Detoured Yogurt, aka flavored homemade farm style cheese

Clockwise from front left:  Cilantro, Taco, and Garlic Basil

We have been going through yogurt like nuts lately.  In the struggle to balance the grocery budget, I waver, ... It's good healthy food, esp since I buy the plain, unsweetened.  But it is still a luxury.  And I can make my own so much cheaper.  So often, when I'm in a purchasing-rather-than-making stage, I tend to be kind of stingy with how much I let the kids use it. 

"Only a small portion," is my constant theme.

So eventually, when I sense we're using too much, I try to make up a big batch.  This is really an easy process, so it ought not to be a big deal.  I warm the milk to about 190°F in the crockpot.  I let the milk cool to blood warm.  I remove a cup or so of milk from the pot and stir about 3/4 c of yogurt into the milk.  When it's stirred until smooth, I return it to the crock pot and cover the whole business with a couple of thick towels or a folded quilt for about 8 hours or until I get to it.  Voila'!  Yogurt!  Easy-peasey.  


Unless I forget about it during one or another stage.  And it begins to sour.  Which is really a bummer, since sour milk has a different kind of sour taste than does yogurt.  And my crockpot holds over five quarts.

This time I forgot about it after the warm to 190°F part.  I left it cooling on the counter.  But I missed the part about blood warm and left it there for a couple of days.  Sigh. 

But I didn't want to throw all that milk out.  Dairy products can generally be used one way or another unless they have obvious mold or strangely colored bacteria colonies floating on them. 

Often I simply freeze less palatable milk in smaller containers and then thaw later to use in baking.  But since we had that Wal-mart milk souring issue last month, I have many, many containers of sour milk in the freezer. 

So, ... what to do with the milk.  It was not terribly soured.  I think because of having heated it up, it slowed the souring process or something.  But because of the frequency of the aforementioned sour milk episodes, my kids are especially sensitive (read: picky) when it comes to sourish milk. 

I put on my thinking cap. 

How about that homemade cheese I used to make when we had raw milk?

What was that recipe?  Oh, well, who really needs a recipe anyway?

I once more brought the milk to about 190°F. 

(An easy way to gauge this is to heat until little bubbles form around the edges, but it's not yet boiling.  When I use  the crockpot, it's such a large volume, that I usually give it a good stir and then wait to see if the bubbles reappear quickly.  The crock pot doesn't always heat very evenly, and sometimes it's nearing the correct temp at the edges and still cool in the middle.)

And actually, I ended up simmering the milk for awhile, since I once again forgot about it.  It was covered with a thick golden brown skin by the time I remembered it.  That's what gives my cheeses their golden glow, rather than being a clean creamy white.

I turned off the crockpot and stirred in a cup or two of white vinegar.  I don't really know how much since I didn't measure it.  It was a little over an inch in the bottom of the big jug.  I slooshed in the first little bit and stirred the milk mixture.  It didn't feel like it was coagulating as quickly as I wanted, so I poured in the rest of the vinegar.  I put the lid back on the crockpot and went to bed. 

That was a couple of days ago.  Finally this morning I strained off the whey.  I was unsure what kind of a final product I'd find after all that forgetting. 

It was good!  Really  good.  Probably one of my best batches of homemade cheese ever. 

But it was quite a large amount.  So again, ... what to do with it. 

"You have all these fresh herbs sitting around here, Mary," thought I.  "Why don't you do something with them."

I ended up with about 2 quarts of curds.  

• About 3 cups with a handful of minced cilantro. 
• About 3 cups with taco seasoning mix and salt.  This was supposed to be a smaller amount, but I put in too much salt, and so had to add another cup or the curds.  
• That left me with about 2 cups into which I stirred minced garlic and basil.   

Those who have tasted them have given me eager thumbs up!

My latest favorite pork roast

Keep in mind I don't really follow recipes or measure, so all amounts are approximate.  Cooking time and temp, too.  Most of my meat is butchered at home or a local locker, so I don't even know the weights of my roasts.  It's all a guess.  But this will give you the starting point for a wonderful way to do pork.

Curried Pork Roast
Pork roast
salt
pepper
curry
oregano
sugar
apples
onions

Times and temps
Last night I had two pork roasts, one perhaps 2-3 lbs, the other maybe 4-5.  I would have preferred to bake them at low (270-300) for about 5-7 hours, but I didn't get them in soon enough.  I ended up doing them at 325 for about 3 hours.  They were cooked through, and mostly tender; but another hour would have made them fall-apart tender.  I baked my roasts in a small roaster.  Medium would have been better, but I didn't realize how large the one roast was until I already had the smaller one dirtied. 

A quick google search shows me I could read for days about cooking times and temps and still not have it all figured out.  There is the safety issue, the lean vs. more marbled issue, pastured vs confined, etc.  There's no exact rule of thumb that encompasses all of it.  From what I could see quickly scanning a few pages, today's regular supermarket pork is alleged to be best reaching an internal temp of 160.  "They say" that will kill any germs and yet leave the pork juicy and succulent.  "Others say" that you must maintain an internal temp of 190 for an extended period of time to slowly melt the collagen that will give your meat a silky texture and offer maximum health benefits. 

What I know is that lower temps for longer times will give you a tender and juicy end result.  I think the meat roasting gurus call it low and slow. 

Seasoning
1 T salt
1 T curry
1 T sugar
1 t oregano
1 t pepper

Mix together and rub all over meat.






Put into roaster or crock pot.


Fresh fruits and vegies
two apples
one large onion
sprinkle apple and onion slices over the roast

Consider celery and carrots, too.  Or an orange, cranberries, or whatever sounds good.  I really like fruit with pork.  Apples, onions, and celery go well with curry.  I don't really like carrots with curry, but that doesn't mean you won't.  I can imagine that oranges and cranberries would be wonderful, but I don't know whether I've tried them or not.  The curry in this is not terribly strong.  It adds a kind of warm glow that goes well with the meat and the slight tang of the fruit.  Subtle, but really, really good.

