Homestead Blessings: The Art of Dairy Delights Video Review & GIVEAWAY!

OK, so remember the other day I told you I had some exciting news.  We have been blessed with the opportunity to review the Homestead Blessings Video Series made by the West Ladies.  I am going to be reviewing a new video each month AND each month Franklin Springs Family Media is allowing me to GIVEAWAY 3 (Yes, T-H-R-E-E-!-!) of the videos that I reviewed that month to 3 of YOU!  Told ya it was exciting news!

If you don't know who the West Ladies are, let me tell you a little bit about them... They are a mother daughter (well 3 to be exact) team who focus on homesteading, or country living if you will.  They invite you into their home and show you everything from bread baking to candle making to quilting.  I just love their personalities, they have good ol' country charm that just draws you in to what they are doing. 

The West Ladies are always adding to their video collection. but currently The Homestead Blessings Series consists of 11 videos:

• The Art of Quilting
• The Art of Sewing 
• The Art of Dairy Delights
• The Art of Canning
• The Art of Gardening
• The Art of Herbs
• The Art of Cooking 
• The Art of Soap Making
• The Art of Candle Making
• The Art of Bread Making
• The Art of Crafting

This month the kids and I watched Dairy Delights, not to sound corny but it was delightful!  Vicki, Cece, Hannah and Jasmine walked us through making homemade ice cream, butter, mozzarella, cream cheese, and yogurt.  as a bonus we even learned how to milk a cow!  Being a visual learner myself, it was so helpful to have the ability to see everything step by step. 

We decided to try making butter, yogurt and ice cream.  Can you guess which one the kids loved the most??  Of course it was the ice cream!  The ice cream was there favorite thing to eat but the butter was their favorite thing to make.  I thought that everything turned out great!  At first, I thought my yogurt didn't turn out that great, but after it sat in the fridge a bit, all was well. 

Remember I told you I would share how I had made the yogurt.  Here is the recipe from the Dairy Delights video...

Homemade Yogurt
Items that you need:

• Quart of Milk (I used organic, whole milk)
• 1/4 cup of Store Bought PLAIN yogurt with LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES (this is your starter)
• Quart Sized Jars with Lids
• Small Cooler
• Hot Water
• Food Thermometer

First you need to get your milk to 180 degrees and then let it cool to 110 degrees. That was the hardest part, waiting. Once your temperature is 110 degrees you add your yogurt and pour in the jars. Top with lids. Place the jars in your little cooler and pour in the hot water. The water should be as high as the yogurt in the jar. Closer it up and then wait, 4-8 hours, depending on how strong you want your yogurt. Like the ladies said, if your yogurt isn't perfect the few time or two, don't give up. It kinda takes practice.

Heat the milk to 180 degrees and once it cools to 100 degree add your yogurt.  I doubled the recipe.

Place milk/yogurt mixture into your jars.  Top with lids.

  

Place jars in a cooler with hot water.  Close it up and wait 4-8 hours, depending

on how strong you want it. 

It was a little lumpy but still very good. 

The Homestead Blessings videos are great family films that make wonderful tools for training up our daughters to be helpers in the kitchen and home, and to of course prepare them to run their own homes one day.  Mother and daughters will no doubt have great fellowship and bonding time as they work through this series together.  This video series also makes for a top notch home economics program. 

The ladies used an old fashioned hand cranked ice cream maker but we used our electric one. 

Didn't take long to get thick and creamy. 

Not sure that I even need to comment here, I am sure your mouth is already watering. 

The Lil' Chef making butter.

Computer Girl taking a turn.

Yes folks, that is a big ol' hunk of fresh, homemade butter.  And boy is it good!

I doubled this recipe and this is what I ended up with.

I ended up sticking some in the freezer.

On to the GIVEAWAY!  I am just so excited to be able to share these videos with you!  The giveaway is going to run until September 10, 2010.   Here is how you can enter to win Homestead Blessings, The Art of Dairy Delights:

Please leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each way that you enter and YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS! Here are the ways that you can enter:

• You must be a Follower or Subscriber of LSG to Win! Please leave me a comment and let me know how you follow.
• If you have just become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• If you blog about this contest please come back and leave me a link to you post.  
• Please visit the Franklin Springs website, let me know which other Homestead Blessings videos you would be interested in.  
• Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.
• Like Franklin Springs Family Media on Facebook.
• Like Homestead Blessings on Facebook.

We received these products free of charge, from Franklin Springs Family Media, for review purposes. The opinions stated in this review are our own and we were not paid in any way.