Tuesday, September 30, 2008

I am inspired!

Reading Happy to be at Home I have been so inspired to really push to do even more to take feeding my family seriously. In today's H2BH entry, there was a recipe to make home made yogurt. I have seen recipes like this before, but never felt like I wanted to make it. Today is different. I halved the recipe - I happened to have a pint of organic plain yogurt in my fridge and a lot of milk. I am calculating - all I need to do is save a pint from each batch, make it in the evening, and have 2 quarts the next day. This is way more cost effective than buying yogurt, and it is a great encouragement to eat more of it. I can use it in smoothies (we have those for b'fast 2 days a week), baking, eating with fruit, and so on. It can also be strained and used in place of sour cream on baked potatoes and tacos.

The other thing I made from that entry was the packet oatmeal. I threw it together in about 2-3 minutes, did a test run in the microwave for 1.5 minutes (just add water) and voila! Delicious, nutritious, cheap instant oatmeal. Olivia loved it - this will make an easy quick snack any time of day.

The funny thing is that the powdered milk I have (that I thought was plain old powdered milk) is actually a Latin version of "formula" for kids - it was sold with the evaporated and powdered milk, so I was surprised to see what it really was. The great thing is that it is fortified with even more vitamins and minerals so the kids are getting a nutritious kick in their breakfast.

I am feeling so inspired! I think I'll whip out the sewing machine and tackle a few over-due sewing projects. I have a couple of minor repairs - an article of clothing for a friend, a couple of my green bags are getting worn out, and I have this gorgeous Mexican looking table cloth that we set on fire last year (don't ask). Enough of it burned to not be usable as a tablecloth, but there is still enough left to make a couple of bags. I am not too skilled with the sewing machine, so that will be fun. They will be used for groceries, so I guess it doesn't matter much if they are perfect or not.

Good night!

4 comments:

Just another mother said...

You're inspired . . . I'm inspired! I'll have to check out that site.

You are such a great mother! I love to read about how you consciously make an effort to give your family the best you can.

love ya, Mel!

Anonymous said...

Wow, how great that you found inspiration from our site. I'm inspired by what you've done myself.

smileymamaT said...

Making yogurt! I did not even know that could be done at home... and the oatmeal too, although I don't like it, the kids do. I'm curious, I'll go see the other post.

Have fun with the sewing machine...the more you do the more easy it feels and soon you can sew anything in your sleep.

Mellie_Blogs said...

It actually came out pretty good - a little more sour than store bought, and thinner...but it made the absolute best smoothies and tonight I am straining some (a dish towel folded in thirds set in a strainer over a pan) for yogurt cheese - and that is delish! It's exactly like sour cream, so... I don't have to buy that anymore, either! : )