yogurt – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Saturday Morning Sides

I’ve been on a Mediterranean food kick of late.

This morning I was in the mood to put together some foods to have on hand over the next few days. Since I am off work, it makes sense to do something – particularly when I want to do something! So, I put together a couple of sides, one which we like to have on hand, and another we had in a restaurant the other night.

First side was to make some tzatziki. This is so easy it’s ridiculous, and really worth the bit of time to make it from scratch, because scratch is always better.

Tzatziki

2 c. Greek yogurt (I used homemade!)
1 large English cucumber
5-7 cloves garlic
1 T. fresh dill
juice of 2 lemons
salt
pepper
olive oil

Grate the cucumber. Place in strainer, mix with about a tsp. of salt. Place where the liquid from the cucumber can drain while you do the rest of the prep. Let the cucumbers sit for about 30 minutes.

Finely mince the garlic – we use a microplane. Juice the lemons. Chop the dill. Stir in the yogurt.

Rinse the cucumbers. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you like, put the cucumbers onto a towel, or paper toweling, and squeeze and press out as much liquid as you can. Turn into yogurt-lemon-garlic-dill mixture. Pour in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Mix well. Taste. Add salt as you wish, and pepper.

Refrigerate in container. Stir before using.

The next thing I did was throw together a sort of tapenade, mixed up from what I had on hand.

Sun-Dried Tomato, Anchovy, and Olive Tapenade

8 oz. / 1 c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil – use all of it
1 small can of anchovy fillets
2-3 T. capers
20 kalamata olives, pitted (if already pitted, slice them where the seeds might be – you don’t want them messing up your food processor!)
2-3 cloves garlic
1-2 finely chopped cayenne peppers (optional)
2 T. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste; olive oil to thin to your liking

In a mini-blender, put in tomatoes, anchovies, capers, garlic, olives, peppers, and vinegar. Whir together into a chunky paste. Taste. Add seasoning as you wish, and to thin, you may add some of the oil from the anchovies or a bit of olive oil on the side. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld flavors. Store in closed container for up to a week. Good on crackers or bread or straight out of the jar.

And there you have it – Saturday morning sides when you have nothing better to do!

Honey-Sweetened Cheesecake Recipe

Once more, dietary changes are forcing cooking and baking changes. Some results are rather dreadful. Others have proven to be quite good! So it was with this cheesecake. No sugar, no gluten. The biggest problem was finding the dry curd cottage cheese. also known as hoop cheese or farmer’s cheese. I found the cheese at the local Whole Foods, and neither my husband nor I had ever tasted it – but we did, and liked it. It is a rather dry cheese, not sweet or salty, with a bit of a curd, but very fine, like ricotta. The original recipe is from this blog, but I changed it so that I made one 8″ cheesecake, instead of 4 individual ones. The only thing beside pan size that I changed was the baking time.

Honey Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 300 F, and by the time you have your crust ready, you can pop the crust in to bake.

Crust
1 1/2 c. almond flour
1 t cinnamon
3 T melted butter
1 t honey

Mix flour and cinnamon together. Melt butter, mix in honey. Stir together to form a soft dough. I used a fork to really work the ingredients together. Place the crust mixture into an 8″ spring form pan, lined on the bottom with parchment paper, and sides buttered. Working from the center out, press the dough onto the pan. Build a shallow edge along the rim of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 300 F. Remove and let cool completely.

When you are ready to make the filling, preheat oven to 350 F.

Filling
1 lb. farmer’s cheese
1/2 c. SCD homemade yogurt
3 eggs
1/3 c. honey
2 t vanilla extract
1 t lemon zest

In a blender or with a hand mixer, combine cheese and yogurt. Cream for about 5 minutes – texture will change and become more creamy as you work. Add the rest of the ingredients, and beat until very smooth. Batter will be very thin. Pour carefully into cooled crust. Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes. Check to see that the center of the cheese cake is set. When set (the cake no longer jiggles when shaken lightly), turn off oven and open door. Let cheese cake cool about an hour, and then move to refrigerator. Serve with fresh berries.

Comments
I had no idea what to expect from this recipe, but those who tasted it (served at a dinner party) really liked the flavor and lightness of the cheesecake. It wasn’t very sweet, which can happen with many honey-based recipes. The lemon zest complemented the fresh fruit – we used blueberries and raspberries. Without the fruit, the cheesecake might be a bit unremarkable if you are used to big, thick slices of New York cheesecake.

This, for us, is a definite winner!

Cranberries & Yogurt

This is, admittedly, a rather odd title for a post, but in few minutes, you’ll see why.

Sugar is in everything, and so I decided I would try to make some cranberry sauce that has a good flavor, but is not filled with a cup of granulated white sugar. I came across a number of recipes. Some used stevia, the flavor of which I don’t like. Others recommend aspartame or other synthetic sweeteners – all of these are horrid. Sucralose is also suggested. The fact is, I really don’t like the flavors of artificial or substitute sweeteners. So, what is left? A bit of research found some recipes using sweet cherries and cranberries, or adding apple sauce. Orange flavoring via orange juice and zest. Pineapple juice. And honey, which is an easily digestible sweetener, and if not too strong, is okay with me!

So . . . I made up my own recipe for non-sugared cranberry sauce!