Definite Comfort Food Success

Meals around here have been stuck in the "one of those days," rut lately.  Too little meat in the freezer, too little forethought to have anything thawed in time, too little maternal energies, ...  I fear, too many excuses, right?  I've been using many, many eggs, and canned elk or venison and bear, since it's quick and easy.

I prefer to have Sunday Dinner in the oven before church on Sunday, especially when we're on the late service schedule.  Sunday school is at 10:00, and church at 11:00.  Since that service is the last of three between which the pastor has to rush on a Sunday morning, whichever church has the late service often starts late.

Yesterday was a late late-service day.  We got out of church closer to 12:30 than 12:00.  Joe had to  run to a quick visit after church.  So I knew dinner would be later still. 

Which actually worked to my advantage since I had not begun work on our family dinner before I left for Sunday School.  I had taken a couple of pounds of ground beef from the freezer before church and set it on a cooling rack to thaw.  But that was the extent of my planning.

I had a few carrots in the fridge at the stage I'll call the beginnings of being slimy.  I had some cauliflower that was getting a little gray at the edges of the florets.  I had an unopened quart of half and half.  And I had some dried garden herbs from a previous year I've been trying to remember to use up.

"Hmmm," thought I, "I can do something with that." 

And what follows is the delicious result.

Creamed Cauliflower and Carrots to serve over meat and starch of your choice
1 head of cauliflower, cleaned and cut into largish bites
1 large onion, sliced or wedged
4-6 medium carrots peeled, and cut into bit sized chunks
fat of choice for sauteing (I used 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 lard)
1/4 c (small handful) whole dried sage leaves
1/4 c (small handful) dried parsley
1/2 qt half and half (or a little more)
salt and pepper to taste
about 1/3 c corn starch

Variation, ... use fresh cream rather than half and half.  You can probably omit the corn starch thickening if you do this.

In a dutch oven, cook the vegetables and herbs until tender-crips in about 4 tbs fat of your choice.  This takes about 15-20 minutes, on medium to medium-high heat.  If you keep the lid on while they are cooking, they will kind of half-steam half-saute, rather than browning in the oil.  Stir periodically.

While vegetables are cooking, you can prepare the starch and meat you want to serve alongside.  I cooked up some white rice.  Brown rice, potatoes, or pasta would also be good.  Or toast, biscuits, or English muffins.  I browned some ground beef and added the last half of a jar of salsa.  Sliced and cooked chicken breasts, pork chops, or steamed shrimp would go well.  Or bacon and eggs. 

When the vegetables are still a little bit firm, pour half and half over them until vegetables are covered and the amount of liquid is to your liking.  When the liquid returns to simmering, thicken with the cornstarch dissolved in water.

Salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for two minutes more.

Ladle creamed vegetables over your choice of carbs and meat. 

Mmmm.

How a Lazy Evening Became Productive

As 5:00 came and went, the school kids had gotten home, had a quick snack, and then were off to Wed school at 5:00.  I had diced potatoes in the oven.  Garden fresh potatoes from Dawn N., with ricotta cheese and home rendered lard stirred in, topped with parsley, sage, and thyme from my beds.

I had not gotten out to mow.  In fact, I had decided not to mow today, since I've had a little nagging sore throat all day.  I had a good school and chore day around the house, so I was using that sore throat as an excuse to watch a movie or something during Wed. School.  I was tired.

Inge, Donna, and Stella asked for a movie so I told them they could watch on the kitchen computer.  But after several failed attempts, they reported that the kitchen disc drive drive didn't work. 

"Sigh," said I.  Then to myself I added, "I suppose I could get off my chair and let them use mine."

I didn't think my disc drive worked either, since it's had trouble with certain formats lately, mostly written material and audio files.  But I remembered Joe saying that different formats read differently, so don't assume something won't work.  We popped Willy Wonka into my machine and voilà.  It worked. 

And so I got up and got busy.  I scrubbed three acorn squash and put them on a lower shelf in the oven.  I may as well get as much use as possible out of the heat that's there anyway, right?  I got the meat for supper ready, but it was too early to put it in the oven, too. 

So I headed outside at about ten minutes to 6:00.  I got the mower out of the detached garage and up to the house to fill it.  I mowed the first few strips and had to empty the bag already.  "Uffda, it's going to be a long job."  That grass was way, way, way too long.

I'm not going to say when we mowed last.  But suffice it to say that if I had a tail, it would be far between my legs.

I mowed a few more rows and emptied my bag a few more times.  Then I ran inside quickly to slide the meat into the oven along with the other things.  I was feeling very high by that time.  Invigorated and energized.  Up. 

Besides the accomplishment of actually getting started on the mowing, I had much food in the oven.  Squash for a meal, plus enough extra for about three coffee cakes or custards.  I had potatoes roasting, enough for at least two big meals.  And tonight's meat was was easy to pop in, being left over roasted turkey from the end of last week. 

After sliding the meat into the oven, I was right back out to the mower.  Up and down, around and over.  Up and down, around and over.  Empty the bag.  Start again.  By 7:00, the kids were done with Wed school, but I had just a corner of one section left to do.  It was getting dark, but I was determined.  On a roll.  Tenaciously trying to finish.  Perhaps I ought to have waited.  I ended up not finishing anyway, since I ran out of gas with about five minutes worth of mowing left.  But worse yet, I hit a rock under one of our spruce trees and shot it at the garage door.  I couldn't believe it when I looked — a 2" round dent, and triangle of torn metal about an inch long in the middle.

We turned it into a good lesson, though.  I had all the kids run out and look.  "This is why we don't leave rocks in the grass.  And this is also why we don't play near the mower.  Imagine if that was a child's head rather than the garage door."

I had said to a friend this morning, "I really do love push mowing. I love the exercise and the, ... oh, ... exhilaration of the accomplishment.  But I also really love afterwards the relaxation of a summer evening, sipping a cool drink, looking at the nicely groomed green grass and other summer glories, and listening to all the summer sounds. Somehow, the pleasure of it eludes me at this time of year..."

