main heat in my house.  The mornings were a bit chilly, but by late afternoon I was opening windows and doors and letting in the fresh air.  No point to heating the house in the morning just to let all that heat out in the afternoon.  Even if the temperatures dip again my plan is to layer up, only use the fireplace as needed and leave the main heat off.  Can you tell I’m ready for spring? 

A few times last week I picked a pile of milk weeds and gave them to my chickens to supplement their regular feed.  After a long winter they really seem to love the fresh greens.  I also gave them some of the kitchen veggie scraps I had left after preparing sides for my meals.

 

Meals I Prepared: 

I made up a small batch of refried beans using rendered bacon fat I had in my refrigerator and a couple jars of home canned beans, one was pinto beans and the other was half pinto beans and half black beans.  I added a jar of home canned ground turkey to the beans along with a packet of taco seasoning to make burrito filling.  I topped each burrito with some frozen grated Monterey jack cheese I had thawed and some leftover guacamole salsa from the fridge.  I used up the jar of salsa plus the FREE tortillas I had picked up at Fred Meyer a couple weeks ago and made seven burritos.  I ate three of them last week and the others were packaged for the freezer to be eaten another time.

 

In the freezer I had two servings of a chicken and rice with broccoli florets on the side that I had made last month so I removed both of those to thaw and be reheated for two of my meals during the week.  I also had two servings of the chili I had canned the previous week that I ate with a fresh green salad.

 

That pretty much covers how my week went.  How was yours?

 

READ Labels

 

I personally feel that the reason we, as a society, seem to struggle so much with obesity, health issues such as high cholesterol and diabetes, emotional issues such as depression and anxiety, etc. is in large part due to what we stick in our mouths.  There is so much junk “food” out there and we eat it.  We eat a lot of it too, because it doesn’t keep us satiated and feeling full for very long.  So we eat more of it.  It seems like a vicious cycle at times.  I believe that poor eating alters our body chemistry.  Just my opinion, but I really do believe it and I'm not alone.

 

How things are made is every bit as important as what they are made with

For many years I’ve been a label reader.  I’m sure I’ve annoyed many a shopper because I stand there in the aisle taking up to five minutes to decide on a bottle of ketchup, but it’s what I do.  I don’t want corn syrup in my ketchup or additives and ingredients I don’t recognize.  I want real food and I want quality food.

 

No thank you

Over time I’ve come to recognize that there are a lot of what I refer to as “food like products” out there that don’t actually contain any real food in them, especially in the dairy category.  Creamers, whipped topping, non dairy cheese slices and block cheese product and margarine just to name a few.  Canned soups contain genetically engineer food items.  What exactly does that mean?  Breakfast cereals are so over processed they no longer contain any nutrition so replacement vitamins (aka enriched) are added back in during manufacturing.  Just that word “manufacturing” should send up an alarm.  Our food should be grown, not manufactured.

 

My goal is 95% REAL foods by yearend

These days I am looking for REAL food options to fill my shopping bags.  Here are some of the changes I am making:

 

I’m on a mission to clean up my pantry once and for all.  Yes, it is going to mean more work in my kitchen, but in the end it will all be worth it.  What are your thoughts on the foods sold in grocery stores?  Are you making any changes to what you are buying these days?

 

 

Revamping My LTFS

 

After doing a yearlong pantry challenge in 2023 and then embarking on a $50 a month grocery budget in 2024 I’ve had a few surprises.  The biggest one is I don’t eat as much food as I originally thought I did when I started setting up my long term food storage (LTFS).  That has been a real eye opener.

 

The other surprise is that I don’t need keep as large of a variety of foods on hand as I thought I might want.  It turns out that I have been able to scale back on some of the items I had been stocking and still make everything I like to make.  And lastly, now that I want to switch over to more of a REAL Food pantry I need even less of the store bought things I used to stockpile.

 

After sitting down with my LTFS spreadsheet and doing some much needed revamping and deep thought I was able to come up with a much more streamlined plan that now includes more home canned items.  The home canned items I want to stockpile in my LTFS has me expanding more into soups as well as readymade meals in a jar.  I have been finding that having these items on the shelf really helps me with my meal planning strategy this year.  Expanding my supply of home canned soups also will help me with my goal to eliminate all store bought soups from my pantry this year.

 

Now that I know how much I really eat and know what I truly wish to have in my LTFS I was able to sit down, do the math and figure out how much I really need to keep on hand for a one year supply of food for one and a half people (one person, occasionally two).  That has changed the game considerably as far as how I will be approaching future stockpiling this year as well as guided me in what I will continue to eliminate from what I already have in stock.

