Recipe: Homemade Soy Yogurt

This soy yogurt is best when using homemade soy milk (recipe posted earlier). It's not an easy recipe, but worth it, especially if you have a yogurt-making machine:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy milk, homemade, fresh, and ice cold
5 cups soy milk, homemade, fresh and very hot
1/4 cup + 2 teaspoon of tapioca starch
3/4 teaspoons agar powder
1/2 sachet dairy-free yogurt culture * OR 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt from last batch - must have live cultures

Directions:

• Boil/scald everything that you plan to use to make the yogurt.
• In a large heavy saucepan, whisk until dissolved the 1/2 cup cold soymilk, the tapioca starch, and the agar powder.
• Add in 2 cups of the hot soymilk, and whisk until it's smooth (no lumps).
• Cook on medium, stirring constantly, until it is glossy and thickened.
• Add the rest of the hot soymilk (3 cups) and whisk. Don't let it get too frothy.
• Cool in refrigerator to the temperature of 115 degrees F (use a candy thermometer).
• While cooling, mix dried yogurt culture with 1/4 cup of warm soy milk to make a paste OR take out soy yogurt to get to room temperature.
• Take out of fridge, whisk in the dried yogurt culture paste OR the soy yogurt. Whisk well (or else your yogurt will be grainy.
• Pour into scalded/boiled jars and containers. Cover.
• Incubate for 8-10 hours for mild, or 12-14 hours for tart. There are 5 ways to incubate - see below.
• Taste after 6 hours - time will vary, and will get tarter as it cools. Do NOT stir.
• Refrigerate immediately for a minimum of 12 hours. This will help develop the flavor.
• This yogurt will keep for about a week.
• To make your next batch, keep 1/2 cup of this batch. Again, it needs to be at room temperature before using to make the next batch. You can do this about 10 times (some say 12-14) before you'll need a fresh starter batch.

Five ways to incubate:

1. Use a yogurt maker! (There are electric and non-electric - follow the directions.)
2. Use a large oval crockpot. You can fit several pint jars in it, but get the shorter jars. Cover the bottom of the insert with a washcloth or small piece of cloth so your jars won't scratch the insert, and the jars won't be directly on the ceramic. Place in your jars of warm cultured soymilk. Cover. Set to "warm" function.
3. Thermos: You'll need large widemouth thermoses, with the metal casings. Boil water and pour into thermos, cover with lid, and let heat for 10 minutes. Pour out water. Fill 3/4 full with warm cultured soymilk. Replace lid. Set up a big box filled with thick quilts or terrycloth towels. Nestle the thermos bottles and cover with more quilts or towels. Place in draft-free warm place.
4. Cooler: Use an electric warm/cold cooler, set on warm, or heat up a styrofoam cooler with big jars of hot water until yogurt is ready to incubate. Take the big jars of hot water out, and replace with small jars of hot water. Place jars of warm cultured soymilk in cooler, without letting them touch the jars of hot water. Insulate the jars with terrycloth washcloths or small towels, then place cover on cooler. Cover the cooler to insulate it. You may need to a take out the jars of hot water, empty, refill, and replace about midway through.
5. Make and use a "hay box" - here's directions on how to make one: http://www.dancingrabbit.org/newsletter/Newsletter200601_HeyHay.php. Good for using when cooking other things too.

* A few sources: http://www.giprohealth.com/giprostart.aspx, http://www.healthytraders.com/tribest-yolife-yogurt-starter-cultures-bottle-p-3014.html, http://www.juicersforless.com/index.php/cPath/42

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Earning Money At Home

An important part of being self-reliant is not being part of someone else's bankroll. If you depend on a business that you don't really have any say in, you not only won't give it your all, but you could be let go at any time. Especially in this economy.

I love reading survival-type blogs, especially http://www.survivalblog.com/. Very often, these different websites address this quandry. Do you continue to live in a city, near a job that takes much of your time for little money, or do you save up to buy a place away from civilization, doing something that you love for (usually) little money? In this economy, it's an important decision.

You need to discuss the situation with your entire family. Everyone you live with. Look at things realistically. If you stayed where you are, and stayed with your job(s), are you happy? Do you make enough not only to live on but also to store up? To see you through worse times, like a blizzard or total dessimation of the economy?

But to be truly self-reliant, you will probably choose to NOT work for someone else.

Take a look at the things you and everyone in your family love to do. Your hobbies. Specialties. Skills. Dreams. Loves. Strengths and weaknesses. What about things you would do if you had land? Make a list of all of these. Do you do them well enough to sell? See if any of them can make you money. Is there are market for what you do? Research other families or small businesses that do what you're considering; how much money do they make a month/quarter/year?

How much do you need to buy some land and live somewhere else? Can you do it while you're working at your job? Do you have any experience running a business? If not, take a business course. Talk to business owners. Surf the web. School yourself.

Take some time to really think about this.

RANT About Taxes, Money, and USA Government

As a single mom, 9 years out of 10, I'd get a tax refund. While I didn't like using the IRS as an interest-free savings account, better that than having to scrounge up money to pay taxes.

