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Posted on April 20, 2020October 20, 2020 by Charity — 1 Comment

Flavoring Your Kombucha Tea

When you get your homebrew timing right, kombucha is pretty yummy on it’s own. Sometimes you want something a little different, though. Or maybe straight kombucha just isn’t your thing but you still want the probiotic benefits. Luckily you can easily change the taste of your kombucha to make it more palatable or fix a soda craving. Here’s my tips for flavoring your Kombucha tea.

Mixing with juice

The simplest way to flavor kombucha is to mix it with juice or another beverage. This is a great way to get started drinking kombucha. To start, add 1-2 ounces of kombucha to a glass of your favorite juice. As your body and tastes adjust to drinking kombucha you can increase the kombucha to juice ratio.

I like to dilute 3-4 ounces kombucha with sparkling or still water, add a splash of lemon or lime juice and a bit of stevia. This makes a refreshing summer drink when served over ice.

Kombucha is also nice as an add in for smoothies. It can be fizzy on it’s own, though, so make sure to account for that when adding it to blended drinks. Leaving a little extra headspace in the blender is a good idea. Or, stir it in after everything else is blended.

Flavoring your Kombucha Tea — Flavored with peach and cherry teas in a second ferment.

Flavoring your Kombucha with a second ferment

You can also add flavoring in a second, shorter ferment. Basically you’ll put your flavorings in a bottle or jar (I like canning jars), fill almost to the top with your brewed kombucha and cap the jar. Leave at room temperature for 2-4 days and then refrigerate or drink.

The second ferment can increase the carbonation in your kombucha, so it’s a good idea to be cautious when opening and storing the jars. I’ve never had a jar break from the pressure, but I have had the metal disks on canning jar lids pop up in the middle. If I think too much pressure is building up, I “burp” the jars by opening them just enough to release some of the pressure and recap.

There’s a variety of things you can add for the second ferment. Really, any herbs, spices or fruits can be added. If you want to increase the carbonation, add a little bit of sugar, honey, raisins or a sweet fruit. My favorite thing to do is put enough orange peel to fill the jar halfway, add a teaspoon of sugar or honey, top with kombucha and let it sit for two days. It makes a kind of healthier orange soda and uses something that would normally have been tossed.

Flavoring your Kombucha orange and honey — Orange peel and honey Kombucha

Other flavorings I’ve tried:

Lemons and limes cut into wedges, sliced or just the peels. You can also use a lemon or lime half after juicing it for another recipe.
Fresh sliced ginger, plain or with a dash of chai spice and squirt of honey.
Fruit flavored herbal teas, one bag per quart jar.
Blueberries.

If you brew your own Kombucha tea, I would love to hear your tips for flavoring your Kombucha. Please share them in the comments below.

Next week I plan to do a FAQ/kombucha myths post. If you have any questions please share them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

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Posted on April 16, 2020October 20, 2020 by Charity — 1 Comment

What’s for dinner? Crock Pot Lentil Soup

Before I got my electric pressure cooker, I used my crock pot a few times a week at least. This lentil soup recipe is quick to throw together and made primarily from pantry staples. I originally shared it in 2011, but with more people needing easy, simple meals, I thought it was worth re-sharing.

I love my Crock pot. It’s almost like having someone else cooking for me. Tonight it’s making a simple, Lentil Soup. I got the basic recipe here. I doubled it to have plenty of leftovers and made a few substitutions.

Lentil Soup (makes 8-ish servings)

Ginger, ground, 2 tbsp
Turmeric, ground, 2 tsp
Cumin seed, 2 tbsp
Vegetable oil, 1 tbsp
Curry powder, 2 tsp

Lentils, 2 cups
cilantro 1.5 tbsp
Chicken bouillon, 10 cubes (or broth equivalent)
Water, 12 cups

Add the Ginger, Turmeric, Cumin, Oil and Curry to the Crock pot. Cook on high heat for a few (I did 5ish) minutes. Add everything else and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with a nice green salad and bread.