I didn't go out and sit to enjoy the newly mowed grass after mowing this evening.  But I did enjoy the freshly mowed sections of grass much more than I imagined I would.  Even in the fall drabness, those areas that were freshly cut looked very good.  I can't wait to get out tomorrow and do some more. 

Taco Seasoning Mix

This mix is salt free.  I season to taste as I cook. 

I've never tried to figure out how much salt to add to the recipe in order to make it "right," but when others have asked, I've calculated that maybe the 1/2 cup that would fill the jar would be about right.  This is based on an estimate of about1 tsp salt/pound of meat.

Taco Seasoning Mix
1 c chili powder
3/4 + c paprika
3/4 c cumin
1/2 c onion powder
1/3 c garlic powder
1/8 c cayenne or other pepper power (adjust to taste, depending upon variety of pepper)

Mix together and store in a quart jar.  Use 1/8 c for every pound of meat, or taco seasoning packet called for in a recipe.

Tip 1:  If you inadvertently get steam in your jar while measuring, a few grains (scant tsp) of dry white rice will help the mix from sticking together. 

Tip 2:  I labeled my jar with a piece of wide masking tape.  I wrote the name, "Taco Seasoning Mix" on the top with a sharpie, but I also wrote the recipe on the tape, too, with a ball point pen.  Then when I need to replenish my stock, I don't need to look up the recipe.

Quick and Healthful Soup for Sick Days

I've had sick kids for days.  The last two days were spend with my two youngest hanging their heads in buckets.  By the time today rolled around, they were so puny.  Just wimpy looking, flaccid skin and muscle tone.  They could hardly hold up their little cups to sip their drinks. 

Besides that, theMom was pretty much at the end of her stamina, too.  Simply no more energy to wring out of me.  I had nothing left to give.

Which left us in a situation in which I felt we needed a good healthful meal, but had no energy to produce one.  With stocked up ingredients and a little creativity, however, we ended up with a fabulous and hopefully nutritive soup.

I'm not sure I could come up with a good name for it, since the ingredients are so, well, strange.  Probably the best I could do is Elk and Onions in Beef Bone Broth, with Spaetzle and Carrots.

Easy Healthy Soup, aka Elk and Onions in Beef Bone Broth, with Spaetzle and Carrots

• Three medium onions
• Celery with leaves.  I used about an inch and a half diameter of the center of a stalk.
• A hefty splash of olive oil
• Three to four quarts of your choice of broth.  Homemade bone broth is great if you have it.  We have canned home made beef bone broth on hand.  It's more of a concentrate, really.  I used 2 pints of broth and diluted each with about 3 pints of water.
• salt to taste

Simmer to soften veggies.
Prepare your spaetzle batter while the soup simmers. (See below)

• When veggies are about halfway softened, add 1 bag of frozen carrots. (If you don't have frozen, you can add fresh with the onions and celery; or canned at the end with the meat.)
• When the veggies are almost done cooking, add your spaetzle.   Cook according to instructions below.
• When spaetzle is done cooking, remove from heat and add 2 cups of your choice of cooked meat. I used a pint of canned elk.
• Stir in your choice of herbs and spices. I used parsley, oregano, black pepper, and sage, to taste.  I don't measure, but perhaps 1 T parsley, 1 T oregano, 3/4 t black pepper, and 1/4-1/2 t sage.

GF Spaetzle

Mix together:

• 3 c GF flour mix
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum (unless your mix already includes it)
• 3/8 tsp salt

Mix together

• 3 egg
• 1 c milk

Pour milk and egg mixture into flour mixture.  Stir together.  Set aside until soup is nearly done. 

When veggies are nearly done, add spaetzle to soup by putting through a potato ricer with largish wholes.  Stir.  Bring to simmering and reduce heat to just maintain a simmer.   Cover.   Cook for about 5 minutes.
A few things I will do differently next time:

1) I forgot to salt my broth until the very end.  So the spaetzle was a bit bland.  When we make broth, we cook up the bones into infinity, and then strain through cheesecloth.  Then we let it sit overnight and skim most of the fat off before canning.  (We do use the fat, but Joe has read fat can effect the seal in home canning, so we use or preserve it separately.)  After the fat is off, Joe pressure cans the broth.

2) I perused a few other spaetzle recipes, and I think next time I will add more eggs and cut the milk some.  These were more fluffy than chewy.  The spaetzle I've really liked in the past is chewier, more dense.

3)  I will add more broth.  We all got broth the first helping.  But after that, what remained was more like stew.

Even without these suggested improvements, the soup was terrific.  It was very fun to see the kids all taking seconds and third, and even fourths.  And the two littlest sickies both ate a small portion eagerly.

What more can a mom ask for, right?  A nutritive meal that took less than 1/2 hour to prepare.

Easy Creamy Curry Hotdish

Canned Bear Curry Bake

• 3 c dry rice
• 1 qt canned bear (or if you don't happen to have any canned bear; use 1-2 lbs of meat of your choice, pork and chicken go especially well with curry)
• 1 med onion, sliced
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 2 ribs celery, sliced
• 1 orange, halved and then thinly sliced
• 1/4 c - 1/3 c sugar
• 1-3 tbs curry powder, depending upon how strong your curry is and how strong you like your curry
• 1 tbs salt

Layer the above in a large baking pan or small roaster.  I used a 10x15" baking dish and covered with aluminum foil.  Next time I will use a roaster, or cover with a jelly roll pan, since the oranges reacted with the foil a little bit.

• 1-2 cans coconut milk
• water to equal 6 c liquid 

Pour over layered ingredients.
Cover and bake at 350°F for 2 hours.
Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 5-15 minutes before serving.  If desired, serve a dollop of plain yogurt on the side or drizzled over the top.

