Mountain Bacon

1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 lb. bacon

pepper

Sprinkle bacon with pepper. Coat with flour/sugar mixture. Lay flat on an aluminum foiled covered baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, until crispy.

Holy cow. SO good.

No bake energy balls

Haven't made these yet, but want to. Much like the last recipe I posted. Just don't want to loose this and this is the easiest way for me to find it again.

http://fooddoodles.com/2011/06/28/one-bowl-all-natural-no-bake-energy-bites/

Protein Bars

I keep losing this recipe. I plan to blog about it, but for now I'm just going to post the link so I can find it easier next time I want it!

http://www.healthygreenkitchen.com/homemade-protein-bars.html

To-Do List

This has been added to my to-do list. Warning - Don't click on the link unless you want it added to your to-do list, too. It's way too cute to pass up!

http://pennycarnival.typepad.com/penny_carnival/2009/02/tutorial-hanging-book-display.html

Homemade Yogurt - Revised!

Awhile ago I read about a recipe for homemade yogurt using a slow cooker. (Here is the original recipe that I followed.) I have been making it on and off (mostly on) ever since. My biggest reason for doing so - It's so much cheaper. We go through a LOT of yogurt around here. Especially now with two yogurt loving babies instead of just one. I also got tired of not only spending so much money on yogurt, but also all the yogurt containers we were collecting!!! We recycle a lot of stuff, but if it can be reused as well, we try to do that first. Yogurt containers can definitely be reused for many things - Storing foods, toys, or other small items; they make great stacking toys and rolling toys for the kids. However, it was just a lot of containers, being reused or not. And I didn't like it.

So the yogurt recipe is good, but it just wasn't perfect. As is, the yogurt turns out pretty liquidy. You definitely have to mix it with something more solid to make it really edible, although it tastes just fine. The lady I got the recipe from says hers turned out fine. Mine didn't. And everyone else I know that has tried this has had the same result as me. The original recipe said that you could add a packet of unflavored gelatin to the yogurt at a certain point in the process, so I tried that. I ended up with a somewhat thicker yogurt with odd stringy gelatin spots in it. Again, definitely not perfect. But I kept trying. I think I've finally gotten it to where others can have better luck with it as well. Therefore, here is my detailed "recipe" for yogurt.

HOMEMADE YOGURT

Pour 8 cups of milk into your slow cooker and turn on low for 2.5 hours. I use whatever milk I happen to have. Today it was half skim, half whole. Personally I prefer some fat in yogurt because I know the little ones still need it somewhat and I feel like it's a relatively healthy way to get some fat in their diet.

After the 2.5 hours on low, turn the slow cooker off (unplug to be sure it's really off) and leave for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, empty a packet of unflavored gelatin into a bowl that will hold at least 2 cups of liquid. I use my 2 cup liquid measuring cup. Pour a small amount of boiling water in and mix until gelatin is completely dissolved. I measured today and I used probably just under 1/8 cup.

Next, take out about 1/4 cup of the yogurt from your slow cooker and mix with the dissolved gelatin. Mix well! Make sure the gelatin is not simply sticking to the bottom of your mixing bowl. When it is completely smooth, add more of the yogurt from your slow cooker, at least another cup, stirring to be sure it is completely mixing together.

Next, add at least half of a cup of pre-made yogurt. I have found I prefer to use a container of Greek yogurt if I don't have any starter leftover from the last batch of yogurt. It ends up being around 3/4 cup of very thick yogurt that you're adding, but I've done this several times and I'm always happy with the result. Stir yogurt together well to be sure there are no clumps left out.

Once that is all mixed together, pour it back into your slow cooker. I use a very small strainer to pour it through just to be extra sure that I'm not getting any residual non-mixed gelatin pieces or yogurt clumps.

Give it a slow stir once it is all back in your slow cooker. Then put the lid on, cover it with towels (to keep the remaining heat in), and leave it alone for eight (8) hours.

After the eight hours, it may or may not seem very thick. This will depend on what type of milk you used and what kind of yogurt you used as your starter. Either way, it will thicken upon chilling in the fridge. So put it into your leftover store-bought yogurt containers and pop it in the fridge.

As far as a cost comparison goes I don't have the exact numbers, but just thinking through everything I'd say it's around half the cost. Rough estimate -

One large container of yogurt at the store - around $3. And that probably won't be the organic stuff.

Homemade - Half gallon of organic milk - just under $3.

One packet of gelatin - less than $.50.

One container of Greek yogurt - about $1.

And this will make just over TWO large containers of yogurt.

That's what I used today, so I guess not half the cost, but about 25% less. However, the pre-made yogurt is not a normal cost for it. Generally, I used the last of the previous batch of yogurt, making that ingredient not cost anything extra. Therefore, my total is usually around $3 for two containers. And you can certainly cut the cost even more if you don't use organic milk.

Hope you enjoy!