Caution! Contents under presure (there's a reason why these bottle have a hinge top.)

Pineapple Coconut

 So I'm still brewing Soda, and Jody's still rolling his eyes at me.  Dawn's still tasting everything I make and she's still not complained of a belly ache so I guess it's all good.

This time I'm using Water Kefir instead of the Ginger Bug.  I thought maybe the taste of the ginger was a bit much and the flavor of the juice would come through better if I used Water Kefir grains.  Unlike the Ginger Bug, you have to order the Kefir grains online, you can't just make them from stuff you have laying around the house (water, ginger and weird sugar.)  The kefir grains come dehydrated and look like really coarse brown sugar, they don't look anything like grain.  They say you can eat them but I kind of needed them to make my 'concoctions'.   The first two batches of sugar water that I made with the kefir grains were not used for soda, they were just poured out. 

Then I started my batch for the soda.  Just like with the Ginger Bug, De-clorinated water (bottled is fine if it says "Ionized") Sucanat and the hydrated grains.
 

I put a little water in the jar and stired the Sucanat to dissolve.

 Dump in the grains.  See... they don't look like grain.  They look like crystals but feel like something kind of rubbery.  I have NO idea what these things are.  Yeah, I'm drinking the residual liquid off them!  

 Top it off with more water.

 Cover it with my specially customized super white flour sack dish towel that's never been used for anything else besides covering weird concoctions.

 Place it on a shelf in the cupboard where it can stay at a moderate temperature out of the light and happy beside the container of chocolate chips.

 So the next day it looks like this... a little lighter in color and not as cloudy.  I tasted a little of it and it was still sweet.  I think one of the mistakes I had been making was that I was letting the kefir set for 48 hours then adding the juice.  It quickly ate up all the sugar in the juice during the fermenting stage leaving the taste of the soda a lot like a seltzer and not sweet like soda.

 This is some Coconut Soda that I made before I figured out not to wait 48 hours.  It was like tonic water, so to sweeten it after the fermentation stage I added Cream de Coco!  When I sweeten, I sweeten, I don't mess around.  Now, take my advice here if you decide to do this, if you have to add a sweetener of any kind after you have fermented your soda, add a tiny bit at a time.  LUCY allert!!!  Don't take a funnel and pour 1/2 a cup of sweetener into the bottle.  You will have a geyser on your hands. It's entertaining to your friends, but just don't do it. 

Look it's got a head on it like beer!  It was really yummy! 

(Another thing I have since done is to use organic sugar, not Sucanant, and add just a 1/4 tsp of molasses.  Sucanant has a really strong taste.)

So last Wednesday I was about to make my juice and I decided to just make a double batch of juice and use 1/2 of it in the water kefir since my batch was ready.  I juiced my fruits and veg like I do everyday.  Remember how the pineapple/orange juice with the Ginger Bug had really created a bubbly effect?  That was fresh juice that  I'd juiced.

Since my juicer is a vertical macerating juicer and not a centrifugal, it lets some pulp through, so I strained it.  (If you ever want to know anything about juicers, just ask, I've gone through 3 different kinds.)

I blended in a couple of beet cubes (I juice a bunch of beets all at one time, and then freeze them and only use one cube per glass of juice.  Too much beet juice leaves your teeth a lovely neon red. 

 I had enough kefir and juice for two bottles of soda and I drank the rest of the juice.

Once bottled, the bottles of soda were tucked into the pantry with their friends.  Waiting to created some kind of sparkling drink.

 Jump ahead 2 days,  I forgot that the soda was in the pantry.  I pulled out a bottle to test the bubbly-ness.  That's not a real word... yet. 

 There's always a little sediment on the bottom of the bottle so you just turn it over one time.  WOAH Bubbly-ness!

LUCY ALERT!!!!

 Word of warning.... if you make soda, before opening the bottle, put it in the sink which I did and cover it with a wet dish cloth which I didn't!  Ya see that don't ya!  It exploded! 

 All over my kitchen!

 And I mean all OVER the kitchen.  I was happy though, I still had my hair wrapped in a towel after I'd washed it earlier or I would have had to rewash my hair.

I was wearing my white robe and it was now neon red splattered, not just on the front but also on the back!  But I didn't get any on the ceiling!!! That's because I put my hand over the bottle and it all squirted out to the side.  FUN!

Jody walked in just after I'd rewashed all the dishes in the dish drainer, and wiped down the cabinet doors, the counter tops, the stove and fridge.  The cat was in the living room taking a bath... The floor was still covered and I was walking tip-toe between the spots on the floor, trying not to slip or spread them any worse.   I froze in my tip-toe tracks and met him with a 'deer in the headlights' look.  In this sort of situation, you have to start cleaning from the top down.

