OK, just a very quick update you let you know about my latest experiments with crockpot yogurt making.  I wanted to see if I could make individual serving sized containers of yogurt using my crockpot method for incubating.  I mixed together the milk, gelatine, and powdered milk in a saucepan, heated the mixture, allowed it to cool, and stirred in the starter.  Meanwhile, I very thoroughly washed and rinsed eight jelly jars (the 8-ounce jars with lids and bands, used for canning), placed the jars in my crockpot, filled them with hot water, and filled the crockpot around them with hot water.  I turned on the crockpot and brought the temperature of the water to about 110.  I emptied the water out of the jelly jars (one by one, so they wouldn’t fall over into the water bath) and filled them with the yogurt mixture.  Then I put the lid on the crockpot, unplugged it, and placed it into the oven the way I usually do.  Six hours later I had eight individual sized jars of plain yogurt, perfect for a grab and go breakfast.  All I had to do was put the lids on the jars and put them in the fridge.  I will be making yogurt this way again and will post more detailed instructions, along with photos and a proper recipe.  I also plan to experiment with sweetening the yogurt mixture prior to incubation, and trying a fruit-on-the-bottom method.

Bread baking has always intimidated me – the exact measuring, the kneading, the rising (I am terrible at guessing when a blob of dough has doubled in size), all the steps where something can go wrong, not to mention the fact that it takes all day and once you start the process you’re locked in for several hours.  When you add in all the trial and error adjustments that have to be made when baking at high altitude, the potential for failure has always been too high for me to consider making bread from scratch except on the rarest of occasions.  A while back I bought a bread machine, and while I love the convenience of it, I don’t love the weird-shaped loaves with all that hard crust, or the gluey, steamed texture of the crumb.  So I mostly use the dough cycle and then shape the loaves or rolls myself.  It takes away the guesswork on rising, and the work of kneading, but it still takes half the day.  So, I was over the moon when I found this book:

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  It seemed too good to be true, but it really works, and it is so easy!  In a nutshell, you mix together all your dough ingredients, let it sit at room temperature for two hours, and then stick it in the fridge.  When you want to bake some bread, you grab a hunk of dough from the refrigerated blob, do a minimal amount of shaping, let it rise, and then bake it.  It takes about ten minutes to measure out and mix the ingredients for the blob, and then the process  on baking day from start to finish takes about an hour and fifteen minutes (five minutes to grab a hunk of dough and shape it, 40 minutes to rise, and 30 minutes to bake) – a reasonable amount of time for homemade bread even on a week night after work.

I used my stand mixer with the dough hook attachment.  I poured 3 cups of warm water into the bowl, and then stirred in 1 1/2 Tablespoons of granulated yeast (from the little jar, but you could use the kind in packets if you prefer) and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of coarse salt.  I added 6 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour (next time I’ll substitute whole wheat for part of it), and turned on the machine.  Once the dough was combined I put it into a large plastic container, set it in a warm spot with the lid sitting on top (but not sealed), and waited two hours.  You wouldn’t have to wait till the weekend to do this – it could be done while you are busy with other things on any day of the week.  Breaking up the time investment and then making bread several times with one batch of dough is what makes this method actually feasible for me.

It rose quite nicely, and when the two hours were up I put it in the fridge (again, with the lid on, but not all the way sealed, to let the dough breathe).  The dough will keep for about two weeks in the refrigerator, which gives you a lot of flexibility on when to use it.  When I wanted some fresh bread, I pulled off a chunk (about a pound), shaped it, and let it rise for forty minutes while I preheated the oven to 450.  I made slash marks on the surface of the dough (this makes it puff up more during baking) and put it into the preheated oven for 30 minutes.  I baked it on one of those pizza stones, which I had put in the oven to preheat.

