Our 34-page Thanksgiving Planner includes:

• Brief History of Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving Games
• 4-Week Thanksgiving Planner and Devotionals
• Article: “The Danger of Unmet Expectations”
• Recipes ~ both Family Favorite Recipes and Whole Food, Allergy-Friendly Recipes
• Harvest Crafts and Home Decor Ideas

The Thanksgiving Planner is offered in the .pdf format and requires a PDF Reader for viewing. For PC, two FREE PDF readers are: Foxit Reader and Adobe Reader. For Mac, use Preview to view the PDF.

Price: $4.95.

Your purchase helps support the CHK ministry to women. Thank you!

Copyright Notice: All content of the CHK Thanksgiving Planner is copyright protected by the Christian HomeKeeper Ministry ™. You may print one copy for your own personal use for reading; but you may not copy, reproduce or use the content in any form online, or offline, for any other purpose without express prior written permission from Christian HomeKeeper™ ministry.

What’s happening in my home?…………….

In my kitchen… gearing up for Thanksgiving…. deciding on menu, making lists

With our marriage… working on growing as Christians together, its a peaceful time.

With the children...  the three youngest are home today. Its a challenge to manage them with the college student home. Keeping everyone on an even keel and focused is proving to be nearly impossible.

Around the homestead… I’ve gotten a handle on most of the dust but now the dog is shedding her winter coat…. again…..

In my “Inner Man”…..Thanking God this week for blessings and asking for help with trials. Loving the study on living in the Spirit, trying to appropriate that power daily.

What is your Inner Man? In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul gives us a clue about what he means when he says “the inner man”. In that scripture he says that “our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (4:16 KJV). So for Christians even though there is something about us that is getting old, decaying and deteriorating and dying..there is also something about us that is growing, becoming more alive, richer and stronger every day we live and follow Christ. That is what Paul calls our “inner man.”

Today there is Salted Salmon twisting in my kitchen!  You can find more great whole food recipes at Wardeh’s Tuesday Twister on Gnowfglins.

Salted salmon is easy to make, so easy that you’re probably going to wonder if its “all that”.  It is! I use salted salmon in onigiri and I cook it and serve it with simple side dishes.  What really surprised me is the fact that properly prepared salted salmon isn’t overly salty when you go to cook and eat it.

Onigiri…..

To make salted salmon you need either fresh or frozen, wild caught salmon filets or steaks.  You also need flaked or sea salt.

Pat the salmon filets dry. Place them on a bamboo drainer/strainer or on a layer of paper towels on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the filets liberally with sea salt.   Don’t be stingy!  Wrap the filets in peper towels, leave on the layer of towels or on the drainer.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the frig.  Allow the salmon to sit, undisturbed for at least 24 hours, but don’t leave it more than 3 days. The longer it sits the saltier it will be.  I normally only allow it to sit for about 10 hours.  That’s plenty salty for us.  Some cultures need it to sit in the salt longer because the salt helps to preserve the fish.

After it has been sitting for however long you like, unwrap the salmon, cut it into small pieces and wrap in plastic wrap or freezer paper.  Salted salmon can be stored in the freezer for months.

To cook the frozen filets: unwrap, place the frozen filet in a hot skillet with about a teaspoon of oil.  Or use a non-stick skillet and no oil.  Cover and cook until it is done throughout, turning a few times.

When its done you can flake it and stuff onigiri or serve it whole with a side of rice or quinoa and a salad.  Its delicious and needs no other seasoning.

Salted salmon is common in the cuisine of many cultures; Japanese, Finnish, Hawaiian and Eskimo just to name a few. Because it is so commonly used, its easy to find all kinds of recipes to use it in.

Why get the Thanksgiving Planner?

We sold several 2009 Thanksgiving Planner and given away some too. By far the most common comment I have received is that the planner allows you to get everything ready without stressing and doesn’t keep you in the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day!

The Planner contains:

• short devotionals to help keep you on track all month
• pictures and instructions of decorating ideas and crafts
• a short history of Thanksgiving in the United States
• some table games for your family
• links for printable games and coloring sheets
• suggestions and instructions for what to do each week to prepare for Thanksgiving Day
• recipes

And that’s not even all!
If you have not gotten your copy of the Thanksgiving Planner, what are you waiting for? It will be a big help to you and you can use it every year!

With 45 total entries, the winner of our Thanksgiving Planner is…

Jenny May!

Congratulations, Jenny May! We’ll be emailing you a download link shortly.

Thank you to all who participated and spread the word. Our ministry was greatly blessed by those who chose to purchase the Thanksgiving Planner.

If you didn’t win, but would like to purchase the Planner now, please visit the purchase page. All purchases support the CHK ministry to women – thank you!

