Mary had a baby ...

It finally snowed here yesterday.  I was beinning to think we would have a very brown, very warm Christmas.  We still may, but for now the snow got me into the spirit of the season a bit ... at least enough to get out some Christmas decorations. 

Since we'll be in Toronto for Christams, we won't put up a tree.  But it's just not Christmas around here if I don't put out my nativity sets.  I collect nativity sets -- big and small, colorful or monochrome, hand-made, manufactured -- almost any kind.  Here's a smattering of some of my sets:

If there's a horizontal surface, it probably holds a creche, or two, or six!

Ah well ... like I said:  Mary had a baby!

Number please

I was given a challenge recently.  Account yourself.  Literally "account" as in using numbers.  Assign something to as many numbers as you can from 1-10 and then 5 other numbers   You can't use any of the numbers of your birthdate).  Here goes:


  1 - # of cities (towns) we've lived in since getting married
  2 - # of children; # of grandchildren (for now)
  3 - # of pleasure trips out of town in the last 12 months 
  4 - # of fish currently in my fish tank
  5 - # of months I worked on this house before we could actually move in 
  6 - # of dogs we've owned over the last 30 years (Halley, Topaz, Brandy, Moses, Fargo & Louise ... in that order)
  7 -  # of houses we lived in Calgary 
  8 - # in our family when we're all together (again, for now!)
  9 - # of years I've been working from home after 10 years of working downtown
10 - # of consecutive years I've been in a leadership position of some sort at church


11 - # of years we lived in the first house we owned
13 - # of years I've been a Canadian citizen
19 - # of years I have owned and operated "KVH Business Services"
30 - # of years we've been married; # of years I've lived in Canada
52 - # of years on this planet


I'm sure there are countless (pun intended) other numbers I could assign significance to.  But this wasn't as easy as it looks.  And there's nothing profound about it.  Just makes you think about your life in a different way.


-KVH

a pinch of this, a pinch of that

 I can't help being a "granola-head".  Maybe it was growing up in the 60's and 70's.  Maybe it was going to Dordt and getting an education that challenged us to reformational and stewardly lives with a social conscience.  Whatever it was ... I can't shake it.  That's okay.

My latest granola-head passion is making my own yogurt cheese.  I adore cream cheese.  But cream cheese is fairly high in fat, calories and lactose and relatively low in protein.  What do you do?  Make yogurt cheese (also know as "labneh")!  Yogurt cheese is low in fat, calories and lactose and higher in protein.  Win/win!  A comparison:

     Cream Cheese                 Yogurt Cheese

    (1 cup)                                 (1 cup)

      554 calories                         155 calories

        42 gr. fat                              7 gr. fat

      23 gr. protein                      40 gr. protein    

Here's what you need:

2 jelly bags (found with canning supplies)

some sort of vessel to suspend the bags in

(I bought this at Walmart in the craft/floral dept for $4)

plain yogurt  (I use organic 'cuz it's additive-free)

an elastic  (oops ... a rubberband for you 'mericans)

Here's what you do:

Slip one jelly bag inside the other to create a

double-layer for straining.

Place in the vessel and secure with an elastic.

Spoon in some yogurt.  (I do about 1-1 1/2 cups at a time)

Cover and place in the refrigerator.  The

whey (liquid), which carries most of the

lactose and fat, will begin to drain out.

After 24 hours check the yogurt.  At this stage it will

be like thick sour cream.  If that's the consistency you

you prefer ... it's ready ... or ...

Wait another 24 hours and the yogurt cheese will be

pulling away from the jelly bags and will be

the consistency of spreadable cream cheese.

Your yogurt cheese is ready to be put in an airtight container and it's ready to use.

You can flavour the yogurt with fruit or herbs, before or after making the cheese.  Or you can use pre-flavoured yogurt.  Pre-flavoured yogurt tends to be high in sugar, but since sugar suspends in liquid a lot of it drains out with the liquid ... but the flavour remains.

You can use yogurt cheese wherever you use cream cheese or sour cream -- even in baking. It's cheaper and better for you!