Homemade Greek Yogurt

I've been toying with the idea of trying to make my own yogurt for awhile now, and with literally 100s of recipes online, it really is a matter of just picking one. Last week one of the ladies from my mommy group posted a recipe for Homemade Greek Yogurt that looked so easy. Knowing she had great success, I thought I'd give it a try. 

I'm not going to go into grand details since I followed the recipe pretty much exactly (except I halved it) but here is the rundown:

- Heat up 4 cups of milk in a saucepan until it reaches 180F exactly. 

- Let it cool until it is between 110-120F

- Stir in 1 tsp of plain yogurt

- Let it incubate for 8-12 hours in the oven (we left ours for 12 hours)

- Strain

- Mix in flavour. We added about a 1 tsp of vanilla and 1.5 tbsp of honey

There's a few things I wanted to mention:

This recipe is super super easy, but slightly time consuming. It took about an hour to heat up, then cool down the milk to the desired temperatures. However after that was done, I just put the bowl in the oven overnight. 

Jason took it out the next morning since I was at work and left it to strain for several hours in the fridge. We weren't sure how long we were suppose to leave it, so we just let it hang until supper time. 

Unless you like plain yogurt, you pretty much need to add a sweetener of some kind. This time we chose honey, next time I think we'll try maple syrup. 

In conclusion, we'll definitely be doing this again!

Click here for the recipe. 

Kitchen? check!

This weekend's nesting target was the kitchen.  The very much over due kitchen. 

We (mostly Jason) ended up cleaning almost all the cupboards. And I am so grateful, because now our kitchen is truly clean and organized. 

He started by tackling the lazy susan containing my baking ingredients. Turns out there was mould in a the back corners! Gross. So he ended up actually taking everything out, including the lazy susan itself. He then washed and repainted the cupboards. We decided to move the pots and pans into that corner, and take the food out, in case the mould reappears. 

Which means we then tackled the former pot and pan cupboard, cleaning it then putting my baking supplies away in an organized fashion (because that is how I roll). I was also able to continue my mason jar obsession. I seriously love mason jars. They are great to store stuff, especially things that you want to keep fresh like spices, herbs, nuts and the all important chocolate chips. 

After that, he worked on the drawers with Kaleb. I'm sad that I missed that. They did an excellent job and now instead of being a complete upside down mess, we can easily find what we're looking for. 

They also did the lazy susan with our canned goods, pasts, soups and stuff. Ever since we made a conscious effort to "clean" eating, that cupboard is quite bare. Same goes for our chips, crackers and snacks cupboard. That one Jason and I did during nap time today. Jason also cleaned the cupboard that contains all the electric gadgets and the oven drawer. 

So basically, our kitchen is spotless and organized, just the way this nesting mama likes it. Next stop: closets.  

This Week's Menu

We will be busy packing all week for our vacation, so this week's menu consists of easy food choices! 

Saturday: Steak, Potatoes and Ceasar Salad

Sunday: Taco night

Monday: Chicken thighs with oven fries

Tuesday: Pork Chops and Rice

Wednesday: Sausage

Thursday: Pizza

Friday: TBA - we'll be on VACATION!!!!!!! (I'm not excited at all)

Wordless Wednesday

Nesting? Yes please!

The nesting instinct has hit full force and it's glorious. Why? Because with Kaleb I didn't get "it" until far along in my pregnancy and by then I was too exhausted and sick to do anything. This time around, however, watch out junk!!

So we spent the weekend organizing the kids' room. My original plan in life was to repaint the room a steel grey colour and have an airplane theme going on, but then I got pregnant and with a 50/50 chance of having a girl we've decided to keep it gender neutral. So half of the room has airplanes going on, and the other half will be baby. 

We started by pulling out one of the dressers, to make room for Kaleb's big boy bed (which he absolutely loves!!) and placing everything in a way that works. Small space design is not my thing, and it took a while to get everything the way I wanted. 

We then had make room in the closet for all the stuff that was in the dresser, as well as all of Kaleb's clothes that are in the change table dresser. In that one we'll have all of their diapers as well as the baby's sleepers. 

Jason installed a little hook thing for Kaleb's sweatshirts, which he also loves. When we want him to wear one, we just ask that he go get a sweater and he picks one out and tries to put it on! It's sooo adorable!

We also put up frames that we got for Christmas and his birthday and hung model airplanes from the ceiling. Turns out aligning four crooked metal frames is not easy, and so they are not perfect but will do. I really like the way the model planes turned out though. Jason has two more at work that we'll hang as well. 

 Finally, I put up the wooden letters on the door that I had painted last fall. I used that blue sticky stuff and it worked like a charm! I decided on that instead of something more permanent since our grand plan is to renovate and move into the basement this winter. 

In between all that we also decluttered and scrubbed the kitchen and dining room. So half our house looks simply amazing and I can't wait to finish everything else on my massive list. 

Changes

So this post is long overdue.

For the last few days I've been trying to think of a clever way to say it. But alas, I'm not that clever. So I'll just use my kid. 

Yep, we're expecting baby #2 in September!!  

This pregnancy has been completely different than Kaleb. From the speed (this one is flying by!) to the kicks (very active baby) to the hormones (hello emotions). A few things are the same though, like heartburn. Tums are this mama's best friend. 

The last few weeks we've been busy preparing for the new baby, this weekend in particular. It's still surreal, but this baby is coming so we better get ready! 

This Week's Menu

We spent a ton of money on groceries last week, so this week we are keeping it to a minimum and using as much as we can from the freezer. 


Saturday: Southern Fried Chicken (freezer) with oven fries

Sunday: Deer Sausage (freezer) with rice

Monday: Broken down chicken (freezer) with sliced potatoes (all on the bbq)

Tuesday: Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin (sale!) with home fries

Wednesday: Meatless spaghetti

Thursday: Homemade pizza

Friday: Lasagna (my brother is babysitting and requested it for supper)


Hope you have a good week!

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Wordless Wednesday

In an attempt to get back into blogging, I'm going to start with some easy. Sharing photos of my kid! Enjoy!