He took one look at my magenta splattered body and just shook his head and went to the garage.  He didn't even ask what had happened.  What's he doing home at 10 in the morning anyway?  He's not supposed to be here during Lucy time.

The results... from my official critic, "nice color, earthy... like a beet with a hint of carrot." Dawn, Water Kefir Soda taster.  She took a bottle home last night.

I made a batch of coconut soda Friday and we tasted it last night too.... YUM.  I'll start making that to dilute with some Cruzan Rum, forget all those other flavors. Dawn took a bottle of it home too.

Too bad summer is almost over.  But wait, I'm not living on a summer schedule anymore.  I'm back in the real world! 
I am back to work tomorrow with a whole new life new job!!  I'll try to see what kind of Lucy channeling I can come up with for next weekend.

Y'all have a great week.

Are you thirsty yet?

Wow,  July is almost over!  I guess it doesn't really feel like our normal summer because we've not had 100+ temps for 50 some odd days in a row.  It's been so weird with these cool fronts that we end up having severe thunderstorms just like during Tornado season normally has.  It was 70 when I went out on the deck this morning.  Unheard of for us! 

With summer comes the drinking season.  Not that kind of drinking that kind of drinking has no season!  I'm talking about what you'd call Soda.

That is if you live in any other part of the US other than Texas.  In Texas you may be asked the simple question "you want a Coke?" to which you might say "sure!"  Then we'd say "what kind?"  It's a loaded question...  Yeah we could be talking about Diet Coke, Coke Zero, or any of those Coke varieties.  But more likely we're asking if you want ANY kind of bubbly beverage in the soda range!  Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Root Beer, Pepsi although who drinks that? Gahhhh!   So when in Texas, beat us to it and designate your choice, or see if you are being hosted by a REAL Texan and go for the questions.

Over 20 years ago I gave up drinking Cokes I actually drank ONLY Coke, nothing else, for medical reasons.  They were hurting me internally.  It didn't help that I drank them like water all day long.  That didn't mean I quit craving that bubbly stuff in the summer.

So I got my stuff together and grew myself some Ginger Bug, easy enough.  Just fresh ginger, De-clorinated water and brown sugar.

With my ginger bug I made these bottles of SODA!  The darker ones are grape and the orange is orange/pineapple.  Since the grape was store bought, organic, all natural, no sugar added, it didn't fizz too well.  But the flavor was really yummy, grapey and gingery and just a tiny bit fizzy.  You can't guzzle it like a Grape NeHi Soda, but it was pretty good, the ginger gives it a bite.  The ginger bug makes it's carbonation from the sugar it 'feeds' on.  It's alive!  Like a bug!  So it NEEDS sugar, and no sugar added doesn't work well.  (So I added about a tablespoon of raw sugar to each bottle.)  Once it's fizzy there isn't much sugar left.

Now the orange/pineapple pop, that's a different story.  I juiced 3 oranges and 1/2 a pineapple in my lovely Omega juicer.  This made a huge difference. No sugar needed!  Can you see the difference in the bubbles in the bottles?

Let me tell you, when I popped the top of one of those bottles of the orange the fizz blew my bangs up off my forehead!  The flavor was great.  Dawn and I mixed it with rum the next weekend!  Isn't the purpose of making healthy drinks so that you can have healthy drinks?

I continued to make Ginger Bug Soda for a few weeks, the ginger just kept getting higher and higher in the jar because you just keep adding ginger and sugar everyday.  Just pour the liquid off on the 5th day and add more de-clorinated water and start adding ginger and sugar daily.  Reminded me of that Amish Muffin stuff.  Pretty soon it would run us out of the house.  So I just put it in the fridge to rest a bit.  Meanwhile I ran across Water Kefir.   More on that in the next post.

 Now for a word from our sponsor:

Check out this garlic I grew!  It's almost as big as my foot!

 The second one was about as big as my hand!  Each clove is equal to two regular size cloves.  

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that I buried the pulp from my juicer in the flower bed?

Now back to our scheduled program:

I forgot to show you the cute outfit that Nita bought while she was here!

 Now she's as in love with my favorite store as I am. 

  

I'm a Bag Lady

Sorry about that lag in posting, Nita came in last Thursday and we were hard at it, shopping, cooking and eating.  Then we had to chill out with a facial and massage that was undoubtedly the BEST massage I've ever had.  On to the business of this post.  BAGS!

I love bags.  I might be a collector, or maybe just a hoarder of bags.  No... not plastic bags, eeewww plastic bags are horrible.  I try not to use many plastic bags or plastic things.  Hubby likes baggies for things in his lunch, like brownies and cookies and candies.