Cranberry Sauce Without Granulated Sugar

12 oz. cranberries
1 bosc pair, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. unsweetened apple sauce
zest and juice of 1 orange (I used a large navel orange)
2-4 T. honey

Simmer all the above together, and after cranberries have slowed their popping, pour in the juice of one orange, and its zest. Cook another 10 minutes on a low temperature. Sauce will be tart with a strong orange flavor. You may want to use less zest, or none, and just the juice. This is not a very cranberry sauce, but you do not want a sauce so sour your lips pucker! Add some honey if you want (I added about 3 T – still tart, but not puckery – and I do like sour!).

Okay, now the yogurt part. Years ago I used to make my own yogurt. What? Yes, you can, and you can make it without an expensive yogurt maker. If you have a gas oven with a pilot light, there you go – home for your yogurt until done. My current stove is gas on top, electric inside, so I use an ice chest filled with a few bottles of boiling water to keep the yogurt warm, and I check on it periodically to make sure it is still warm. I let my yogurt set for 24 hours. Once done, you do need to cool it down so it won’t continue to ferment – too much is not a good thing.

There are two types of cultures for yogurt. Some are thermophilic, needing heat, and others are mesophilic, meaning room temperature is the best environment. I like Bulgarian yogurt, made with lactobacillus bulgaricus, and lactobacillus acidophilus. These days, with the increased knowledge about probiotics and prebiotics for gut health, it turns out that the acidophilus bifidus is not considered to be a “good” one for adults. Apparently breast fed babies gut flora is primarily acidophilus bifidus, but if it continues to flourish in the gut biome past weaning, it could set the individual up for digestive issues, such as celiac and other similar diseases. Here is a link to some interesting information about acidophilus bifidus.

So, I have some yogurt in my fridge. It has bifidus in it. A search for bifidus-free yogurt in the store to use as a starter yielded only one yogurt that does not have bifidus in it! It is Siggi’s Sheep Yogurt, expensive, but bifidus free. I bought some to use as a starter (it also tastes good!). I also purchased a starter from Amazon for $8.00 which states it “contains live active bacteria like ”Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus” and ”Streptococcus thermophilus” – there ya go!

My Yogurt Recipe

1 qt. whole milk
1/4 c. Siggi’s

Bring milk to simmer – hot to the touch. Watch on stove to be sure it does not burn, so stir it! Reduce to about 75 F. Take 1/2 c. cooled milk and whisk into the starter. Pour into 1 qt. container (or smaller containers, such as 2 pint jars, etc.). Place in ice chest filled with a few bottles of boiling water. Set aside to ferment for 24 hours.

Now you understand “Cranberries & Yogurt”!

The Little Luxuries of Summer

I love simple food in the summertime. Fresh vegetables, fruits, breads, grains, yogurt. There is a richness in flavor that is best at this time of the year because the world is full and abundant. Self-indulgence in these areas is not a bad thing. And when one is recovering from a cold, and the mere thought of handling food or eating is not at all interesting, it is a good time to go out and buy unusual and wonderful things. So I did . . . and ended up with:

yogurt from St. Benoit from Sonoma County, CA
Wensleydale cheese with blueberries
organic rolled oats for granola
a custom-made sandwich with, among the ingredients, red onion marmalade and arugula
Firestone Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA

I’ve never heard of St. Benoit, but did a bit of research on them, and think they are really onto something. You can learn about St. Benoit and see what you think. Dinner tonight was a bit of their yogurt, a nectarine, and chopped almonds. Very satisfying.

I used to make my own yogurt. I’m rather tempted to again. Yogurt is especially good with granola, too.

And, at the moment, I am baking a batch of granola in the oven, as I love the crunch of granola and the sweetness of fruit for breakfast. The biggest problem with most granolas is they are horribly sweet if boughten. I prefer to make my own. Formerly, for sweetness I chose real maple syrup, but my husband doesn’t much care for maple. I don’t like sugar in granola. One day I ended up with some agave syrup and a craving for granola, and used the syrup. The result was a bit of sweetness without a maple flavor (I like maple, personally . . . ) nor the intense flavor brown sugar can give foods.

Granola Recipe

6 c. organic rolled oats
2 c. walnuts
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1 1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. agave syrup
1/4 c. canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix together all ingredients in a dutch oven, and bake, stirring every 15 minutes, for about an hour, until toasted to your liking. Let cool to room temperature.

You can substitute or add whatever you want. This is what I had available.

Looking for Organic & Local

All this self-indulgence started making me look for what is around here in Ventura County. Agriculture is a big industry in our county – the history of the county is tightly bound to raising crops, such as avocados, berries, citrus. We have a couple of excellent producers of organic produce – McGrath Family Farms and Underwood Family Farms are two with whom I am familiar. I looked up local honey after reading about the potential that a lot of honey may be tainted and illegally imported. Not a good thing. Locally, it looks like we have a good source nearby at Bennett’s. Meat is another issue. We have free range beef from Watkins Cattle Company.

At heart, I’m a backyard farmer. I would love to have the time to produce more of what we eat, but I have to work, and our backyard is too dark and shady at present for any real crops. Instead, I try to support the local farmers rather than the large chain stores. We also try to cook most of what we eat from scratch, but of course, not everything can be done this way. When we go shopping, we never cease to be amazed at all the packaged foods people buy as the mainstay for their meals. Our baskets are filled with very few boxes or frozen foods.

Kind of snobby, huh? I guess I literally put my money where my mouth is.