Expressions of Perceptions

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Clearly from the “Yes You Can!” part of the title, I’ve watched Bob The Builder a few too many times with my kids.  Nonetheless, you can make homemade yogurt!  Practically anyone can, it’s that easy.  So, let’s get started!

You will need:  4 cups of milk and 2 tbsp. plain yogurt (or freeze-dried culture)

1.  Set the 2 tbsp. yogurt in a clean glass jar (a quart size canning jar would work great) on the counter to let it warm up a bit while you prep the milk.

2.  In a pan on the stove, heat the milk to 190 degrees F (Though I’ve read 180 and 185 defrees F, but the point is to sterilize the milk, so I guess that should read:  “Sterilize the milk”.)  Supposedly you’re supposed to keep it from boiling by stirring it and keeping a close eye on it, but I just don’t have that kind of patience or dedication, so mine bubbles… sometimes right over the rim of the pan and onto the stove…  But, hey, then I don’t have to dirty my thermometer!

3.  Let the milk cool to about 110 degrees F.  (You can put the pan in a cold water bath if you want to speed up the process.)

4.  Stir the 4 cups of milk into the 2 tbsp. yogurt.

5.  Put the lid on the jar.

6.  Move to a warm place and keep the temperature between 100-110 degrees F for 6-12 hours, or until the yogurt has reached your desired consistency.  (*Note:  The longer it cultures, the thicker and more tart it will become.)  As a good indicator, when the yogurt is “done”, you should have a pocket of whey (yellowish liquid) in the tickened white yogurt.  It’s fine to eat.

7.  Refrigerate your finished yogurt.  (It will thicken a bit more in the fridge.)

Keeping the yogurt warm, or “incubating” it, is the most difficult part if you don’t have a yogurt maker.  (I bought this yogurt maker from Amazon.com when it was on sale for $13.88, and I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth!)  A yogurt maker is just a warmer, so it’s not really a necessity.  Some possibilities that may work for some people are: a cooler with warm water, a large thermos, a crockpot set on “warm” with the lid off, in your oven with just the oven light on, or in a food dehydrator.  You’ll need to check the temperatures of those locations with a thermometer to make sure the temperature is correct.

You can stir fruit and/or your sweetener of choice into your finished yogurt before eating it.  Just make sure to save 2 tbsp. of plain yogurt for your next batch!

Also, if you don’t have liquid milk, you can substitute reconstituted powdered milk.  I usually make my yogurt out of powdered milk anyway to save money.

Let me know if I’ve forgotten anything, if you have any questions, or even if you’d just like to brag about mastering the art of yogurt making!

In many parts of the country, it’s that time of year again – time to start your seeds indoors before transplanting them to your backyard garden this spring!

I don’t know about you, but I find myself getting so zealous that I want to plant a little of everything.  My list literally contains about a dozen different vegetables, a handful of herbs, and a fruit or two, that I’d like to plant.   The problem with that is that I don’t live on a farm.  Heck, I don’t even live on one acre of land!  If I have 15 different baggies full of of seeds (yes, I’m a “seed-saver“) and 5 packs of store-bought heirloom seeds for my now seemingly small 12′x12′ backyard garden, I’m gonna have alot left over!  I don’t want any seeds to go to waste, so what am I to do?  Give the extras away!  Any takers?

I’m giving away what I call a “Small Garden Seed Collection” that consists of 3 of each of the 18 following varieties of seeds: butternut squash, cantaloupe, cherry tomato, grape tomato, bell pepper, beets, spinach, romaine lettuce, sunflower, chives, pumpkin, acorn squash, watermelon, swiss chard, corn, parsley, sweet basil, and mint. 

I plan to make another batch of lacto-fermented pickles soon, so I may be able to throw in a few saved cucumber seeds, too, and maybe even some seeds from the pint of strawberries I bought today.  And if you plant a few sprouted garlic cloves and some potatoes that have grown “eyes”, you’ll have yourself quite a garden!

Most of the seeds I’m giving away are heirloom varieties!  (I prefer heirloom and organic seeds to avoid gmo’s.  In case you’re not aware of my opinion of genetically modified “foods”, I am 100% opposed to cloned seeds/foods.  Learn more about the dangers and negative health consequences of gmo’s at www.SeedsOfDeception.com )

Enter to win your “small garden seed collection” simply by “liking” Expressions of Perceptions on Facebook (you can use the following link) and commenting on the Facebook page that you’d like to win the seed collection.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Expressions-Of-Perceptions#!/pages/Expressions-Of-Perceptions/169675143043103  Earn an extra entry by commenting on this post, too!

