Day to Day Life: Week Twenty-Five

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

Let’s have a look at the last week:

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I’m not going to tell you how many quesadillas I ate this week. They were plentiful. Sometimes filled with fresh corn, or jalapenos, or topped with avocado. All of them – A+ for flavor.

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Miss Nikki got a harness to help with her paralyzed back legs. She seems happy to get a lift and very patiently sits then rolls over for me to buckle it up when it’s time to go out.

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I commit food sins sometimes. I’m pretty sure it’s not normal to add beer to your yellow korma sauce… (But it tastes really dang delicious.)

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Just a little rain threat over Ashland.

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Homemade strawberry milkshakes with fresh berries and homemade vanilla whipped cream? So f’in necessary.

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Meet Mr. Business-Casual. He’s a happy casually working dog.

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Growing some food up in here.

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Including face-sized organic zucchini.

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And giant organic strawberries (one at a freaking time).

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Rainy days are also good man and boy napping days (post milkshake consumption).

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Some days require a good salad mess for lunch. Homegrown baby romaine, arugula, snap peas, string beans, carrots, sweet corn, avocado, and a scallion basil vinaigrette. And a side of local made charred bread.

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Snuggle.

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Zucchini for d-a-y-s and it’s only June. (Woo hoo!)

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More garden goodies. With, duh, more zucchini.

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What happens when you can’t decide where to go get something for dinner? This homemade deliciousness. Mac and cheese with fresh sweet corn, jalapenos, and veggie pasta.

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Smoked Salmon Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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Sometimes a girl eats too many doughnuts for her birthday. Then chases them down with extravagant fru-fru cocktails, copious amounts of amazing sushi, and inevitably, birthday cake to round it all out. Sometimes the next day, that girl says, “Damn. I need to eat a salad.” (“…Good thing we ate ALL the doughnuts yesterday so I can’t have any post-salad consumption…”)

I am often embarrassed by the fact that salads are one of the few things that seems to befuddle my recipe-brain. How hard is it to throw together vegetables, dressing, maybe fruit, maybe seeds and nuts? Not that difficult. It’s the flavor combinations and textures that get me all woozy feeling. (Reaching for unmentionable glazed baked goods as a cure.) However, I will tell you – having a garden filled with organic greens and goodies is allowing me room to experiment more than I probably would otherwise. It’s fun (and satisfying) to be able to say, “Oh hey – I grew that! And damn it tastes good!”

My salad eating habits are borderline weirdo. Typically, I do not like salad dressing. I prefer carrots and cucumbers to be cut certain ways in order for me to eat them. Tomatoes? The seeds have to be removed or they aren’t getting into my salad. Luckily, these tendencies have lightened up in the last few years. I’ll throw random things together, add different textures and flavor, then name it salad. So long as there are green things in it.

The following salad ending up being a two person dinner. It was sweet, savory, filling. Eaten with some toasted, buttered bread, it was a nice light meal.

 

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Smoked Salmon Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Serves 2 (dinner salad) – 4 (side salad)

Ingredients:

6 oz mixed greens (I used arugula, spinach, and baby romaine)
½ cup fresh sweet corn kernels (about 1 large ear, or 2 smaller ears of corn)
4-6 radishes, thinly sliced
½ a small cucumber, cut in half then thinly sliced
1 small avocado, peeled and cubed
⅓ pound hot smoked salmon, broken into bite-sized chunks *

* Hot smoked salmon is different than the cold smoked salmon that results in lox-like smoked fish. I use a brand that is semi-local, but feel free to use whatever variety is available to you. I’ve heard rave reviews of Cap’n Mike’s alderwood smoked salmon, if that interests you!

3 tbsp. grapeseed oil
3 tbsp. rice vinegar
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (about 1 small lemon)
3 tbsp. fresh basil, finely chopped
salt and fresh cracked black pepper

 

Directions:

In a medium-sized glass jar with a lid, combine the oil, vinegar, lemon juice and basil. Cover, then shake until completely combined. Taste, then add salt and pepper to your liking. Shake right before using.

Gently toss the greens, sweet corn, sliced radishes, cucumbers and half of the dressing . Use your hands or tongs to toss the salad until everything is coated evenly.

Place the vegetables on two serving plates, along with the salmon and avocado evenly arranged on each salad. Drizzle the top of your salads with the remaining dressing and serve immediately.

Posted in Appetizer, Dinner, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Salad, Sauces, Seafood, Sides | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Vegetarian Meatloaf

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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I’m sure meatloaf gets a bad rap because, well, the term “meatloaf”  isn’t exactly sexy. What the term does do, however, is describe precisely what it is – ground meat shaped into a loaf (P.S. “loaf” is also unsexy sounding all on its own). It’s not exciting. It’s not classy sounding. Let’s be real – the term meatloaf also doesn’t exactly scream, “EAT ME!” But… truth be told, I have loved meatloaf anytime I’ve had it. My mom would occasionally make either ground beef or ground turkey meatloaf, always topping it with strips of bacon (my favorite part as a kid). I’ve had delicious buffalo meatloaf here in Ashland. However, I don’t believe I’ve ever made such a thing myself.

When I decided to make a creamy mac and cheese a while back, I was wracking my brain for what to serve with it. I knew I wanted to stick with comfort food of some sort, but didn’t want something soft like mashed potatoes (despite Silas’s request), or something else heavy in carbohydrates. Meatloaf suddenly sounded like comfort, but with varied flavor and texture for the meal. I decided to use Lightlife’s Gimme Lean vegetarian sausage as the base for this meatloaf. I added high-protein extra firm tofu as well, mostly to add a little more bulk to the meatloaf. Aside from these vegetarian changes, the spices and flavorings are quite traditional.

Gimme Lean has no fat to it, unlike actual animal meat, however with the tofu certainly adds some moisture to the finished product, creating a tender but very flavorful meatloaf. Silas ate two servings. While he eats vegetarian during his time with us, he does enjoy meat in his diet. He said this meatloaf was delicious and he couldn’t even tell it was vegetarian!  Neither will you and you certainly won’t be disappointed, either!

 

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Vegetarian Meatloaf

Serves 4-6 people.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. extra firm tofu – pressed for 30 minutes
1 14-oz. tube Gimme Lean Sausage
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups fresh bread, diced into small cubes (½-inch x ½-inch)
1 tbsp. vegan worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. ground fennel seed
½ tsp. granulated garlic
½ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ tsp. celery seed
¼ tsp. smoked paprika
½ cup ketchup

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan, then set it aside until needed.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Saute until the onion is translucent and the bell pepper is tender. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the firm tofu and Gimme Lean. Use your hands to crumble the tofu and sausage together. Add the beaten egg and mix it into the tofu-Gimme Lean crumbles. Add the breadcrumbs, worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, salt, fennel, garlic, pepper, celery seed, paprika, and half of the ketchup. Use your hands to mix everything together until well combined.

Press the mixture into your prepared loaf pan, evenly. Spread the remaining ketchup on the top of the meatloaf, then bake for 50 minutes, until the meatloaf begins to pull away from the side of the pan and the ketchup topping is nicely blistered.

Let the meatloaf rest for 10 minutes (outside of the oven) before cutting into 1½-inch slices. Serve hot, with your favorite side-dishes.

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Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Meatless Meat, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Day to Day Life: Week Twenty-Four

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

Here’s a small glimpse into the last week:

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Lots of blue skies!

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I turned 28 on Monday and requested doughnuts. Woo hoo!

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Birthday foxgloves hand-picked by my husband.

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Two pounds of  zucchini out of the garden! More coming daily!

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Craig’s mom brought over a few gorgeous locally made treats. This raspberry mousse cake was phenomenal. I shared with Craig, after we’d gone out for drinks and dinner – I left my camera and phone at home for the date, so no pictures of the delicious sushi and cocktails.. Oops.

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Silas also had a birthday this week. The newly turned 8 year old requested his usual breakfast choice : buttermilk pancakes.

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A super vanilla, vanilla bean, cake batter…

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To turn into the birthday boy’s requested Oregon Ducks cake. This cake made me swear a LOT. Good thing no one was home. I will not be posting the recipe, I think. The cake was tasty. The frosting, also satisfyingly good. The filling – a salted caramel meringue buttercream – was a total horror of a recipe to try.  I ended up throwing away more batches than I care to admit, then in the end, doctored it up into something that would suffice as a cake filling. Luckily it all tasted good…

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A birthday skatepark visit

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A salad to fill my insides with something other than doughnuts and cake.

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Blurry, but a rare moment between these brothers.

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We hosted a sleepover with these two friends of Silas’s. While we had initially invited a handful of 7 and 8 year old boys, I was relieved at this little turnout. Little boys are CRAZY. Little girls are too, let’s be real. We finally had to demand bedtime when there was still giggling, monster trucks banging against the door and Nerf gun shooting at 1:30 in the morning going on.

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Craig and Silas are usually the pancake kings around here – I’ve never seen anyone eat so many ‘cakes at once. Those same boys who were up at 1:30? They got back up before 8 then wolfed down pancake after pancake. And fruit. And potatoes. So many laughs, though.

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I wish I had a couple of these mango orange margaritas to prepare for the above mentioned sleepover… But this came later in the week.

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Silas’s mom put together a family birthday party yesterday. I offered to bring the cake, or cupcakes. Silas asked for red velvet. When I asked what his favorite colors are these days, he replied, “White. Purple. And highlighter.” Highlighter?! I haven’t figured out how to non-toxic-ly make highlighter colored cream cheese buttercream, but got as close as I could.

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A happy little grilled cheese-avocado-tempeh bacon sammich.

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A sweet little Sunday swallowtail visitor.

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Sweetly Spiced Yogurt Pudding

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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We just had a week filled with birthday celebrating. Silas has had three separate birthday celebrations – all of them including homemade treats and cooking. I made a vanilla cake with salted caramel meringue buttercream filling. The process of making said cake certainly required the F-word said aloud more than a handful of times. It included burnt caramel twice-over, then two batches of filling thrown in the trash before a finished product that I could half feel good about. There were cupcakes that matched the cake, for a birthday sleepover with rambunctious little boys who certainly didn’t require sugar to be complete utter chaos. For today’s family birthday celebration I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. In the process of these particular cupcakes, I absolutely set the oven on fire. And not in a good way. Needless to say, cooking has been plentiful. My sanity? It’s somewhere… Let me know if you find it, please.

I’m not really complaining – because everything made has been with love and voluntarily offered. However, sometimes simplicity is needed, especially if time is a scarce commodity in the day or week. Although the sweets have been plentiful and I can guarantee you any time spent working out has not balanced it all out for me, sometimes a girl still needs something that’s in-between in sweetness. This isn’t really a pudding. Truly, it’s just yogurt sweetened and flavored with some delicious chai tea-inspired spices. It’s sweet enough to be considered dessert, but healthy enough to not feel very guilty about eating it. While technically you could get the spices pre-ground, I find that the intensity of flavor in freshly ground spices is worth the little bit of arm work. (Plus it’s a mini workout, right?) Add the freshness of hand-ground spices to homemade yogurt? It’s unbeatable. Don’t have homemade yogurt available? Your favorite thick, Greek-style yogurt can work equally as well with this recipe.

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Sweetly Spiced Yogurt Pudding

Serves 2.

Ingredients:
5 cardamom pods
¼ tsp whole fennel seed
¼ tsp. anise seed
¼ tsp. ground ginger
2 cloves
4-6 whole black peppercorns
pinch of fresh nutmeg
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 vanilla bean, scraped
¼ cup agave syrup
1 cup unsweetened or vanilla yogurt

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Directions:

Place the cardamom, fennel, anise, ginger, cloves and pepper in a mortar. Grind with a pestle until you create a fine powder. Add the nutmeg and vanilla bean, stirring to evenly combine everything.