Wonderfully Restful and Productive Sunday

Roads were surprisingly good this morning, after a couple of days of sleety yuckiness sitting over our area.  We got to have church this morning here at Oak Park.  Mt. Olive yesterday (20 miles south of here), and St. Petri this morning (35 miles north of here and at an early 8:00 am) cancelled.  But Nazareth and Oak Park (which are at 9:45 and 11:00am, and both right here in the neighborhood) were able to have services.  It's always a bit stressful to Joe to have to help decide when to cancel and when to venture forth.  I'm glad we had opportunity to be fed with God's Word.

We came home to homemade soup made with bear bone broth, home canned elk, a variety of left-overs and some fresh vegies, and herbs and spices.  It was accompanied by two loaves of freshly baked GF bread, along with raw honey, some pepper jelly from a friend, and some of Joe's choke cherry jelly. 

An extra bonus that added to the "feel good" impression of the meal was that the left-overs in the soup, too, were fun.  They were so filled with homemade goodness.  I used remnants of two hotdishes.  The meat in one was a corned venison roast Joe cured two falls ago.  The meat in the other was the meat pickings from the beef bone broth we cooked up last week.  I bet there were 40-50 beef soup bones in that batch of broth.  So even just the pickings was enough for two hotdishes.

All in all, it was an excellent lunch.  The kids all ate the soup without complaint; and we filled in the edges with many slices of the still warm homemade bread and toppings.

At the end of the meal, Sharol Johnson came over with Clara's deer, so Joe excused himself to help hang it in the garage.  When the men returned, sure enough as he is wont to do, Sharol had a bag of candy for the kids, so everyone got to choose a piece for the afternoon.  Then we put the rest away.  Sophie had made some fudge-like concoction yesterday from which we all also had a nibble.

After lunch, the kids did some outside chores.  Matt came home from hunting with a load of left-over food stuffs that was apparently his portion from what got divvied up. 

A little while later, Sharol returned asking which of the kids wanted to go out and sit with him in the deer stand.  Clara had gotten hers the other afternoon hunting with him, and Sophie had yet to get one, so she went with him.  Elsie and Joe headed out a little bit later.  We have only three deer hanging in the garage right now.  One is a good sized doe; the other two are yearlings, a buck and a doe.  So really, that meat will not last us very long.  North of here, in the area of Joe's St. Petri church, the firearm season goes another week yet, so it's possible Joe, or Joe and a couple of the kids, could find someone's land up that way on which to fill out their limits.

Brief Update on my depression

I don't want to ramble on about this too much, because I have several more detailed blog posts rattling around in my head that one day I may or may not put to the virtual paper.  But I do want to rejoice a little bit, and ask you to join me in thanking God.

Really, it's so amazing to me how different I feel than I did six months ago, or even six weeks ago when I had a little "relapse" precipitated by all the stress and busyness of the last weeks of August and first weeks of September.  It took me about four to six weeks to get my feet under me after that physical and emotional drain.   But when I stop to think about things, when I compare myself to my last winter's self, or even the winter before that, really, I praise God for the healing He's allowed me. 

Sunday has always been my Day of Rest.  Besides the opportunity to rest and refresh my soul with the spiritual gifts of Word and Sacrament, I have made it my own little personal tradition to do next to nothing on Sundays.  I try to have dinner started or at least prepped before church, so it can be put together quickly afterwards.  After dinner is done, I'm done.  That's it for the day, except a bare minimum of parenting responsibilities.  Occasionally when I have energy enough, we might do a family activity such as an outdoor outing, or jigsaw puzzles, or games, or crafts.  But anything like that is very rare the last several years.  I simply ran out of oomph.

But today, TODAY!  I have folded three loads of clothes and switched the wash; I will soon do the lunch dishes for my kids, since I agreed to do that so that they could get the outdoor chores done.  And I have energy for it.  I don't feel wiped out.  I even feel rested!  Isn't that strange? 

And I made bread this morning. That in itself is amazing.  I had oatmeal soaked for breakfast, so after my first cup of coffee, I got up and turned the oats onto medium-low heat, to come slowly to a simmer.  While that was heating, I was able to think clearly enough that even with the kids buzzing around my feet  and kitchen, I was able to double a recipe; and convert the basic ingredient, GF flour blend, to correct proportions of separate flour and meal components, since I currently have no GF flour mix done up.  Things in my brain have been so muddled that concentration is difficult to achieve and fleeting once I can manage it.

That may not sound like a big deal to anyone who has their head screwed on straight.  But it's been years since I've been able to do that.  Really.  At least two years, since I was able to double, convert, and mix up a recipe if my kids were around.  Or if I had to summon the energy to accomplish something that took such thinking, I was wiped out afterwards for half a day at least.  And here I am this afternoon, still energetic and clear headed!  Truly, this is a gift of God.  I cannot suitably express my excitement at this landmark! 

So praise God with me,friends! 

And if you are struggling through a low spot, take heart.  God can and will bring you out, according to His will and timing; with or without medicinal intervention, natural treatments, or depending upon whatever course of action you prayerfully decide.  He will never leave you or forsake you.  And He indeed knows when best to give His gifts. 

I can't help but exclaim inwardly with the Psalmist David,

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

Dare I Post a Couple of Strange but Delicious Food Combinations?

I made myself a salad for lunch that I did not anticipate enjoying as much as I did. I enjoyed it so much, I'm going to tell you all about it. But I also treated myself to a bowl of ice cream mid-morning, since I am dealing with the stressful situation of having my oldest daughter traveling to Italy. I find that a little ice cream makes many things better.

Spicy Tuna and Polenta Salad

Heap your plate with

• a bed of torn lettuce or greens of your choice
• a spoonful of crumbled polenta (this is really left over corn meal mush, but in a fancy-pants recipe, I have to call it polenta)
• several ounces of canned tuna

Top this with

• a hearty blop of hummus
• a drizzle of vinegar and oil
• a handful of crumbled Lays Hot and Spicy Barbeque Stacks chips

It was an amazing combination of textures and flavors.  The flavors all complimented each other well, but I especially grooved on the textures.  I liked the cold of the refrigerated hummus with the spice of the chips.  The cream of the hummus with the slightly chewy bits of polenta.  The crunch of the chips and lettuce, and the wetness of the tuna.  This culinary adventure was a very stimulating tactile experience.