3 winners will be chosen at random on Sunday, March 20th, the first official day of Spring!

Tell your friends, and happy backyard gardening!

*Note: If you already “like” Expressions of Perceptions on Facebook, simply comment on the Facebook page that you’d like to win the seed collection for your chance to win. 

I’m a stickler for healthy food.  You literally couldn’t pay me a million dollars to eat anything genetically modified or feed anything genetically modified to my kids.  With that information, and with the prevalence of genetically modified foods in this country, you can imagine how high my food budget is and how difficult it is to find healthy foods.

I buy as much organic food as I can because organic isn’t allowed to contain any genetically modified ingredients, but there aren’t many organics around here.  I shop online for healthy groceries at Amazon, Vitacost, LuckyVitamin, and other online retailers, but they don’t sell perishables.  I did shop at the AppleGate Farms website for organic meats once, and I tried Organic Prairie and U.S. Wellness meats, too.  They all had good products, but the prices were steep, and they charged shipping.

In an effort to avoid shipping fees, I started driving to a Martin’s store about an hour away (yes, with 3 young kids in tow) once a month for a mega-shopping trip.  Martin’s has a lot of the foods we buy, but they’re not always in stock.  It became tedious, so I contacted the company of the brand of cheese I buy to ask if I could buy in bulk directly from them.  They replied that they don’t sell directly to consumers but that I could try to have a store closer to me order it in for me.

A health food store about forty minutes away agreed to order me a case, but their price was more per block than I paid at Martin’s.  I admit, I gave in once for the sake of convenience, but after that I tried another store. 

I called a health food store about a half hour away and asked about a few products.  After each one, they said “Hold on, let me check the price.”  After the third one, they told me that I could look on their website for products and prices.  I told them that I had looked but that I only found herbal tinctures on their site.  They replied “Not that page, the food co-op page.” 

“Co-op?” I asked almost gleefully.  There was a food co-op that I could order from?  Clearly it had to be too good to be true.  Not so.  There is a food co-op, and the pick-up location is at the store a half an hour north of where I live. 

I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was.  With 3 kids, I usually buy in bulk anyway, and I find it much easier to place orders than to actually go shopping for individual items.  The next issue, and one of the most important, was prices.  They were cheaper than what I had been paying!

I was so excited.  I was amazed that I could be part of a food co-op.  I live in such a small town that I thought we’d never get many of the conveniences that larger areas have.  I had looked online for food co-ops for months but had finally given up.  Then, out of the blue, I stumbled onto the UNFI co-op (thanks, God, for little miracles).

Of course in my excitement I told friends and family, but I’m still excited, so now I’m telling you.  I’m not rubbing it in or bragging or anything like that though – I’m sharing it with you!  It’s United Natural Foods Buying Clubs.  Their website is www.UnitedBuyingClubs.com.  And don’t worry if you’re not into healthy food that much, they sell hot dogs and frozen pizzas, too!

After we snacked on some cranberry coconut muffins, the chairs, floor, and table were covered in crumbs (mainly because of my 2 year old and 1 year old).

As usual, I got out the vacuum cleaner.  Then I thought aloud to myself why do I make muffins?  My 3 year old was confused as to why I would ask that.  She knew the answer: because they taste sooooo good!  Nonetheless, she asked me why I had said that.

“I wonder why I make muffins because they’re so messy,” I told her.

“What makes muffins so messy?” she asked.

Without thinking, I opened my mouth, and out came the word “kids!”

She laughed and agreed that her brother and sister were responsible for the mess, though she claimed no responsibility for the crumbs under her own chair.  (I admit, there may have been a few under mine, too.)

Kids are messy, but they’re totally worth it.  They are incredible blessings.  It’s easy to complain about having to vacuum after every meal, but some day when the kids are grown, I’ll wish I could go back in time to when they were young – even if it were only to when I was vacuuming up their mess while having a conversation with them.

I usually buy a few apples at a time, sometimes a quart, but mostly I just throw about 6 apples in a bag and pay by the pound.  We finished off our last 2 apples at snack time last night, so today we bought more.

I was gonna just grab some apples and pay 98 cents per pound for them like I usually do, but I figured I’d save myself time by just buying a big basket of them now instead of buying a small bag of them 3 more times this month.  So, I bought 1/2 bushel of apples for $10.98.

It seemed like a good deal.  The basket was heavy, so I thought it might have been a bit cheaper than paying the 98 cents per pound.