Stir the agave syrup into the yogurt until completely incorporated. Next, stir in the spice powder you created until entirely incorporated. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes, then serve, cold.

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Posted in Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert, Gluten-Free, Kids, Sides, Snacks, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Gluten Free Green Chile Sweet Corn Mac and Cheese

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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The last week has been a whirlwind. While I’ve got more than a few recipes ready to show up on this little blog, the last handful of days have been long and come 10:30 at night, the last thing I want to do is sit at my computer trying to write cohesive sentences. School finished last Friday for Silas. My husband finishes up tomorrow. I turned 28 on Monday. Silas turned 8 today. Tomorrow we’re hosting his first friend-sleepover. Somewhere in there, we’ve been dealing with at home hospice-type care for my sweet Nikki dog, who’s dealing with a degenerative disease we cannot do much of anything about, except wait. Or lay on the kitchen floor with her, gently petting her head until she relaxes enough to sleep, followed by getting up every 2-3 hours in the night, or throughout the day, to help her outside to use the bathroom, because her back legs are paralyzed and she can’t walk without physical assistance. Aside from her legs, she’s in good spirits most of the time and her mind is entirely coherent.

While the birthdays have been good breaks from the stress of things, lending good food, cocktails, a multitude of doughnuts, and a new iPhone, the days are still long. Thankfully, the place I go to for peace of mind is the kitchen. Or the garden. Or the ocean, but that’s not located in this Oregon valley. Let’s return to the kitchen… The idea for this macaroni and cheese hit me as I lay in bed one night. I have a habit of reading food blogs late at night, which ultimately does two things: leaves me feeling incredibly hungry at one in the morning and also inspires the following day’s meals.

I often prefer a crisp topped homemade mac and cheese, but decided to leave this dish creamy. Since I used brown rice flour in the roux for my cheese sauce and quinoa pasta, this mac and cheese is also gluten free. I was a little skeptical of sweet corn in any sort of pasta. However, the fresh sweetness that the corn lends balances beautifully with the green chiles, as well as the creamy havarti and monterey jack cheeses used in this sauce. We had this as a side dish one night, with vegetarian meatloaf and green beans. The next night, as the main course. You can serve it however you’d like! :)

 

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Green Chile and Sweet Corn Mac and Cheese

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients:

6 tbsp. unsalted butter
¾ cup oat or brown rice flour
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. granulated garlic
¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
¼ tsp. dried mustard powder
2 cups whole milk
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1 ½ cups sweet corn kernels (about 2 medium-large ears of corn)
1- 4 oz. can mild green chiles
1 pound quinoa elbow pasta
½ cup grated havarti cheese
2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add a generous amount of salt and a drizzling of oil. Add the quinoa pasta, then cook according to the package directions. Once the pasta is cooked just beyond al dente, drain it, reserving about one cup of pasta cooking liquid.

While the water is coming to a boil for the pasta, melt the butter in a medium-large pot, over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth, then cook for an additional 10 minutes, to allow the “flour taste” to cook off.

Stir in the salt, garlic, pepper, and mustard powder until completely combined. Whisk in the milk and heavy cream, all at once. Occasionally whisk the mixture, making sure the sauce remains smooth, until it thickens up (15-20 minutes). Stir in the sweet corn and green chiles. Taste the sauce, then add more salt and pepper to your liking. Stir in the macaroni, until well coated. If the cheese sauce is too thick, add a tablespoon or two of the reserved pasta water, stirring until smooth.

Allow the macaroni and cheese to cook over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes, then serve immediately while still hot.

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Posted in Appetizer, Dinner, Gluten-Free, Kids, Lunch, Sauces, Sides, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Day to Day Life: Week Twenty-Three

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

Let’s take a look at the last week. It looked a little like this:

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A pound of garden-grown radishes. Good for soup making, coming soon.

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Mr. Sunshine finished up second grade. Three months of summer to be had!

