Compliment, Frozen Yogurt, Candy, Vaccine

Thursday, the sun finally came out on Thursday and the rain stopped! And, it dried up just in time. People hadstarted building arks, and a friend said she saw people and animals going by two by two. The afternoon was as brilliant as the morning was gloomy. But, then it became cold! That's okay just as long as the sun shines.

When I was shopping at WM on Thursday, a woman greeted me in such a friendly manner that I knew we had to be acquainted. Plus, she looked familiar. When I met up with her a few minutes later, we had gone in a circle and met again, she greeted me familiarly. So, I asked her name and made no connection and asked her where I knew her. It turned out she was a teacher. Immediately, she started telling me what a good substitute I was when I did that, saying she was impressed with me and my ability, that I was an exceptional sub.

She was very effusive. I pressed her for what, exactly, impressed her. If I was that good, I surely wanted to know what I was doing so right. Wouldn't you? So, she did!

That made my day. I felt well that day. I was happy to start the day. But, I felt lighter after talking to her. I think I smiled more at others. I never knew she was a "fan."

Every day, I am going to pay genuine compliments to those who impress me, telling them exactly what they are doing to make such a positive impression. We all deserve to know what we did or are doing right.

One day, about two months ago, I told a young woman studying to be a nurse  what a good job she was doing and how she was an exceptional nurse in the making. The next time I saw her, I gave her explicit compliments, using examples of her exceptional character traits, work ethic, and bedside manner. She was thrilled. I was not trying to gain anything, just impressed and thought she should know how impressive she was.

FYI, I substituted at the end of my career, almost every day. Through the years, I had fallen back on substituting as a way to earn money between jobs and on periods when I was searching for a job after graduation. The pay was good for the job and better than retail. And, it was in my field.

moving on

At Publix I got my a2milk and went by the reduced freezer section. Oh my goodness. There was reduced frozen  yogurt. It was Kemps' Frozen Yogurt Shop fudge Brownie and Cookie Dough at $1 each for 1.78 pints. That is 7.12 pints overall, almost a gallon,  that I bought for $4.

I actually bought four containers even as I wondered where in the freezers I could put them. On the way home, I started eating one of the containers. There are spoons in the deli. There was no room in the freezer. What to do? I took out chicken breasts to cook and a package of ground beef for meat balls and put them in the refrigerator. Soooo, now I must cook!

Three containers  fit in the freezer after I took the meat out. I ate part of the fourth container I started in the car and dumped the rest into a freezer bag. This way, it could be shoved into a corner of the freezer. Sure, it will be a funny shape, but I can eat ice cream in a funny shape. Can you?

A display of Russell Stover eggs caught my attention. Of course, they would! My electric cart went straight to the chocolate display.  I bought one of the Raspberry Whip Eggs. Now, I do remember these, but my loyalties have moved to the Coconut Cream Eggs that I still don't remember eating.

Thursday, I received my last pneumonia vaccine that I will ever need. This is a newly formulated vaccine. Now, each person is recommended to have one each of two different vaccines a year apart. Vaccines are recommended not only for elderly, but people who have asthma or are smokers. I am not a smoker, but I have trouble breathing around any degree of smoking or anything with particulates in the air.

Since I have taken pneumonia shots/vaccines, my sinus problems have been fewer and farther between. The sinus infections are less virulent. There is less down time. Before, a sinus infection raced from head to ears to throat to chest, leaving me very ill. When ir spreads to other parts, the infection is milder and does not leave me totally incapacitated.

As the nurse was telling me the benefits of the vaccine years ago, she mentioned all these benefits. I could hardly believe it, but it is true.

The sun is shining today, Friday, so I am going out to plant bulbs.

Your turn
Are the Russell Stover Raspberry Cream Whip Eggs on your radar? Has anyone checked out the freezer reduced section at Publix? Do you get the pneumonia vaccine? If you do, have you noticed a lessening of your sinus problems and less virulent symptoms when you do have a problem?

2000th Post and another Ball Jar Hack

This blog is a little over ten years old. There were months at a time when I did not post because computer was broken, being repaired, or I could not get into my blog. When I first started, no one even visited my blog. No one commented. Then, ten people came to my blog one day. I was ecstatic...ten people...lol.

Not being able to use the Kodak picture program has hurt me, maybe not the blog. The person who was going to teach me how to use Paint had not. I will not use Picasa or whatever it is. They own your pictures, and once you do not use their program, they remove your pictures from the blog.

Plus, I have no chickens to write about. And, I cannot post a picture of the one I have. And, I have not planted anything. The interesting things for my blog really need a picture.

This is a milestone, but what does it mean? I am not sure.

I was looking around and thought of another hack for the applesauce cup I wrote about yesterday. (Actually, you can just as easily scroll down just below this post.)Yogurt could be in the bottom of the jar with granola in the top. It seems there could be other applications. Maybe if you wanted to heat chili and put cheese on top, you could put the cheese in the cup. Crackers could go in the cup and not get soggy from the chili.

