Marisa wrote about yogurt making about a month ago. I would like to re-visit the subject from an extremely frugal angle. With wild fruits coming into season (like mulberries), yogurt is a great way to serve nature's sweet bounty.
I can remember trying yogurt for the first time as a kid. Most of the brands had a distinctive sour taste, and fruit on the bottom. They came in 8-ounce containers, and sold for anywhere from 25 to 50 cents a cup. Now, with prices double that or more, and the cups shrinking to 6 or even 4 ounces (who can eat 4 ounces of yogurt and call it a satisfying experience?), I decided to re-visit the old fashioned way of getting yogurt. MAKING IT YOURSELF!
This isn't just for frugality. I really enjoy making things at home that most people buy prepared. Some of the things we purchase without questioning whether or not they could be created right in our kitchens are actually quite easy to make. Yogurt is one of them, and requires very little in the way of equipment.
There are yogurt makers that you can purchase. I have to tell you though that they are really not necessary. The only piece of equipment you might need to buy is a kitchen thermometer. You will need a thermometer that can read as high as 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) and as low as 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). For your first batch only, you need starter. A tablespoon of good plain yogurt works fine as long as it has active cultures (check the label). After your first batch you just need to conserve some yogurt each time to use as starter for your next batch.
I grew up with a Salton, five-cup yogurt maker. As far back as I can remember, it was always tucked into the back of one of the kitchen cabinets. However, it never got much use during my childhood, as it was more of a relic from my mom's earlier, pre-children, hippie days than an active appliance. When I was 9 or 10 years old, at a moment when we were in need of drinking glasses, she cannibalized the yogurt maker, and pressed the milk glass cups into service around the dinner table. We continued to use them that way for years (I think that my mom even picked up a second yogurt maker at a thrift store at one point, just for the glasses).
Three or four years ago, I happened across a similar yogurt maker at a thrift store. I bought it, despite the fact that I had no active interest in making my own yogurt and my kitchen was already woefully overstocked. I tucked it up on top of my kitchen cabinets and didn't touch it again until last week.
One of the best things about living half a mile from Trader Joe's is access to cheap Greek yogurt. Thick and tart, Greek yogurt gets its rich texture from straining, not from stabilizers, and lacks that sometimes slimy feel of many commercial American brands. Full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with honey and nuts makes for the most hearty, luxurious breakfast; it's also terrific doctored up with lemon juice, salt and paprika and used as sauce for cold chicken or lamb.
Gena, over at Big City, Little Kitchen, has found another great use for Greek yogurt: cupcakes. She simply used full-fat Fage (pronounced fah-yeh) as a substitute for sour cream in a Gourmet golden cake recipe. Though the yogurt is dense, the cupcakes came out as light and fluffy as if she'd beaten in egg whites. Mixed with sugar, butter, and lemon juice, it made a tart, cream cheese-like frosting. As a lover of sweet-sour yogurt gelato, I say mmmmm!
Check out the color on that chicken. Those legs and thighs spent some good time in their yogurt and spice marinade before getting to a very hot grill. Yumm-y! The picture belongs to Flickr user my amii and you can find the recipe here.
I'm still taking suggestions on different foods to feature in this space. Shout out your ideas in the comments section and I will do my best to respond.
This Week's Food Safety Terror Alert has gone a depressing shade of blue (which isn't even on the meter) for a voluntary recall by Stonyfield Farm of their 6-ounce cups of Stonyfield Organic Fat Free Blueberry Yogurt based on reports that customers have found plastic or glass fragments in the products.
The affected yogurts have codes printed along the cup bottom that start with the following dates:
Apr 13 08
Apr 14 08
Apr 15 08
April 25 08
Apr 26 08
If you have questions, you are advised to contact Stonyfield Farm Consumer Relations at 1-800-PRO-COWS or email crelations@Stonyfield.com.
There are several standard ways I use up leftovers: an omelet the next morning, fried rice, and of course, just re-heating whatever it was, and eating it as is.
Another thing to do is make a sandwich, and if you have leftover lamb and asparagus from Easter Sunday, throwing them together with a little bit of yogurt-turned-tzatziki makes a great pita-bread-based sandwich. Of course, in my house, we didn't actually have lamb (we didn't have a traditional ham either), and asparagus on the table gets eaten before the salad is served.
Without the leftovers to make the pitas, the only other thing to do is -- gasp! -- actually cook the meal! The California Asparagus Commission has put together a recipe (after the jump), along with a whole list of recipes for asparagus on their website.
• West Coast frozen yogurt stores, led by Pinkberry, descend on Manhattan. Godzilla-style madness ensues.