I started making homemade yogurt in 1982 when we moved to West Virginia. My husband was working on his PhD in nutrition and had a small herd of Holstein cows that he ran feed trials on. He fed them different kinds of grains and the milk was ours to keep. Do you KNOW how how much milk a Holstein cow produces every day at her peak??? About 30 gallons. So, I made cheese, butter, yogurt. We even had cream on our cereal and with fresh berries every day.

Good stuff. I found this recipe for yogurt in the More With Less Cookbook. Its the one I have used for years. If you make it, make it exactly as explained.

All the ingredients: yogurt, powdered milk and whole milk.

Supplies:
You will need some clean jars to incubate your yogurt in, a couple of large bowls, a wisk or spoon, a food thermometer if you have one and a large pan to sit your jars in.

Makes 2 qts.
Step 1:
In a large bowl, combine:
3 cups powdered milk
6 cups warm water
Stir Well and add:
1 can evaporated milk OR 1 2/3 cup scalded whole milk. You can use 2% milk.

Step 2:
Combine in a separate bowl or pan:
1/3 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt
1 cup milk from the bowl

Blend until smooth and return to the remaining milk. Mix well Pour into clean jars. Incubate at 110-120*F until set. Refrigerate.

I use Greek Yogurt for the 1/2 cup of yogurt I add to the milk in step 2. Greek yogurt is heavier, thicker I guess and I think it makes a better finished product than regular plain yogurt.

Incubation

Yogurt has to sit at a warm temperature for a few hours so that the bacteria will grow and make the milk thick and tangy flavored. You can use clean glass jars and sit the jars into warm water on the stove top. Just increase the heat under the pot every now and then to keep the temperature up.
You can also place the jars of yogurt in a cooler with warm water and then wrap the cooler up in quilts.

In the past, I used an electric skillet. I put water in the skillet and stood the jars in the water, keeping the temperature adjusted by turning the skillet on and off at intervals.

You can also use the pilot light on your gas stove. I’ve done that and it works well. Place the jars in a pan of water, the pan of water over the pilot light and cover the pan.

All of these methods will work and take from 4 to 8 hours, you just have to keep checking. If you get a batch that does not gel, you can mix up 1 envelope of plain gelatin into 1/4 cup warm water to dissolve, then stir well into 1 qt of yogurt. Chill the yogurt and it should be salvaged nicely.
If you get the yogurt too hot however, you will probably not be too excited about the resulting texture of the yogurt, it tends to curdle, so keep the heat down.

Here are some pictures of me making yogurt last week.

I bought a Donvier yogurt incubator at a yard sale this summer for $4 and it was brand new. It has served me well! I don’t have to keep track of temp or time now.

This is the powdered milk mixed up with the water and other milk.

Here is where I took the little container of Greek Yogurt and mixed it with some milk before adding it to the larger container of milk.

A thermometer isn’t necessary but it sure makes the job easier.

Pointers About Yogurt:

Use yogurt as a salad dressing and substitute for sour cream.
When adding fruit or sugar to yogurt, fold it in. Stirring causes the gel to break down.
Yogurt is great with hot or spicy foods!
When you serve homemade yogurt for the first time, be generous with the sweetener, most people are used to store bought yogurt which is very sweet. Reduce the sweetener gradually.
Yogurt will keep one to two weeks in the refrigerator., Be sure to keep 1/2 cup of your yogurt to use for the next batch!

Nourished Kitchen is giving away a $40 gift certificate from The Homestead Company!  You can enter too, just go here:

The Nourished Kitchen Giveaway

I would love to win this certificate.  My skin is getting older and I need some good care products for it.

Years ago when we first heard the calling of the Lord to homeschool, I looked around and realized that our home left much to be desired in the areas of being peaceful and comfortable.

We were comfortable in the sense that we had the blessings of clothes and food, and a warm house to live in. But the comfort of closeness and harmony was missing. Our boys bickered too much, and really despised to be near each other. My husband and I were not working together as a team to raise the children and we constantly came up against walls of disagreement in child raising techniques. We were Christians and we were active in church, but something was missing, something was eluding us.

So, I began to pray. My first inclination was to pray that the Lord would change my children into children who loved each other and change my husband into a “more godly” man who will listen to my way of doing things more readily. I also thought about praying for a bigger house since we were going to be homeschooling now and be at home all day……

{Since that time I have learned that God has supplied all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. What I have is what I need at the time. (Phil. 4:19) It’s all in how you look at your “needs” and your “wants”.}

I was impressed to pray for God to change me. So I prayed that He would change me into the wife that my husband needed, that He would change me into the mother who could model good and kind behavior for her children and discipline them in love. I prayed most earnestly for a peaceful, holy, happy home. And something began to happen right away.

