DIY Yogurt--How to Make Yogurt

 

I have been wanting to make my own yogurt for a long while now. I have put off making it because I rarely buy milk, unless I want to make ice cream.  The truth is that we don't drink milk, so there is rarely a need for it in our home.  I was in Whole Food's the other day and went to pick up a jar of my favorite Bulgarian yogurt, when I thought--now is the time to make my own.  The process is super simple.  I did it with my Sous-vide machine, but you could do this in your slow cooker on low,  in a dehydrator set to 110F, or with just the light of your oven door.

 

 

 

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes Plus 6 hours of non cook time

Ingredients:

4 cups of full fat organic milk

4 tablespoons of full fat organic yogurt--make sure the yogurt that you choose has active live cultures.

Directions: Heat the milk in a stainless steel sauce pan,

 

When the temperature reaches 110F turn off the fire and whisk in the yogurt.

 

Transfer the mixture to a glass jar,

Lightly cap it,

If you aren't using a slow cooker or a immersion circulator, place the jar in the oven and turn on the oven light and allow to culture over night.  If using a slow cooker, fill the cooker with water, place the jar inside and set the cooker to low--or 110F.

If using a circulator, fill a pan with enough water to cover the sides of the jar, set the circulator to 110F and add the jar--let sit for 4-6 hour's or until the yogurt thickens to the consistency of store bought yogurt--the longer you let the yogurt sit the more tart and thick it becomes--so if you find that you like the consistency and taste at 4 hours then remove it from the heat then--if you like it more tart then let it go for longer--even over night--it's really up to you, and your preference.

Remove from circulator and refrigerate.  Once refrigerated, the yogurt will thicken a bit more, and the whey will separate from the yogurt, you can pour it off or mix it back into the yogurt.

The yogurt will keep for up to 2 weeks.  If you plan on making another batch you can use this yogurt as a starter.

How easy was that?! I can't believe I didn't try this sooner!  The yogurt is delicious!

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Oven-Roasted Broccolini with Lemon-Garlic Parmesan

Oven Roasted Broccolini with Lemon-garlic Parmesan

 

Going to the Farmer's market on Sunday has become routine for my family.  My daughter gets excited about going and so do I.  I never know what my weekly meal plan will include until after I've forged my way through the market.  This week the pickings were slim.  I don't know if was just extremely busy before we got to the farmer's market, or if the farmer's just didn't have much to share.  Either way, I left with only two produce items--broccolini and strawberries.  Not my usual bountiful assortment.  I had no idea how I was going to prepare the broccolini, and decided just before cooking it, to roast it and top it with the lemon-garlic parmesan mixture.  The flavors sounded like they would pair well to me, so I took an chance, and I'm so glad I did.  Beside's my Roasted Broccoli with Garlic--this is new favorite way to prepare broccoli. For my Paleo, Vegan, and Whole 30 friends leave out the cheese, this is still great without it--the lemon really makes this broccolini sing!

 

 

 

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

1lb of organic broccolini (can sub broccoli)

1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon of lemon powder (can sub 1 teaspoon of lemon zest)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons of oil plus an additional 2 teaspoons

sea salt to taste

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 450F.  To a small bowl add parmesan, garlic, and 2 teaspoons of oil,

mix well and set aside.

Line a bake sheet with foil, add the broccolini, 2 tablespoons of oil, and sea salt and toss well.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes.  At the 10 minute mark, remove the sheet pan from the oven, and top with the lemon-garlic parmesan mixture.

Return the pan to the oven and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes or until the parmesan browns, remove from oven, serve and enjoy!

 

If you like this recipe you might like my recipe for Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan, Lemon and red pepper flakes, or my recipe Parmesan Chicken with Roasted Romaine.

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Green Bean Chicken

Green beans with Chicken

We are having a rough week here. Page is finding adjusting to school harder than any of us had hoped. She was fine initially, but has had a delayed reaction to being separated from me.  Yesterday was an especially hard day for us all.  She cried all day at school, and when I picked her up from school my heart just broke.  She looked like she had been crying all day, and the way she fell into my arms...let's just say that I was reduced to one giant puddle! Needless to say, I never got around to posting my blog yesterday.

