Being brave and the temperature of milk

 So after reading some Waldorf inspired articles and it talking about "developing a will" (whatever that means right?) I sort of took what I'd learned about my personality and took the meaning to be that I need to work on being brave.  I don't naturally like doing new things and things that make me feel uncomfortable, but when I was looking back at a scrapbook last week and saw one of my birthday layouts it was about how I was learning something new for my birthday.  In that case I'd learned how to make my own bagels (this was before being gluten free) and I'd always wanted to learn how to make them and I finally got up the nerve to do it.  Well, looking back I have the feeling like "It's not a big deal to make bagels" but of course I feel that way NOW because I've already made them several times.  So, last week I worked up the nerve to talk to some strangers and get sort of involved in a homeschooling group.  Just the park days for now, but still.. it's a start.

There were several other things that I'd been thinking about doing and wanting to do, but being afraid to try and making yogurt was one of them.  I got a yogurt maker and everything, but it took me a few weeks to open the box and really read about it and figure out how to do it myself.  Even after I started the process I kept calling my Mom to ask questions (she's made it a lot.)

Turns out that it's a fifth of the price of the store bought plain yogurt and it's really easy to make!  I won't get into how to make it here as other blogs will tell you all about that, but basically you heat the milk to 180 and then cool it back down and then throw some yogurt into it, stir it and put it in the machine for several hours to turn into yogurt.  The heating it up is what breaks down the protein in the milk or something like that so it can turn into yogurt.  I'm sure there can be some spiritual significance/analogy thing that could be drawn from that, but I don't feel like trying to make that happen.

I get to use a spiffy little thermometer for the process and only have trouble when I forget that it's cooling off.

Today I did another brave thing (for me) and took the next step in the process which is to turn the yogurt into cream cheese!  The hubby was super impressed with this cheese and especially enjoyed eating it on his cookie stash after I'd basically turned it into cheese cake filling with sweeteners and flavor.  :)

With the first batch of yogurt I turned it right into posicles sweetened with stevia.  My girls always love this and it makes a good easy snack during the day.  I think I'd like to blend it with some banana for an even better flavor next time.