Honey-Vanilla Goats Milk Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 quart cold, fresh goat milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup honey

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or plastic container with a lid. Place the covered container into the refrigerator and chill for 3 hours.
2. Pour the mixture into a crank freezer or electric ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions. 

Enjoy! 

Hot Process Goats Milk Soap

Hot Process Goats Milk Soap

Ingredients 

9.6 oz Crisco 

9.6 oz Olive Oil

6.4 oz Lard

6.4 oz Coconut Oil

12.16 oz Goat's Milk

4.463 oz Lye

Gather all tools, utensils, ingredients, and other supplies including your molds and prepare your work area.

Step 1

Weigh your goat’s milk and place in the freezer. Wait about an hour, with the milk chilling in the freezer, then move on to Step 2.

Step 2

Weigh each fat/oil. Place fats/oils in a crock pot on Low. Heat until completely melted. Turn the crock pot off. Remove crock from pot and place on a wire rack to cool.

It’s not necessary to take the temperature of the mixture–just let it cool while you move on to Step 3.

Step 3

Put on your goggles and gloves. Weigh the lye. Remove the milk from the freezer–it should be very cold by now, like a slushy. It doesn’t need to be completely frozen. Begin to gradually add the lye to the milk. DO NOT add very much at a time. ALWAYS ADD LYE TO THE MILK, not the other way around. Adding the lye to the milk should take about 45 minutes. This keeps the entire mixture at a controlled cool temperature during the combining of the milk and lye, and is a key part of the “cold process treatment” you’re giving to the hot process soap.

Over the course of the slow lye addition to the milk, the mixture will turn yellowish.

By the time you’re finished, it will be a lemon-y color. With your crock back in the pot (heat still off), it’s time to combine the lye/milk mixture with the melted and cooled fats/oils.

Step 4

Carefully pour the lye/milk mixture into the fats/oils and begin stick blending.

Once you reach a nice, strong trace, it’s time to turn the crock pot back on Low.

Step 5

Put on the lid, but check back frequently. Early in the cook:

As the mixture turns from the outside in into a gel state, the extra and variable fat in goat’s milk can separate.

This is one of the tricky aspects of a milk soap. When using fresh farm milk, it’s impossible to account for the exact amount of cream content in the milk, especially goat’s milk which is homogenized and not readily skimmed. Basically, it’s extremely super-fatted. Put the stick blender back in the crock and re-emulsify it.

The rapid re-emulsification with the stick blender will speed the finish time, and help keep the soap from over-cooking or darkening or getting a cooked-milk stink.

Step 6

Before placing hot process soap in the mold, I always transfer it first to a stainless steel bowl. This is where I mix in additives and fragrances. I like to get it off the heat as quickly as possible. If you’ve paid attention to your soap and not over-cooked it, it will still be in a smooth and workable state for another 5-10 minutes. Especially if I’m adding fragrances, I like to stir the soap around and cool it slightly before adding scents.

Step 7

Place the soap in the prepared mold.

Put the soap in the freezer. This quick cool-down will further interact with the rest of the “cold process treatment” we’ve given this hot process soap to keep the color lighter by kicking back the heat on the soap as quickly as possible. Leave it in the freezer for at least two hours before removing. Let the soap come to room temperature before unmolding.

Here is the finished soap, unmolded.

Now just cut into bars! 

Dandelion Jelly

Homemade Dandelion Jelly

A friend of mine recently told me she wanted to be on my team when the Zombie Apocalypse happens because I can make things from dirt. While that isn't quite true I can make things from "Weeds" and you can too!

 Dandelions are pretty much everywhere, and they are a great source of Vitamin A (111%), Vitamin C (32%), Calcium (10%), Iron (9%), Vitamin B-6 (5%) and Magnesium (5%)

So here is what you need. are you ready for this.....Dandelions!

You will need about 4 cups, have fun grab the kids and get pick'n! To give you an idea I filled up a Quart Jar and that gave me the 4 cups I needed. 

