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myhusbandswife
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Name: Mrs. Jonathan
Gender: Female
Interests: Cooking, baking, gardening, crocheting, knitting, canning, and all things "wifey," as well as spending time with my husband, "our" (youth group) kids, and Jesus. Also, i'm trying to learn to sew, spin, and quilt.
Expertise: Hugging, baking cookies, playing games, culinary experimentation.
Occupation: Homemaker
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
7/18/2005
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| Homemade condensed milk?Today i tried an experiment that i've been contemplating for some time: Making my own condensed milk. And no, i don't mean the one with dry milk powder, water, sugar, and butter-- of all things! No-- real condensed milk.
Why? Well, the obvious answer is, why not? If i can, i want to try. Given that the only ingredients on any can of condensed milk are MILK and SUGAR-- what exactly is the difficulty here? Besides that reason, there is a possibly cost efficiency, the ability to make it with soy or rice milks or some other alternative, the convenience of having a substitute available (i don't always have condensed milk when i want it, but i always have milk and sugar)... And with all those good reasons, this brings us back to the first: Why not?
Well, the first difficulty is in finding out the proper ratio of milk to sugar. i've found recipes that say 3:1, 1:1, 1:1.25, 1:.75... so i randomly picked one. The first one, of course, because sugar (at least the organic variety) ain't cheap. So i put the two together and simmered them (stirring, so as to prevent any scalding) for about 45 minutes, until it was reduced by one half.
Result? It smells and tastes like condensed milk. But it's thin. i did use 1%... but still. It's thin. Will this stuff still work in coffee? We'll find out, right after these messages.
Vita-Mix, KitchenAid, Maytag, GE.
(White noise strikes again.)
Not too bad. Hmm... | | |
| Recipes and picturesi love sharing my homemakery! Here are recipes for the laundry soap and the jam, and pictures of the jam-making process.
First of all, let me say that i didn't come up with the laundry soap recipe. i love reading about homemaking, and one of my favourite sources is a website called TThe Family Homestead. The host, Crystal Miller, shared this recipe on her site and i've been using it for three years now. i'm including the link to her website (just click the name, above) because it's been such an inspiration and help to me, and because (of course) the recipe is hers. The jam, however, is my recipe, and i'm happy to share that as well.
Crystal's original recipe called for grated bar soap (amount depends on type; i'll get to that), washing soda and borax, and water. That's it! i make a gallon at a time (which is half a batch), and it lasts me about a month, doing laundry for just the two of us.
The half recipe is as follows:
1/6 bar of Zote or Fels Naptha (both formulated especially for laundry), or 1/2 bar Ivory or any other basic soap. Crystal makes her own, or you can use any brand of castile soap, or pretty much anything.
1/4 cup each borax and washing soda
16 cups water, divided
You will also need a bucket large enough to fit a gallon of laundry soap.
First, grate the soap. In a medium-sized saucepan, place three cups water and the soap; heat until the soap has fully dissolved. (It can boil over, so you want to watch it-- you don't have to stand over it stirring constantly, but it's better to stay in the room so you can turn it down when it starts boiling.)
While the soap is melting, heat two cups of water. Once the soap has fully dissolved, add the borax and washing soda to the saucepan and stir to dissolve. Pour the two cups of hot water into the bucket, and then pour the soap mixture in after it. (The hot water helps the soap mixture and the rest of the water to incorporate smoothly.) Add another 11 cups of water to the bucket, and leave it to gel.
After several hours or overnight, the laundry soap will have gelled up. Now you take a stick blender to it, and mix it all together. (i suppose you could chunk it up and use a regular blender, but that seems like extra trouble and since stick blenders can be had for $10 at Wal*Mart...) It'll become smooth and liquid again. Now it's ready to be used! Fill up an old laundry detergent bottle, and just use it as you would regular laundry detergent. You don't need extra or anything like that; it works just the same way-- only BETTER, because it's exponentially cheaper, and you know exactly what's in it (and can pronounce every word!).
The first few times you use it, you'll want to swirl the bottle around before pouring-- it sometimes stiffens up and separates a bit. But after these first few times, it isn't necessary anymore.