Well, when my kids napped, my curiosity got the best of me.  I pulled out a scale and weighed the apples.  To my surprise, thy weighed in at over 23 pounds!  So, I did the math, and it came out to a little less than 48 cents per pound.  That’s over a 50% discount.

I don’t know why I usually thought of buying in bulk being only for grains and other pre-packaged items.  Apparently, buying produce in bulk is a big money-saver, too!  AND it’s waaaaay healthier than buying processed, pre-packaged, chemically-preserved food in bulk.

So now, I’ve got 23 pounds of healthy goodness for less than the price of a take-out pizza.  Not to mention, they’re more nutritious and will last alot longer than just 1 meal.  (Oh, and they were delivered free of charge by my friendly neighborhood grocer.  Now they’re really competing with pizza delivery!)

Just another example defying the myth that healthy food has to be more expensive than unhealthy food!

Chocolate is a hallmark Valentine’s Day treat, and I can totally see why:  Valentine’s Day is about love, practically everyone loves chocolate, so Valentine’s Day = chocolate!  Am I right?  Ok, maybe not.  Nonetheless, they do have a connection of some sort.

I actually hadn’t planned on incorporating chocolate into my Valentine’s Day, but when I was cleaning out my cupboards the other day, I found my heart shaped chocolate lollipop molds.  Upcoming holiday, mysteriously-appearing chocolate mold, clearly it was meant to be!

Really though, after I explained to my 3 year old daughter what the mold was for, she got super-excited, so now we have to use it.  Don’t worry, I’m not complaining.  I’ll take nearly any excuse to eat chocolate.

We, however, don’t have any chocolate to melt and mold.  So what are we to do?  Make homemade!  I came across a recipe for homemade chocolate at HeavenlyHomemakers.com, and I’m anxious to try it.  See for yourself at http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/making-homemade-chocolate-chips-in-detail

I’m thinking it’d be pretty good with a homemade nut butter center.  Yes, I’m also using this as an excuse to make more homemade nut butter… and to use up the rest of those Christmas candy papers (you know, the ones that look like short little cupcake papers) that are still taking up space in my lazy susan.

Anyway, enough writing.  It’s time for chocolate-making!  Mmmmmmmm…..

Since the weather’s been so harsh (read: non-stop freezing rain), I haven’t made it to the grocery store yet this month.  I’m out of practically everything, so now it’s time to get creative.  I dug out what was left of a bag of walnuts and a nearly empty bag of raw almonds and decided to make, for lack of a better title, “walnut almond butter”.

I put the walnuts and almonds in the food processor and pulsed until they were crumbly.  (Note to self:  Next time, wait until husband is awake before putting almonds in the food processor.)  They seemed a bit dry, and I know that some brands of peanut butter have added oil, so I added a bit of coconut oil.  Since I have quite a sweet tooth sometimes, I added a little raw honey, too.

Then, I turned the food processor on high and processed my mixture, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides, for what seemed like forever.  This is probably just because I had 3 young children also vying for my attention, nonetheless it took longer than I thought it would.

Realistically, it was only a matter of minutes before it became “buttery”.  The processing warmed it up and melted the coconut oil, which I think helped make the mixture creamy.  (Note to readers: Be careful not to burn your “butter”.)

Anyway, it tasted great on homemade chocolate graham crackers and as a dip for apple slices.

So, the entire recipes is:  nuts, oil, honey.  Process till “buttery”. 

Far from exact measurements, I know, but it gives you a good base.  You may want to make a little or alot.  You may want yours heavily or mildly sweetened.  Give it a try, adjust it to suit your taste, and pat yourself on the back (trust me, I did) for making some healthy homemade nut butter.

As I was writing my grocery shopping list last week, I noticed that although I didn’t have a large variety of items to buy, I still always ended up spending hundreds of dollars in a single shopping trip. The items themselves aren’t cheap to begin with, but when you buy them in the volume that I do, expensive doesn’t even begin to describe the cost.

I listed the items I needed, and then I thought about how many of each item I actually needed to buy: 9 cartons of milk, 8 tubs of yogurt, 8 blocks of cheese, 4 frozen pizzas (hey, everyone needs a break sometimes), 3 loaves of bread, 3 boxes of cereal, 2 cartons of eggs, 4 jars of sauce, and so on, and so on. I know that’s alot to buy, but we live pretty far from the grocery store, so I make one big trip every month and then go to other random stores closer by (that don’t carry most of the things we need) for smaller, less important purchases.

