Made some sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt and peach pie filling!... :)

I make my own yogurt, butter, cream cheese, jams, jellies and apple sauce...today I made sour cream...all I had to do was add some cultures to whipping cream and wait...I let this culture for 16 hours, put it in smaller jars, labeled them and put in the fridge to stop the culturing process (I added 1/8th teaspoon of sea salt as a preservative and it brought the flavor alive! I do that with cream cheese and butter, also!)...these things are SO easy to make...I'm stunned I didn't learn how to do this years ago...I've got cream cheese in the works as I write... :)

 

Got the cream cheese working, too...I added the culture to a half a gallon of whole milk, allowed it to sit overnight and then pour it into flour cloth 12 hours later and then tied it to a wooden spoon over a pitcher and have been letting the whey drain off all day...once 12 hours has passed, I'll remove it from the cloth and add 1/8th teaspoon of sea salt to help preserve it and then I'll put it in a bowl, label it and then put it into the fridge...it's just unbelievably easy to do!... :)

 Cream cheese is done! Added an 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt, stirred well, put in air tight bowl, labeled and into the fridge! Will keep for two weeks (if it lasts that long! LOL) :)

The yogurt has been in the fridge since this morning...getting chilled and to stop the culturing process...there are lots of ways to make yogurt, we use a machine that keeps the temperature even...I use UHT whole milk (2% is fine, I use this type because it cuts the steps of heating and cooling the milk out and it works GREAT!!), a half cup of powdered milk (I get less whey this way) and two tablespoons of my favorite plain Greek yogurt, I try to find 2% (milk fat), I don't use 0%, I don't even eat 0% yogurt, LOL!...I freeze it into ice cube trays now, so it takes one cube of yogurt as the starter...I warm the milk, dissolve the cube in a cup with a little of the warm milk, add it back, stir and then put into the cups and leave for 12 hours...I usually make it overnight or first thing in the morning...when finished, it goes into the fridge to end the culturing process...it's very easy...UHT milk is the box kind, comes in 2 quart size...I'm going to try the crock pot method soon...Google it if you don't have a machine... :)

I wanted peach pie filling to use as the "fruit on the bottom" but couldn't find any (got some blueberry, cherry and apple for later)...so I decided to make my own...I started with canned, diced peaches (1), mashed them up a bit in the juice, then added a little of this and that (sugar, brown sugar, salt, ground cinnamon, allspice because I don't have nutmeg on hand, lemon juice and cornstarch for thickening) brought it to a boil and viola! fruit filling for the yogurt...I used cornstarch instead of flour so the liquid would thicken and still be clear...if you feel like you don't cook well, learn which herbs and spices to use with which foods...find a few easy recipes and get in there and cook!...follow the instructions carefully, because most are tried and tested and written that way for a reason...don't turn up the heat to speed things along...you will ruin your project if you do...have everything you'll need out and ready to use...always measure and be careful with salt!! You can add a little more if you need to, but you can't take it out!!...watch and favorite some videos and bookmark recipes you like...ask for recipes from people that made something you liked...most of all? HAVE FUN!!... :)