• The Minimalist cooks with canned tomatoes, with a video on roasted tomato soup.
• Alex Witchel writes about bigos, Polish sauerkraut soup; Elaine Louie discusses a one pot recipe for homemade meatball sausage cooked with tomato sauce.
Over at Culinate, Catherine Bennett Dunster wrote an interesting article/explanation about probiotics -- live microorganisms found in foods which may have health benefits. Dunster writes that probiotics have been reported to improve intestinal health, boost immune systems and reduce lactose intolerance, but adds that there is currently minimal strong scientific evidence to support these claims.
As an immune-suppressed, lactose-intolerant person with an auto-immune intestinal disease, I've tried my fair share of probiotics. Though I used to take a powdered, lemonade-flavored probiotic, VSL3, which I dissolved in water, I've switched to just trying to eat probiotic-friendly foods. My experiences are pretty much in line with Dunster's report, in that I don't notice a big difference in how I feel based on how much of these foods I consume (my doctors warned of this). Mostly, I just eat them because they taste good and I figure they can't hurt.
My favorite probiotic-containing food is Kashi Vive, a cereal for digestive health that I eat -- again -- because it tastes delicious. I have to be careful not to consume too much, though, because it's also high in fiber (which isn't great for my intestines). Many yogurts are also well-known for containing them, and some companies have even launched lines of yogurts aimed at promoting digestive health (though there has been backlash). Check out a longer list of brand-name foods containing probiotics here at The Nibble, and definitely let us know if you've had success with any of them!
I'm sure you've seen those commercials for Dannon's Activia yogurt, the ones that say that the yogurt contains special ingredients that help with digestion and the immune system. Now those claims are being challenged by a lawsuit.
The lawsuit says that the ad lie and that Dannon's own research doesn't even back up the medical claims. The yogurt costs 30% more than regular yogurts and the lawsuit says that this is unwarranted because the advertising is deceptive. The suit is looking for damages for anyone who bought any of the Activia brands, and they also want Dannon to stop the ads and run a new "corrective ad campaign."
Other brands aren't mentioned in the lawsuit because they don't make the same claims.
Attention fellow bloggers, desk jockeys, students and anyone else who's chained to a computer all day: eating strawberries and flaxseed can help.
Lifehack.org tells us twenty foods and drinks that will help boost productivity, including essentially any kind of fruit, water and green tea, sunflower seeds and lowfat yogurt.
Flaxseed may sound intimidating, but it's pretty easy to add it to tons of foods, and its chock-full of health benefits like better concentration and lowering of LDL (bad) cholesterol. (To remember which cholesterol is which, I remember "LDL" as lousy cholesterol, and "HDL" as happy cholesterol. Silly, but it works).
My roommate recently bought flaxseed and ground it up in our coffee bean grinder, so we sprinkle a little in everything we can: oatmeal, omelets, yogurt, pasta, smoothies...the list is endless. If it's easier, you can also add flaxseed oil, but a tablespoon or two a day will do it. Then, just keep your fluids up and your heart rate steady, and you'll be a workin' machine.
Last fall I went apple picking with a friend at Linvilla Orchards, a u-pick farm in Media, PA that also offers hay rides, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, strolling clowns and a cluster of year-round carnival-type food stands. In addition to the u-pick options, they also have a farm market in which they sell produce, jams, jellies, candies and other homey goods.
Last year I picked up a small jar of Buckwheat Honey there. I didn't think much of it other than it was far darker than the other honey options and for some reason that appealed to me. When I got it home, I discovered that it had a deep flavor that was drastically different from your standard grocery store wildflower honey and I was totally hooked. I rationed that jar, making it last nearly nine months before I finally hit the bottom.
On Tuesday Scott and I went out to Linvilla once again, in order to pick apples and film the beginning to the next episode of Slashfood in the Kitchen. After two hours on the farm, we had picked a full bushel of apples and I had dragged him through the market so that I could get another jar of the Buckwheat Honey. I bought a larger jar this year and have already greatly enjoyed it drizzled on top of a bowl of yogurt and homemade apple sauce.
Remember when I asked all you, my favorite Slashfoodies, for some suggestions for what to do with a glut of cherries back in July? There were some great suggestions in the comments, with quite a few cheers for clafouti (because I bemoaned having to pit them), cherries jubilee, and among a bunch of other ideas.
