Make It Yourself: Homemade Cream Cheese

Homemade cream cheese? Oh yeah! Well, I guess you could call it yogurt cheese (I think that's the technical term). It's so easy, and with the added bonus of aquiring whey which is extremely beneficial when used to soak grains.

First, I make plain yogurt in my crockpot . Refrigerate overnight. The next morning place a fine sieve over a large mixing bowl and line the sieve with a tea towel. Pour the whole crock full of yogurt into the sieve and wait. The whey will drip into the bowl. It takes a while... sometimes all day...

When the yogurt is fairly thick, tie the corners of the tea towel so that you have a neat little package of cream cheese. Tie the contraption around a wooden spoon and hang it from... well, somewhere. I used my kitchen cabinet handles. Make sure the bowl of whey is still underneath because it will continue to drip. Leave it hanging until it is no longer dripping.

When it stops dripping whey, unwrap the towel and using a spatula, scrape the cheese into a container. This makes somewhere between 16 and 20 oz. of cheese depending on how much you strain it and how thick you like it. In this last batch that I made, I got over a quart of whey!

By The WHEY...

Whey can be used to soak grains for easier digestion (for those who have trouble digesting wheat -- like myself -- this can be especially useful).

Whey can be used for lacto-fermented veggies, salsas, and other condiments (I use it for pickles and sauerkraut).

Some people swear that drinking a few tablespoons of whey every morning cures a host of ailments (I haven't had the guts to try this yet).

Whey can be used in smoothies for added nutritional benefit.

Whey can be used as a fertilizer (50% whey and 50% water).

There are probably a million other uses for whey but these are just the ones that I know of!

Natural Air Purifiers

Looking for a natural way to clean the air in your home? It might be simpler than you think...

Yep. Houseplants are the best natural defense for filtering toxins out of the air. All green things work magic with the air during their natural exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. But certain types are especially beneficial. For example, the Snake Plant (Sansevieria) helps filter formaldehyde and benzene (both known carcinogens) from the air. These contaminants can be in your home without you ever knowing about it since they are found in household cleaners, paint, adhesives, foam, and various building materials.

Below is NASA's list of the most beneficial houseplants for air purification.


1. (Philodendron scandens `oxycardium') heartleaf philodendron


2. (Philodendron domesticum) elephant ear philodendron

3. (Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana') cornstalk dracaena

4. (Hedera helix) English ivy

5. (Chlorophytum comosum) spider plant

6. (Dracaena deremensis) `Janet Craig', Janet Craig dracaena

7. (Dracaena deremensis) `Warneckii', Warneck dracaena

8. (Ficus benjamina) weeping fig

9. (Epipiremnum aureum) golden pothos

10. (Spathiphyllum) `Mauna Loa', peace lily

11. (Philodendron selloum) selloum philodendron

12. (Aglaonema modestum) Chinese evergreen

13. (Chamaedorea sefritzii) bamboo or reed palm

14. (Sansevieria trifasciata) snake plant

15. (Dracaena marginata) red-edged dracaena

Easy Spring Dinner: Crockpot Chicken Cheesy Potato Soup

Here is a super yummy, super easy meal for the crockpot. It was one of those let's-just-try-it-and-see-how-we-like-it recipes...

6 medium potatoes, diced
1 chicken breast, diced or sliced
1 small onion, diced
1 quart chicken stock (homemade is best) + 1 cup of water
2-3 bay leaves
1 cup half and half (could use less if you want)
3 cups shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar and swiss)
1 cup frozen corn


Add the potatoes, chicken, onion, stock + water, bay leaves to the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Add the half and half, cheese, and corn. Cook until the cheese is melted and smooth.

... as you can see by the almost empty crockpot, we LOVED it!! Yum, yum, yum...

Frugal Finds: The latest...

Here are my latest frugal finds... proving, yet again, that you don't have to spend a lot of money to eat healthy. You just have to keep your eyes open!