Sometimes, I don't want the cheese microwaved on top of the food because I  want cheese shaken onto  the hot food. Maybe two snacks could go into the setup, like strawberries in the jar and crackers in the top.

There are instances where one food will make the other soggy. I am quite sure you can think of your own examples. What two things would you put in the jar and applesauce cup?

Yogurt Substitution Guide

I mentioned to someone that I loved Greek yogurt. She said it was too tart for her taste. ??? I just was dumbstruck because I think Greek yogurt is less tart. Since I only buy plain yogurt to mix with fresh fruit, I was surprised. Cabot is the brand I prefer because it has fewer ingredients. On the tub is the following substitution chart.

Even though I bought the 10% this time, next time I will purchase 2%.

                   

Use Greek Yogurt in place of other higher-calorie, higher-fat ingredients.


Although this is not really expensive, I am going to make yogurt from this extra-thick Cabot Greek yogurt. I do have the yogurt maker given me from Freecycle, but next time I will use my dehydrator, making yogurt in half-pint jelly jars.

I will also cut the chart above from the yogurt carton just in case they decide to quit printing it on the carton. Or, I might buy another brand if this one is unavailable.

Tonight, I will have new potatoes mashed on my plate with a dollop of yogurt.

Your turn
Do you ever eat Greek yogurt? Plain or not? Maybe you just hate yogurt? Do you ever make homemade yogurt?

Making yogurt--uh oh

homemade yogurt and home processed peaches

Since  I love yogurt, and yogurt can be less-than-wallet-friendly, I decided to make yogurt in my freecycled handy-dandy Salton Cosmopolitan Yogurt Maker. Besides, it's always fun to do something myself instead of depending on the grocery store. When I get this method down pat, maybe I will try some of the other methods of making yogurt that do not require a special machine or electricity.

I used a smidgen less than a quart of whole milk, measure in a two quart bowl. Then, almost a half cup of powdered milk was mixed into the milk. I never could get it smooth. So, I ended up putting the little globs of powdered milk into the hens' food. That dried milk thing in my milk did not go well.

A Corningware pan with water and a cooking utensil to keep the bowl from touching the bottom was the next step. "Do not boil." I don't think I did but a skin came over the milk. That means I did not stir enough. I fished it out and added it to the hens' food. When the milk got near 150 degrees, I thought I had had enough. But, it almost reached 180 degrees, the temperature on the Salton directions (online) said the milk should reach. This heating to 180 did not go well. I forgot to take a picture of that.

waiting to cool

Once the mixture cooled, I poured some milk into a little bowl in order to mix yogurt as a starter. I used Greek yogurt and mixed about a half cup from the Oika container into the bowl of milk. Once again, I could not get it to completely dissolve. Whatever!

waiting

I poured the mixture into the little glass jars and set them into the Salton Cosmopolitan Yogurt Maker that had been on for about four hours, preheating. This did go well. Even though I was exhausted, I spilled nothing.
Neither the dry milk or the yogurt would mix until smooth and thoroughly mixed like the directions said. Soooo, we will see what happens.

Do you see the sweet potato sprouts in the saucer on top of the jar of kidney beans? Or, is that pinto beans? Since I won't eat either, it does not matter. I cut these sprouts from the sweet potatoes to see what happens if I plant them.

I worried. I read more on the Internet. One place said use a tsp of yogurt! Most places said DO NOT boil the milk.

I found this set of instructions that described yogurt-making differently.
1. boil the milk
2. use 1 heaping Tablespoon of  yogurt.

Once I put the mixture into the Salton Cosmopolitan Yogurt Maker (I love to say the whole name), timing began. There was no way I was getting up in the middle of the night to check on yogurt after the hard day I had. After 13 hours, it was refrigerated. Still, I could not wait the 3-4 hours to check on it. I tasted it at 1 pm and promptly ate some with peaches I cooked and put in the refrigerator yesterday.

Delish. Success. Cheap.

This cost me $0.90 for the milk, $0 for the powdered milk. That makes this cost $0.03/ounce. Actually, it was $0.028/ounce, so the rounding takes care of the electricity spent. That makes 8 oz yogurt cost $0.24 cents. A serving for me is around 4 oz=$0.12....not too bad. Oh, I forgot the $0.50 cents worth of store bought yogurt. Make that $0.04 cents/ounce and $0.16/serving. I am sure I can bring that back down to 3 cents even for each ounce if I ever figure out where to buy the yogurt starter.

Remember, the yogurt maker was free from Freecycle. My friend picked it up in Birmingham and brought it to me...not trouble for me either. And, he does not like yogurt! So, no sharing with him.

If yogurt needs instructions and the methods vary as to amount of ingredients and temperature, it's no wonder more people don't make yogurt. 

This endeavor was a success, even if it was stressful for me. I am not sure if I need to use a half cup of yogurt starter or a Tablespoon. I am not sure why the milk has to heat to 180 degrees.

The stress and indecision are over. I have yogurt. This will be repeated.

Your turn
Do you have a yogurt maker? Do you have a Salton yogurt maker? Or, do you make yogurt without a special small appliance?