Day 1 of 20: Better than candy!

On this first day of the 20 day challenge, I received a gift: 

My friend, Donna, gave me one of the extra candy thermometers that she uses to make yogurt. She agreed to show me how to indulge my habit without buying it in plastic.  

Here's the recipe in nine (9) easy steps:

1. Pour 1/2 gallon of your choice of milk in a pot
2. Bring milk to 180 degrees to sterilize the milk (this is where you use that handy candy thermometer!)
3. After it reaches 180, cool the milk to 110 degrees so that the heat doesn't kill the yogurt culture when you mix it in. This is easily accomplished by either waiting 50 minutes or so, or simply cooling the pot in standing cold water in your sink  
4. Meanwhile, sterilize your jars by boiling them and their lids in a separate pot
5. Check the temperature of the milk to see if it's ready (aka, 110 degrees)
6. For a half gallon of milk, add eight tablespoons of yogurt
7. Gently stir with a whisk or fork to avoid clumping
8. When the yogurt-milk mixture is smooth and you've confirmed the temp is 110 degrees, poor into your jars
9. The yogurt must remain at 110 degrees for 4-5 hours while the culture grows. Donna does this by preheating a picnic cooler with a jar of boiling water. You can also use your stove, set at 110 (or warm)   

Let me know if any of you try this! There are some challenges. For example, you have to make your homemade yogurt regularly enough to maintain your 'starter culture'. There's also still some waste, unless you get your milk and starter yogurt in glass containers. Still, this beats having a cabinet of plastic tubs.


About the rest of the day: 

It didn't hurt a bit to remember to bring my stainless steel coffee mug to the office today. Sheer laziness is my (sorry) reason for having used (60-100!) throw-away coffee cups with plastic lids in the 160 days of 2014. 

I did grab a paper napkin out of habit and threw it away at lunchtime. Reminded me of a monk I once met when visiting a monastery: he said didn't need to use napkins because he ate with enough attention on the act of eating so as not to waste a single crumb. 

Disposable living is perhaps a natural consequence of mindlessness.