~ Grass-fed* Organic Ground Beef: $3.81 per pound (Target)

I usually get beef from our local meat shop. They offer grass-fed* beef from a local farm but not organic (which isn't as important as the fact that this stuff was cheaper and organic) so when I found this bargain at Target, I snatched it up!
* Did you know that cows that eat grass instead of corn do not contract ecoli?

~ Zevia Diet Rootbeer: $2.99 for a six pack (Whole Foods)

I LOVE this stuff. It's all natural and made with Stevia instead of aspartame or splenda so it is safe for Corky (I will post later about why ADHD kids should never have aspartame). Oh, and I forgot to mention that it tastes great.

~ Applegate Sliced Ham: $3.99 BOGO (Whole Foods)

I like this because it is nitrate free and it is from certified non-antibiotic, pastured pigs. That is hard to come by in our area and it was cheaper than the Oscar Meyer lunch meat (which I find tastes a little like plastic). Though I'm not a big lunch meat person, my husband loves this stuff. So... yay.

Your Kids ARE What They Eat... so stop feeding them junk!

Since Corky started preschool, I have spent a lot of time worrying about what she's eating. I pack her lunch every day but the school provides snacks. At first I thought: Oh, this is good. Schools have to serve healthy snacks, right...
Wrong.

Cupcakes, cookies, candy, Cheetos... just to name a few of the more prominent options. There's also chips of all sorts and various other "snacks" that Corky has never liked. Oh, but she likes them now....

Yes, gone is the child that loved broccoli and carrot sticks. Say adios to the kid that would choose a banana over a piece of chocolate. They have corrupted my baby!!! *boo hoo*

Anyway, I could go on and on about how awful the eating habits are in our tiny town and how disappointed I am in the schools... but that would take all day. So, I've been trying to make the best of things by reinforcing our eating style at home...

So....
When we were at softball practice the other day and the coach announced that the team would be provided fruits and vegetables for game snacks, I was ready to whoop and holler (that's southern for "shout with excitement"). Actually, I kind of got vocal about it...

"Yeah, that's great!" I said, way too enthusiastically.

You could have heard crickets chirp. There we were, a group of about twelve parents, and I was the only one who was glad about the fruits and veggies. Several (and when I say several, I mean more than half) of them made comments about how their kids wouldn't eat the fruits and veggies. Several of them suggested snack cakes as an option.

I was mortified. Horrified. And most of all angry.

This is the health of our children we are talking about here, people. Good eating habits start at a young age. Your kids will like what you like. They will eat what you feed them. They will value what you value. I understand this well, being someone who has struggled with being overweight my entire life.

My experience with the school taught me that good eating habits have to start in the home. My experience with the softball parents taught me that the schools (and other public associations) will change their good intentions to suit what the kids will be more inclined to eat...

So where does the buck stop?

When does someone put their foot down and quit feeding kids junk?

A Truly Good Vegetarian Meatloaf Recipe

For a while now, we've been playing around with meat-free dinners in hopes of cutting down our meat consumption. Since we started buying grass-fed beef and free-range chickens our meat budget has been harder to meet. Haha, pun intended. But it has been worth the change (even my husband thinks so). It is amazing how the meat that we buy now actually tastes like... well, meat. Beef tastes like beef; chicken tastes like chicken... ect. We used to buy our ground beef at Walmart until one horrible eye-opening night when my thoughts on meat changed forever...
I had already watched Food Inc. so I was aware of the dangers of the meat industry. And I was going to start making changes to our meat purchases. I really was... really. But one night I opened up a package of ground beef from Walmart. It smelled fine but it looked strange, sort of an off color. I went ahead and cooked it anyway and didn't think twice about it. I noticed as I cooked it that it was very crumbly. So I tasted it. And had my husband taste it. It did NOT taste like hamburger. At all.
So I threw it out.
To this day, I have no idea what was in that package of meat.
Immediately, we stopped buying meat from unknown sources and started visiting our local meat market. We were shocked at the difference in taste quality. If you normally purchase meat from a grocer that sells pre-packaged "fresh" meat, you probably don't even realize what you are missing out on as far as taste goes. We didn't.
Better meat is more costly, however. Since we decided it was worth the extra money to have better quality meat (and that it is safer), we decided to cut costs in other ways. Like eating less meat products.