There you go! Homemade laundry soap. It's all we've used for three years and it works really well. The only change i've made is that i use 1/3 cup each washing soda and borax, for a bit of a stronger formula. (Both of these things are laundry boosters, and if you have extra dirty clothes, adding some borax to the load, or even soaking in a borax solution, works pretty well. i don't know how the two differ in their efficacy, but since washing soda can be harder to find i tend to add borax when i need a boost to conserve the washing soda.)
The only challenge in making your own laundry soap is finding the washing soda. i got mine on clearance three years ago, and bought several boxes. i've heard recently that you can find it at King Soopers; for people who have different grocery stores, i don't know. My mothero-in-law says she got hers at Meijer, i believe. NOTE: Washing soda and baking soda are NOT the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate; baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. i have also heard that sodium carbonate is used to clean pools, so if you have a pool supply store handy it's probably worth checking there as well, if your grocery store doesn't have it.
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Now for the jam:
(There's probably a better way to measure apricots than by number, but that's what i wrote down originally. i'll attempt a quick conversation for you all.)
To follow along with pictures, the numbers in parentheses refer to photo numbers (below).
5 champagne (ataulfo) mangoes, cut up
9 apricots (13.5 oz., or about two cups), halved-- no need to peel!
2 cups sugar
1 T. Fruit-Fresh
Combine all ingredients (1) , and let sit for a few hours to let the fruit juices start flowing. When mixture has become very syrupy (2), puree with a stick blender until it is as smooth as you'd prefer (3). (If you want it really chunky, i'd recommend cutting the apricots smaller than halves and not bothering to puree.) Bring slowly to a boil, and then cook rapidly until it reaches the gelling point, stirring often to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. When it has reached the gelling point, pour it into jars (leaving 1/4" headspace) and process it in a water bath. Label the jars (4), and once you have tested the seals, you may remove the rings. All done (5)-- Enjoy!
A note about processing: A Ball Blue Book recipe for apricot-only jam calls for 15 minutes for full pints; another recipe, not apricot- or mango-related, calls for either 10 or 15 minutes for half-pints. i'm not an expert here, so i would be safe and process for 15 for both sizes. In actuality, at 5000 feet, i processed both sizes for 25 minutes to accommodate the different air pressure here.
This recipe will make just about two pints (or four half-pints). When i tripled it, however, it made just under 5 pints, rather than 6-- much depends on the size of your fruit and how long it cooks down before canning.
And for the pictures:
1. The fruit cut up and mixed with sugar and Fruit-Fresh.
2. The mixture after sitting for 2-3 hours-- see how the juices and sugar have mixed to create a thick syrup?
3. The mixture after pureeing.
4. It's important to label your jars with contents and date.
5. All finished!
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| Today's doings1. Read Matthew 5:21-30. (i'm following a study by John Stott on the Sermon on the Mount.)
2. Put away dishes, get out canning supplies, get kitchen ready to be a jammery.
3. Prep apricots and mangoes for jamming.
4. Let fruit soak in sugar until after lunch.
5. Read email, post on Freecycle, skim around in Hearth & Home by Karey Swan while putting off cleaning the bathroom.
6. Clean the bathroom.
Okay, so far i've made it to step 5 1/2.
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Update: The bathroom is now clean. i'm pretty frustrated with the way the sink is (not) draining. On my list for today is flushing all the drains in the house; i doubt it'll help this one. i've tried before. Jonathan's even taken it apart; he think that there's a problem with the angle of the pipe. Anyway, it's clean, except that soap builds up around the sink because it drains so slowly. Maybe i'll get a pitcher and wash basin. No window in that bathroom, though... so hard to throw the used water out. 
i've also blended together the simmering fruit and it's working on gelling. When i tested it it was still pretty syrupy (no signs of sheeting, much less gelling), but it hasn't been on the heat very long. While it works on that-- time for lunch!
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Now i've finished the jam (all but the cleaning; the stove is still hot, but i've gotten some of it done) and flushed two drains. Flushing the sluggish drain didn't clear it up-- i knew it wouldn't-- but it did loosen some gunk that's now stuck to the inside of the sink. i just cleaned that!! ::sigh::
i am eating a piece of toast with a bit of the jam and it's quite good. Now i'm trying to work myself up to doing something that's productive-- cleaning, to be specific-- but it's hard to convince myself to clean while it's raining so hard outside. i promise, those two thoughts really are related!
