I’m A Guest over at the Better Baker!

Good Morning my dear readers!

Marsha-who’s “a good cook, but a better baker ” writes the blog, The Better Baker. She’s generously asked me to be a guest on her site today and she is featuring my No Calorie Sweet Green Tea.

Her site has amazing recipes-just in the last few days she has posted recipes for Very Blueberry Coffee Cake and Cabbage Lasagna with Homemade Garlic Bread. If your stomach isn’t growling already, it should be!

Hop on over to The Better Baker and say “hi” to Marsha, and tell her this weirdo sent you.

Happy Father’s Day

I have the best dad in the world. You may argue with me, but you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. (Alright, you can have the best dad, too. This isn’t worth arguing over.)

Today, I would like to say thank you to the man that raised me, protected me and provided for me. And, I would like to honor all of those other dad’s out there that are diligently doing the same.

Thank you Dad, for playing with us kids and always pretending to be “hit” and then pretending to be “hurt” and then pretending to “die”.

Honestly, I really thought we had conquered Goliath-you were that good of an actor. Now, I know you were just humble enough to let a sassy 6 year old in pigtails take you down.

Thank you Dad, for giving us shoulder rides all over Europe when we were little and then all over Kansas when we were really too big to be given shoulder rides.

You have always taken a lot on your shoulders as the man of our house. And, you’ve never let us down.

Thank you Dad, for idolizing the right men-God, Jesus and MacGyver. I know MacGyver is the only reason you carried your Swiss Army knife wherever you went and the reason behind the enormous amount of duct tape found in our house.

You had your priorities straight.

Thank you Dad, for laughing at appropriate times and at the most inappropriate things. Like when Grandma toots or when I show off by burping my name.

And thank you Dad for loving us all the same (although I have a feeling that I’m your favorite girl) and for teaching us unconditional love. I’m sorry about keeping you up at night when I’d go on a date with the that kid with the mohawk or the one way too old for me-but because of you, I knew exactly how to defend myself if need be. Thank goodness it never came to that…

Thank you for accepting Biceps immediately because you knew he was the right one for your baby girl. You were right about that and about so many other things.

You aren’t perfect, but you are perfectly my dad and I love you and I am so proud of you. Happy Father’s Day.

Homemade Crockpot Yogurt

This past month, I have made it my goal to rid my kitchen of as many store bought products as possible. I know I can’t get rid of everything, but a girl can sure try.

I wanted to find options for condiments, such as ketchup and bar-b-cue sauce (something Biceps consumes by the truckload), butter, yogurt, granola (to replace our cereal), summer drinks and canned anything.

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The process of making it myself had to be simple, cost effective and better tasting to warrant the move.

Last week, I shared with all of you my recipe for Tasty Granola sweetened by Agave Nectar. And what goes better with granola than yummy, creamy, sweet yogurt? I dare say nothing does.

Today, we are going to focus just on the yogurt. The granola will just have to get along on its own, crying by itself in the cabinet. It’s yogurt’s time to shine.

I was on the hunt for an easy, cheap recipe to make my own yogurt-free from things found in the ingredient’s list that I cannot pronounce. After a few tries, I came up with the perfect recipe-and it’s all done in the crockpot and with very little effort.

I start my yogurt in the evening, knowing that the cool down can happen overnight and I can enjoy fresh yogurt in the morning!

Here’s all that you’ll need to make your very own yogurt (makes 1/2 gallon of yogurt):
-1/2 Gallon of Milk* (I used 2%, because that’s what we drink.)
-1 Cup Plain Yogurt with active cultures (after you make your first batch, you save a cup and use on the next batch. No more store bought yogurt!)
-*1/2 Cup Powdered Milk (if using 2% or lower milk, or ultra pasteurized milk)
-Crockpot
-Cooking Thermometer

Pour the 1/2 gallon of milk into the crockpot, cover with the lid and set to high.

Let the milk heat until it’s almost to the boiling stage with the desired temperature of 180. This took my crockpot about 1 1/2-2 hours to do.

Once the milk has reached 180, turn the crockpot off and let it cool down to 115. I would recommend stirring it from time to time to distribute the heat and help it cool down more quickly.

Once the milk has cooled to 115, stir in the 1/2 Cup of Powdered milk if you are using it.

Next, stir in the 1 Cup of Plain Yogurt.

Put the lid back on the crockpot and cover it with a large towel.

Set the crockpot in the oven and let it cool down for 8-12 hours (or overnight).

Write yourself a note so that you won’t accidentally turn the oven on and burn your house down if you are forgetful like me.

In the morning, open the oven, remove the beach towel and see what happened overnight! .

Remember to save back a cup of this yogurt, sticking it in a ziploc bag and placing it in the freezer for your next batch.

Sweeten the yogurt with liquid Stevia (I prefer the Vanilla Creme), add some strawberries and Tasty Homemade Granola and voila-enjoy a delicious breakfast all made by you!

Lovin’ my Crossfit

I’ve always been into working out.

I love that feeling after you push yourself and you stand there sweaty and panting. And I love high tops and belted leotards.

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I also love keeping my heart healthy, my cholesterol low, my body strong and my gut in check during mealtimes. It’s hard to be tempted by french fries when you know you have to run 3 miles the next day.

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Biceps and I did P90X for several years, perfect for a life on the road of touring. If we didn’t do P90X, I would go to the usual running 3-5 miles a day and weight lifting.

But, recently with Biceps getting the firefighter’s position our lives have changed, and I spend 1/3 of my time at home-alone. I needed something new, something challenging and something to get me out of the dang house.

Cue “Crossfit”.

I was given a free 7 day pass to the YWCA close to my home-close enough that I can bike to it since we just have the one car. After just a few classes of Crossfit, I was hooked. It pushed me to try harder and go further than I would on my own-and my classmates are encouraging and really stinkin’ cool.

So, after selling a few things and pinching our pennies, I signed up for a year-long membership to the YWCA.

This tough little number, Christina, is our trainer. She’s the perfect mixture of butt kicker, teacher and motivator. Plus, I really just don’t want to make her mad. She could level me with one uppercut, I’m sure.

Somedays, I don’t want to go to Crossfit-when it’s 99 degrees outside and I have to bike the 2 miles there and back, I run through the excuses in my head.

But knowing that I need to see other humans, and need to practice my “double unders”-(two rotations of the jump rope with only one jump -see above photo), I keep going back. And keep getting bruised and whip marks and I keep loving every minute of it.

If you’ve ever done Crossfit, you probably either loved or hated it. For me, I am in love.