Homemade Goat Soap

Here are the ingredients/things that you are going to need:

36 oz of olive oil                                  40 oz Goat Milk
75 oz vegetable shortening                   4 oz essential oil (optional)
13.7 oz lye                                             Herbs to your liking (optional)
lg glass bowel                                        lg stainless steel pan & spoon
thermometer                                           blanket 


First thing you have to do is go out & milk the goat. Add Lye to goat milk that is room temp. in a lg glass bowel, being very careful as this will get HOT and produce fumes. Please do not take a deep breath of this to see it will cause a large coughing spell I know this from experience LOL. It will sometimes get very thick in the cooling process so stir from time to time, it will be brownish in color. Melt vegetable shortening in stainless steel pan, remove from heat and add the olive oil to the melted vegetable oil. Let both mixtures (lye solution & the oils)cool to 98- 100 degrees. Slowly & carefully pour the lye solution into the oil while stirring. Stir to trace (starts to thicken) each batch will vary with the time it takes to reach trace. I use a hand blender to stir. Once trace has been reached add whatever essential oils & herbs that you want . Pour into molds lined with freezer paper or sprayed with pam. Rubber maid drawers organizers work well. Keep covered very well for the next 24 hours. Unwrap & cut into bars.. Let age for 4-6 wks on a rack where air can circulate around bars & turn everyday.


This is the basic recipe since you want to make the coffee soap you will need 1 to 2 cups of coffee grounds. Add this once you have reach trace. As far as the essential oil or fragrant oil use whatever you would like it to smell like Vanilla, choc... This is making me want a Carmel Mocha Latte LOL

                                                                                                          

                    Tips

 Make sure to use safety glasses/gloves when working with lye it is very caustic & will cause burns... once a chemical reaction takes place called Saponification it is rendered harmless. Soap cannot be made without the use of lye. Please read & follow the safety rules on the lye container. I sometimes let my oil set in the sink with cold water around to help in the cooling process. Place apiece of heavy cardboard over each mold before wrapping in a blanket.

 Soap On the shelf ready to be placed in the rack system that John built for me... It works great & will hold up to 12 batches of soap. Each shelf will hold 32 bars of soap. Which is the amount that each of the wooden molds make.

OK so you don't have a goat .....you can buy powdered goat milk & canned goat milk. If you are lucky enough to know somebody that has goats and milks them even better :) Goat milk soap is good for the skin. Since you are adding the coffee it makes a great hand cleaner.
If you need anything call or leave a comment & I will get back to you :)

 

 

Freezing Pumpkin

Halloween is over & the pumpkins are cheaper .... found some for $1.00 ea sure beats $3.99 ea... SCORE... so I picked up 15 & off to the house I went with visions of pumpkin rolls, pumpkin pies, & my favorite pumpkin Butter.

The first thing I do is wash them off outside & let them sit to dry as I get things ready. Things you will need: Aluminum Foil, knife, trash bag, lg pan for baking, lg spoon, lg bowl, Blender, Qt freezer bag & cutting board

All ready....set oven to 350 degree..... go get a pumpkin, if there is still a stem on it cut it off then cut pumpkin in half length wise. Remove seed & scrape pumpkin out with lg spoon... this is where the trash bags comes in, put the seeds & scrapings in trash bag. Place on pan wrap with aluminum foil .... bake for at least 2 hrs or till done. Amount of time to cook will depend on size of your pumpkin. Pumpkin flesh should be soft & a fork will stick in with no force needed.

 

I am baking 2 at a time...this takes alittle longer....this is to show you the types of pans you can use..... when using a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan be careful because pumpkin is full of water don't spill it & burn yourself :) when cooked remove from oven, remove aluminum foil & allow to cool.. Pour off water

when cooled scrape the flesh out of the skin & spoon into a lg bowl...Throw skin into trash bag.

 Repeat this until you have enough pumpkin & are ready to move on to next step.. you can proceed from here but I like to run mine thu the blender first.. makes for smother pumpkin puree to use in pies, cakes, cookies & pumpkin rolls.


 I would always run into trouble trying to hold the freezer bag open & pour pumpkin into it... I found that if I take a lg cup place the freezer bag into in turn the top of the bag over the top of the glass made it alot easier. I put 2 Cups into ea qt freezer bag because most recipes call for 2 cups. Zip lock the top while pushing the air up & out.

