Fermentation - so far... and an almost Birthday boy

The yogurt turned out well, a little thin as I thought but I think that the temperature dropped too much over the time on the counter, so I need to find a way to keep it warmer next time.
We've been using it in smoothies and one day mixed some with a berry blend jam and we all like it! And it doesn't seem to bother my tummy - which is great as I am lactose intolerant.

A couple of days ago a local business owner, posted on Facebook that she had extra water kefir grains to give away! I quickly replied asking for some and tagged others in town who I thought might enjoy them. I made lemonade with the fermented liquid and was SO surprised and impressed!
I followed the method from Cultures for Health - who I linked to in the last post as well.

Here are the basic steps :
1. Strain out the kefir grains from the water you receive them in, or if you are starting with new, dry grains, skip to next step.
2. In a clean 1qt glass jar, add 1/4 cup sugar (organic cane sugar, rapidura, white sugar, etc. but NOT honey as it is antibacterial in nature and will not allow the grains to ferment properly) into hot water that has been boiled and cooled (I used what was left in my kettle from the morning). Swirl around until sugar dissolves
3. Fill to about 2" from the top with cold filtered water, check the temperature with a clean finger and ensure it is room temperature or a bit cooler.
4. Add your kefir grains back into the jar, cover with a coffee filter or kleenex and place on your counter. Let sit 24-48 hours.
5. With the water that is left after you filter out the grains, there will be a sweetness to it, but most of the sugar is converted to lactic acid as the culture works. You are left with a wonderful probiotic drink that you can flavour with any kind of juice you like! I had a big bottle of lemon juice on hand, so that's what I did with my first batch, and made lemonade, it was delicious!!
I think I'll do lemonade again and maybe try cranberry juice too!
Store in fridge and consume within a couple of days (if it lasts that long!)

I have to do more research on what to do when you want to take a break or are going away... more on that when I learn!

My almost 4 year old

PART 2 of post :)

I already added the pics, so one long post it is....

I asked Caleb what he wanted to have for his birthday breakfast tomorrow and he said cinnamon buns (he was looking at the picture from his birthday last year, and that's what he was eating, so I think it was a bit provoked), SO we made cinnamon buns - refined sugar-free!

2 1/2 cups warm water
1 TB yeast
generous 1/3 c raw honey

Add to Stand mixer bowl and let foam a few minutes.

Add a cup of flour and turn on the mixer, then add another and another, and another. Continue to add flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and takes on a dough-like texture. I was letting Caleb do the flour, so we didn't count, nor were each of his "cups" exact.... but I would guess it was about 5-6 cups. We did 1 c WW flour and the rest unbleached all-purpose.

Also add 1/3c oil.

Once dough has come together, remove to floured surface and knead by hand a few times, filling in sticky spots with a bit more flour and make a nice loose ball. Oil a bowl and place dough in, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1.5-2 hrs.

Roll out dough on Parchment paper until thin, about 1/4" I would guess.

Brush with 1/4-1/2c melted butter (I melted 1/2 and had extra left over)
Sprinkle with Cinammon & Sugar mixture, we used about 1/2c Sucanat and 2 TB cinnamon, but there's no hard fast measurements here.

Now I decided to roll it to halfway, then cut the dough down the centre, then roll the other half up as the dough was so long!
I then cut each roll into half, and half again, etc until I had 12 buns from each roll.

Place 12 buns in greased/parchment lined 9x13 pans and cover to rise for another 30min

Bake at 350 for 15-17 mins or until just golden on top. I overbaked mine as the recipe I adapted the above from called for 30 min of baking - and I checked them after 18 mins and one pan was burnt on the bottom - sad :( Burnt cinnamon is not good!

Otherwise they look delicious and we'll enjoy them with some fruit in the morning!

Cute helper :) He loves rolling pins, haha

Sucanat and Cinnamon mixture, we added raisins to half and walnuts to the other half

Allow to rise 30 min once in pan.... Anticipation is growing!

Finished product! One is missing... we had to share one and make sure they were ok of course ;)

New Year = more fermented foods

Although I wouldn't call it a 'resolution' necessarily, one of my goals this year is to incorporate more fermented foods in mine and my family's diet. The probiotics and beneficial bacteria that exist are abundant and good for our guts!
So far, I made yogurt yesterday with heated milk and a starter culture. Keep warm for 4-5 hours to incubate, then transfer to refrigerator. I haven't tried it yet - but it looked a little thin when I put it into a container last night. I plan to make a smoothie this afternoon and start there. Some other ideas I have for it are:
- Sweeten with honey or maple syrup and pure vanilla extract
- Mix with berries and use as topping for waffles that are our tradition on Saturday mornings
- Smoothies - to which I now add spinach every time (and the kids know it - and still drink them down!)
- Baking/cooking
- Straining to get whey....

Now that leads to me to some of the other Lacto-fermenting I intend to do and have recently jotted down some recipes from Cultures for Health for Applesauce and Ketchup which I am excited to try!

Sourdough bread is another new thing I would like to try making from scratch this year. Though I will admit it seems daunting to even begin! It needs to sit on your counter for several days and you keep adding to it, and if it didn't work I know I would get discouraged!

One step at a time! A friend has just shared a soaked flour loaf recipe which you leave for 8-18 hours on the counter, so I am determined to start there (tonight) and work with it in the morning and see how it goes. I just bought some fresh ground rye flour so I plan to use that half and half with unbleached white. I'll let you know how it turns out - and how the yogurt is too!

Since the last post...

** Written December 19th :)

Wow, in the mere hours it's been since I wrote the last post, my hands have been quite busy. My oldest was sick twice this afternoon and unfortunately didn't make it to the toilet either time.... so my hallway (and walls) and bathroom have been disinfected not once, but twice today, and seeing how I had just cleaned the toilet yesterday, it's been now cleaned three times in two days, that may be too much information - but is pretty much unheard of for me, unless out of necessity of course. He perked up this afternoon and ate a full supper and bedtime snack but was tucked in and asleep before 8pm. Praying his little body recharges well tonight.

 My little lady has developed a cough that started yesterday and worsened this morning. Thanks to this Homemade cough syrup recipe that I made first thing this morning (cutting onions before I've eaten anything was not a good idea!) anyhow, she is still coughing, but she likes the syrup and it did settle down into the evening - though I have already been in twice to settle her, so it may be a long night!

My hands have also...
- Felt a babe kick within my womb and attempted to give it just a few minutes of attention amidst a busy day
- been busy in the kitchen prepping ganache for truffles, making a batch of these to die for (healthy) chocolate macaroons, and prepping loaves to be cut and baked again tomorrow for crisps that tast like those really expensive crackers from the grocery store. I'll share the recipe depending how they turn out!
 - done the many dishes and cleanup that follows baking! And now I have tucked in at 9:30, hubby on call tonight, and the final thing these hands will do before resting will be to knit.....

Christmas anticipation and recipe

**Written December 19th and published today....

Our advent season involves a book that my husband got 3 or 4 years ago titled "God with us: Rediscovering the meaning of Christmas". I really enjoy it and look forward to it every year. It's harder now as the readings are a bit long for a 2 & 4 yr old to sit through, but they are learning, and we know that this is a tradition we will continue for many years to come and someday they will listen, absorb and by God's grace, believe.

From Monday's reading "Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. but if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over" John 12:24 MSG
Written by Luci Shaw (one of the authors): Buried in a woman's body. Birthed in a cold cave. Buried in a lifetime of ignominy (dishonour/public contempt). Buried again in the tomb. Buried in human hearts to be birthed and rooted and risen again - in us. God's buckets of water will do it - drench and nourish the seed in us that makes more seeds - a hundredfold.

This created such a picture image in my mind that made it more tangible and so I wanted to share :) I am really excited for Christmas and being with family and celebrating Christ's birth. I'm getting antsy!!! And I think the anticipation is good, it is what the advent season is about, the waiting, the wondering, the awe that is the birth of Christ through young Mary. May you experience the season with anticipation as well!


While on the topic of wheat, I thought i'd share my favorite pizza dough recipe. Pizza crusts/frozen pizzas were one of the last processed food items that I would still buy because making dough just seemed like too much work! But now that I have this recipe and it only has to rise for an hour, it makes it much more doable and of course is much better for me and my family!! Enjoy :)
1 TB Active Dry Yeast
1c Warm water
2 1/2c Unbleached flour, or your favorite combination (we always do 1/2 wheat, 1/2 Unbleached)
2 TB Oil
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp honey (more or less)

Dissolve yeast and honey in water. Let stand 5min. Mix dry ingredients together, add yeast mixture and combine well. Knead in mixer or on floured surface until smooth. Place in greased bowl and cover, allow to rise 1-1.5 hours. Dough will perfectly fit in a rectangle stoneware bar pan, or divide in half to make 2 rounds. Top with fave toppings and bake at 425 15-20 min (2 rounds will need a bit less time) 

Some of our fave topping combos:
- spinach, black beans and avocado
 - ham, pineapple, peppers and mushrooms
- BBQ sauce, chicken , onions, spinach, peppers
 Enjoy! This is what we're having tonight!

Market goodies!

Simple Blankets ranging from $10 - $25

A variety of knit items for babies, kids, and ladies ranging from $8 to $30

Cards available individually for $2.50 or sets of 5 for $10

Enjoy these insights into the the creations that have come "From the work of my hands" and please please visit me at the Three Hills Christmas Market at the Community Centre on Main Street tomorrow - Saturday December 1st between 10am and 4pm.

Any items that do not sell at the market will be available on here to buy, so if you are not in TH and see something you are interested in - let me know :)

Christmas Market & First post!

Well I have decided to have a booth at the market in town this year and have been racking my brain for weeks for a name.... something that reflects the love and care I put into what I create, as well as the variety of things I create. FINALLY - today, 4 days before market, it came to me after a lot of time praying and thinking on it... "From the work of my hands". And behold, as I sat down to create some kind of logo or design, I decided to Google the phrase and was surprised to find few results.... then I searched it as a blog name and it was available. Hmmm..... interesting! So I seized the moment and claimed it!
I hope to post some pictures of the creations I have prepared for the market, though it may be after market day as these last few days I am preparing in every spare moment.
Things you can expect to see are:
 - Four different designs of homemade Christmas cards with envelopes, $10 for 5
 - Four handmade gift bags that turned out actually quite nice and I am having second thoughts about selling them! No no, I will put them out. Will be priced at $3-5 each, depending on size
 - Knit items for women and children, various prices from $8 to $30 and mostly in natural fibres
 - Simple cozy blankets with fun patterns for babes, boys, and girls. Ranging from small 24" square size, to 45"x25"(with the cutest monkey pattern you've ever seen!) Still working on the pricing for these!


As a random side note, a friend who is an Usborne  consultant has been trying to encourage me to sign up, or to spread the need for a consultant in town. I saw her yesterday and she asked if I wanted to take a box of books to the market since no one else was likely to be selling them. I agreed... though not sure how I am going to fit all this stuff on one table!

Hope to see all you locals there, and for anyone who isn't in town and is interested in anything after I post pics, I will be happy to arrange getting it to you!