Nicola H Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 Kate thanks for recommending the site creative living I have spent about an hour on it getting recipes for the butter and the cheese and also the choc. cake. Hope it turned out OK I am going to make the butter tomorrow and then when I go shopping get things to make the cheese it sounds great fun and Emily is going to help..............I can't wait to taste the results, the cleaning can wait........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 CRAZY KATE (sorry for the capitals Lesley ) ... you mad thing you. . Read the butter thing .. as I remember taking in a sandwich box , to do the shaking cream thing to make butter in PRIMARY school. . I thought if I ever mentioned it I would be laughed at, but it has crossed my mind to do it with the kids at home ... may well revive that one afterall. When you have finished making that choc buttermilk cke .. wing some this way . By the way .... do you receive visitors for food weekends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 Yes, I am Crazy Kate!! My friend coined that nickname years ago and just starts e-mails with "Hi Crazy" now!! The cake is gorgeous! It's also very tall so they boys are well impressed. Butter making is fun. It's so nice to know exactly what's gone into it rather than reading a list of ingredients with preservatives, colourings and flavourings! I made a batch this morning and all it's got in it is cream and a teaspoon of salt plus I got a cup of buttermilk to make the cake with! The cheese making is fun, Nicola but be prepared for it to take a while! I couldn't get rennet from Tesco but found it in our little health food shop of £1.15 for a vanilla essence sized bottle. I'll have to start a cake courier service !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 Thanks Kate I am going into Town on Wednesday so will try the health food stores I think there are 3 in the high street so 1 should sell it......£ 1.15 is expensive I had better get it right, I will re-read the instructions you only need a quarter of a teaspoon for 4 pints of milk so there might be enough for a few batches....Glad the cake tasted good I am going to make the butter in the morning and then use the buttermilk for the cake, I have some Green and Blacks cocoa powder yum yum.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 Top Tip! - check the expiry date on the bottle Nicola!!! I bought mine, got it home and it said use by the end of April 2005! I have a whole bottle minus 1/4 tsp to use by the end of the month!! That's expensive!! If you have a long expiry and you plan to make a habit of cheese making it's not too bad at all! I'm planning to make a new cheese every week. With a 2-5 week maturing process, we've got a long time to wait to see if we like the cheese ! Ollie eats anything cheesy so he should finish it off for us unless it really is awful! You can also use the rennet to make cottage cheese, ricotta, junket etc though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 Were do people get things for cleaning from? I have got loads of tips about using things like Bicarbonate of Soda and Borax but I can only ever find them in the supermarket in tiny tubs that work out expensive. I end up using Ecover because it's easy to pick up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 Hi Trish, I still haven't managed to source a good supply for Borax in bulk but you can buy very large bags of bicarb from chinese supermarkets incredibly cheaply. I bought a 3kg bag for £2 something. The same goes for distilled white vinegar and washing soda - 5 litres vinegar for around £1. We have a chinese supermarket warehouse in Peterborough where I get my things. The Greenshop (www.greenshop.co.uk) sell borax in 1kg bags but you get walloped with postage from them. The only other source I've found is Boots who sell 750g boxes for £2.19. I also have an address for local supplier of essential oils where I buy large (100ml) bottles of things like lavender, lemon, orange, tea tree and grapefruit oils for a fraction of the price Boots and the health food shops sell them for. If anyone is interested, PM me and I'll pass on the details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowlbird Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 I'm definitely getting the cleaning book! you lot are so impressive. We're growing our own fruit and veg - it's taking a long time to get the garden sorted as I'm disabled and mr fowlbird isn't that keen but now he sees what I've managed so far, he's coming round to the idea of working harder in the garden. I went to the top of the garden today - past the ecodisaster the chooks have access to! All sorts of stuff is coming up - loads of borage, rhubarb, raspberries, currants, some herby thing I forget the name of - grows about 4ft tall and we use it in salads... the new apple, pear and walnut trees are shooting all over the place, I'm hoping to get some fruit from them this year. Lots of new brambles coming up, as I dig them out I'll replant them in the hedge at the side of the upper lawn. Last year we had loads of blackberries, this