After Christmas and the start of the New Year Sale!

Come on by and check out all of the great items!

  

Lots of Coiled fabric baskets, cold process soaps and other handmade goods!

Please go to www.windywillowhomestead.etsy.com

Psst….I have solid gold in my Fridge

The art of making homemade Butter!

I have a confession to make……I have solid gold in my fridge. Yes, solid gold, well when it is cold it is solid. What I am talking about here is homemade butter. To me it is almost like gold. I honestly use butter almost every day. It is personal preference for me and my family. With recent studies suggesting that certain diseases were at an all-time high because of the use of margarine (yuck!) and other oils instead of butter. One of many articles that support butter. link:  

I find that any more these days there are studies to support both sides of consuming butter. I take all of those studies with a grain of salt. How I see it, we as human beings didn’t survive this long on earth by eating something that was made up in a lab. (Sorry about that little tangent.)

Back to making butter. 

There are a couple things you are going to need to make butter:

-Heavy Whipping Cream (I use organic non ultra-pasteurized or raw cream. See why below.) 

-Something to mix the Heavy Whipping Cream (Stand mixer, hand mixer, jar with lid, or food processor.)

-Water to rinse the butter

-Strainer 

-Container to put the finished butter in. (I prefer glass. See why below.) 

-Salt (optional)

Instead of me trying to explain each and every step I made an awesome video for you to watch. 

FYI: I am no film maker. Everything that is in the video is solely my opinions, if you do not like it please do not watch. Thank you!

If you do not wish to watch the video: 

There are a couple stages that happen during the butter making process.

Basically all broke down the process looks like this:

1.    Poor heavy whipping cream into the mixing apparatus. Add in the salt if you want salted butter. (As a general rule of thumb you can use ¼ to 1 teaspoon of salt. It all depends how salty you want your butter and how much cream you are using.) (I do not salt my butter see the reason why below.)

2.    Turn on mixer and the cream will turn into whipped cream. (Yummy!)

3.    Keep the mixer going until the fat (butter) separates away from the whey (watery part) (I want to point out here that butter whey is different than the cheese making whey.)

4.    Take the butter and whey mixture and strain out the whey. (You can keep the whey and use it, drink it.)

5.    Wash the butter until the water comes out clear. (I know it sounds crazy but needs to be done to help the butter keep longer.)

6.    Put the washed butter in a container and store away either in the refrigerator or freezer.

7.    Enjoy your homemade butter! (Be sure to check your butter every time you use it. I recommend smelling to make sure it hasn’t gone rancid. Check for mold growth as well. If has mold on it toss it away.)   

 

You can chose between jars, food processor, stand mixer or hand mixer (not pictured)

This will be my mixer of choice.

Mixing has started!

The butter press. It is pretty awesome to use!

Going into more of the reasons I do what I do when I make butter.

1.    Using Organic, raw or non-ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream: This is personal choice for me and my family. With all of the excessive use of pesticides and herbicides in our food this days I want limit my families’ exposer to these hazards.

2.    I prefer using glass because glass doesn’t hold on to food residue like plastic. Also it is a personal preference.

3.    I do not salt my butter because if I want to drink the left over whey or use the whey in a recipe I don’t want it salty.  

Hope that this helps anyone wanting to make butter for the first time or for the new homesteaders out there that want to be more self-sufficient.  

Trying making butter to give away as a gift.

Try to experiment by adding in herbs or sugar.

So many different ways to make butter!

See how easy it is to make butter! 

Until Next Time!

Crazy Times

Well I had an interesting Thanksgiving......Instead of the usual eating with family, we had no choice but to eat by ourselves. The kids and I were not feeling so hot. Between throwing up and running to the bathroom made for one interesting time. You can see who in their right mind would want to eat with all of us. One of the other reasons is my family lives clear across the country and the hubby's family lives close by. The problem you see is that the hubby's father is not in the best of health and has prostate cancer and is going through chemo. With his weakened immune system we just didn't want to expose him to our family plague. 

But I do have say the Thanksgiving we did have it was pretty good. I decided this year to brine the turkey. And BOY OH BOY am I glad I did! The turkey was the best I have ever had. If you have never brined a turkey or chicken I highly recommend it. I just wish I would have taken pictures of the beautiful bird in all its glory. Here is a link to the brine I used: Turkey Brine (I bought my at Sprouts Grocery Store for much cheaper.)

With making the turkey and all the fixings for Thanksgiving got me in the mood to make more things at home. I would consider myself a part time prepper and homesteader in the making. 

I am also looking for new recipes to make at home. My feeling is if I can make it at home for cheaper then what it is in the store then I am going to do....Jump in with both feet......no half ass (ok maybe sometimes half ass) try! 

Today's homesteading try was to make homemade crackers. I have to say that these crackers were some of the best I have had. I got the recipe from: Homemade crackers I put cheese in my recipe. They were a HUGE kid favorite. That is huge plus in my book. Now I can spend less money buying crackers at the store. I have also found that this recipe allows you to try different ingredients to add. I think the next time I will use some crunchy peanut butter. (these would be good dog biscuit recipe too!) I will try making a gluten free version to see how they come out. I will post later on what the results are.

Drum roll.........Here are the fruits of my labor:

(Oh and if you would like an awesome coiled fabric basket to serve your crackers in you can find them here: Windy Willow Homestead )

Until next time!

Black Friday? Really?......

Can't believe November is almost over! Where did this month go, let alone the whole year! It is so hard to believe that it is Black Friday. I have never been a big shopper anyway, I have always preferred to shop online. I thought I would offer the opportunity for other online shoppers a sale.

Black Friday thru Cyber Monday Sale.
Take 25% off your total purchase!
Please shop at: www.windywillowhomestead.etsy.com
Code at checkout: BLACKFRIDAY
All sales over $50 will receive set of two free fabric flower ornaments.
All sales over $100 will receive a set of two fabric flower ornaments and your choice of one bar of soap or wax melt.
The sale starts Friday, November 28th and Ends, Monday December 1st

There is a Giveaway Going On!

I thought I would share something fun! My business sponsor's Tilly's Nest and I occasionally have giveaways through that blog.

I am giving away a Coiled Fabric Basket, a Cold Process Soap and a scented Wax Melt. Please go to:

Windy Willow Homestead Giveaway

You could win this: 

A Brand New Adventure

This feels so strange to me! 

A brand new adventure into the blogging world. Since I am new to this I will start off with my business.

It is hard to believe that my business has been open for a year now. It has been a crazy and fun journey along the way. I feel that has been a way for me to express who I really am and find new and exciting ways to explore the world of homesteading. If didn't already know that I sell most of the items I make. Currently I have Coiled Fabric Baskets, Cold Process Soaps, Fabric Ornaments, Scented Wax Melts just to name a few. Below you can see what I have currently listing in my etsy shop. www.windywillowhomestead.etsy.com 

I am hoping share what I have learned from my urban homesteading. So let the fun begin!

 

This soap smells like crushed candy canes that are sprinkled over luscious layers of sugary white chocolate to make this cool yet sweet dessert sensation. An awesome scent for Christmas or the holiday's!

This soap smell is a warm blend of fresh vanilla bean, rich caramel and soothing cream. An awesome scent for Christmas or the holiday's!
This soap has brown sugar on the top.

This soap smells just like a flower shop; a unique combination of carnation, tulips, roses, and the ozony base note of fresh greenery.