It’s not the peace of soul that I am speaking of here, but the peace of order, quiet, congeniality and kindness. These traits in the members of a family can encourage the peace of our souls which only Christ can bring.

As I prayed and read God’s Word I began to have a brighter outlook about what I did have instead of thinking about I didn’t have. I began to have a quiet time with the Lord. God impressed me to allow the children to see me praying and pointed out to them the answered prayer we received. The Lord encouraged me with His Word to enjoy my daily work and I made it a point to have the laundry done and a meal prepared for my husband who works so hard all day so that we can have what we need to live. There were days when this was just not possible due to unforseen problems, but it was my goal every day and I worked at it with all my heart and “as unto the Lord”.

Probably the most important thing that the Lord did for me was to convict me to stop trying to be Queen of the House and to request my husband’s help in raising the children. When he helped and made decisions, I did not rebel. If I had questions I asked them in love, if he would not change his mind I respected that and did not argue. If I thought he should change his mind I prayed about it instead of nagging. I wasn’t aware of how many subtle ways there are to nag until recently. A suggestion or a request is one thing, but a constant dripping is quite another.

Soon, I began to have the house cleaned and the school clutter picked up by 4 pm getting ready for my husband to get home. I greeted him with a smile and a hug every day. This called for organization and discipline, neither of which I had any real inkling of how to get, but I did have a great desire to learn and I had God on my side to help me. We started a habit of having a 20 minute clean-up at 4:30 p.m. each day. We worked fast and got alot of work done in that short amount of time. Each of us had a responsibility to pick up, put away, straighten and clean anything that was out of order because Daddy was coming home! We wanted the house to be clean and comfortable for him and for us so we could visit with him.

If you have several children then you know how important this can be in the afternoon when Daddy is home for dinner. Even if Daddy works at home, this is the time when he is “home” and available for their undivided attention. Each child meets him at the door and waits for his or her turn to speak with him and tell him of all the day’s events, all the little hurts and all the victories. What a picture this is! What a blessing to be able to watch as our children enjoy their Daddy, I don’t want to miss this because I am rushing around the house trying to get my act together!

As the days went on and I began to learn how to create an atmosphere of peace, I began playing praise music on the stereo while we worked at our chores. I did not permit rough play in the house, no screaming voices. Of course we got a bit loud when we played board games! But generally speaking we remained quiet and calm throughout the day.

Soon, I noticed that orderliness and cleanliness were the two big factors in having a peaceful home. There is no peace when a child cannot find his sneakers for the tenth time in one week. There can be no peace when there are mounds of stuff sitting around waiting for someone to put it away or dispose of it. So our peace had to be worked for by organizing our physical surroundings.

Very quietly, almost without notice, the Lord worked in my family and changed all of us. We established a family night where played games and studied God’s Word as a family. Chores were done at the proper time with a minimum of reminders. My husband became the godly leader of the home because God showed me that I had been trying to wrestle leadership away from him. I was involved in God’s work in the number one ministry priority of my life, that of my husband and my children and home. There was no time left nor desire left to be “The Queen”. We started to become exactly what I had prayed for…a peaceful, holy, happy home.

The qualities of peace and happiness can be built up to a certain extent by man. In the way we regard each other, and in the way we present ourselves to others. But only God can bring holiness to a home. Only His Holy Spirit can indwell His children and teach us how to honor Him in our homes. You start by reading His Word every day, repeating scripture about contentedness, peace, obedience and mercy. Pick out some memory verses for the children and for yourselves. Start the day, end the day and fill the day with conversations with the Lord always asking for Him to guide you in making your home one that would honor Him.

In answer to my prayers, our home did become a truly peaceful, warm and holy refuge from the world. I give the Lord all the glory and praise for accomplishing this.

Breakfasts ~
Waffles and bacon
Eggs and toast
Hot cereal with various add-ins like dried fruit, maple syrup, etc
Sausage and biscuits
Hot chocolate!

Lunches ~
Baked cheese sandwiches
Soup and crackers
Apples and peanutbutter
Chili

Suppers ~
White chili and cornbread, salad
Roasted chicken, rosemary potatoes, salad
Homemade pizza; Tuscan, Mexican and Margarita
White beans, cornbread, greens and potatoes
Hot dogs, smores
Corn and sausage chowder, biscuits
Leftovers!

This giveaway is over… See who the winner is HERE.

One blessed reader will be winning a complimentary copy of our Thanksgiving Planner! Will it be you?

Our 34-page Thanksgiving Planner is full of planning helps, devotionals, recipes, crafts, and more! Read more about it here.

This is going to be a quick giveaway contest, because we know you’re all anxious to start using the planner for your Thanksgiving preparations.

Here’s How to Enter

The giveaway will end on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at midnight (CST).

We will announce the winner in our Friday post. Best wishes to all of you!