So here is the list of Ingredients:

4 Cups of Dandelions

4 Cups of Water

1/4 Cup Plus 1 1/2 teaspoon of powdered pectin 

4 1/2 Cups of granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Directions

1. Once you have your Dandelions picked the fun part begins! Did I tell you to grab the kiddos? You will need to pick all the petals off of the stem leaving no green just the white and yellow part of the petal. 

2. Once you have your bowl filled with just the Dandelion petals, put them in a pot with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for about 3 minutes, Remove from heat and let stand for 10-30 minutes. 

3. Next strain petals from liquid into another pot, I used a cheese cloth as my strainer, make sure to squeeze any excess liquid from the petals. (At this point you can discard the petals or save them to dry out for a potpourri)

4. In a separate bowl combine Pectin and 1/2 cup of sugar and set aside.

5. Now add 4 cups of sugar to your pot of Dandelion liquid and bring to a boil making sure to consistently stir to dissolve all sugar

6. Once sugar is dissolved add the Pectin and Sugar mixture to your pot and stir until dissolved.

7. Add your lemon juice to the mixture and boil for 3 minutes

8. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes, and lastly place into clean mason jars and place into the refrigerator. It should take about 4 hours for to set. 

This will last refrigerated for 2 weeks!    

So now you can impress your friends too and make things from Weeds! 

Easy Homemade Honey Wheat Bread 

 

The Ingredients

2 Cups Warm Water 

 2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup of Honey

1/3 Cup of Olive Oil

5 Cups All-Purpose Flour

 

Directions

 

Dissolve yeast in warm water, next add honey to yeast mixture and stir well. Then mix in whole wheat flour, salt, and olive oil. Now slowly add all-purpose flour (I add 1/4 cup at a time) until completely blended. Place dough onto lightly floured surface, and knead dough for at least 10 to 15 minutes. When your dough is is smooth and elastic place it into a well oiled bowl, turning the dough over until all sides are oiled from the bowl and cover bowl with a damp towel. Let dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in bulk (about 45 minutes). 

 

 

 

After your dough has doubled in size punch down the dough, then split into 2 loaves and place into well greased 9x5 loaf pans. Allow dough to rise in pans until it is 1 to 1.5 inches above the pans. 

 

 

Now bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.

 

 

Let cool and enjoy! 

 

 

Tetra Tint Chicks 1 Week Old

Well the Chicks are now 1 week old and I can't believe in one week how much they have grown and changed. They are getting much bigger and are losing their fuzz and growing their feathers in.

 Over the weekend my husband and I let them run around our backyard and they had a blast. Here are some fun pictures we took of them exploring.

Me with one of the Chicks.....

And then he had enough! lol

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent 

Ingredients

3 Cups of Borax

3 Cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

White Distilled Vinegar

Directions 

Place equal parts of Borax and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda into a Container and mix well. When ready to use in the dishwasher put 2 Tablespoons of mix into your dishwasher and put the vinegar into the rinse aide section. 

Thats it... super easy and very cheap!!!

  

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ingredients

3 Bars of Soap Fels-Naptha, Ivory, Zote (I used Ivory)

1 Box of Borax 4lbs 12oz

1 Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 3lbs 7oz

4 Boxes of Pure Baking Soda  4lbs

1 container of Oxi Clean 3lbs

*For Sent add 1 container of Purex Crystals

Step One

Grate your soap into a fine powder. This is why I chose Ivory because I didn't feel like grating 3 bars of soap into powder. So if you are like me and would like the easy way out put 1 bar of soap into the microwave for about one minute and you will get a big fluffy white cloud (bonus the kids love this!). Repeat this step with all 3 bars of soap. 

Next put your fluffy white clouds (Ivory Soap) into your food processor and let it do the work....it only takes a few minutes before you have a nice fine powder.

Step Two

Place all your ingredients together in a large bin and mix together for a few minutes.

Now you are Finished! You only need to use 1 - 2 Tablespoons of your Laundry Detergent per load of Laundry!

**** UPDATE****
This lasted my family 13 months before I had to make more, I have a family of 6 and do between 5-6 loads of laundry per week!