Shop update: Freebies and a sale

Knowing that so many are stuck at home right now needing distractions, I’ve decided to make all of my machine embroidery design files free until April 30. That’s the day my area’s shelter in place order expires. If it is extended, I’ll extend the embroidery design freebies, too. If you make something with one of my designs, I would love to see it.

Damask Rose embroidery file available here.

My full shop is still open, and will be as long as everyone in my household is healthy. I’m using extra care with handwashing and using hand sanitizer before coming into contact with products and packaging as well.

All of my handmade soaps are currently on sale for 20% off. You can find them here.

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Posted on April 13, 2020October 20, 2020 by Charity — Leave a comment

Continuous Brewing Your Kombucha Tea

Making Kombucha using the continuous brewing method means you’ll always have plenty of Kombucha ready to drink or flavor in a second ferment. Here’s how to do it.

Supplies for continuous brewing

In addition to the basic Kombucha ingredients listed here, you’ll want to have a jar with a spigot. There’s some debate over the best materials for the jar and spigot. The biggest thing to watch for is something non-metallic, although I think I’ve heard stainless steel is okay. Most people like to avoid plastics to prevent any weird chemicals from leeching into the KT. I went with the cheapest, most available option of a glass sun tea pitcher with a plastic spigot.

Keep about half of the finished KT and the SCOBY in the jar and bottle the rest. Brew about half a gallon of tea. I use two black tea bags, one green tea bag and one half to one cup of sugar. Let it cool and add it to the jar with your finished KT and SCOBY. Since you replaced half of the KT, you’ll want to wait a couple of days before drinking from the new batch. After that, you can drink some fresh from the tap every day. Just replace what you drink with fresh sweet tea. Because you are only adding a small amount of fresh tea in relation to the KT, you can drink a little every day without the wait time. I like to keep a small pitcher of sweet tea in the refrigerator to replenish what gets taken out each day.

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Posted on April 10, 2020October 20, 2020 by Charity — 2 Comments

How to Batch Brew Kombucha

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Kombucha Tea is tea that is fermented with a culture of beneficial bacteria and yeast (SCOBY). There are many claimed health benefits to it, although the most widely accepted is as a probiotic. It can be a bit fizzy, so many people use it as a soda replacement. It’s becoming much easier to find in mainstream supermarkets, but usually runs about $4 for a small bottle. Yikes! It’s really not that complicated to brew your own and the way to go IMO if you want to drink it daily.

Ingredients to start 1 gallon of Kombucha:

3 Black tea bags
2 Green tea bags
1-2 cups Granulated white sugar
1 gallon Filtered water
1 Kombucha SCOBY (I got mine from here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/OKposeyMom)
2 cup Starter Kombucha tea (KT) or distilled vinegar

Supplies:

1 gallon glass jar (with spigot for continuous brew)
tightly woven or knit cloth or coffee filter larger than the mouth of the jar
rubber band or elastic big enough to securely fit around the mouth of the jar.
Wooden or plastic spoon (metal is fine unless you need to stir after adding the SCOBY)

Make sure all jars and utensils are clean. Rinse everything really well to be sure there’s no soap residue. For the first batch, you’ll need a full gallon of tea. I use both black and green tea with three black and two green tea bags. As long as you are using unflavored, caffeinated tea, any ratio should work. Brew the tea like normal and add the sugar. Stir to dissolve. It needs to be plain white granulated sugar to make it easy for the SCOBY to break down. The sugar can be adjusted to taste, but for the first batch I like to use a full 2 cups. I’ve also found that in warmer months the brew gets strong really fast, so I add closer to the full 2 cups then to compensate. In cooler months, I can cut back on the sugar.

