Homemade Yoghurt

There are 3 different methods of making yoghurt at home that I have found. Using the Easiyo sachets, using a small amount of purchased live yoghurt and using the live organic cultures. Each way creates real yoghurt, and costs a fraction of buying it tubs. For all of these methods you will need an Easiyo thermos, a regular thermos or a small esky.

For the Easiyo thermos, you combine the cold ingredients in a plastic container, which then sits in the insulated thermos in boiling water. With a regular thermos you will need to heat the milk/water until just warm, then add the culture and pour it in. With an esky, use same method as regular thermos, but pack the esky with towels etc around the container to insulate it. You need to maintain a luke warm temp for the cultures to activate.

Easiyo Sachet Method
2 or 3 Tbs Easiyo Mix
1 cup milk powder
Water

In the container, combine all the ingredients and stir up well. Add enough water to make about 600ml. You will see on the Easiyo sachet, they recommend using the whole sachet. You don't need to do this, and standing the mix for slightly longer will create the same product.


Purchased Live Yoghurt Method
2 or 3 Tbs ready made yoghurt with live cultures
500ml milk - fresh or powdered
1/4 cup powdered milk

Mix it all together and put into the container. The extra powdered milk is optional, but creates a thicker creamier yoghurt. Make sure the yoghurt you buy has live cultures and does not contain gelatine.


Live Culture Method
I haven't had the chance to order any live cultures yet, and so don't have the instructions. This is the most economical way to make yoghurt. It costs between $18 and $28 depending on type of starter you prefer from Cheeselinks for enough culture to make 250 litres of yoghurt!!! If anyone uses this method I'd love to hear from you to get some feedback. I cant wait to order some!

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No matter which method you choose to use, you can use a couple of tablespoons from your homemade batch to start off the next batch (sub culturing). This will only work a couple of times, as the bacteria tend to die after a while. Some die before others and can affect the taste and texture of the yoghurt.

Flavourings
You can add pretty much anything to the finished yoghurt. Add it after it has finished incubating so it doesn't affect the bacteria. Sugar, honey, vanilla, jam, nuts, stewed fruit, dried fruit, fresh fruit, topping, mueslie, crumbles, cereal etc etc. I'd also love to hear of everyones favorite flavourings and suggestions.

Happy yoghurt making!

Making Labneh (Yoghurt Cheese)

I love making this cheese, it's easy, quick and so yummy. It's middle eastern in origin and traditionally served drizzled with olive oil and dried mint or zaatar and smeared onto toasted pita bread. It can also be used in place of philly cheese or cottage cheese on crackers or as part of a dip. Another way to serve it is rolled into small balls and covered with herbs. Great as part of a tapas plate.

Labneh is made from natural yoghurt, which has been drained through a cloth so all of the whey drains out. From each cup of yoghurt you will get about 1/2 cup of cheese. Try to get yoghurt with no gelatine, as this stops the whey separating from the cheese.

You'll need:
Yoghurt
Salt
Cheesecloth or muslin (a clean tea towel will do)

Put a couple of pinches of salt in the yoghurt. Place the cheesecloth over a strainer or colander and empty the yoghurt into it. Gather up the edges of the cloth and tie with string or rubber band. It's best if you can suspend it so the whey drains out freely. Leave overnight or longer for a firmer cheese.

When it has finished draining, the cheese can be rolled into one large ball with a dimple in the middle to hold some good olive oil and sprinkled with fresh or dried herbs, or you can roll into small single serve balls, cover with olive and keep in the fridge.

The whey can be used for cooking in cakes, pancakes, biscuits etc. Try experimenting with different herbs and spices, garlic and other flavourings. Sweet things also work well - dried fruit, nuts and syrups.

Next post will be about making your own fresh yoghurt - it's so easy and much cheaper than buying it from the shop.

My Favorite Kitchen Tools

Thought I would show off some of my favorite kitchen tools. They make cooking so much easier and more enjoyable. None of them are electric so you can use them anywhere, even camping!!