year I'm hoping to make several small pots of jam. Around the house we have kiwis, grapes and figs. Hopefully this year the kiwi and fig will actually produce fruit before the end of the summer. Anyone have any experience in growing these fruits? We don't eat meat and I'm wheat and dairy intolerant so I gave up making bread and cheese but I make a mean frozen yogurt and am going to experiment with making arabic/turkish breads with rye flour. This year I'm going to sow runner/French beans directly in the soil and see if they do better than last year. I have broad beans, chillies and tomatoes on the go. I always buy aubergine and cucumber plants - anyone have any success growing them from seed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 Thanks Kate, I have all the right intentions but Ecover was working out cheaper. I work over the road from a chinese supermarket so I 'll give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motherhen Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 I'm seriously jealous of your walnut tree fowlbird Do you eat the walnuts when green and fresh or dry them first? Re bread for wheat intolerance - have you tried spelt flour? It's a very old variety of grain, brought over by the Romans I think and some people find they can eat bread made with it. You find it in health food shops and even some large supermarkets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheilaz Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 but I make a mean frozen yogurt quote] I've tried working it out but now you'll have to tell me...doesn't yogurt count as dairy, or do you use something else to make it? Also, I replied about fig tree in "new to gardening" topic as I got lost & forgot where I was. ..just went from slugs to figs somehow...at least it was a relevent topic, could have been anywhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 12, 2005 Author Share Posted April 12, 2005 Sheila - I can only speak for myself and Grand-daughter - an Intolerance is different to an Allergy and people who are dairy intolerant can often eat yoghurt because of the changes it has undergone in its transition from milk. Lauren and I can eat small amounts of Spelt flour as Jane says, but not modern wheats. Full blown Allergies can be life-threatening, Intolerances aren't but they are inconvenient to say the least! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted April 12, 2005 Share Posted April 12, 2005 After looking at the site Kate put a link to "Creative Living in the 21st century" I have just made the butter and then using the buttermilk I made the scones......and they taste brilliant I also used the butter in the scones and then put some home made jam on them, I don't think there will be any left over but if there are the chooks might get a taste.............. I would recommend making the butter it was very easy and tastes great............. Thanks Kate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 12, 2005 Share Posted April 12, 2005 No problem Nicola! Glad it worked out OK. I made another batch of butter yesterday and added 1tsp salt to it - much nicer and made a chocolate buttermilk cake with the buttermilk that was left over. It's really nice and I've posted the recipe on the Creative Living forum. However, scones are definitely the nicest to use it up on, especially because you can use your homemade butter too . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted April 12, 2005 Share Posted April 12, 2005 I forgot to add salt I will try that next time I make it.............. It was lovely spread on the scones.....can my waist line stand it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheilaz Posted April 12, 2005 Share Posted April 12, 2005 Thanks for helping out there Lesley. I thought it prob. was because of different nature of yogurt but just needed to hear it. Feel really bad that when Ex.bro.in law was cutting out dairy, Mum tried to give him yogurt and everyone laughed when she didn't understand & Sis.I.Law kept telling her, nothing with milk & she kept replying, not cheese then.......not cream then.... but, I think she may have heard something about yogurt & we'd all stopped listening by then. Sorry Mum (God bless). And yes, but I think the intolerance bit is sometimes over used and referred to as allergy when its not, as you say, there is a distinction.........which makes it hard for some other people to have their allergies and intolerances taken seriously... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 Hi Just wanted to say thanks to Kate for the book recommendations, I'll be checking out the Amazon site next!. Also had a quick look at the cleaning "recipes" that you put on the Creative Living website and am going to have a go at trying them Have a good weekend everyone Sharon Ruby Pearl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 Glad you found them interesting Sharon. I won't go back to shop cleaning products now. I'm a dyed in the wool bicarb, vinegar and borax girl!! Good luck when you try, I hope you're as impressed with them as I was . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