When the tea is cooled to about 80 degrees, add the SCOBY and starter Kombucha Tea (KT) and/or distilled vinegar. The temperature really isn’t that important as long as it’s cool enough to not kill the SCOBY. I usually just feel the jar. When it feels no more than a little warm, I add the SCOBY. If you don’t have enough starter KT you’ll use distilled vinegar to make up the difference. Do NOT use cider vinegar. Cider vinegar contains some of it’s own culture “mother”. If you use cider vinegar you’ll end up with some sort of hybrid culture.

Cover your jar with the cloth or filter and secure with a rubber band or knotted piece of elastic. This allows it to breathe while keeping dust and ickies out. Wait. and wait. and wait. lol.
The KT usually takes about 7-10 days to develop. It brews faster in warmer weather, so keep that in mind. Starting around day seven, use a straw to siphon off a little from under the SCOBY. You want it to have a little bit of a vinegary zing to it, but other than that the taste is up to you. My first batch tasted like cider made from honey crisp apples-tart but still really sweet.

The longer it brews the less sweet and more vinegary it will taste. If you think it needs to brew longer, leave it for another day or two and taste again. If you like the taste, great! Time to bottle it and brew batch number two.

For batch brewing, you’ll basically be doing everything you did for your first batch. All but 2 cups of KT from your first batch can go in to bottles. I use Mason jars. If you want to add flavorings you’ll add them to the bottled KT. I’ll do a post about that later. The 2 cups you reserve and your SCOBY will stay in the jar to start the next batch. (Every few batches, you will want to transfer them to a non-metallic bowl so you can wash the jar. If you keep a second jar on hand, you can just switch jars every batch.)

Repeat the above steps including the wait time for each new batch.

With each new batch, you will grow a new SCOBY. Usually the new SCOBY will grow on top of the old SCOBY. Technically you can separate the new SCOBY each time to use in your new batch. I like to leave the SCOBYs alone until it gets to be about a half inch to an inch thick. After that, I’ll separate off a few layers by pulling it apart between two layers. One SCOBY keeps brewing while the other goes into a big jar with some KT and a lid, aka a SCOBY hotel. Many SCOBYs can live in a hotel as long as you have enough KT to keep them moist. It’s always a good idea to have an extra SCOBY or two on hand in case your batch gets contaminated. You can also give your extra SCOBYs to friends so they can start their own brew.

Next week I’ll cover how to move from batch brewing to continuous brewing.

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Posted on April 8, 2020April 8, 2020 by Charity — 3 Comments

Kenmore 385 Sewing Machine Hook Timing Part 2 with Video

I finally got my Kenmore 385 sewing machine’s hook timing adjusted and working properly again. This time, I figured out that there is a plate on the bottom of my machine that allows me to access the necessary set screw without taking the case off. I do think it’s a little more difficult to see what I’m doing that way, but it’s much less scary.

This time, once I got it adjusted, I decided to make a quick (awkward, one handed) video while I still had it open. Hopefully the video and my previous post will help others tackle this simple sewing machine repair.

Adjusting the Hook Timing on a Kenmore 385 Sewing Machine

Shop update: Freebies and a sale

All of my handmade soaps are currently on sale for 20% off. You can find them here.

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Kenmore 385 Sewing Machine Hook Timing Part 2 with Video

Posted on April 7, 2020April 6, 2020 by Charity — 4 Comments

Sewing machine repair: Hook timing

I’ve been sewing lots of masks lately. Apparently my sewing machine needed a break, so it decided to skip time again. Thankfully I’ve done it a few times now, so I should have it up and running soon.

Hook timing is a fairly common problem that sends many sewers running to the repair shop. When it happened the first time on my older Kenmore, I decided to try to repair it myself first. My thinking was, since it’s a mechanical machine with mostly metal parts, as long as I was careful, I couldn’t really hurt anything. I probably would have thought twice before attempting it on a computerized machine.

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All machines are a little different, so what worked on mine may not work on yours. Something I recommend to everyone who wants to work on their own sewing machine, is getting a copy of the service manual. Honestly, I still need to do this. There’s tons of info online, but having the actual service manual is even better. You should have an owner’s manual on hand, too. It covers basic care and maintenance. For repairs, though, the service manual will give you technical instructions and confidence.