First up, mortar & pestle. Nothing you can't smash up in the mortar. You can make marinades, herb blends, flavoured salts, infused sugars, crush biscuits, crack nuts etc etc. My favorite thing to do is make rubs for meat. Slurp in some good olive oil, sea salt and any herbs or spices you like. I usually use rosemary, garlic and parsley for flavoring. Rub it over a roast, chops, cutlets, steak etc. Mine is made from granite which I prefer, but you can also get wooden, glass, marble and ceramic variations. Definitely an essential tool!


Microplane. Pretty expensive for what it is (a glorified grater) but it's super super sharp and makes grating and zesting really easy. You can get all different types and styles for fine grating, coarse grating, ribbon grating and spice grating. I use mine mostly for zesting and grating parmesan.

Whisk. Arguably the most popular tool in a french kitchen. They use it to do almost everything - not just whipping, but folding, blending and stirring. Mine is a french whisk, but you can also get a balloon whisk, flat whisk or a ball whisk. I use it mostly for beating eggs for scrambled eggs or pancakes - I dont have the patience to use it for whipping egg whites or cream.



Mincer. Picked up this old dear from eBay. Its cast iron so it weighs a tonne, and is really old. Its called a Pope Major. Not sure what that means but it's the best for mincing meat (obviously) and I use it to make large batches of pasta sauce. It minces the tomatos, onion and garlic up all together. No chopping or pureeing needed! It also came with a biscuit press attachment which I haven't used yet but looks fun. It forces the biscuit dough through a patterned plate to make different shaped biscuits.

Pasta Maker. One of my best mates bought me a pasta maker last month. Not just any pasta maker - the Marcato Mulitpast Wellness. It came with all the attachments for making spaghetti, fettucine, lasagne, reginette, tagliolini, pappardelle and even a specialised ravioli attachment which fill and cuts at the same time. Nothing better than tucking into freshly made pasta. We use eggs from our own chickens too so we know it's made with organic free range eggs. Here is a picture of the beauty:



Knives!!!!! Anyone who is reading this and knows me will know I have a "thing" for knives. Nothing better than a good sharp knife. Really sharp. Chop your finger off sharp. If it's sharp it will cut your food prep time in half, is much safer and give way better results. You don't need heaps of knives, a few good quality ones will do. A large chefs knife - 10-12" and paring knife 4-5" will get you through most jobs. A filleting and a serrated edge blade are handy too.

There are heaps of good brands out there, which will give you a good result. Mine are Mundial and are close to 10 years old now and I wouldn't swap them for the world. The most important thing to test out is how it feels in your hand. If it feels balanced while you are chopping you wont tire out using it for long periods of time. A stone is essential to hone the edge first - I get our butcher to do this for me. Then before you use the knife, hit it with the steel to straighten the edge. Get a good steel and learn to use it properly. Doing this, the knife should keep the edge for a pretty long time, depending on which type of knife you choose.


With all of these tools, I don't think there would be much you couldn't do. Always buy the best quality you can affort and you'll have them for life. :-)

Timber Benchtops

Using timber was about my last choice for the kitchen benchtops. We had a quote for some nice black granite, but the company went bust and we couldn't find another quote even close to the same price. Next in line was a stone composite, almost as expensive as the real thing, then laminate...ew. DH gently suggested timber and of course I objected - until he said he could make it out of recycled timber, and it would cost us nothing. Sounded pretty good then. So this is what we started with - hardwood timber pallets that were used to deliver steel.



As you could imagine, they were rough as guts and all different lengths and thicknesses. DH cut them roughly to length, and hit them with the electric plane to even them out. He had to hold them all together to make the bench so using a modified drill bit (welded onto some steel rod to make it long enough) he drilled through all of the lengthes and 'screwed' it together with some threaded rod. In between the timber there is wood glue as well.



Then, more hits with the plane, to get it even thickness and then with the sander to get it smooth. We had to fill in some knot holes with wood putty, then sand that again. We started with 60 grit sandpaper, working our way to the finer paper, finishing with 400grit (really fine, almost feels like plain paper). After doing that, the timber felt like velvet.





The sink hole, and another hole for the bin were cut out and then we did a trial fitting session. Looking good!





To finish the bench we had to find something to seal and protect the timber. Lacquer wasn't an option, it has harsh chemicals and chips, so we weren't about to put that anywhere near a food prep area. We found an organic oil, made in Byron Bay that claims to be food grade and suited for benchtops and chopping boards. It was about $10 for the can and I dont think we even used half of it. It's a mixture of oils including tung and citrus oils.