So the jam made two full pints and five half-pints, plus a little left over. Less than i'd intended it to be. When i first made this recipe, it made four half-pints; this time around, i tripled it. That should be six pints total-- much more than the nearly five i got this time. i guess it thickened more than it did last time? Whatever; it's tasty!
In other news, i posted on Freecyle earlier today, looking for a new measuring cap for my laundry soap. (Mine cracked across the bottom.) i got an offer for one, which i'll get this weekend, and i also got four (so far) requests for the recipe! i really love spreading this around. So far, i can think off the top of my head of a few people whom i've introduced to laundry soap and are now making it themselves-- Mom H., Mildred, Amanda, Rachel... and Mildred has spread it to another person or two. Now there are four more interested parties in one day, and i don't even know any of them! It makes me think that it'd be fun to teach a class... i don't know the rules on that, since it isn't my recipe, and i don't know how i'd go about putting it together, but i do think it'd be fun. It probably won't ever happen, but i love homemakery, and i love inspiring and teaching homemakery as well.
Now i had better DO some homemakery... time to finish cleaning, rain or no rain. | | |
| Feast or famine.That's what you readers get. Nothing for a month, then two in one day.
i am making a new creation for dinner tonight-- garlic rice. First i sauteed some garlic in oil, and then removed it. Then i added a bit more oil, and sauteed the rice. Then i added water and the sauteed garlic. We'll see how it works! i felt like trying something a little different.
Here is another something different: i wanted to make ganache, but had no whipping cream. i did, however, have just a tiny bit of vanilla bean ice cream left. YUP! i melted the ice cream and used it in the ganache. Surprisingly, it didn't turn out too sweet-- and i even used semi-sweet chocolate chips rather than the 60% dark chocolate. After mixing the chocolate into the melted ice cream, i licked the spoon. It was pretty tasty.
i also finally bought some Demerara sugar to taste-test. It was cheaper than plain evaporated cane juice (surprisingly), and i haven't ever tried it before. i do like turbinado quite a lot, for topping baked goods (and for eating straight-- it's nice and crunchy), but i haven't ever tried Demerara before. It's darker than turbinado, and has a definite molasses scent and flavour. i think it'd be a good substitute for brown sugar. i imagine it would be excellent on top of creme brulee...
i guess this post was mostly about feasting. | | |
| Our crazy summerTim left yesterday; we rushed back from the airport in time to be late for a mystery dinner party. So far today i've gone to Kohls and Sunflower, hung out with Mildred, and started some laundry. Next i will marinate tonight's dinner, finish the laundry, go to Wal*Mart, and get some other housework (and maybe some homework?) done before i have to pick up Jonathan from work. Tomorrow i make jam. Saturday we play with friends all day. Monday through Wednesday should be pretty low-key, and then on Thursday we leave to go backpacking. We come back on Monday and my Mom comes to visit on Tuesday. Then after she leaves the following Tuesday, we will have about three weeks of regular life, and then 'becca comes to play. Then we'll have another week of summer before Jonathan starts school.
i'm so glad we can have so many batches of people playing with us... and we are having a very fun summer! But i think that by the time fall comes i'll be quite ready for it.
What do i want to do right now? BAKE COOKIES. (It's over 80ยบ here, so i think i won't.) And work on next year's birthday list (never mind that i have completed only 4-6 goals from this year's list). i need to be a bit more organized.
Do you know what i wish? i wish i had nothing to do but be a wife. i struggle enough as it is with being organized and keeping myself on track as far as cleaning goes; all these extra distractions are pretty distracting. But i LIKE the distractions-- the cafe, the library, our various outings and visitors. Sometimes i just wish i had nothing to do but keep our home all day long. And why do i not have that opportunity? During the summer, things get crazy-- they certainly are crazy this summer, anyway-- but for the most part during the year, i really could spend a lot more time, effort, energy, and focus on being Jonathan's wife. i just finished reading the Little House books, and i think that their lifestyle seems so simple and wonderful. Sure, they had hard, backbreaking work to do-- but they could do it without interruption, because that was their whole life. Gardening in summer, food preservation in fall, sewing in winter, cleaning and planting in spring. Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sonday. i love the seasonal tasks, the rhythm of life and work. It's very Benedictine.
i MUST learn some discipline. | | |
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