Bringing it back around...
I found a mock meatloaf recipe and tweaked it a little. It turned out GREAT!!! The whole family loved it. Here's my recipe:

Vegetarian Meatloaf

2 eggs
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. water
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1/2 med red onion, shredded
4-5 cloves of garlic, shredded (I use a small hand-held grater)
1 roasted red pepper (from a jar), diced
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrot
3/4 cup cooked oatmeal (save some from breakfast in the morning, or you could use quick cooking oats)
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils (I cooked mine with beef broth. You could also use mushroom broth.)
1/4 cup asiago or Parmesan
2 oz. feta, crumbled
4 oz. falafel mix (I used a third of a 12 oz. package)
3 Tbs. whole wheat flour
2 Tbs. ketchup
2 Tbs. barbecue sauce

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, water, tomato paste, grated onion and garlic. Stir in the next eight ingredients and mix. Add just enough flour to make the mixture hold together.

Form into a loaf and place in a shallow baking pan. Bake at 350* for about 30 minutes. Make sure the internal temperature reaches 150*. For the last five minutes of cooking, spread the ketchup and barbecue sauce over the top and return to oven. Allow to cool 5 minutes before slicing.

*Tip- I used a butter knife to butter the loaf pan, just like you would a piece of bread.

The Tiniest Plane...

She was born at 8:50pm...
And she wasn't breathing...

My niece, Delylah, was immediately life-flighted to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa while we waited, hoping, praying that she was okay. I remember watching as they wheeled her tiny, listless, body down the hallway in an incubator. Tubes were stuck down her throat. Machines were beeping. Nurses were talking. But she was silent.
We watched as she was loaded onto the waiting helicopter, watched as it lifted off the ground carrying precious cargo.
The next day we were told she was born without her right lung, her heart was severely deformed, her esophagus didn't connect to her stomach as it should, and she had spinal deformities. They diagnosed her with VATERL syndrome. It is a very rare collection of abnormalities that a child is born with. Tulsa had never seen a case of it and were not prepared to offer her care. So they immediately sent for transport to Texas Children's Hospital.
As we visited with Delylah and waited for the plane to arrive, we took time to get to know the little bundle of joy. I remember my sister pointing out that Delylah had my fingers; the way the pinky curves inward toward the other fingers. I snapped a picture of it.
When the nurses from Houston arrived to take her, we were told that her mom couldn't ride along because she'd had a c-section. Sis was horrified at the thought off Baby D going alone. So I did what any aunt would do...
I volunteered to fly with her to Houston.
Oh, but I didn't realize what a teeny tiny plane we would be flying in. Nor did I realize that it would take us almost two hours to get to Texas Children's Hospital.
The ambulance ride was daunting. But I was okay until we pulled up to the tarmac and I got a look at the little tinker-toy with a kangaroo painted on the side of it. Then I swallowed back bile. I didn't mind flying-- not at all-- but I am severely clausterphobic. In a major way.
But I smiled and crawled into my seat-- I had to haunch over in a 90 degreed angle just to get to it (and I'm only 5'3'').
All the way there I kept remembering how my dad had told me I should never ride in a small plane... because Pasty Cline and Buddy Holly had died on small planes...
Through major breathing exercises, plastering my face to the window, and sheer luck... I made it there without hyperventillating and Delylah was placed in the capable hands of the NICU.
I learned a lot of things that day... some of which I can't put into words. But most of all, I learned that a parent's (or aunt's or uncle's or granparent's) love can overcome the greatest of obstacles.