A few weeks ago we were out running the last of our Christmas errands, and stopped to eat a Chinese restaurant.  As we browsed the menu, I asked Page what she wanted to eat.  She quickly removed the menu from my hands, took a few seconds and said "I want the green beans mom!"  With her tiny finger she pointed to a picture of a plate of glimmering green beans and said " I want this one!" Under normal circumstances I would ignore her, and get her what I think she might eat, but she was so confident in her choice that I ordered the green bean chicken for us to share. I'm so glad I did!  I don't know who enjoyed the dish more, me or Page.  The beans were crisp and fresh, and Page devoured almost all of them!  The moment I tasted this dish, I knew that I had to try to recreate it at home.

 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

 

 

Ingredients:

1 pound of fresh  organic green beans, ends trimmed

1 tablespoon of garlic paste

1 teaspoon of ginger paste

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

3 tablespoons of rice vinegar

1 chicken breast. cubed

sea salt to taste

Directions: Heat the oil, garlic and ginger paste in a saute pan just until the garlic and ginger become fragrant (about 30 seconds).

 

Season the chicken with sea salt and add it to the hot pan.  Toss well, and allow the chicken to cook through about (5-7 minutes).

Once chicken has cooked through, add in the soy sauce, rice vinegar and green beans.

Cook for an additional 5-7 minutes--the green beans should still be crisp, remove from heat, serve and enjoy!

How to make Bone Broth- with Chicken Feet

How to Make Bone Broth

 

Now that the Holiday's are over, I'm getting back to my normal routine.  We had such a busy holiday season that I'm not sure what my normal routine was. The last week I've spent both nursing a cold and searching for a new refrigerator.  Our current refrigerator is on it's final leg, and before it gives out completely we need to replace it.  I was in Whole Foods the other day in search of some chicken backs in order to make stock to nurse my cold and my daughters and of course they were clean out.  The butcher was ready with an alternative--chicken feet! He said that they had just gotten a big shipment in, because people had been requesting them in order to make bone broth to fight off the flu and cold that is going around.  With no other options to available to make my broth, I left the store with 2 pounds of chicken feet.   I've actually only ever seen chicken feet on live chicken's and occasionally in a silver tin when I go out with my girl friends to have dim sum.  I can't say that in either instance that they've been an appetizing sight! This instance provided no exception!  It took me a while to even convince myself that I could handle cooking them.  However, I pushed through the ick factor and managed, to make a delicious bone broth for us to consume.  Not surprisingly making stock with chicken feet provides a nutrient rich broth.  Chicken feet have a lot of bones, and when cooked slowly or under pressure you're able to extract most of the nutrients from those bones.  Also at $2.00/pound this is the most economical way to make broth that I've come across.

 

 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1.5-2 hours

 

Ingredients:

1 lb of organic chicken feet

1 cup of carrots diced

1 cup of celery diced

1 large onion diced

2 tablespoons of grape seed oil

7 cups of water

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions: Heat the oil over medium heat. Add in chicken feet and allow to brown (7-10 minutes).  Add in carrots, celery, and onion and allow to cook an additional 4 minutes.  Add in water and seal in pressure cooker for 1.5-2 hours.

If you're doing this stove stop, cook for a minimum of 2 hours on medium low heat, and add additional water as stock boils down.  After stock has cooked for 2 hours remove from heat, let cool for 10-15 minutes, then strain, removing all solids before transferring to an airtight container. This makes about 4-5 cups of stock.

How to make Bone Broth

So tell me, have you ever cooked or eaten chicken feet?  Although I've seen them while having Dim Sum with my friends, I have never tried them.  I just can't bring myself to do it--at least not so far!

 

 

 

Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary

Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Rosemary

 

Do you like sweet potatoes?  I love them!  My husband--not so much!  Enter this recipe and he is a convert!  I just love a recipe that can convert someone, don't you? The best part of this recipe? Three ingredients AND it's super easy!

 

 

 

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cups of cubed organic sweet potato

1 tablespoon of fresh or dried rosemary

2 tablespoons of coconut or olive oil

sea salt to taste

Directions: Pre-heat your oven to 425F.  In a large bowl toss together the sweet potato cubes, rosemary, sea salt, and oil--making sure that all of the potatoes get coated in oil.

Add the potatoes to a foil lined bake sheet and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes take on some color.  Remove from the oven, serve and enjoy!