Yogurt Again

My last batch didn't work, so I've gone back to my old method of making yogurt which is you heat 1 qt. of milk, or 1/2 and 1/2, or heavy cream, to 180 and cool to 110, then you add your yogurt started (I use 1 tabs. from the old batch or store bought). I then put it into a quart canning jar with lid and put it into the Easyo without the hot water. You leave it for at least 12 hours, but you can leave it for up to 24. I left mine over night and it was perfect this morning, nice and thick. The 1/2 and 1/2 or heavy cream or whole milk are not as sour as low fat or fat free milk. I think next week I'm going to try the goats milk again, now that I know what I'm doing.

I also tried the Fish with Yogurt Sauce last night and it was very good. I really liked the sauce and used it on my Frittata today. I gave you the link here.

Linda

Yogurt Cheese

I have a strainer called "The Wave". It's for straining yogurt, but you can also use cheese cloth lining a strainer. I was looking through my recipes to try and found this one I haven't done.

Herbed Yogurt Cheese

I like the combination of ingredients in this particular recipe.

The Herbed Gardener also looks like an interesting site for herb info. I've added it to my herbs sites list on my side bar.

Linda

Yogurt

I made the yogurt with the Easiyo again using regular 1/2 and 1/2 instead of the raw goats milk and it worked this time.

I've been looking for some savory recipes to use the yogurt. I found a couple of simple ones to try. Crusty Fish with Yogurt Dill Sauce and Spinach and Cucumber Salad with Yogurt-Mint Dressing. I just got this one in my email I could use yogurt instead of sour cream sounds really good. I love feta. Here is the link Cucumber Dip with Feta

One of my favorite ways to use yogurt is with the cucumber dill combo as a sauce for cold poaches salmon.

Linda

Yogurt and Farmer's Market

I'm looking up yogurt recipes. This is one I want to make, Cheese Yogurt Fruit Dip with orange and coconut. It uses orange store bought yogurt. I think I will try and make my own orange yogurt out of my homemade yogurt.

I tried making yogurt out of the raw goats milk and it didn't work. I read somewhere on line that someone tried several times and just could never get goats milk to make yogurt, so I went to the store and bought the most unpasturized I could get (vat paturized) and I'm going to use it for my yogurt. I'm just waiting for it to cool. I got a new yogurt maker from Amazon called EasiYo. I liked it because it was cheap and not electric. They sell packets that you can use to make the yogurt but someone wrote a comment and told how to make it using yogurt for your starter. So I'm not sure if my problems with the goat milk yogurt was the goat milk or the EasiYo. I'll let you know how it works with what I got today.

I wanted to share a link to 10 tips to shopping at a Farmer's Market. This week I got radishes and spinach, eggs and goats milk. I also got a plant a salvia, it has a red flower.

Linda

Red Pepper Mayo

This is what I made this week. No mystery I just added the peppers to the ingredients before I buzzed my mayo. It was a little thinner at first, but I was fairly sure it would thicken with chilling. It did, but next time I might try making the mayo and then adding the peppers, see if it makes a difference. I put in 2 peppers, it could use even more. I could chop some up and add them that way. I've been eating it with some artichokes I had cooked, yummy. You could add the pepper to store bought mayo in a blender or with a stick blender or a food processor or if you don't mind having it chunky just mix them in. Red peppers are a superfood, see my latest blog about superfood on Foxtales on Monday.

Linda

Good Kitchen Habits-Wash Produce

I bought some Biokleen Produce Wash. I want to wash all my produce even the organic with it. This is something I've been meaning to do for some time, but get lazy.





Linda

Farmers Market

I made my first trip to the farmers market today. I was thrilled to get some raw goats milk. They let me taste it first and it was very good. It's hard to find raw milk around her. I think I'll make it into yogurt. I also got some lovely fresh today eggs. Some red lettuce and arugula. I'm starting a diet and so I'll be eating lots of fresh salads and veggies.

I had a delicious salad yesterday with mixed greens, carrot, apple, dried cranberries and walnuts. I also had some wonderful local asparagus cold with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

It's expensive to buy good food but I've decided to eat less and eat quality. This is the time of year to do it. It's harder during the winter.

Linda

Stocking Up Binder

I was going through some of my binders throwing out stuff that I no longer need and in the process decided to start a "Stocking Up" binder.

I wanted some place to put my inventories and ideas for the pantry and freezer. I did a lot of freezing last year and I still have the recipes I used and so I think those will go in here. It will make it easier to find them. Also notes about what worked and what didn't.

I have several recipes for spice mixes and condiments that could go in here also.

I also had an article about canning that I wanted to put some place. I hope to do some canning this year so this would be a good place to start collecting ideas.

Normally you would put this kind of thing in your homemaking book but I decided to make mine just for housekeeping, no kitchen stuff.

I had the freezer stuff in my "Menu Planning" book but it is getting full. When a binder gets full I either get a bigger one, or narrow the focus.

I thought about putting my emergency prep info in here, but decided to keep it separate for now. I find it unwieldy to have a binder that is too big, so I preferred to stick to smaller ones.

I'm also thinking I want to do some dehydrating this year. I need to get a dehydrator first, but I wanted to do strawberries, so I'll be getting one soon. So that is another area for my binder. I'm sure I'll think of more.

Linda

Good Kitchen Habit-Prep List

I'm not posting my menu this week because I have so many left overs I'm using them up.



I wanted to say I've started making a prep list. I just look at my menu and recipes and write down for each day what prep I need to do. It's helping me to get it done, esp. when I'm in a hurry to get to other things. If I don't get my prep done in the morning the chances of my cooking what's on my menu is not too good.