 

I’m really excited about this!  It means I’ll be able to be even more successful with my grocery challenge this year as I will not need to purchase as much food in order to keep my LTFS well stocked.  However, I will be doing more home canning this year which I am totally fine with because I really enjoy doing it.  I also feel like I’m heading in the right direction as far as improving my healthy eating goals while saving money in the process.  Part of my gardening plans this year, and I’ve already started work on them, is geared toward my health goals and my grocery budget challenge.  I now think I’m more than ready to keep on rolling ahead.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 102

 

After a nice relaxing weekend I hit the ground running once again.  Sunday I did go outside and clean out the chicken coop adding all the soiled pine bedding and manure to the compost bin.  I spread out a deep layer of fresh pine shavings inside the coop.  I also gave the hens the last of the mulched leaves I’d saved in a trash can for them to have this spring when it starts to get muddy in their pen area.  They got those mulched leaves all spread out and made it very nice for themselves.  They seemed to have a good time doing it too.

 

Last Monday I was up bright and early to pick up a 3# package of extra lean ground beef on sale at Fred Meyer.  I was waiting for a good sales price on ground beef so I could use it to make and can some chili con carne so I had added that item to my grocery wish list.  It worked out perfectly that it was on sale last week.

 

One of the feed stores I use is located next door to the strip mall area where Fred Meyer is located so I stopped there on the way home and picked up a new bale of Timothy hay for the bunny.  Timothy hay has leaped in price another $4 a bale since the last time I purchased it, but she is cute so I’ll keep feeding her (wink, wink).  She only goes through two bales of hay a year which makes her my least expensive pet to feed.  Nonetheless, the rising prices on hay, feed and cat food has dramatically affected this year’s pet budget.  I’ve had to double my pet budget this year.

 

Since I didn’t work or have any other plans for Thursday I made up that extra large batch of chili I was planning to make and got it all canned up.  By the time all was said and done I added XX pint jars of wholesome and nutritious, not to mention delicious, chili to my LTFS shelves.  Even better, I know exactly what is in that chili because I put it there.  REAL Food for the win!

 

While the chili was cooking in the slow cookers (I wanted the beans to par cook before I canned it) I manage to finally get outside and give the apple tree a much needed preliminary pruning.  I had two oversized limbs that needed to be removed, but every time I’ve scheduled myself to get that taken care of it was either snowing, raining or the wind was blowing like crazy.  I will still need to cut up those limbs and clean up my mess as time and weather allows, but it feels so good to finally be able to look outside my kitchen window without the constant reminder that I have a task still needing to be taken care of.

 

Ways I Saved $$: 

Other than the ground beef I purchased for the chili I canned last week all of the other ingredients I needed were already had on hand in my pantry and freezer.  I also had the canning supplies already on hand as well so no additional purchase were required to complete that project. 

I trimmed up and steamed some asparagus I had purchased a couple weeks ago and vacuum packaged it for the freezer.  This is the best time of year to buy and put away some asparagus as it is in season right now.  I reused vacuum bags I had used in previous years to seal other vegetables.  Additionally, I washed out another gallon size Ziploc bag as well as a sandwich size bag and reused them for freezer food storage.

 

Once again, I am happy to report there was no food wasted this week.  Any food scraps that didn’t go to the bunny or into the broth bag I keep in my kitchen freezer were given to the chickens. 

I rode the bus to work and back home all four days I was scheduled.  I only drove twice last week to run some errands.  I didn’t think it was very practical to try and bring home a bale of hay on the bus.

 

Things I Used Up: 

I finished up the bag of pine shavings I had in the garage when I cleaned the coop out.  I’ll need to replace it this summer so when I clean out the coop again and prepare it for winter next fall I’ll have some. 

When I did my canning project I used up quite a few things I had squirreled away in my deep freezer and pantry – homemade vegetable broth, some cans of tomato sauce, chopped and frozen peppers, the tail end of a bag of frozen red onion and a yellow onion that had been sitting in my fridge for a while, the last of a jar of jalapenos and a small can of green chiles.  I also polished off the last of the pinto beans I had in a half gallon food storage jar that I’d had in the pantry for some time as well as three packets of chili seasoning.  I do not plan to repurchase the chili seasoning, but instead plan to make my own from now on.

 

I finished up a half pint jar of homemade sweet relish using it in a small batch of deviled ham I made up for a couple sandwiches.  In the process I used up a can of deviled ham that was nearing its best buy date as well as the last few slices of a loaf of sourdough bread.

 

Meals I Prepared: 

It was another super easy week of meals for me last week which was very helpful with so much going on around here.  There was still some taco filling left from the week before so I began my meal plan last week with nachos using chips I made from corn tortillas I had in the refrigerator.  I pulled out two servings of minestrone soup as well as two servings of a macaroni & beef casserole with asparagus on the side from the freezer.  I used a can of deviled ham to make a couple of sandwiches with.  I made salads using lettuce, grape tomatoes and green olives and sprinkled sunflower seeds and a few crispy chow mein noodles on top.

 

It was definitely a busy and productive week for me and I’m very happy with all that I was able to accomplish.  With the weather warming up and the sun shining I am excited to be able to get outside and tackle a few projects outdoors.  How is your weather where you live?  Has spring finally begun to arrive?