Once you have a blob of bread dough in your refrigerator, ready to go, you will find that there are a hundred different things you can do with it.  You can make a large loaf, or smaller individual sized ones, or even crusty rolls.  You can make pizza or calzones.  I have even made a breakfast dish of scrambled eggs (undercook them so they don’t turn rubbery in the oven) and cheese tucked into thinly rolled bread dough and baked till golden brown.  A couple of nights ago I made a garlicky bubble bread with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  Cheese-stuffed bread sticks, focaccia, ciabatta, the list of possibilities goes on and on.

I have the homemade yogurt thing figured out, but who really likes to eat plain yogurt all the time?  I have been spending some time lately trying to come up with ideas for different flavorings I can use to jazz up my homemade yogurt.  I have done several internet searches, but I haven’t had much luck coming up with inspiration.  So this morning I decided to dive right in and experiment.  It seems like there are three main ways to contribute flavor to yogurt without resorting to artificial bottled flavorings:  fruit purees, spices, and infused syrups.  I have always been intrigued by the flavor of grapefruit – it is so bright and lively – and I also liked the idea of coming up with a unique flavor that cannot be found in the grocery store.

I zested a (very large) grapefruit into a (very small) saucepan, then I cut the peel and pith off, and removed all the membranes that separate the sections.  I added the juice and pulp of the grapefruit to the saucepan with the zest, and stirred in one cup of granulated sugar, some grated ginger, and a healthy dose of cardamom.  I simmered this mixture on medium heat for about 10 minutes, then I strained out all the solids and returned the liquid to the pan.  I wanted the zest to contribute a maximum amount of flavor, but I knew that if I left it in too long it would turn the syrup bitter (like marmalade).  I reduced the heat and continued to simmer the liquid until it started to turn syrupy, and then I poured the syrup into a glass jar to cool.

Now all I have to do is stir a spoonful of the syrup into a bowl of plain yogurt and I have a fast and flavorful breakfast.  I’m going to try to develop some more stir-ins in the near future.  If you have any ideas, leave me a comment.

I was reading the Aug/Sept 2009 issue of Fine Cooking magazine, and I came across an article on beer cocktails.  Since I am already a big fan of the beergarita, this was right up my alley.  After skimming the article briefly, I made a mental note to read it in more depth later and write up a list of ingredients to pick up on my next trip to the liquor store.  I forgot all about it until I was in the midst of an unplanned trip to the liquor store a few days ago.  I spotted a bottle of Lindemans Peche Lambic, which I remembered being an ingredient in something I wanted to make, but I couldn’t remember what.  So I bought it and then came home and tracked down the magazine article.  The recipe in Fine Cooking calls for mixing together peach and raspberry lambics (this is apparently a type of very fruity beer).  I had the peach lambic, but not raspberry.  I did, however, have some framboise liquor (a cheap version of Chambord), so I decided to try that.  Wow!  It turned out fantastic!  It is sweet, fruity, fizzy, and very refreshing.  Watch out - it is easy to drink a lot of this stuff, and it sneaks up on you.

Pour into a chilled glass (I used a stemless wine glass) one shot of raspberry liquor (such as Chambord).  Top off with 6 ounces of chilled Peach Lambic.  Serve immediately, while it is still nice and cold.

This morning I made some instant oatmeal mix.  Anyone who has been reading my blog knows that it is important to me to be able to control what goes into my food.  I don’t like the idea of eating lots of chemicals, additives, and processed substances.  I feel good about eating things like whole grains - like oatmeal for breakfast - but it can be hard to resist the convenience of all the premade products available at the grocery store.  Not only is it possible to make an instant oatmeal mix from scratch that tastes just as good as the store bought stuff, it is also healthier and cheaper, too.  I found the recipe in this book:

Homemade, published by Reader’s Digest.  It took me about five minutes to make the mix.  You can use any kind of flavoring you like, but for the mix to be shelf stable, you need to stick to things like dried fruits and nuts.  Liquid extracts and flavorings should be stirred in at the time you cook the oatmeal, as should any fresh fruits.  I used dried blueberries this time.