Anyway, since I go to a specific store for specific items and buy specific brands, I thought that should count for something. I emailed Amy’s, a company that makes frozen convenience foods using no genetically modified ingredients, and told them how much we enjoy their frozen pizzas and that we appreciate them not using genetically modified ingredients. They responded by sending me a thank you and a coupon book!

Next, I went to the Stonyfield Farms website and found their coupon page. I printed out coupons for yogurt and milk. Not only that, they also have a rewards page where you can enter codes from the lids of Stonyfield Yogurt for points that can be redeemed for free milk, yogurt, or other items.

At the Horizon Organic website, I printed out coupons for milk and cheese. At the Organic Valley website, I printed out coupons for milk, cheese, eggs, and cream. I was on a roll! I just searched online for the website of specific brands that I buy, and nearly all of them offered coupons.

Then, a friend suggested I try coupons.com. I went to that website, and although I was only looking for coupons for food, I found coupons for diapers and wipes there. Not only that, I also found a coupon for $5 off a Graco brand carseat that I need to buy for my son in the next month or two.

 After that, I was hooked on coupons. I thought I’d save at least $25 on my next shopping trip. With coupons in hand, I loaded the groceries onto the checkout counter at my favorite grocery store. Then, I handed over my Martin’s rewards card, a store loyalty card, to receive an even greater discount on certain groceries I purchased there.

I watched the total climb higher and higher as I thought, I’m still gonna spend way more than I thought I would. I saw the total. It was over $300. Then, the cashier scanned my huge pile of coupons one by one. The people behind me, and my three kids, were growing impatient. I silently guessed my savings would be $20. I was wrong. The cashier told me my total, around $273. I was shocked as I blurted out “I just used $40 worth of coupons?!” To which the cashier replied, “And if you’ve got any points on your loyalty card, don’t forget to redeem them for gas in the next two days.”

Gas? Yes, my minivan was practically on E. The grocery store had a gas station, too, and they gave discounts on gas based on your grocery purchases. I needed gas anyway, so I went to the pump and ran my rewards card under the scanner. To my surprise, I got 50 cents per gallon off of my gasoline purchase! I filled up and saw that my rewards card had saved me another $10.

I went to a different store the next day and used the diaper coupons I had, but I was amazed that I saved $50 in one day by simply using coupons for items I regularly purchase and a rewards card at my favorite grocery store. So I guess the moral of this story is: brand loyalty pays off.

Who wouldn’t want to wake up to a hot breakfast on a cold day?  Intrigued?  Try this recipe for super-creamy overnight oatmeal.  It’s slowly cooked to perfection while you sleep!

Overnight Apple Oatmeal Ingredients:

1 c. old fashioned oats

1 large apple, peeled, cored, & sliced

1/3 c. raisins

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. brown sugar

3 1/4 c. water

* 1/3 c. chopped walnuts, optional

Spray your slow cooker insert with nonstick cooking spray.  Add all of the ingredients.  Cook covered on low overnight, about 10 hours.  Stir and serve.

I was skimming through the non-gmo shopping guide (get yours here for FREE: www.nongmoshoppingguide.com ) when I noticed than Snyder’s of Hanover is listed as being enrolled in the non-gmo project.  I assumed that meant that they were gm-free, but I thought I’d ask just to be safe.  (Literally, safe.  GMO’s are seriously dangerous.)

I emailed Snyder’s of Hanover to double-check that their products were gm-free.  As I awaited their reply, visions of long-forgotten potato chips danced in my head and tempted my tastebuds.  Barbeque, plain, sour cream & onion.  Yummm…..

I received their reply within a day or two.  To my dismay, they told me that the only products that they could guarantee to be gm-free are their organic products sold online.  *sigh*

If course organic is gm-free!  There aren’t allowed to be genetically-modified ingredients in organic products.

Although I was disappointed, I was highly impressed at the company’s honesty.  If they ever sell their organic products in stores, I’ll be sure to try them.  Until then, I’ll just have to stick with my Terra Chips by the Hain Celestial Group.  They’re good, but sometimes a bit too “gourmet”.  Sometimes I miss the taste of plain potato chips and “regular” flavors, but I must say that the Pesto & Smoked Mozzarella Terra Chips are the best potato chips I’ve ever eaten!  And they’re available in stores (Martin’s, Walmart, etc.) 

  http://www.terrachips.com/products/kettles-pesto-mozzarella.php

They’re not organic, but they’re gm-free!