Homemade Butter

We decided to start making our own butter in order to have a product that is healthier and more frugal than store-bought butter. We use raw milk straight from a dairy farmer in a town nearby. Check out realmilk.com to find out all the health benefits associated with raw milk and to educate yourself on pasteurization and homogenization and what they do to destroy any health benefits that milk once had. You can also find a farmer in your area that sells clean, raw and, often, organic milk.

You won't believe how easy this is!!

Things you need:

1 jar

cream

1. Fill the jar 1/3 of the way with cream. (We just skimmed the cream off the top of the milk we purchased from the local farmer. You could also buy regular pasteurized cream from the grocery store, if that's all you have access to.)

2. Let it sit out on your counter until it reaches about 65 degrees. I pulled mine out of the fridge and put it on the counter for about 7 hours.

3. Shake the jar profusely. The butter will separate from the buttermilk. If you have a really good shaker, (my husband, in this case) it may only take 5 minutes until you have a big mass of butter in the jar. It may take up to 20 minutes. Just keep shaking until you have a clump of soft butter.

4. Drain off the buttermilk and rinse. I put mine through a strainer, then put the buttermilk in the fridge to use for pancakes. I then rinsed a little water over the butter to get the remaining butterrmilk off.

4. Add a little salt. Then put it in a little container and refrigerate. It will harden when cool, just like regular butter.

That's it! It's really that easy. Enjoy!

Maple Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Easy, Delicious, Healthy!

4 pieces of chicken

2 medium sweet potatoes, cut in cubes

1 onion, cut in large wedges

2 tbs. olive oil

3 tbs. maple syrup

Salt and Pepper

1.Arrange chicken, onion and sweet potatoes in large roaster pan. (I just use a 9X13 baking pan)

2. Drizzle with olive oil and syrup and sprinkle everything with salt and pepper.

3. Bake at 400 for about an hour, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly and potatoes and onions are soft. I usually stir my potatoes and onions about half way through so they don't burn.

4. Enjoy this one pan dish!