I bought them in the bulk bin section of Whole Foods.  They are nice and small, and have a pretty low moisture content.  They were about $20 per pound, which seems like a lot, but the amount I got was 0.2 pounds, which was $4.  This translated to a half cup of blueberries, which was enough for seven packets of instant oatmeal mix.  You can use any kind of dried fruit you like, or leave out the dried fruit and stir in fresh or frozen when you cook it.  When I have a surplus of ripe bananas I peel and mash them and then freeze the mashed banana in an ice cube tray.  The same thing works for applesauce and other purees like pumpkin and squash.

Mix together 6 cups quick cooking oats, 1 1/3 cups powdered nonfat milk, 1 cup dried fruit of your choice, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. ground cloves.  Store in an airtight container or in a plastic zipper bag.  This recipe makes about 14 servings.

To use the mix – microwave method:  In a microwaveable bowl, stir together 1/2 cup oatmeal mix and 1/2 cup water.  Microwave on high 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

To use the mix – stovetop method:  Bring 1/2 cup water to boil in a small saucepan.  Stir in 1/2 cup oatmeal mix.  Reduce heat and cook one minute.

Notes:  I made a half batch and I left out the ground cloves.  Because I typically make and eat my breakfast at work, I divided the mix into premeasured zipper bags and put them all into a large zipper bag with the cooking instructions written on a sheet of paper and placed inside the large bag (we wash and re-use zipper bags).  If you will be cooking the oatmeal at home it would probably be easier to store the mix in an airtight container and scoop it out for each bowl.

I went to the Boulder Farmer’s Market today and had some really great conversations with local farmers.  I bought a bunch of exotic mushrooms from a farm near Fort Collins (crimini, shiitake, lion’s mane, three kinds of oyster, and cinnamon cap).  I also got some raw milk cheese and some grass fed beef from a dairy in Windsor.  It started to rain, and I also ran out of cash, so I didn’t get to spend as much time there as I would have liked.

This summer has been extremely busy, so I haven’t been able to keep my blog as updated as I would have liked.  Today was the first day that is really starting to feel like autumn.  It is overcast and rainy, and only about 50 degrees outside – perfect cookie baking weather!  I cheated and used some premade organic cookie dough that I bought at Whole Foods, but I have a new cookbook that is all about cookies, so I hope to get some new recipes posted soon.  Another project I have been meaning to work on is flavored stir-ins for yogurt.  Making your own yogurt is great, but who really likes to eat plain unsweetened yogurt all the time?

I have been making significant changes to the way we eat.  This is something I have been thinking about for quite a while, but it was not until I read The Omnivore’s Dilema by Michael Pollan that all the half-formed ideas in my head started to come together into a positive action plan.  Thus the trip to the farmer’s market this morning.  I’m trying to buy local when I can, and organic when I can’t buy local.  I’m finding sources for grass fed beef and milk from pastured cows.  I’m reading food labels more thoroughly and avoiding foods that contain high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and processed flavorings and additives.  It’s a little more expensive to buy food this way, and a little more time consuming, but I feel a lot better about the food I eat, and I definitely feel that it’s worth the extra expense in time, effort, and money.  Going forward, I plan to post more about the local sources I find, my efforts at increased self-sufficiency, and my experiences with attempting to opt out (as much as possible) of the industrial food chain.

I wanted this quilt to be over the top with bright, cheery colors.  As I was laying out the fabrics in the center I kept coming back to the bright pinks, so I decided to run with it.  I used a solid hot pink for the binding, the inner border, and a single square in the very center.

Here is a little better view of the fabrics in the center.  It took me several hours to get the layout just right.

The backing fabric is crazy multi-colored chickens.  As soon as I saw it I knew it was perfect!

Here is a closeup of the quilting.