I have knitting bags of course

I'm working on my PhD... projects half done.

and I keep a couple of those thin fold-into-a-tiny-bundle bags in my purse for unexpected purchases.

I should start making these,  I probably have fabric that could be used for just this sort of thing.

Of course I have re-usable grocery bags! Jody calls these "perhaps bags" or "movie grocery bags".  

Love my net bags, but the Sack-it Boys hate them.

I keep them all in my Going to the Grocery Store Bag.

Shhh, it's really just a wine bag that I ripped out the stitching on one of the compartments to make it bigger. 

One day looonnng ago I was digging through the mark-down tables at my local grocery store.  You can find some good stuff in the mark-downs but stay away from the cheese.   I found these re-usable produce bags.

$6.99 at Container Store on-line, I think they may be even more in the store.  Here are some I found on another website.

These bags are made of a mesh fabric that is a little sturdier that tule netting but still sheer enough that produce can be scanned through the fabric.  In the mark-down bin these babies were around $2.50 per package of 3...  yeah, I grabbed up all they had.  4 packages, I'd seen them at The Container Store and knew what kind of a bargain I was getting.  I kept 2 packages for myself and gave the other 2 packages away cuz I'm just nice like that.

Then one day I was in the fabric store buying fabric like I do and I ran across some fabric that was a mesh sort of like the produce bags but sturdier!  So I bought a yard (maybe a yard and a half) and threw it in my fabric stash like I do when I'm not off for the summer.

So it's summer now and I thought "hey, I should make those bags." I figured out how many I could make without ANY left over waste.  I used EVERY last inch of that stuff.  Of course I don't have any pictures of how I laid out the fabric, I just fly by the seat of my pants at this creating stuff.

I serged my bags up the two sides, most of the bags were just folded in half with the fold on the bottom. One of my first bags I folded the top edges over first and stitched them down before serging the sides right up to the casing.

Bag with casing sewn before the sides were sewn.

This left a casing for my cord to run through on each side.   That worked fine but I remembered that I had some small grommets in my sewing junk.

I serged I don't know if that's a proper word but I'm going to use it both sides of the bag up to the top.  Then I folded the top down to form a casing.  I carefully measured eyeballed where I wanted my grommet to be placed, and clipped a tiny hole in the bag.

Hole clipped

Then I took everything outside to the concrete pad by the backdoor this 4X4ft square was labeled "patio" when we bought our house, we were forced to build The Big Deck because we couldn't find tiny furniture to fit "the patio."

Place the grommet on the 'right side' of the fabric

 You want to do this process on concrete because you have to whack it with a hammer and whacking on tile or marble can result in cracked tile or marble and a husband that goes nuts on you.  Just take it outside, I know it's hot but it doesn't take long.

My grommets came with a little plastic setter contraption, the grommet is under the fabric with the blue plastic thingy under it.

 Follow the directions on your grommet setter as to how to set the grommet in place.  I think this set is made for making belts I can't even remember where I got this stuff, could have been in my Mom's stash that I inherited.

About to whack the setting tool on the wrong side of the grommet which is the right side to whack it on.

 After setting all the grommets in all my bags I then went back to the sewing machine (not the serger) and folded the top of the bags down toward the inside and stitched them to form a casing.

 I then ran a length of Rat Tail cording (it's a satin cord that is perfect for this type of project) through the casing and tied a knot in the end.  I have a bunch of cording that I inherited from Aunt Shorty's stash which makes it perfect for this project.

Ta Da!  I ended up with 2 large bags plenty big enough for potatoes, 4 medium sized bags, and 2 wee bags about the size of a sandwich bag.  These are great for little things like garlic or a few nuts from the bulk isle.

Finished bags, I sized my bags roughly the same size as the store bought versions.

I gave some of these I don't know what sizes, because I was just grabbing them out of my Going to the Store Bag to my friend Dawn.  She was so excited! She hates plastic too.

In the $$ break down...  I think I may have paid $6 for the fabric, the grommets and Rat Tail were free, so these bags were probably less than 75 cents each!  That's crazy!  They were SO easy to make.

Make yourself some produce bags and quit using those plastic bags in the grocery store. Unless you have dog or cat poop to pick up, they're great for that!

Making yogurt, it's really easy!

I'll go ahead and post this because Nita is coming Thursday and we'll be busy... shopping, cooking, the movies and going for facials and massages.  Oh and don't forget the wine drinking!!

Nita getting home from the clinic the last time I was at her house.

I've been making yogurt for almost a year now.  I just got tired of paying so much for the Greek yogurt that I absolutely love.  Did you know all you have to do to make greek yogurt is to strain the whey out of regular yogurt.