As an interesting spellcheck tidbit, my blogger spellcheck can only recommend one alternative for what they think is wrong with the word polenta: tadpole.  Please do not put tadpoles on your salad.  I can't be held responsible.

Hot and Sweet Icecream Combo
Top your favorite vanilla ice cream with a generous sprinkling of chocolate chips and peanuts, but don't forget to include a spoonful of spicy pepper jelly.  Mmmmm.

GF Date Cake

For a dessert, this cake can't be beat served warm and topped with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

For a simple and yummy breakfast cake, I mix my dry ingredients the night before and soak the dates overnight.  I also leave a post-it note on the lid of the storage container noting the few remaining ingredient I have to remember in the morning.  Then, even through my morning fog, I can still pull off a good breakfast for the kids.

I often have one of the kids make up a dry mix on the weekend, as part of their weekend chores, and it's ready for use whenever I need it.

When I use it for breakfast, I also cut the sugar to one cup.  It's really good with the full amount; but no matter how tasty, we probably don't need a dessert for breakfast.

GF Date Cake

• 3 c GF flour blend (I use the Bronski's Artisan blend)
• 1 c almond meal
• 1 1/2 c sugar (I use evaporated cane juice crystals)
• 4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 c coconut oil
• 1/2 c butter

Mix dry ingredients together and cut in fats.  If you are premixing it, you can cover and label at this point.

• 1 1/2 c snipped dates
• 1 c boiling water

Combine and let soak at least an hour, or overnight.

• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

Mix all together and pour into greased cake pan.  I use a 10x15" pan and bake it for about 35 minutes at 350F.

If you use the standard 9x13" cake pan, you will have to tweak it.  I suspect one 9x13 will be very full and may not bake well.  But you could try it and see, just adding baking time to account for the extra thickness.  Or use a 9x13" plus either a 9x9"  or 9" round; or even two 9x13" pans.  Or cut the recipe by 1/4 or so.  But that takes an awful lot of thought;  you're on your own there.

A Long Road to Cherry Pie, Part II

As it turned out, I didn't make apple pies for Easter, since I was out of apples.  Great job planning, Mare!  

But I did make the cherry pies, and they were wonderful.  Not as good as with cherries frozen fresh off the tree, but still awfully tasty.  

Even following the detailed directions given in the following recipe, the crust still did not transfer well to the pie plate.  I think I may have forgotten the xanthan gum, however.  In the future, I will continue as I have in the past, and roll it on parchment or plastic wrap and use that to transfer it.  Or I will pat the bottom crust into the pie plate and only have to roll the top crust.  Without the gluten, one doesn't have the problem of the overworking the crust and making it tough. 

I did, however, like the idea of using cookie cut outs instead of attempting to transfer an entire top crust.  That pretty much eliminates the trouble of having the top crust fall apart and look messy.  If a bottom crust needs patching up, nobody sees it, but not so a top crust.  


As I stated in the first part of the Cherry Pie Saga, The recipes are from the Art of Gluten Free Baking.  The cherry pie recipe is here and the more detailed crust details are here.

Gluten Free Cherry Pie

For Filling

2 cans tart cherries, drained

3/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbs GF flour blend

Place the pitted cherries in a large bowl. Add sugar and salt and mix to combine. Add the flour and mix just to combine. Set aside at room temperature while you make your crust.

For Crust
2 1/3 c GF flour blend (if your mix does not contain xanthan gum, add 1/4 tsp /cup of flour
1 tbs granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter or lard, cold and cut into pieces
1 tbs vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
5-7 tbs cold water
extra tapioca flour for rolling out dough

Place flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Mix together with a spoon until combined.  Add butter pieces to the dry ingredients mixture. With fingers, start rubbing together the butter and the dry ingredients. Do this until the resulting mixture looks like wet sand mixed with pebbles.

Add the vinegar and rub into the mixture.  Add water a tablespoon at a time, rubbing into the mixture. You want to add enough to create a dough that holds together well, but isn’t wet.  

Divide the dough into two fairly equal pieces, shape into disks, and wrap each disk separately in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate the disks for 20-30 minutes (or until the disks are cool and firm but not hard).

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Generously sprinkle work surface with tapioca flour.  Slowly roll disk to a  12“ circle.  If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, add more tapioca flour.

NOTE (from the original blog): the dough should be cool but not too cold. It should roll fairly easily and should not break while you’re rolling it.  Don’t worry if it breaks a bit–just smooth the dough over the break point.  If it seems too cold and you’re really having to work hard to roll it, step back and let it warm up a little bit before you continue. Alternately, if the dough is floppy and seems to be “sweating,” it is too warm and should be refrigerated for awhile longer.

Prepare to move your dough by sprinkling tapioca flour over the entire surface of the pie crust dough.  Put the rolling pin on top of one side of the dough. Wrap the other side around the rolling pin until you’ve gotten all of the dough onto the pin.  Work slowly and carefully, but, if a little bit breaks, you will be able to easily fix it by pressing the dough together once the crust is settled in the pie plate.

Lift the pin with the dough rolled around it and hold it so as you unwrap the crust it will be centered.  Gently unwrap the dough into the pie pan so the pan.  And again, working gently, press your dough into the bottom of the pie plate. Work slowly, starting in the middle and then work to the edges.


Pour filling into dough-lined pan and place the filled pie pan into the refrigerator while you’re working on your top dough. 

Here's the recipe I had hoped to use for the apple pies and still may sometime.  The original is here.

Apple Pie filling

6 large, firm but ripe apples of your choice, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 c sweetener of choice (I use evaporated cane juice crystals)
3 tbs GF flour blend
1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp grated or finely slivered lemon peel
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt
2 tbs unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces

Place all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly, so that all apples are coated with other ingredients.  Dot with butter

A Long Road to a Cherry Pie

I want to make a cherry pie for Easter.  I also hope to make an apple pie.  Or maybe two of each.  We shall see.
The origin of the cherry pie idea comes from my son, Matt.  Two years ago, my sister, Rachel, got married in Washington State on Matt's birthday.  When we got home I asked Matt if he wanted a special birthday meal, since he didn't really have anything special (except a trip to Washington and a very cool campground) for his birthday.