Hook Timing?

Before taking things apart, determine if hook timing is causing the problem. If the needle (top) thread isn’t picking up the bobbin (bottom) thread, hook timing is a prime suspect. It’s always a good idea to rule out simple problems first, though. Try swapping the needle, rethread the machine and sew on some scrap fabric. If it’s been a while since you’ve dusted the lint out of the bobbin case or you’ve been sewing on linty material, give it a good cleaning.

Once you’ve tried the easy fixes, if it still isn’t working right, look at how the needle and the bobbin hook intersect. This page, https://tv-sewingcenter.com/general/sewing-machine-timing-hook-timing, has illustrations, photos and descriptions for where they should meet on both rotary and oscillating machines.

My machine is an oscillating machine, so the hook tip should pass just above the eye of the needle. Mine was passing below the needle’s eye, so clearly the hook timing needed adjustment.

Open it up

The first and honestly the hardest step was figuring out where all the screws were that I needed to remove to take off the casing. (Actually, the first step was to turn off and unplug the machine. If you’re attempting this at home, do not skip this step!) On my Kenmore, I have to take off the side by the hand wheel, a plate on the bottom, and the front panel.

More cleaning

While I have my machine open, I like to take the opportunity to clean it out and oil it. Oiling a linty machine, using the wrong oil or putting it in the wrong places can cause tons of problems, though, so if you’re not sure, stick to dusting only.

Find and adjust

Next, I tilted the machine on to it’s back so I could get a good look at the mechanism that rotates the hook. Once I had isolated that, I found a hex head set screw. Loosening that allowed me to gently adjust the hook position so that the tip passed just above the needle’s eye.

About in the middle, just above the motor is a silver piece with a round, black screw near the top. That is the set screw I loosened to adjust the hook timing.

When I was sure I had it properly positioned, I tightened the set screw. I turned the hand wheel a few more times, making sure everything still looked good before I put the casing back. A quick test run showed everything was working properly again.

Done!

It’s so satisfying to be able to make simple repairs to my machines myself, especially when most repair shops start around $75 and go up from there, depending on what needs to be done.

Posted on April 3, 2020April 3, 2020 by Charity — Leave a comment

Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe Roundup

My electric pressure cooker is such a lifesaver when it comes to getting fast, healthy meals ready. It’s almost like having someone else do the cooking. With so many working from home with kids right now, those minutes saved in the kitchen are valuable. Here’s five of my favorite electric pressure cooker dinner recipes.

Honey Glazed Chicken for Electric Pressure Cookers like the Instant Pot

This honey glazed chicken is made in an electric pressure cooker with just minutes of prep. Sweet and juicy, it will satisfy even picky eaters.

Check out this recipe

Mushroom Brown Rice for Instant Pots or other Electric Pressure Cookers

Rich, earthy mushrooms in nutty brown rice make this work as a side dish or, serve with a salad to make it a meatless main course. Makes 6-8 servings.

Check out this recipe

Electric Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) Whole Chicken and Potatoes

This is my method for cooking a flavorful whole chicken and potatoes in an electric pressure cooker. After a little prep work, you can walk away and let the pressure cooker do it's job without having to check on it or worry about overcooking. I'm using an 8 quart electric pressure cooker. If yours is smaller, you may need to adjust the size of the chicken and other ingredients accordingly.

Check out this recipe

Sausage Potato Soup

Dairy and gluten free sausage potato soup inspired by Olive Garden's zuppa toscana. I prefer making it in my electric pressure cooker but it could easily be done in a slow cooker or on the stove top.

Check out this recipe

Instant Pot Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa

Instant Pot Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa is a quick, last minute dish that is great hot or cold. Customize it by swapping out the protein or vegetables depending on what you have on hand.

Check out this recipe