I started researching how to make yogurt on the internet and found lots of different methods.  I didn't want one of those plug-in kind of yogurt makers and found the Easiyo Yogurt Maker.  I found mine on Ebay, but they also have them on Amazon.  It's like a big thermos and really easy to use. 

Here's how I make yogurt in the Easiyo maker.  You'll need to buy 1 container of yogurt with LIVE cultures, it'll say so on the container any brand will work.  You'll also need some powdered milk (this just makes the yogurt thicker and richer.)

You'll need a thermometer so you don't over or under heat the milk.

I don't use the plastic container that came with the set. I use a quart Mason jar.  That's my 'starter' yogurt in that little jar.

 I have this phobia about putting hot things in plastic containers or putting plastic containers into hot water or mixing plastic with heat.  I use plastic, I just don't like it around my food. So if you want a couple of Easiyo containers let me know and I'll send them to you.

Once the milk reaches 185F remove it from the heat.  Now's the hard part, waiting until it cools down to 110F.  If you add the hot milk to your 'starter' you'll kill it, so you have to wait.  Or you can set your double boiler pan in a bowl of ice water to bring the temp down.  Just don't get any water in your milk.

Once the temp is down to 110F you can begin ladling some milk into the jar.  To this milk add 1/4 cup of powdered milk and mix it well.  Then begin adding more milk, mixing well with the powdered milk mixture after each addition.  When you get the jar half full add the 'starter' yogurt, about 2 tablespoons and mix well.  Add the remainder of the milk and stir.  I use a little whisk to do this.

With the Easiyo you'll need boiling water too.  You fill the container with boiling water up to the designated area, place the jar in and put the lid on the container.

I just put the canning lid on the jar with the ring and set it down into the hot water in the Easiyo container. Put the container lid on and let it set for 12 to 24 hours.

It's sitting.

 Recently my yogurt hasn't been setting up in 12 hours like it was in the winter.  Maybe it's because our house is cooler Jody likes it cold... we could hang beef in here now that it's summer.  I'll explain how I took care of that below. 

After the yogurt is set I remove the Mason jar from the Easiyo container and put jar in the fridge.  I usually leave it in the fridge for 12 hours.  Then I strain it, this makes it Greek yogurt.  Before I strain it I'll scoop out 2 tablespoons to use as my starter the next time I make yogurt.

I pour the yogurt out of the jar into a mesh strainer that is lined with a clean flour sack dish towel set over a large bowl.  It's already pretty thick, but I like it even thicker.

I let the yogurt drain for 4 to 8 hours in the fridge, the longer it drains the thicker is will become.  The small jar contains my 2+ tablespoons of 'starter' for my next batch.  I save this liquid (whey) and add it to my juice and smoothies for added protein.

If you strain the yogurt for longer than 12 hours it becomes Yogurt Cheese.  It's a lot like cream cheese! It's great on bagels with guava jelly.

 Now for the part where I tell you that you don't need the Easiyo!  A few weeks ago my yogurt didn't set after 12 hours.  (I just poured the water in the container out and put in more boiling water and let it set another 12 hours.)  But I was worried.   Internet to the rescue!! 

There were a couple of methods, so I tried two of them the next time I made yogurt.   One method was the oven method, the other was the heating pad method.

First the oven method.  I made my yogurt as usual, only I made a double batch.   I added 3 tablespoons of 'starter' and 1/2 cup of powdered milk,  1/2 went into my jar that I placed in my cold oven.  I turned the light on and begged Jody not to turn the light off.   The next morning....  YOGURT!  That easy!  That's pretty amazing that the tiny oven light makes that much heat.

But back up a bit,  in the other half of the batch I added Lemon Essential Oil!  I hear you... "no way!"  Yes whey! If your Essential Oil is food grade you can add any scent/flavor to food.  I say any, but I mean the food oils, I don't think I'd use cedar, tea tree or sandalwood.  I'm thinking lemon lavender next time.

In some little jars I put a tablespoon of honey, then I added the lemon flavored yogurt to the jars.  I put the lids on them and set them on a thick crocheted dish drainer that was set on a heating pad on top of a wood cutting board. 

These little jars hold a surprising amount of yogurt.

Cutting board, heating pad on low, dish drainer or you could use a doubled dish towel.  I didn't want the heating pad directly on my counter top.

 Once all the lids were on the jars I placed a bath towel over the top of them that I had folded in half and in half again.  I wanted to hold that heat in.

Viola!  Thick yogurt in the morning!

It was REALLY yummy!

I've been eating the lemon-honey yogurt with frozen blueberries or peaches.

I know this process seems time consuming, but it's really easy and if you like yogurt as much as I do, but hate waiting for those sales, you should try this.  Canning jars are cheep right now with it being 'the season'.

Y'all have a good weekend.