Well, a cherry pie couldn't be too difficult, could it?

Let me first say that I come from a family of pie snobs.  No offense, Mom, but from my youngest days, I remember pie crust analysis.  "This one is pretty good."  "It's not as good as Aunt Clara's this time."  "So-n-so used a frozen crust for her pie."  And so on.

Besides this, Mom would never have used canned pie filling.  The only possibility I can even imagine for her using cherry pie filling might have been some sort of fluffy salad for a funeral or something.  But I can honestly say that I have no real recollection of her ever having canned pie filling in our home.

But we did live in Washington State, with ready access to fresh cherries each summer.  So not only did we get cherry pies when the cherries were in season, but we had a ready supply of them in the freezer for use throughout the winter.

Another consideration is that I myself have a particular aversion to cherry pie filling from a can.  Although seemingly a popular use, in my opinion, there is no better way to ruin a cheesecake than to spread that thick, slimy stuff over it.

And finally, as if I need another deterrent, since I bake gluten free, the idea of a beautiful pastry with the light and crumbly layers falling onto a fork is a thing of the past.  I've used several different recipes for Gluten Free piecrust, and although many are very tasty, there is nothing that equals my childhood piecrust memories.

So with all these qualifications hanging over my head, even though it's been a year and a half since Aunt Rachel's wedding, I've still not made Matt his cherry pie.  I've periodically thought of it.  I've scoured the freezer sections of local groceries looking for sour cherries.  Lingonberries from Sweden, yes, for $7/pound.  But sour cherries?  Sorry, no.  I've searched the internet for sources for frozen sour cherries.  There are a few.  But the price is always prohibitive.  I love you Matt, but your pie is not worth that much.

So the other day, I saw sweet cherries in the freezer section of Wal-Mart and I grabbed two bags.  I said to myself, "If I wait until I find sour cherries, Matt is going to be an old man.  Just bite the bullet, Mary, and make a different kind of pie than those of your memories."

Now, after all that, what do you think I saw in Wal-mart the very next time I was there?  An end display off all sorts of canned fruits suitable for pie making.  I never even considered that they might sell canned cherries without the thick, slimy stuff.  Peaches, pears, applesauce and fruit cocktail.  Yes, those I've seen.   And yes, Mom, I've even purchased them on rare occasions, since Minnesotans do not have the ready access to fruit to put up for the winter that Washingtonians do.  But since these canned fruits are nothing I use on a regular basis, I don't generally even go down that aisle.  I had no idea how many different kinds of canned fruits were available.  Berries and apricots, among others, and to my great pleasure, sour cherries for pie.

I tucked four cans quickly into my cart and finished my shopping with a lighter heart.

So this morning, I spent an hour or so searching for just the right combination of Gluten free crust and cherry filling.

What I came up with is based mostly upon the recipes at The Art of Gluten Free Baking.  The author has an entry particularly on crust making, one for cherry pie, and one for apple pie in which she includes two variations.  Incidentally, the crust recipe has been adapted from one by Lynne Rosetto Kasper of The Splendid Table, the cooking show Joe listens to every Sunday as he's getting ready for church.

I'll post later, if they turn out well.  Maybe I'll even have Joe or one of the kids take a photo for me to include.

Or maybe that's a little too optimistic...

Update, 11/25/11.  I can't believe it took me almost seven months to get this link up.  Here is A Long Road to Cherry Pie, Part II.

Chicken and GF Dumplings

The meat chickens we grew free-range last summer are much different than grocery store chickens.  I don't know why, exactly, but I have a few theories.  

Firstly, they are stringier, long and lean, and a bit tough.  I think this is because free-range birds get vastly more exercise than grocery store birds.  They make good crock pot meals, but they are less satisfying for stovetop use.

Secondly, they are yellow.  The skin is very yellow, as is the fat.  Some of the kids are grossed out by this.  I think the chickens are yellower because they are eating a less controlled diet.  The yolks of eggs from free range hens are very dark yellow because such hens eat their fuller range of dietary needs, such as bugs and strange plants, seeds, small twigs, leaves, etc.  This is alleged to make a healthier egg with more properly balanced essential fatty acids and a richer nutrient content.  So with the free ranged meat chickens.  They eat a little of everything.  I theorize that the fat and skin that appear so strange to those of us who are used to grocery store chickens is really more normal and hopefully richer in nutrients and healthier fats.

But they are strange to eat and take a bit of imagination to serve to kids who might sometimes be a little bit picky.

Today I tried to make Chicken and Dumplings.  I can't say I remember ever having eaten Chicken and Dumplings, so I didn't really know what I was doing.  But it's always sounded good so I though I'd try it.  Because of the number of eaters at our house, our volume ends up being quite large.  You will probably want to cut back a bit.

This is what I did.

Roast your Birds

Rinse two whole chickens and pat dry. 

Rub with your favorite herb mix.  If you want a more flavorful meat, rub the inside the cavity, and separate the skin from the breast and rub seasonings under the skin.  I just rubbed the outside surfaces well.

I used salt, coarsely crushed sage leaves, oregano, and a red pepper/lime seasoning salt from the grocery store.

Put chickens in a large greased roaster and sprinkle with a bit of onion, celery, and carrots for flavor.

Cover and bake at 300F for 2-3 hours.

While the chickens are baking, dice enough carrots, celery, and potatoes to feed your family; or prep whatever combination of veggies you like with chicken.  I covered the diced veggies with water to keep them fresh while waiting.

Note: Later when I was looking for dumpling recipes, I noticed that most Chicken and Dumpling recipes do not include potatoes. Several call for peas.  Since I don't know what's normal, I just made something up.

After the chickens were roasted, pull the meat off the bones and break it into serving sized portions.  Return to the roaster with the pan juices.

