#SpreadLove

Here are the two YouTube Videos I used to teach myself how to crochet a heart.


When i'm learning a new skill I ALWAYS watch at least 2 videos.  The video's have to be fairly short - these are!




Here are the first hearts I made:

First hearts I crocheted

My trial hearts were ok, but I wanted to get better.  So I practiced.  And practiced and practiced.


 I tired all different colors and weights of yarn until I could crochet a heart easily.


Now I have a new problem.  What am I going to do with all of these hearts.  I certainly don't need this many!  Then an idea struck me!

I've started passing them out to stranger on the street or leaving them in places to be found.

Dressing Room Love

  I went to get my annual mammogram the other day.  It's a test which, for me, is no big deal.  I expected and received good news.  I know that some women will come to that dressing room with fear and anxiety.  Some won't get great news.  So I left a little heart for whoever was coming after me.

Truth is, people will ascribe whatever meaning they need to to these little hearts.  For me - it's just a nice way to spread a little love.

This project was originally completed in 2012.  Since that time I have completed a larger playhouse project.  You can see it here!

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This is the castle that I painted for the kids for Christmas.  Shhh, it's a surprise!

Superhero Castle for the boys

It all started with clothes pins.  You see, I was at the craft store looking for my next craft project when I saw plain, wooden clothes pins.

plain clothes pin

 I used to love to play with clothes pins as a kid.  No I wasn't raised in the 1800's.  My mom grew up in the country and so I was exposed to old fashion clothes pins from time to time.  I used to love to pretend that the clothes pins where my little dolls.  I'd draw little faces on them and we'd have all kinds of adventures. 

Well who knew that clothes pins would be my gateway drug?

I wanted to make toys for my sons and didn't think they'd enjoy clothes pin dolls.  In searching for clothes pin alternatives when I discovered peg dolls. 

Plain Peg Dolls - available on Etsy or at your local craft store

Peg dolls are CRACK!  Inside of a day I'd discovered all kinds of peg people ideas.

Tori Spellings family as peg dolls

Homemade Super Hero's as Peg dolls

Peg Doll Nation!

There were peg families, peg super hero's and entire peg villages.  (Thank you Etsy and Pinterest).
That's when I decided to do my own peg thing. 

Michael's craft store has plain, unpainted wooden castles and so I bought a castle (only $10 with a coupon), paint, brushes and paint pens. 

Plain Castle from Michael's Craft Store $19.99 (find a 50% off coupon!)

Inside the castle

Here is what I created!

Inside my castle

The Hulk Room

Robin Room

Superman Room

Storage Bin

Storage bin with peg people inside

Side View

Side View

Front View with door closed

Back View

Roof View

We need to have a frank talk about an embarrassing problem.  The problem, my friends, is Bathroom Stink!  The key here is to PREVENT bathroom stink rather than to try and cover it after the fact.

There are lots of commercial products on the market for this purpose.  Most notably Poo Pourri and V.I.Poo.  The products are fine, if  (in my opinion) needlessly expensive!


Add Spray to the toilet BEFORE use.  The spray creates scented layer on the surface of the water that traps smells.  Make a deposit into the bowl.  Your deposit is trapped under the layer of fragrance.

• Make a label with instructions for the drops or the spray.  It’s counter intuitive to spray the toilet BEFORE you go.  A few simple instructions solve this problem quickly.  **Instructions listed below.
• Also, in the spirit of being delicate and ladylike, we call these “Doo Drops” or “No 2 Spray”
• Make sure the drops hit the water.  If they hit the side of the bowl and have to slide down into the bowl, they take a little longer to work. 
• You can add the drops after you’re already begun to go, but for best results put the drops in as soon as you discover that you need them.
• Husbands or (teenage boys) might require a few extra drops.
• If you buy scented oil online, it might not come in dropper bottles.  You can buy glass dropper bottles online. They are called Euro Droppers and they're available at Amazon.com or Etsy.com.

Euro Dropper Glass Bottles

Leave drops (with instructions) in the bathroom

** Words for Instruction Label:

"DOO Drops"  To reduce or eliminate bathroom odor: Add 2-4 drops of Doo Drops (to toilet water) BEFORE you drop a "doo".

Heart Cookies

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cookies

Whether you're making homemade or using slice and bake cookies this is a great idea from our friends at The Semi Sweet Sisters!



Heart Cake

Heart Cake

Bake a square cake and a round cake to make a heart shaped cake!


Red Velvet Cake

Super Moist Red Velvet Cake

Find the delicious here on the One Brown Mom Recipe Page. 



Apple Roses

Apple Roses

Cooking with Claudia has a great and easy recipe for making apples roses!  She even has a handy video.





Valentines Fruit Bowl

Valentines Fruit Bowl

MommyScene.com made this awesome easy fruit bowl!



For Valentines Day Craft Ideas, click HERE!

Homemade Yogurt!

If memory serves, this will be my 3rd post on making homemade yogurt. 

I started with a post on my Huffington Post Blog called Crazy Easy Homemade yogurt.  I followed that up with a post called Tips for making homemade yogurt.  So yes, I have yogurt issues.  I may well be obsessed!  Here's the things though -- yogurt is good for you, it's simple to make and it's a fun, food related, science project!  What's not to love?!?!?

Because a make a new batch nearly every week (yes we sometimes eat THAT much yogurt) I'm always trying new tricks.  I could make larger batches.  The problem is that SOMETIMES we eat tons of it.  Sometimes not.  When we're in a big yogurt phase I make lots.  And when not, not.

This week my goal was to make extra thick (Greek style) yogurt using only my microwave.  [This mama loves a challenge]. 

