Creamy Coconut Milk

My newest experiment in the kitchen is making coconut milk. I used the recipe from the Wellness Mama blog, and coconut I ordered from Azure Standard. I used a loosely woven kitchen towel to strain out the pulp. It drips through pretty slowly so some squeezing with my hands or pressing with a spoon was needed. The recipe makes a quart.

Don't throw away the pulp, it can be eaten or used in baking! I have been making it into makeshift muffins with mini chocolate chips, but there's no official recipe to post yet.

The homemade coconut milk was very sweet and great for making hot chocolate. 

The cream will rise to the top, and in the fridge it hardens to a solid. The cream can be eaten by the spoonful, melted back into the coconut milk if you heat it when you use it, or just chopped into small pieces that will end up in your glass of milk or bowl of cereal.

A 32 oz. carton of So Delicious brand coconut milk costs a little over $2 at Walmart or Winco, so I estimate that homemade costs less than half of purchasing, plus you get the leftover pulp to use.

My Kitchen Slaves

No, I'm not referring to my sons. Although knowledgeable and enthusiastic in many kitchen-ey things, especially pizza, they aren't coordinated enough to be super helpful in the kitchen yet.

I'm speaking of these: chunky colonies of microorganisms known as water kefir "grains".

After our family's first bout of pneumonia and antibiotics, I thought now was a good time to put my new year's resolution of kefir into action. And to be honest, I've always liked a good science experiment. Kefir is a probiotic culture (like yogurt), and probiotics are good for everyone, whether or not you've been on antibiotics. I picked up some grains, which are actually little colonies of specialized bacteria and yeast, from a friend (you can also purchase them in a dehydrated form) and put them to work.

The finished kefir is a little like pop: a bubbly sweet beverage. The starter ingredients are sugar/molasses, water, and the culture/grains. You can add flavoring as well. A lot of the sugar gets consumed by the bacteria but it is still sweet. The grains are removed before you drink the kefir and used for the next batch.

For now I'm keeping track of each batch (ingredients, how long it ferments, etc.) so I can tell what makes a good batch. The first two batches (berry tea and sweet cherry juice) have been good flavors with a mild fizz.

Considering that a bottle of kids probiotic pills ranges from $8-$23 for about a month's supply, I'm happy to have these little kitchen slaves on my countertop manufacturing virtually free lactobacilli for me.

Sneaky Swap

Heather's One Month of Less posts motivated me to take on a few projects to simplify and organize our sometimes-cluttered house.

One idea that was successful was a puzzle trade. I chose 2 less-favorite puzzles, posted them on a local baby buy/sell/swap board (like Craigslist) with the message that I wanted to trade them for puzzles of similar quality and age level. Someone took me up on it, we sent pictures of the puzzles to each other, then met in the Winco parking lot to exchange, and I hid the "new" puzzles away for birthday or Christmas. Something new, without making our pile of puzzles too big for its' home on top of the organ.

Shhhh...don't tell Malachi, he will probably be opening these for a gift in the next few months!

Cloth Diapers in Italy

I know, I know. I need to be writing posts for my own blog. Don't worry, I have some in the works.

But, hoping that others could get ideas from my experience taking the cloth diapers along to Italy, I wrote up a guest post on what I took along and how the washing went, etc. for a cloth diapering blog. Washing the diapers was a little harder than at home, just because I had to haul the wet laundry out of our basement and through the other apartment to get to the drying racks and sunny terraces. But the view while doing so was gorgeous so I shouldn't complain!

Guest Post at Happymoneysaver.com

Recently I enjoyed getting to write a guest post for a favorite blog of mine, Happy Money Saver. It is a blog that helps people get good deals on groceries, online purchases, and fun freebies and samples. After seeing several posts with excellent tips on how to combine coupons/sales to get good deals on disposable diapers, I asked Karrie if I could write a post for her on saving money with cloth diapers. Some of the tips I learned from experience, and some I had heard from friends. I had a lot of fun writing it up and I hope it was helpful to lots of readers!

Cloth Diapers: Part 1

Over the past couple months I've had 3 people ask me "I know you use cloth diapers. We are thinking of using them with our baby. Do you like them? What kind do you use?" and other questions. I thought it would be helpful to write up a little information about it so that I can include some pictures for those people, and perhaps it will prove helpful to others as well.

Why?

We have saved a lot of money compared to full-time disposable diaper use. I've spent about $250 on diapers. That includes having a small set at both sets of grandparents' houses. Even if I add in detergent and water/electric costs, I am coming out ahead. They work better; I have never had poop leak out onto his clothing, and only rarely a pee leak. I also keep the environmental and health costs of disposable diapers in mind. It just makes sense that re-useable diapers use less resources (money and natural resources), just like re-useable clothing, dishes, and towels do. We line-dry when possible and plan to save the diapers for future children, which increases our cost savings and lowers the amount of energy and resources used.

What kind(s)?

We use mostly prefolds and covers. Everyone has different preferences on what type or brand of cloth diaper works best. There are lots of amazing new types of diapers out there, many of which go on like a disposable. These pocket diapers and all-in-ones are great for on the go changes, wiggly babies, or caregivers who may not be familiar or comfortable with cloth diapers. Many people have a whole stash of these types of diapers. However, they are a bit pricey for me and I actually prefer being able to use the outer waterproof cover for several changes. You only need 4-8 covers (and 2-3 dozen diapers to put in them), whereas with pocket diapers or all-in-ones you can be spending $15+ per diaper because the waterproof outer layer is part of each diaper. The prefolds aren't as picky about what kind of detergent they're washed in (wrong detergent + synthetic fabric pocket diaper = rash for Tobias), and there is no elastic or velcro in the diaper to wear out so they are supposed to last through several kids. Another benefit of prefolds is that you can use them for other purposes in a pinch, such as a changing pad, towel, or burp cloth. There are many occasions that I have been glad to have an extra in my diaper bag.

When Toby was little, we would use a snappi fastener to hold the diaper closed, and then velcro the cover on over top. This held in the poop better. Now we just fold the diaper in thirds and lay it in the cover and velcro (or snap) it on.

For overnight I use some longer prefolds. I fold them to make them fit into the cover, and to put the extra absorbency in the front. There are other folds but I like this one because I can do it ahead of time and it stays folded up well (when I fold the second side in, I tuck it into the slot made by the first side, so it can't unfold itself).

Here (click to see it) is a picture of my changing table and the diapers on it.

In Part II, I plan to talk about wipes, washing, and short and long trips out of the house with cloth diapers. If you have other questions or things I forgot, please post and I will try to answer your questions in part II.