Note: I put the bones and most of the skin in a crockpot with water for homemade bone broth.  I'll let it sit in the crock pot for several days, then strain through cheese cloth and put in freezer if I don't have an immediate use for it.

To the chicken in the roaster, add the vegetables, and broth or reconstituted bouillon, enough to cover vegetables and meat.  If you have it, use homemade bone broth.  I used 3 cups of turkey frame broth concentrate from the freezer and the soaking water from the veggies.

Note: If you use bouillon cubes or granules, you can stir it directly into the hot pan juices and then use the veggie soaking water in the correct volume.  If you don't need the water for your meal, you can water your plants with it so you won't waste any veggie-ness that has leached into the water.

 

Cover and put back in the oven for another 1 1/2 hours.  

Add 2 cups frozen peas for the last 1/2 hour of baking. Turn the oven up to 350 F. 

For the dumplings, I kind of used the recipe from Nourished Kitchen.  

Gluten-free dumplings:
2 cup brown rice flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup almond meal
1 c tapioca flour
1 1/3 cup whey (or liquid of choice)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cube butter, melted
1 teaspoon sea salt

Stir brown rice flour, sorghum flour, almond meal, and tapioca flour together, then pour whey into the flour and stir together until it resembles coarse crumbs.  

Note: If you set it aside, covered, for about eight hours or overnight it will be healthier, with a little probiotic action going, but I didn't think of it soon enough.

Mix liquid ingredients together, then pour into the dough and mix just until dough clings together.  Add more rice or sorghum flour if needed. I ended up adding almost another cup of sorghum flour.  Roll the dough in your hands to form balls about one-half to three-quarters inch in diameter.

Drop formed dumplings, evenly across the top of the roaster.   Cover the roaster and allow the dumplings to cook undisturbed for eight to ten minutes.  Cut one in half to test for doneness.

Serve in bowls and enjoy.

A final note: if you want more info on the benefits of cooking with bone broth, see my post on beef bone broth.   It has instructions for making broth and several inks to further reading.

Two Gluten Free "Feed-a-Crowd" Recipes, Topped off with a Small Serving of Hotdish Homily

At our church, our potlucks are not really pot luck.  Everything is very orchestrated to ensure a successful gustatory experience each time.  This year I'm assigned a hotdish.  The instructions state that we should prepare at least six quarts; usually the ladies prepare the hotdishes in large roasters.  And for any of my non-Minnesotan readers who don't happen to listen to Garrison Keillor, hotdish is the Minnesotan term for casserole.

Since my husband is one of the several at our church who need to eat Gluten Free, whatever I bring is usually Gluten Free.  But this year I'm assigned hotdish and one of the hardest things to make Gluten Free is hotdish.  Think about it.  What's in hotdish?  Most all have some sort of creamed soup, right?  So there's the first challenge.  No creamed soups.  Since I usually make a white sauce to replace cream soups, even in the pre-GF days, that's not too hard for me.  But in the volume I need to bring, early on a Sunday morning, thickening hot milk is not something I want to mess with. 

Secondly, many hotdishes have pasta and that's right out the window.  Yes, I could purchase Gluten Free pasta for the occasion, but it's pretty expensive.  And even the ones that work well enough to be a fair substitute for traditional semolina pastas, can overcook very easily.  When that happens, they fall apart into mush.  What if church goes long?  What if I have to bring 3/4 of my roaster home and serve it all week for leftovers?   It could easily produce a less than satisfactory result.

Rice is always good, but it also comes with the same risks that pasta does, in that it gets very gluey if overcooked or reheated.  So that leaves me potatoes and I'm sorry, but I don't relish the thought of peeling and chopping that many potatoes on a Sunday morning when I'm getting 9 kids rolling for church and have to teach Sunday school.

So I've been up against a challenge this year to find a good GF hotdish I can bring when called upon.  I'm going for something with hash browns, so I can be lazy and use a pre-packaged food item.  The first time I tried a lasagna type dish made with hash browns instead of noodles.  It was good tasting, but kind of soupy.

This weekend was some good practice for me since I had two opportunities to hone my art.  One on Saturday for a funeral and another on Sunday for a Baptism dinner.  And I'm happy to say they were both successful.

On Saturday I tweaked the lasagna type one so it was less soupy.  And for Sunday's I did a creamed hamburger with hashbrowns.  Perhaps you'll never have reason to cook in this volume, but with a little creativity, you can shrink them to the size you need.

But before I get to the recipes, as a little closing note to the Garrison Keillor comment above, I have this story to tell.  I am not a native Minnesotan.  When I was young, we ate casseroles.  But our pastor's wife, who was a native Minnesotan, made hotdish.  I always thought that was such a funny thing to call them.  I even remember asking her once why she called them that and she just laughed and gave me a hug and told me that that's what they were called where she grew up.  Little did I imagine that I'd one day be making hotdish as a pastor's wife in Minnesota.

At some point, during Joe's seminary years, the term hotdish slipped into my vocabulary.  I know it was during that time, because when we moved to Chicago for Joe's vicar year, our physician, during a well-child appointment, asked about Jeremy's eating habits.  I mentioned hotdish during my answer and Dr. Brown started to chuckle.  He said he could tell I was from Minneosta because of the word hotdish.  I kind of laughed and asked if he was familiar with that term.  He responded that he would not have known what I was talking about had he not been a long time listener to Garrison Keillor's radio show.  I think that was the moment at which I knew I had succumbed to Minnesotan-ness.

Please check all labels on purchased items to ensure they are Gluten Free.

GF Hash brown Lasagna Hotdish

• 3 qt ground beef
• garlic salt

Brown the ground beef and put in the bottom of a large roaster with the pan juices.  Sprinkle liberally with garlic salt (perhaps 1 tsp). 

• 1 c ricotta cheese
• 2/3 lb grated mozzarella (approx 1/3 of a 2 lb bag)
• 1 medium onion diced 
• 1 large can (28 oz) diced stewed tomatoes

Blop/sprinkle the ricotta cheese over the meat.  Layer the mozzarella and the onion over the ricotta.  Top with the stewed tomatoes, pouring a bit at a time here and there, so it is evenly dispersed over the other items.  Use a rubber scraper to spread it if necessary.