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Homemade tortillas are so much better than anything store-bought.

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They’re also indicative of homemade taco night. Including citrus grilled fish, poblano guacamole, monterey jack cheese, and cumin lime slaw.

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Face-deep reading and crazy hairs.

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We have new neighbors. I baked them dark chocolate, peanut butter filled, whoopie pies as a welcome gift. Patches, the lady-half of said neighbors, said these were in the top 3 desserts she’s ever had, period. Win.

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Since I went a little ga-ga over the homemade yogurt thing last week, I’ve been experimenting with yogurt treats and whey beverages. This one will not fail to satisfy. Look for the recipe next week. It’s delicious. And that’s absolutely bragging.

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Our girl is having some hard times these days. It’s one of the more difficult realities of day to day life around here right now.

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I fully support lap-dinners, although eating vegetarian meatloaf topped with ketchup while wearing a white skirt isn’t advised. This gluten-free green chili and sweet corn mac and cheese was also a winning recipe experiment.

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Blue.

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Food-photographing hazard around here.

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A summer-kind of lunch.

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More garden treats. I ate a string bean off the vine today… It was so sweet – I am excited about this food season. The peas will begin to get harvested this coming week, along with beans, zucchini, and the plethora of herbs that have already been serving us well. I’m stoked about this.

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Deep in the trenches of whoopie-making.

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A happy cutting board of goodness.

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Ham.

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Not your average veggie burger. Hand patted patties, topped with caramelized onions, bleu cheese, tempeh bacon, homemade pickles, fresh tomato, colby jack cheese, baby romaine… Holy $#i+! I don’t even like burgers 99% of the time. This was worthy of eating.

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My girl.

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Easy dinner accompanied by fresh watermelon juice and gin.

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Jamaican Jerk Seitan

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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It’s officially summer around here. While I enjoy long summer days, filled with sunshine at 5:30 AM well until after 8 PM, already that time is flying by.  I’m looking forward to meals that don’t involve heating my kitchen, or standing at the stove trying to decide whether to leave the windows closed or open, whether it’s hotter in the kitchen or outside. A toss-up these days.

I’m not complaining. Summer means sitting on my front porch to drink my first cup of coffee, wondering if I’ll get a sunburn at 9 in the morning? It means bare feet in long grassy parks. It means swimming in the lake with our dogs. It means picking dinner straight from the garden. It means iced adult cocktails and warm evenings that stay light out past what would’ve been kid-bedtime just days prior. Summer is blue skies for miles and miles, breezy skirts and shorts that unfortunately seem to get shorter the older I get (much to my dismay). This year summer may mean homemade ice cream, homemade pickles, and raw veggie sauces. Summer is too hot for covers, sleeping with the windows open and listening to the late night hustle and bustle of this downtown summer town.

The oncoming summer has also brought peaches to our grocery co-op, an array of fresh peppers I like to examine every time I walk past them. There has already been super sweet watermelon, bright sweet mangoes (even if they don’t come from Oregon and serve mostly as nostalgia for my tropical upbringing). Let’s get into sweet corn, too while we’re at it. And snap peas. I love sugary snap peas. The flavors of this time of year and the open-endedness of summer days easily inspires new dishes to prepare.

I don’t know where the idea for this seitan came from, but I’m glad it did. The sauce is thick, spicy, sweet, tangy, HOT. But I assure you it was also 7-year-old approved, with a side of coconut rice and vanilla rice milk to drink, both serving to calm the spiciness. When you bake the seitan, then slowly allow it to cook further under the broiler, it’s texture becomes very similar to actual meat. It’s chewy, it also falls apart in your mouth, it’s slightly charred along the edges, and it’s got some “pull,” much like real barbequed meat. You don’t have to be vegetarian to enjoy this. I imagine the sauce would be delicious on tofu, tempeh, or even light, mild fish. It’s definitely a new addition to our go-to sauces.

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Jamaican Jerk Seitan

Serves 4-6 people.

Ingredients:
¼ cup malt vinegar
5 green onions
4 cloves garlic
½ cup fresh hayden mango, cut into chunks (1 medium mango)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
2 cherry bomb peppers or 1 habanero *
1½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
½ cup ketchup
1 pound seitan (NOT ground seitan) **
zest from one lime
¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
oil

* Remove the seeds and ribs from the peppers for less spice. I left them in and thoroughly enjoyed the heat within this sauce.

** I prefer making my own seitan to any of the store bought versions. I used my chicken-style seitan for this recipe and simply cut it into cutlets about ¼-inch thick.

 

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Directions:

In a food processor or high-speed blender, combine the vinegar, green onions, garlic, mango, thyme, peppers, soy sauce, oil, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, black pepper, and brown sugar. Blend until completely smooth (3-5 minutes).

Stir the ketchup into the sauce, until completely combined.

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Arrange the seitan in a large, rimmed dish. Squeeze the lime juice all over the seitan, rubbing it, and the lime zest, into the seitan, using your hands.

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Reserve about a ½-cup of the sauce, then pour the rest over the seitan cutlets, turning them to coat both sides. Cover and allow the seitan to be refrigerated at least one hour, up to 24 hours.

Once the seitan has been refrigerated, preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a large sheet pan. Place the seitan on your prepared pan, arranging them in a single layer. Bake for 20 minutes. Brush the seitan with some of the sauce you set aside earlier, then flip the cutlets and bake for another 20 minutes.

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Brush the top of the seitan with more of the remaining sauce. Turn your oven on to broil, at the highest temperature you can get, making sure the rack in your oven is on the shelf closest to the broiler. Let the seitan sit under the broiler for 1-2 minutes, then brush with more sauce, flip, and return to the broiler for another 1-2 minutes.

The seitan should char a little on the edges. If it hasn’t by this point, just keep repeating the previous instructions until it does.

Serve hot with steamed rice and/or the vegetables of your choosing.

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Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Meatless Meat, Sauces, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What About All That Whey? (Recipe: Cardamom Whey Refresher)

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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I posted a recipe yesterday for homemade yogurt. The thing about making homemade Greek yogurt is, you wind up with a lot of leftover whey. Yes, like Little Miss Muffet. Whey is the liquid by-product produced by strained yogurt. It’s almost translucent, slightly sour, and really good for you. Whey is incredibly high in protein, thus the reason it’s dried and powdered into the ever popular protein powder supplement found throughout the fitness world. Liquid whey is also filled with vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins C, B, and E… As well as calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, potassium, and phosphorous.

All that said, I’ll be honest. The following recipe isn’t for everyone. Honestly, after my first sip, I wasn’t sure I was sold on the hype. Whey isn’t sweet. If you think of the sourness of plain yogurt, the flavor of whey is not far off. In its defense, this drink is very refreshing, especially on the hot summery days we’ve been having. I got the idea for this beverage from Alana Chernila’s blog, Eating From the Ground Up – the same place I started with the homemade yogurt.

The original recipe wasn’t as creamy as I wanted this drink to be, so I did add additional milk to the recipe. You can leave it out if you prefer, for a lighter drink.

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Cardamom Whey Refresher

Yields one drink, or two small drinks.

Ingredients:

1 cup cold whey
½ cup whole milk
2 tsp. pure maple or agave syrup
¼ tsp. freshly ground cardamom
pinch of ground Ceylon cinnamon
½ a small lime

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Directions:

Combine the whey, milk, maple/agave syrup, cardamom and cinnamon. Stir until completely combined. Quickly add in the lime juice, stir, then serve over ice immediately (the quicker this drink is consumed, the lesser chance the lime will cause the milk to curdle).

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Posted in Beverages, Breakfast, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Crock Pot Yogurt

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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I have a knack for pinning lots of recipes on Pinterest, then like many within the world, forget about those pins entirely. Sometimes that isn’t the case. A recipe will creep into my head and reside there until I follow through with making it. For instance, these cheese-stuffed buns have been calling to me for months.  This cauliflower alfredo sauce has taunted me over and over again since I pinned it. Let’s not even talk about my avoidance of the magic custard cake I keep having to talk myself out of making.

A few months ago, I came across a recipe for making homemade yogurt in the crockpot. I love yogurt. Especially all varieties available here in Southern Oregon. Cream topped, thick Greek style, sweetly thick Australian style, Icelandic yogurt. IT’S ALL GOOD. But expensive when you make a habit of eating them all the damn time. When I saw Alana Chernila’s recipe for crockpot Greek yogurt, I knew I needed to make it. While it took me a good few months to give it a try, all I can say is I wish I had done it sooner!

The crockpot makes things really simple. There’s lots of waiting time, but the result is a deliciously smooth, delicately flavored yogurt. While you can order powdered yogurt starter, the easier method of getting your hands on the good little bacterias we need for yogurt-making, is to simply purchase a container of plain yogurt. Make sure it says the container has probiotics; not all yogurts do. I used Smári Organics yogurt. Not just because you can “meet” the cows whose milk makes up the yogurt,  but because I wanted to use a yogurt whose flavor I enjoy. This is important for creating a final product that has a flavor you’ll enjoy. Use whatever you like.

While the yogurt is great plain, if you’re into that sort of thing… It’s equally delicious topped with agave, or honey, or maple syrup… Or fresh fruit… Fresh fruit and granola? Oh yes.

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Crockpot Yogurt

Recipe from Alana Chernila at Eating From the Ground Up

Yields about a half gallon of yogurt.

Ingredients:

½ gallon whole milk, pasteurized not ultra-pasteurized
6 oz. plain Greek yogurt or 3 tbsp. dried yogurt starter


Directions:

Pour the half gallon of milk into your crockpot. Cover and turn on to high, then let the milk heat up until it reaches 185° F. No thermometer? Don’t worry. Heat until the milk gets hot, steamy, and reaches just below boiling. A good quality crockpot will take 1 – 1½  hours to reach this point. A lower quality crockpot can take anywhere from 2 – 2½ hours. It’s important for the milk to reach this temperature, as it’s hot enough to kill the bacteria present in the milk, so we can add the good cultures/bacteria for making yogurt, without worrying about them killing each other off entirely.

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Once the milk reaches 185° F, crack the lid open to let some of the heat escape then turn off the crockpot completely. Let the milk cool to 110° F (still no thermometer? The milk should be warm, not hot, where you can stick your finger into it and keep it in place for 10 seconds without it burning you). This takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1½ hours. Don’t let the temperature drop too low.

Add the plain yogurt or 3 tbsp. of powdered yogurt culture. Do not stir the mixture! Replace the lid of your crockpot and wrap the whole thing with a warm blanket or towel (creating an incubator of sorts for the crockpot).  Let the mixture sit for 6 – 24 hours, completely undisturbed. (Overnight works great!)

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Once the mixture has set, you’ve made yogurt! Refrigerate it for at least two hours, then you can do either of two things: eat it as is or make Greek yogurt.

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To do the latter, line a colander with cheesecloth. Pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth, allowing it to strain for 30-45 minutes, or until the yogurt left is thick, creamy, and the consistency you prefer.

Straining the yogurt will produce a liquid called yogurt whey – it’s slightly sour, but not overwhelmingly. I have a recipe for a beverage you can make, coming tomorrow. Yogurt whey can also be added to a stock pot when cooking beans, or used as the liquid to cook rice. It freezes well, so you can use it in smaller batches, too.

Keep the yogurt in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Remember to set aside 6 ounces, which can be used to make another batch of yogurt.

The yogurt can be sweetened to your liking with honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, etc. We prefer doing that on a bowl-by-bowl case, because plain yogurt makes a great replacement for sour cream!

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IMG_0918_zps71808cd1My preferred method of eating this yogurt: topped with agave syrup, ceylon cinnamon, and fresh strawberries. YUM.

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