Repeat this till you have used all your pumpkin. Lay bags flat on a cookie sheet & freeze.. when fully frozen remove from cookie sheet & place in a pile in your freezer. Now your are ready to use your pumpkin in any recipe that calls for pumpkin. The best part it's fresh pumpkin no chemicals, pure pumpkin :)

 

 

                                                                               I used 5 med sized pumpkins to get this amt .. all together I ended up with 30 cups of pumpkin..that's 6 cups for ea pumpkin .... I used 2 cups in Gooey Pumpkin Bars & there are 2 more bags not shown

                                                        

Hope this works easy for you ...any question call me or leave a message below.. I will get back to you

Pumpkin Butter Next :)

Canning Jalapenos

                                  

Prepare Jars either by sterilizing in dishwasher or boiling in water.... keep hot till needed by placing in boiling water, keeping in dishwasher or placing in oven set to lowest degree. Flats should be warm for use but DO NOT BOIL them... rings do not need to be warm but I always throw my in with the flats in a pan of water on the stove over low flame



                       What you need:
                2 pounds of Jalapeno peppers
                6 Cups Vinegar (white)
                2 cups water








                 Pick and Wash Peppers
Leave Peppers whole or cut into 1 inch pieces. Combine Vinegar and water in a large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Pack peppers into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Ladle hot liquid over peppers leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles & adjust 2 piece lid. Process in boiling water canner for 10 min. This will make approx. 6 pints.

 Options: add 1/4 teaspoon diced garlic in jar
                add 1 cayenne pepper to ea jar ( for extra kick )
                can add both together






NOTE: when cutting or seeding peppers wear rubber gloves to prevent  juice from peppers getting on your hands & causing them to burn ...this is from a personal experience .. it does burn & takes forever to stop... NOTHING & I mean nothing I did made it stop :)




        Equipment Needed:

    funnel
   set of measuring spoon & measuring cup
   water bath
   Flats & Bands 
   air removal tool
   flat removal tool






Fill water bath  2/3 of the way with water.. this should make your water line  just below the handles to insure that the water will cover the jars by 1-2 inches when processing

Remove jars from water bath after processing for 10 min.... transfer them to an area covered with a towel. Space jars approx 2 inches apart to allow air between ea jar. Do not move for 24 hours. Check each jar to make sure it sealed . If sealed you will be unable to push on the lid if when pushing on the lid it pops down it did not seal. Needs to be stored in frig & used


         Hopes this helps if you need any thing else just let me know
                                            ENJOY :)

Garden Time

May 3rd layer newspaper & straw laid

OK lets just get this out there I love to garden. Garden was planted the last wks of April. Then on May 3rd a layer of newspaper & straw was laid down after the seedlings broke, grown so I could tell where the rows were. The weather has been perfect & grow took flight. It has been one of the best years in a long time for gardening. The straw & newspaper has done great at keeping the weeds down. I mainly have to keeps the rows weeded :) 

Garden today... Things looking good

The Cucumber, tomatoes, beans & peppers have stared bearing their young produce & the corn is about to tassel. Today I weeded & then started getting the equipment out that is needed to process the vegetable's for canning. This far I have located the  2 pressure cookers, 2 water baths, rings, jars, funnels, utensils. Jars will need to be washed & sterilized due to setting all winter long in the garage. I also sterilize them @ the canning process / instructions. I will be posting recipes so keep checking back.








Roma Beans are my favorite type of bean. The way things look right now the first 2 pickings are going to yield a lot. I will can some & freeze some. I like them canned better than frozen but some of us like them better frozen. Doing both will keep everybody happy:)









Cucumber are doing awesome & there are alot of small cucumbers & blooms.. have several different types planted. It will be awhile before I have to get serious with them. They will be made into Dill pickles, Bread & Butter pickles, Lime pickles, Dill relish & Sweet relish. The last couple of years it has been almost  impossible to find dill in this town for some reason. I will have fresh dill this year .... I planted some :)

Dill



Tomatoes



Cilantro

Jalapenos

Almost 6 yrs ago I was Dx with RSD/CRPS right foot/ankle. Until about 8 mo ago I cont. to work & do what I could to stay active. Things have gotten worse but I am not going to give up! I will cont to do the things I like. It may take me 6 hrs to what normally would of taken me a hour but I do it. Some days I pay for what I did the day before but at least I did it... I live by if you don't use it you will loss it. The most important things are to stay positive & a loving caring family & friends. Which I am blessed to have both.

Special going on

Only 14 days left. Time is running out & spaces are filling up for the last 2 wks of this special ... get your day & time slot booked before they are all gone :)