Here's the recipe!

HOMEMADE YOGURT   - using only your microwave

For this recipe you will need:

3 cups milk (any kind of dairy milk is fine.  I like fat free cow milk)
2/3 cups powdered milk
2 Tablespoons of yogurt starter (more on this in a minute)

Equipment
Microwave
1 - 28 oz Mason jar
1 large bath towel
Thermometer



Yogurt Starter:  For yogurt starter you basically need live and active yogurt cultures.  You can buy freeze dried yogurt cultures online or in a health food store.  Or you can buy plain yogurt from the supermarket.  Just make sure that you buy yogurt that says "Live and Active yogurt cultures"  The good news is that you only have to buy starter once!  Each time you make yogurt you'll save a little of the completed product to start your next batch!

Directions: 
1.  In a clean dry mason jar combine powdered milk and liquid milk.  (I put the powdered milk first so that it mixes evenly).  Put the lid on the jar and shake until combined.  Make sure that there are no clumps of powdered milk floating around.
2.  REMOVE THE LID FROM THE JAR and microwave for approx 7 minutes or until the milk reaches 180 degrees.  I have a 900watt microwave - it takes approximately 6 1/2 - 7 minutes to get to 180 degrees.
3.  Carefully remove the hot milk from the microwave and let it cool (uncovered) to 120 degrees.  (Once the jar is cool enough to touch you can put the lid on and run it under cool water to bring the temperature down faster).
4.  Once the milk has reached 120 degrees stir in yogurt starter.
5.  Put the lid on the jar.  Wrap the jar in a towel and return it to the microwave for 8-12 hours until set.  (I prefer to make yogurt at night.  It incubates over night and you have fresh yogurt in the morning)
6.  Refrigerate finished yogurt until cool to stop the incubating process.
7.  Enjoy!

Because I'm a visual learner, here is the whole process in pictures!

Add Powdered Milk to Mason Jar

Add Milk to Mason Jar

Shake jar to mix powdered and liquid milk.  I turn the jar upside down to make sure that there is no powdered milk stuck on the bottom.

Microwave UNCOVERED for 6.5 - 7 minutes.

Make sure milk reaches at least 180 degrees

When the jar is cool enough to handle, run it under a little cold water to bring the temperature down to 120 degrees.

Add yogurt starter.

Wrap warm milk in a towel and return to microwave for incubation.

DONE!

Click for Printer Friendly Version of this Recipe Card

Click for a Printer Friendly Version of this Recipe Card

TIPS,  TRICKS AND PROBLEMS YOU CAN SOLVE!

INCUBATION/YOGURT STARTER:
A while back I did an entire blog post about incubation and yogurt starters.   Click to read more about that.

Novice yogurt makers have reached out to me with several common problems.  Here are a few of the most popular problems and how to solve them:

Yogurt comes out too runny or doesn't set:  If your yogurt doesn't set 9 time out to 10 something went wrong in the incubation process.   If you added the starter when the milk was too hot you might have killed off the cultures in the starter.  If your milk was too cold when you added the cultures or didn't stay at 110 degrees your yogurt won't set.

The solution:  Make sure that you're using a good thermometer.  (I use a meat thermometer). Heating the milk to 180 degrees kills off unwanted bacteria.  If you go over 180, that's OK.  Just make sure that you cool the milk down to 110-120 degrees.  I add starter at 120.  Make sure that you're holding the warm milk at 110 degrees for the ENTIRE incubation period.    If your yogurt didn't set that's not a problem.  Refrigerate the unset yogurt until it's cool.  Use it in place of buttermilk in recipes! 

I'm sick of eating yogurt, what can I do with the left overs:  Sure yogurt making is fun, but maybe you're family is over you and your kitchen experiments.

The solution:  You can use yogurt in all kinds of recipes.  Blend it with fresh fruit for smoothies or churn it in the ice cream maker for frozen yogurt.  If a recipe calls for sour cream, use yogurt instead.  My family enjoys it on taco's or other spicy dishes.  You can also use it to make pound cake, pancakes and waffles.  It's also really tasty in sauces in place of milk!  Yogurt freezes beautifully and can be thawed in the refrigerator over night.  Also, don't forget to freeze a bit of starter so that you don't run out.

I keep forgetting to save starter:  This used to happen to me ALL THE TIME!  The problem in my house is that the kids eat the last of the yogurt and put the empty jar in the sink.  When it's time to make a new batch the starter in in their tummies!

The solution:
Save starter FIRST!  If you make a particularly nice batch of yogurt, scoop out a couple of tablespoons and put them in an ice tray.  Save the frozen starter cubes in a Ziploc bag.

Ice cube tray

Frozen yogurt cubes

Frozen starter

I have no place to incubate the yogurt:  There are a million theories on how to incubate yogurt.  Companies make expensive yogurt machine for just this reason.  Anyone can heat and mix the milk.  Holding it at 110 degrees for 8-12 hours is the hard part. 

The solution:  Some ovens have a "warm" setting that will maintain a 110 degrees.  My oven doesn't go that low.  The microwave works great for us because it's insulated and usually not is use.  If your microwave gets a lot of action there are other ways to incubate.  Wrap the warm milk in a towel and put it in a picnic cooler with a heating pad set to med.  On hot summer days I incubate in my attic.  I leave a thermometer near by so that I can make sure that the attic doesn't get too hot.  On the hottest days temperatures in my attic reach approximately 100 degrees.  That's just perfect for incubation!  In the winter time I've been known to incubate my yogurt by sitting it next to the furnace.  The bottom line is that it needs to be in a place that will keep it warm [but not too hot] for the entire incubating period.

Good luck and please post your questions!