I love baking muffins.  I like my versions better than anything I can buy at the grocery store, and I won’t touch the greasy, bloated, sugar-laden belly bombs they sell at bakeries.  But, with only a two-person household, it is nearly impossible for us to eat an entire batch of muffins before they go bad.  So, when I make a batch of muffins, I bake a half dozen of them right away, and then I freeze the rest of the batter to be baked at another time.  I put cupcake liners (paper works ok, but foil is much better) in the muffin tins, spoon in the batter, and freeze.  Then I pop out the frozen batter and store it in a zipper bag with instructions for myself on what temperature the muffins are to be baked at, and how long.

When I’m ready to bake the frozen muffins, I preheat the oven, place the frozen muffin batter into a muffin tin, and bake them straight from frozen.  No thawing required.  They do require a few extra minutes of baking time, but other than that I have not noticed any real difference between muffins baked from fresh batter and those baked from frozen.

This batch had banana, pumpkin puree, applesauce, chopped dried apricots, and shredded carrot.  They were also made using whole wheat flour.  I prefer the denser and less-sweet types of muffins, as opposed to the kind that balloon up over the tops of the cups.  So if these look a little flat to you, that’s because they’re meant to be that way.

This photo is a tad blurry, but you can see that the muffins had a nice light crumb, and that freezing the batter did not result in a diminished rise.

I adapted this recipe from one I found in the June/July 2009 issue of Cook’s Country magazine.  The technique they developed looked promising, but their recipe was for chocolate ice cream, and that’s one of my least favorite flavors.  I have to admit that I’ve had really bad luck trying to adapt recipes developed by the America’s Test Kitchen folks.  I love reading about the process they went through, the things they tried, what worked, what didn’t work, and why it didn’t work.  Food science is pretty fascinating stuff.  But they get their recipes honed down to such mind-numbing precision that the creative process is completely suffocated.  There is no room for deviation in their recipes – the slightest change will cause the recipe to fail miserably.  But surprisingly enough, this was an exception.  Here’s how I made rich homemade ice cream without using an ice cream maker.

Using an electric hand mixer, I beat 1 pint of heavy cream in a large bowl until it began to hold soft peaks.  Next, I mixed in 1 can (12-oz) of sweetened condensed milk, using low speed.  Finally, I mixed in about 1 1/2 cups of pureed strawberries that I had sweetened using 1/2 cup granulated sugar, along with about 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.  I poured this mixture into a large plastic container with a tight-fitting lid, and froze it overnight.

I can’t wait to try additional flavor variations, and I’ve already got a list forming in my head:  lavender and honey, cherry cheesecake, vanilla bean, ginger and cardamom, blackberry, maybe peach later this summer…..  Using this method, you could make one batch of the base and divide it up to be flavored several different ways, which is not possible when you’re using an ice cream maker.

I have made a few changes to the recipe and simplified it a bit.  I also came up with a chicken florentine version, but that will have to wait till I make it again and can take some photos.  Here’s how to make sorta lasagna.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cook one 12-oz package of egg noodles.  Drain the cooked noodles and toss them with about 2 Tablespoons of butter while they are still hot.  Put the buttered egg noodles in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish, or divide between two 8×8 baking dishes (you can freeze one for later).  This is the first of four layers.

While the noodles are cooking, mix together an 8-oz package of cream cheese, 1 cup of cottage cheese, and 1/2 cup sour cream.  I use the reduced fat versions of all three of these ingredients.  Microwave the cream cheese for a few seconds to soften it so that it will be easier to mix it with the other ingredients.  Stir in some parsley and some salt and pepper to taste.  Sometimes, if I’m feeling crazy, I add in garlic powder, too.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over the buttered noodles, but don’t mix them together.

Layer three is the marinara sauce.  This is where you have some room for creativity.  You can go the easy route and use a jar of pasta sauce right off the shelf, you can make your own homemade sauce, you can add meat if you want.  For this version, I used a jar of good quality pasta sauce (read the label – the fewer ingredients, the better) and added mushrooms, zucchini, some spices, and a little wine.  Spread the marinara sauce over the cream cheese layer.

The final layer is shredded cheese.  I used cheddar here, but mozzarella would work, too.  Put the casserole in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the top is browned and bubbly, like this: