The Joys of Fresh Milk

 Oops, you can't read the labels. I was using the pocket camera since Kirk had a blog to do on his site and was using the large camera. Made me appreciate the large cannon all that much more. If you could read the labels, they would read from left to right, ghee, small sterile yogurt saved to make the next batch, large quart of yogurt, and buttermilk.

 YES!!!, we are finally get milk.  The fridge has quart jars of milk and I'm starting to culture. Buttermilk was the first one I made. Got to have buttermilk for pancakes and... and.... and... I've become quite dependent on my buttermilk. When Chicory was dry I bought some from the store. It was thin and as usual, pretty tasteless like most of the stores products. Nothing like the thick, thick, homemade goat milk version that I have to add a little goat milk in the recipes because its so.... thick.

Which makes me wonder how come the home grown eggs at my folks were so tasteless, just like the stores. The yolks were a deep orange. You would have thought they would be good. I wonder if their neighbor fed her chickens lots of corn? The corn fed beef from the store doesn't have much flavor but it does have lots of cholesterol just like the eggs would if that was the main feed. Hmm... I'm going to have to ask her. You know how curious my brain is.

 Oh,  sorry, squirrel moment there. I was talking about milk. My new goal for the year is to keep buttermilk going, yogurt, add making my own sour cream, keep making ghee, and also make Feta regularly. Throw in some butter making and ice cream, and I'm going to be really busy trying to use my milk to its fullest. How in the world did folks in the days past ever get it all done?

The plan is to save on our grocery bill. It definitely won't be saving time.

I incubated a little yogurt yesterday with a new culture, the Y-5 from http://www.cheesemaking.com/ It is the naturally sweeter yogurt. The Bulgarian kind I tried last year was a bit stout for me. Tart yogurt isn't my thing.

 But with this yogurt, I plan on mainly making smoothies. This kind of yogurt is usually not as thick and I do have a couple other cultures to try also. Just as long as this Y-5 culture tastes good, that's okay with me. I'd rather have good taste than thickness any day. So I loaded up the blender with frozen blackberries, frozen strawberries, and a banana to try out our new Y-5 culture.

Bananas add lots of natural sugar, sweetening the mixture without adding sugar. You can freeze bananas and add them to your smoothies which I've done in the past. Don't peel, just pop into the freezer. The ones with brown spots are sweeter and the all brown ones I freeze and use three in one batch of banana bread where it calls for two. This will change your recipe a bit so adjust. 

These are the exact ones I don't like to eat fresh for some weird reason. I want my banana yellow, no brown freckles anywhere. It has to do with the softer textures that displeases me. Why, I love smoothies, and applesauce and lots of other soft things like ice cream?

As a side note, a blender needs to have square sides or like mine, it's round with squared off corners. This keeps your food from just whirling in a circle and not blending.

Alton Brown is who said square is the thing to buy but I don't agree with his using soy milk to put into his smoothies. Soy is not good for the thyroid and the Lord knows how much trouble I have with mine anyway. It's not popular with the doctors either.  When I went to the best endocrinologist in the area, she asked that I find another doctor. Of course my gynecologist said she'd just do the yearly exams too and leave the rest of my hormonal medical care up to someone else also. Seriously, I'm nice, I promise. It's just that I have a very difficult body to medically deal with, so NO soy.

 Wow, am I squirrely this morning. Can't seem to stay on the subject. Oh yeah, were talking about soy milk. The label says it has lots of protein and good stuff. What it doesn't say is it is in a form your body can't use. Like having a can without some sort of can opener. I think choosing freshly made goat milk yogurt is better anyway and that is just what I did.  

What I've learned lately is, add not enough yogurt and your smoothie will be grainy and not thick and smooth. Add fresh fruit instead of frozen and you will need to add 3 or 4 ice cubes to get that thick texture. Need a recipe? Uh, golly, gee, I don't measure. How... about approximately a cup of strawberry, a cup of blackberries, one banana, and a cup of yogurt, give or take?  But then use whatever fruit you want. Keep in mind that the dark  fruit or berries adds more anti-oxidants, really good thing. 

We plan on making these smoothies a regular in the evenings along with soup or salad. Something kind of light, especially since Kirk doesn't get home until 8 on work days. Hm... a stuffed potato might be nice too. 

Oh, and by the way, can someone tell me how to e-mail those who comment and post a reply on my blog at the same time? These computers are so baffling to me. I've got several comments to catch up on and I do like to personally converse with you. That way I can add a comment and add a bit more on a personal e-mail. 

Don't forget to wonder over to http://thecalicobush.blogspot.com/ I've been talking about buttons.