Bread and Yogurt

I'm not sure what happened to my bread. I used random grain ratios. It still tastes good though!

The yogurt turned out great! This is the recipe: (Sterilize all the equipment that you can)

• 1-L or 1-qt canning jar
• stock pot
• 2-qt pot
• ice
• candy thermometer
• washcloth or hand towel
• 1 qt of milk (you can add 1/3c dry milk for added protein/thickness if you want) &
  1/4 cup plain yogurt (should say contains live cultures and not be more than a week old, although mine was 3 weeks old and it still worked!)

1. Fill your large stock pot with water. (Enough to submerge pieces of equipment.) Boil water, sterilize equipment. I set everything on a clean towel on the counter.

2. Pour milk into 2-qt pot and heat without scalding to 185-195 degrees F. Stir, stir, stir! Mine still turned out even though I burned the bottom.

3. Meanwhile cool stock-pot water to 115 degrees F if you are going to incubate your yogurt on the stovetop. Fill your sink with ice water.

4. When milk has reached 185-195 range, remove from heat and place in sink of ice water. cool to 115.

5. Remove from ice water and whisk (without creating lots of bubbles) in 1/4c plain yogurt.
Pour into canning jar.

6. At this point, there are many ways to continue. What I did was place my washcloth in the bottom of the stockpot full of water, set the canning jar(sealed) in on top of the cloth, and leave the stove on low. I put the candy thermometer in to float in the water so I could keep looking in and checking the temp.

7. Others have done many things to incubate yogurt. You can leave it in the oven if you have gas, and just let the pilot light keep it warm. Anything that keeps your yogurt at a temerature of 108-115 should work! My stock pot water ranged from 104 to 125 while I was stumbling through the process, and it still turned out fine. But they say temps over 118 kill the culture, so try not to do what I did!

8. Incubate yogurt for at least 4 hours. I have read of people incubating it for between 4 and 12 hours. So it doesn't hert to just wait longer if it looks like your yogurt isn't setting up/ Or if you think it got too hot, cooling it back to 115 or 110 and adding some more yogurt with live cultures.

Cherry-O Cream Cheese Pie

Last year I scanned and printed many of my mother's recipes. It is nice to be able to have them in her or Grandma D.'s handwriting! When my mother was a girl, Grandma D. would make a cherry dessert every Sunday in February to honor George Washington. Here's one of her recipes: (I would only add that it is better to make your own crust in a larger pie dish. If you buy a a little crust from the store, you will be stuck eating the extra filling out of the bowl!)

Looks a little homely, but tastes lovely....sooooo easy!

Tortillas

I love it when my hands are floury and I'm kneading dough! It's such a nice homey feeling.

Tortillas:

2c self-rising flour

1/4c Crisco

3/4 c warm water (about 130 degrees)

1. Combine ingredients untill dough comes together.
2. Knead 4-6 minutes on a floury surface. (Add flour as needed until dough is soft and moist but not too sticky.)
3. Divide dough into 8 equal balls.
4. Place balls of dough back in bowl and cover with cloth.
5. Let rest 20 min.
6. On a floured surface, roll out each ball into a very thin circle. Keep stack of uncooked tortillas covered with a cloth as you cook.
7. Heat skillet to about medium-high. The tortillas should take about 10 seconds on each side and when a side is done it should have browns spots, so adjust heat accordingly.
8. Fill with garlicy shrimp, cheese, lettuce, a bit of lime juice, and sour cream. Enjoy!

To make self-rising flour, thoroughly sift together:

8 c white flour, 5Tbsp baking powder, 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 Tbsp salt.