Friday, April 22, 2011

From The Kitchen...

 This past week in my kitchen I was busy making whey. Whey is a glorious golden liquid that is beneficial to the body in so many ways. (read more about the benefits of whey here.) Making whey is so, so simple to do. To set everything up really only takes a couple of minutes once you have all of your supplies. Here's how I make whey.

 First, you'll want to start with a really good whole milk organic yogurt with live cultures. (unless you have made your own, or are using raw milk...this is what I had on hand.)
 Next you will want to get out your 100 percent cotton cheesecloth and open it up, leaving enough layers intact and spread it over a small non-metal bowl, pour in your yogurt and gather the end up of the cheesecloth securely wrap a rubber band around the top. Carefully slip in the handle of a wooden spoon through a couple of the rubber band loops (as seen in the picture). Gently lift the cheesecloth wrapped yogurt and place over a deeper container. (I put mine over a plastic pitcher, with the ends of the wooden spoons being the support.) Now you wait. Mine drained for about 6 hours. You could certainly strain for longer, but this amount of time gave me about 1 pint of whey.
 Just look and those little dropplets of goodness!
 After the whey has been strained completely from the yogurt, you'll want a nice clean mason jar to store it in.
 Mmm...
 There you have it! You've made whey! Now how easy was that?
 Also, one of the best parts about making whey is....the yummy cream cheese you have after the draining is done! Here I have taken the cream cheese and added some fresh rosemary, turmeric, raw garlic, salt & pepper for a yummy spread.
And with all that whey I just had to start a nice batch of lacto-fermented salsa! I can't wait to try it. What are you making in your kitchen?

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Senses: Part 2


                               : : Taste : :

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Senses: Part 1

                                : : Sight : :

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A Walk In The Woods...

This past weekend, my family and I enjoyed a nice walk at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve. Besides it being a bit windy outside, we had a lovely time. It was so nice to get out in nature. Hopefully there will be plenty more walks in the woods in the near future!







So much beauty to be found in this world if we just take the time to look.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Giveaway!

Very exciting news! The Indigo Forest is being featured on the blog Bellies and Babies!

The month of April on Bellies and Babies is being dedicated to "The Conscious Family". And We are offering two items for the giveaway. Please check out Nicole's blog Bellies and Babies to see how to enter for a chance to win and to also check out all of the other wonderful posts that will be featured during this month!