It smells so nice on the timber, and brought the colours out really well. It has cured over the last few days and has sealed the timber really well.









So there it is, finally in there and fixed down. The lid for the bin - at the far end - needs to be fitted and then the tiles on the splashback can go in. The kitchen is taking shape now. YAYYY

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After DH finished work last night, he ripped out the last of the old tiles and glued down the new ones. Tonight they can be grouted and finished off properly.

Making a Worm Farm

A little while ago we decided that a worm farm would be a good addition to our garden. We looked at the Can O Worms, the Reln Worm Factory and countless plans for farms made from polystyrene boxes, bath tubs etc etc. So we made our own take on all the plans and built our first worm farm today.

We started with 3 black plastic tubs, a plastic tap and some fly screen. DH made a frame out of scrap pieces of stainless RHS so the tubs can sit up off the ground and the liquid can drain into another container. Total cost to us was around $30 plus worms.



Firstly we had to drill holes in 2 of the tubs. This is for drainage of the 'worm wee' and so the worms can move freely between the levels. The base tub is solid and has the tap installed in the bottom. Because these tubs stack on top of each other fairly closely, DH made up some little brackets so they would sit up higher (about 150mm).



In the base tub we put in the tap so we can empty out the liquid that drains down through the farm.



The middle tub has fly screen taped down over the holes so the worms don't fall down into the liquid. The worms will move between the middle and top levels searching for food. This is the middle tub.



The top tub just has the holes in the bottom, so they can move up and down between the top and middle tubs.



With all of that done, we can start adding the bedding for the worms. We used 2 bricks of coco peat which expand to around 9litres when rehydrated and some damp potting mix. The middle tub was filled up to the bracket where the bottom of the top tray sits. This will be the worms main bedding layer. The top tub has a small amount of coco peat and potting mix and about 6 layers of wet newspaper on top. The worm food will be put under the newspaper, which keeps flies and light out, and the moisture in.

So here is the finished product!! The fancy frame that DH made, the solid tub with tap in the bottom, the middle bedding layer filled with coco peat, potting mix and worms, and the top feeding layer with a small amount of coco peat and potting mix, and damp newspaper on top.

Other Homemade Cleaning Products

Here are some more general cleaning products that we use here instead of commercial chemical cleaners. Using a combination of these, we don't ever have to purchase cleaning products from the supermarket. Yay!

Liquid Soap
Bar of homemade or pure soap
Water

Cover the bar of soap in enough water to cover it, and leave overnight to dissolve. When it is soft and slimy, add enough water to make a consistency like pouring cream. This can be used for almost anything. Use a small amount for cleaning benches, floors and as a hand wash.

Creamy Cleanser
Bi-carb Soda
1 cup Liquid soap or sulfate free detergent

Mix enough soda into the soap to form a creamy paste. This is the best for scrubbing showers, tiles, benches and sinks.

Window Cleaner
1/4 cup vinegar
1 Tb liquid soap
2 cups water

Shake together in a spray bottle and spray all over the glass. Wipe off with a clean rag, or newspaper.

All Purpose Cleaner
1/4 cup liquid soap
2 cups water
8 drops essential oil

Shake up in a spray bottle and use as you would any commercial spray cleaner. The best for in the kitchen, benchtops, stove top etc.

Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

The last thing for us to strike of the chemical list was the powder and rinse aid for the dishwasher. I think this one will have the biggest affect on our health. Now none of our cooking or eating utensils are getting drowned in poisons. Ick!! Here 'tis:

Dishwashing Detergent
1 cup washing soda
1 cup bi-carb soda
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid
20 drops lemon essential oil

Mix it all up and shake it really well. It tends to clump up but if you shake it each time you use it it's fine. I also use a tiny amount of a natural gel from the Sydney Essential Oil Co. They have a massive range of bases for soaps, detergents, hand creams, body butters etc and are all sulfate-free. Check out their website at SEOC.

Vinegar can be used as a rinse aid to fill up the dispenser. That will make sure your glasses aren't cloudy looking. Good luck!

Image from seoc.com.au