We got married on April 13, almost 2 years ago. I'm on disability. VHTS is too. Hubby works hard but can't move up in his company.

Last year, we owed money for taxes. This year, we'll owe more than double what we paid last year. And we can't sell this stupid house. We can't raise chickens here. The town's code enforcements studies our property regularly to look for violations. My health is worsening. My migraines and carpal tunnel are preventing me from writing more books to add to our store. My stash of sleeping pills are dwindling. My weight is ballooning. My patience is waining. This TV conversion thing is a joke and costly. Debts are piling up. We have no savings. No backup. But we have 9 bags of rice, 5 gallons of honey, 6 gallons of vinegar, 10 bags of rice pasta, and 4 bags of salt! (Among the beans, oats, cornmeal, dried fruit and veggies, etc.) Who-hoo!

We can't plant a garden until we move which means there's a real possibility we won't have fresh veggies or fruits this year. Which means spending more money at the grocery for possibly tainted food. Or going without.

Hubby is tired when he comes home from work. I don't have the physical strength to pack, or to prep the house to sell/move. Don't have the money to hire anyone. Weekends are busy catching up on home-stuff, laundry, family time, errands, seeing Hubby's mom, trying to sleep.

The other night I had a dream that I was in a polling center or business office, working on a computer, when Obama and his entourage came through. Three times I asked him (1st time): what are you going to do about this financial crisis? (2nd time): people are suffering so what can you really do about this financial crisis? and (3rd time): people are relying on junk food because it's cheaper, living on the streets or in their vehicles, and suffering is getting worse, so I really need to know what do you really and honestly think you can do about this financial situation? He was quite angry by the last time I asked. I had to, um, leave. When I awoke, I realized that this topic is very much concerning me. I've been homeless twice in my life. The last time was with my kid in tow. I do NOT want to experience that again, especially with a Hubby and dog now.

It's hard to continue coming up with information about storing, and survival and disaster prep when we don't know where we'll be living in two months. But we'll keep going.

So... will the Obama administration really help our situation? I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Sorry... had to rant.

Major Frustration.

Recipe: How to Make Cashew Milk

Here's another recipe to make a lactose-free milk:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw cashew pieces
1 cup water
1 tablespoon honey

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender. Set on high to blend into a thick cream. Add more water until you achieve the desired consistency, for another 2-5 minutes. This is a very rich milk.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Inventory Check: Rubbing Alcohol

Having a good store of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) and any other medical supply is essential when preparing for WTSHTF or emergencies/disasters.

Usually, your local dollar stores will have bottles of rubbing alcohol for a dollar each. We buy about 2-5 a month, and since we only use 1 bottle every 2 months, we are working to have lots stored.

It has uses other than cleaning wounds. We've read that some people use it as a deoderant.

What if you run out of rubbing alcohol? Try vinegar or vodka. Also, hydrogen peroxide is good for cleaning wounds, and is also found at the dollar store for a dollar.

Rubbing alcohol is good for cleaning medical supplies, like needles and scissors. If you don't have any, perhaps soaking them in voda, or getting them VERY hot (hold the needle in the flame of a candle) would do just as well.

Summary: check your inventory of rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and vodka! Then go buy some more!

Money-Saver-Menu #1: Chicken, Rice, Salad

As you may have read, we're working to bring down our food costs. So, while at Sam's today, we bought:

- 25 pound bag of long grain rice for $11.88
- 2 whole chickens for $7.70
- lettuce for $2.47

The chickens are simmering in the crockpot with dried garlic and dried onions. We figure those will provide three meals for each of the three of us so 9 total meals. We calculate the rice to be $.12 per serving x 2 servings per person per meal (because we like rice) so $.24 per person per meal. The lettuce will last us 3 meals x 3 people too.

Adding in salad dressing and carrots from the store, here's our cost breakdown per person per meal:

$.80 = Crockpot chicken
$.24 = Rice
$.28 = Lettuce
$.66 = Salad dressing
$.04 = Carrots (5 baby)
====
$2.10 per person per meal

This doesn't include the honey on our rice or the dried garlic/onion in the crockpot for the chicken. So... to keep with our budget of $5.00 per day per person, this leaves $2.90 for the rest of our meals for those days. Easy to do with oatmeal for breakfast, egg salad and a can of fruit cocktail for lunch.


We'll be eating the above meal for dinner for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If there's any chicken leftover, we'll make soup with it and the broth on Sunday. That will bring our costs down even further!


p.s. Do you like the picture? We'll be using that same graphic every time we post a "Money-Saver-Menu".

Recipe: Fiesta Beef-N-Corn Bake

This is another recipe designed to use your stored foods.

Ingredients:
2 cups of cornmeal
1 1/2 cups dried ground beef
1 10.75-ounce can fiesta nacho cheese soup
1 cup salsa
4 cups of water
1 cup dried onion dices
1 cup dried corn kernels
1 tablespoon chili powder
season to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients. Put into greased/sprayed baking dish and bake uncovered for one hour. Serve with a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC