Here’s a video tour of our new house. I got a little spooked part way through when the front door blew open by itself! And I wasn’t about to go down to the basement again alone–silly, I know. But it’s creepy down there. There is a rat or two living in the house since it was vacant for over a year. And Yikes!!! I just won’t be comfortable there until I’m sure they are “taken care of.” Oops it looks like I shouldn’t turn the camera sideways :p
We are Moving!
We closed on our new house Tuesday and I’ve been over there yesterday and today cleaning. I’m so thankful for good friends and family who are helping us. There’s so much to be done before it’s move in ready.
I hope to have pictures for you soon, but for now it’s all I can do to get the basics done. I’m so glad my in-laws are coming down tomorrow to help and bring fried chicken :). And my mom is watching the kiddoes who aren’t in school. Whew!
If you see a slow spot in the blog, you’ll know that I’m up to my elbows in soapy water or holding a paint roller :).
And if you know of anyone who would love a cute 4 bedroom house completely updated inside with granite countertops, new cabinets, hardwood floors, and a wrap around porch, let me know. I have one for sale :).
Sprouted Wheat Flour Via Greek Yogurt Update
OOh, I made Greek Yogurt Saturday per my instructions here. It worked better than ever! I tried a faster method but still used the slow cooker for finishing. To speed things up I poured the gallon of milk into a large stock pot and heated it on medium until it was 115 degrees. I used a candy thermometer to keep tabs on it. Then I removed it from the heat and wisked in about 1/2 cup of plain yogurt until it was smooth. Meanwhile I had my slow cooker plugged in on high to preheat. I turned off the slow cooker and poured the warm milk mixture in. I wrapped the lidded slow cooker in towels to insulate and left it all day. Oops, then I forgot about it and left it all night.
The next morning, I lined a colander with one layer of flour sack tea towel and placed it over a large bowl. I poured the yogurt in to drain and went to church. When I got back, I had 1 1/2 quarts of creamy lovely Greek Yogurt and the rest of the gallon was clear, thick whey. We are usin the whey for baking, and I’m trying to slow down on the yogurt….but drizzled with a tiny bit of agave, it’s like heaven. How fast is too fast to eat an entire batch of Greek yogurt?
But I digress. The real reason I am writing is to show you how easy it is to make sprouted wheat flour. Fit Yummy Mummy recommends only eating wheat in sprouted forms. That is a little expensive around here so I tried doing it myself. It’s not an instant process, but not hard and takes very little hands on time.
First, I soaked my grains in a large bowl of water for 8 hours. I recommend starting with a bowl that will hold your wheat plus twice as much water.
Once the wheat was soaked, I lined a colander with a tea towel and poured the soaked wheat in and rinsed. Then I placed everything over a bowl to drip throughout the day without making a mess.
Twice a day for 3 days I rinsed through the towel and let it drip in the bowl. After the 3rd day I could see a little activity on the business end of the seed. That meant it was ready.
There won’t actually be green shoots or anything, just a little sign of activity. after that, I spread the wheat thinly onto cookies sheets and set it on the counter to dry. The wheat that was only 1 layer thick dried after 24 hours. The wheat that was too thickly layered took forever to dry! I dried some of it in the oven at 170. But I recommended only sprouting what will fit in the number of cookie sheets you have.
I was really worried about getting the wheat dry enough to grind to not mess up my machine. I found it was fairly easy to “feel” how dry the wheat was. Dry wheat is light and clink clanks when sprinkled on the tray. Damp wheat feels cold and heavy.
I’m hoping to find time to make some sprouted wheat pitas and tortillas this evening.
Just so you know, too. It took me a week to sprout the flour and I still haven’t baked with it. So I’m not super-mom by any stretch. Just taking small baby steps and fitting in the work when I can. And yes, still feeling completely overwhelmed with life in general.
By the way, We are moving! We close on our new house tomorrow!!!! I’ll take some photos to post when we get possession.
Come with me for a visit!
I’m guest posting over at Fit Yummy Mummy today. Darren said, “Now you are officially famous.” We both think Holly is awesome. She gave me my groove back and Darren says I’m his Hottie on my way to Super Hottie :). The topic today is how to eat healthy on a budget. Yes, it is possible to eat the Fit Yummy Mummy way on a Grocery Shrink budget. Pop over to find out how.
See you there :).
Ants on a Log
The boys made these all by themselves while I took a conference call. There was peanut butter everywhere, but they sure were proud of their snack. I thought it looked like more than any family could eat–but I managed, somehow :).
Christmas Wreath Ornaments from Stacy Makes Cents
I’d like to welcome back Stacy, from Stacy Makes Cents. She has a really quick Christmas craft to show us that is fun and appropriate for young children to do.
Hi – my name is Stacy , Queen of Mess. I am not blessed with craftiness, so I have to try really hard to be crafty. This project, however, is EASY. If I can do this, a 5 year old can do it. I’ve been making these ornaments for a few years and they are really fun to make – and they are a super easy project for children. Are you ready? Let’s mess craft!
All you need are plastic rings, green pipe cleaners, and mini bows. That’s it. No glue included….and my hands are thankful because they have a love/hate relationship with my hot glue gun. If the hot glue comes out, so do the band-aids. The best part about this project? It’s CHEAP. If I’m anything, I’m frugal…..and this ornament is right up my alley. The green pipe cleaners and mini bows always come from The Dollar Tree. The plastic rings come from……
bottles you have at home….which are FREE! Is that exciting or what?! You can come across these rings pretty easily. They’re on soda bottles, medicine bottles, and some vitamin bottles. You just have to pay attention. If you want lots of rings, ask your friends and family to save them for you. You’d be surprised how quickly you can collect a ton of them. You’ll be able to make several different sized wreaths since most of these rings are in various sizes. The hardest part of this project is getting the plastic rings off without breaking them or losing your religion.
Take a pipe cleaner and begin wrapping it tightly around the ring. The wire inside of the pipe cleaner makes it stay put, eliminating the need for glue – a huge plus for doing this project with your kids….or with an accident-prone girl named Stacy.
This was a fairly large ring, so I used two pipe cleaners total. How many you use will depend on how tightly you wrap them.
I always make sure to buy the bows that have the ties on them. That allows me to tie the bows on and eliminate the need for hot glue – are you sensing a theme here? Try to find the smallest bows you can. These are larger than I normally like, but they were the smallest ones I could find this year. The next time I find the smaller ones, I might buy all they have. I’m a bow hog. Tie your bow onto the wreath in the position that you like. Just twist it on there like a twisty tie.
Ta da! How cute is that?! I’m just tickled with myself. J You can make a lot of these very quickly. They are good for last minute gifts if you need them….or so I hear from OTHER PEOPLE. Because I would never leave any gifts till the last minute. *Cough*
You might find several different types of pipe cleaners. Here you can see I made some with a plain type and some with glitter green. I like the glitter best – but my husband has banned glitter from our house – funny that his first child was a daughter…not sure how long that rule will stick.
You can give these in a box as a great homemade gift, or you can use them yourself. We used them on my mom’s tree this year. You can add a ribbon to tie them on the tree or you can just slide them on the tips of the branches. Sometimes I just stick mine on there, letting the sticky needles hold them on.
Merry Christmas!