Well, I took some of your ideas over the last month and made some stuff, which I'll be sharing with you this week. First up, it's a cherry smoothie, which I realize is pretty boring, but it had to be done because 1) life for the last month required speed eating which often translates into liquid lunch, and 2) with that many cherries, I had to put at least half of them in the freezer. Of course, I pitted the entire basket first (using a knife - very painstaking), spread them onto a tray, then placed them into the freezer. The next morning, I was so excited about having frozen cherries, I blended them into a smoothie so I could enjoy them right away.
There's no real recipe here, but I'll let you know what I put into mine because I felt like a million bucks after drinking it. Blend together: ½ c. nonfat yogurt, 1 c. frozen cherries (pitted, duh), and enough pomegranate juice to make it the consistency you want (I used about ½ cup). I don't add any sugar, though a friend suggested a drizzle of honey. Pour into a tall glass, drink up, and you'll feel like a superhero.
Stay tuned for slightly more exciting things I did with the cherries!
We want to believe that there is a magic pill that will melt the fat off our bodies. We even hope there's some secret formula that nobody else knows. In the end, however, in our heart of hearts, we always know that "the formula" for staying trim is no formula at all. Quite simply, we have to exercise more and eat less.
Right?
Well, not exactly. According to various bits of research done here and there and compiled by AOL Diet & Fitness, it seems that for one particular trouble spot for a lot us, abs, eating more might be key.
Hold your horses, Soon-to-be-Taut Tonto. You can't just go eating everything in sight, thinking that the more potato chips and bacon you cram down your throat, the tighter your abs will be. There are specific nutrients in foods that seem t help fight ab fat. Unfortunately, potato chips isn't one of them. What are they? There are five things, and the matrix above is just a few suggestions for ways you can incorporate these into your diet that will get you to flatter abs:
A few weeks ago, my friends and I got together after work to play board games (yes yes I know - how very, um, exciting), and a friend and I were charged with providing food. We were meeting rather late, so there was no need to go with full dinner fare. I decided on a few Mediterranean dips and a salad because really now, is there anything better than ripping a pita loaf into shreds when you're caught up in the excitement of Jenga?!?! Tzatziki is one of my favorites, and though I do believe it's used more as a sauce or condiment in Greek cuisine, I love scooping it up with pita bread. My Sarah-ized version is written out after the jump:
The summer fruit is coming at me from all sides these days. I can't turn around without spotting blueberries, blackberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums. There thousands of good uses for these succulent berries and stone fruits (jams, pies, compotes, sauces, cobblers, crisps and slumps to name a few) but lately, I've been trying to reduce the amount of sugar I eat, so I've been looking for ways of enjoying the abundance of summer a little more naturally.
In addition to eating the fruit just as it comes (which I do, by the bushel) I've been making my ancient blender whirl up a variety of smoothies. My favorite thing to do is just throw some fruit and yogurt in, with a dribble of milk to thin it down a little. If that's not sweet enough for you, try adding a little fruit juice, honey or agave nectar. I have a friend who always throws a handful of oats into her smoothies, for the extra fiber. A few ice cubes (or frozen fruit) will make it nice a cool. The most important thing when it comes to making smoothies is to feel free to experiment and figure out what tastes good to you.
I grew up with a Salton, five-cup yogurt maker. As far back as I can remember, it was always tucked into the back of one of the kitchen cabinets. However, it never got much use during my childhood, as it was more of a relic from my mom's earlier, pre-children, hippie days than an active appliance. When I was 9 or 10 years old, at a moment when we were in need of drinking glasses, she cannibalized the yogurt maker, and pressed the milk glass cups into service around the dinner table. We continued to use them that way for years (I think that my mom even picked up a second yogurt maker at a thrift store at one point, just for the glasses). 
This Week's Food Safety Terror Alert has gone a depressing shade of blue (which isn't even on the meter) for a voluntary recall by Stonyfield Farm of their 6-ounce cups of Stonyfield Organic Fat Free Blueberry Yogurt based on reports that customers have found plastic or glass fragments in the products.
• Frank Bruni ranks his 
I'm sure you've seen those commercials for Dannon's Activia yogurt, the ones that say that the yogurt contains special ingredients that help with digestion and the immune system. Now those claims are being challenged by a 
The summer fruit is coming at me from all sides these days. I can't turn around without spotting blueberries, blackberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums. There thousands of good uses for these succulent berries and stone fruits (jams, pies, compotes, sauces, cobblers, crisps and slumps to name a few) but lately, I've been trying to reduce the amount of sugar I eat, so I've been looking for ways of enjoying the abundance of summer a little more naturally. 
America's Most Hated Foods
Slashfood Ate (8): Ways to create the perfect cheese plate
A good trick for saving summer herbs for future use