• 2 lb frozen hash browns (approx)
• Salt and pepper

Pour a layer approximately 1 1/2" thick over the tomatoes.
Sprinkle salt and pepper liberally over the hash browns (perhaps using 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper)

• 1 1/3 lb grated mozzarella (rest of bag)
• basil and oregano

Layer the cheese over all and sprinkle the top with the herbs.
Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours at 350F.


Creamy GF Ground Beef and Potatoes

• 3 lbs ground beef
• 1 large onion diced
• 3 large carrots diced
• 3 large celery stalks diced
• 1 c ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 qt heavy whipping cream
• 2 lb frozen hash browns
• 1 lb grated mozzarella
• dried sage leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef and pour it with juices into the bottom of a large roaster.  Salt the meat liberally (1 tsp?).

Sprinkle half the diced vegetables over the meat.  Coarsely crush about 1 tsp worth of dried sage leaves and sprinkle over veggies.  (If you don't have sage leaves, sprinkle a moderate amount over the veggies.)

Blop/sprinkle the ricotta over the veggies, spreading around a little if necessary.  Pour 1 qt whipping cream over the contents of roaster.

Spread a thick layer of hashbrowns over the cream (1 1/2").  Salt and pepper the hashbrowns (maybe 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper).  Sprinkle remaining vegetables over hashbrowns.

Top with grated mozzarella.  Drizzle remaining 2 c cream over everything.

Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours at 350F.

Sausage and Clam Chowder

Sausage and Clam Chowder

• 2 lb sausage of choice (I used a pound each of Italian and breakfast sausages)

Brown in bottom of stock pot, stirring occasionally to break up into small pieces.

Remove from pot with slotted spoon, leaving juices in bottom of pot.

• 8 medium potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
• 2 large carrots, cut into 1/2" chunks
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced 
• 1/2 large onion, finely diced

Stir into juices in stock pot.  Cover and cook on medium heat until veggies start to soften.

Add liquid to just cover veggies and simmer until they reach desired softness.  If you want chunkier chowder, don't cook as long.  Water is fine for liquid, but if you have any homemade vegetable or meat stock, that's even better. I used some beef bone broth concentrate, an 8 oz jar of clam juice, and water.

When veggies are soft, break up with potato masher or immersion blender.  I like my soup less chunky, so my veggies are nearly pureed by the time I'm done with this step.

• 1 can corn, drained
• 2  6.5 oz cans clam pieces, with liquid
• 1 qt heavy whipping cream
•  enough milk to thin to desired consistency ( I think I used about 3 cups).
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  (I used about 1 1/2 tbs salt and 3/4 tsp pepper, but this will very depending upon the liquid in which you simmer your veggies.)

Add to pot and heat to just below simmering.

Makes about 2 gallons.

Easiest Yogurt Yet

I've been making yogurt for years, but within the last several, I've been getting lazier and lazier about the process.  I realized somewhere along the line that yogurt is a natural thing.  When using a yogurt culture to get the process started, the result is not going to poison you, it might just turn out less good or really good depending upon how you do it.  

In Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries, I've read that the diets include much more yogurt than do our typical American diets.  But it's not generally the sweetened flavored yogurts to which we in America are accustomed.  It is used as an accompaniment, condiment, or topping, similar to how we might use sour cream.  In some areas, they even use it as a beverage. 

I've read that in these regions, they just stir starter into milk and let it sit.  They use the product at whatever stage it's at.  Sometimes more cultured, sometimes less; sometimes tangier, or thicker or thinner.  Besides from cows' milk, it can be made from the milk of goats, sheep, yaks and even camels and water buffalo.

So, if you want to try it, don't be too stressed out by the process.  It's very forgiving.  Just go ahead and try it.

There is a basic process.  But the basic process is easy. 

• In America, where we are used to thick yogurt, heat the milk to 170-200F.  Some instructions say to maintain that temp for 20 minutes.   Allegedly, the higher the temp and the longer it's maintained, the thicker the yogurt.
• Let it cool to 110F.  
• Stir in your culture, about 1 c starter to 1/2 gallon final product.  Any store bought yogurt that says it has live or active cultures will work for starter; I use Dannon Plain when I need fresh starter.  Once you make yogurt, you can just use your own yogurt for the starter.  Starter can be frozen and used later.
• Maintain the temp at 110F for six to eight hours.  

Tada!  You will have yogurt. 

That's the "correct" way to make yogurt. For my easiest yogurt yet method, you'll have to read on, through all my tips and mistakes, etc.  It's waaaaay at the end.

Before I had a yogurt maker, I used quart jars in a gas oven, using the heat from the pilot light to keep it warm. Then we moved and I had an electric stove, so lost my pilot light. 

There are many recommended alternatives to an "official" yogurt maker.  Warm water in a beverage cooler, with a quart jar within; setting your container on a heating pad, and wrapping it with towels; using a crock pot to heat the milk, and after it cools and you've added your culture, just wrap the entire thing in a baby quilt...I'm sure there are many other methods.

I eventually got a very nice yogurt maker as a gift.  And I used it faithfully.  As the family continued to grow, I bought another at a second hand store and used them both faithfully.  But eventually our yogurt needs outpaced the little jars.  We use a significant amount of yogurt, so it's just easier to have it in bigger containers. 

I go through stages during which I just buy it, always in the big quart sized containers of plain yogurt.  Usually three or four of them at a time.  Only for a vacation treat or when I have to pack lunches for the kids during our church's VBS, do I buy the sweet, flavored stuff.  I know, I'm a hard Mama.  "We never get anything good," my kids tell me.  So be it.  "You'll thank me for it someday."

One time, however, when I was still using the little jars and the "official" yogurt maker, I had warmed about a quart too much milk.  So I poured the extra into a jar and figured we'd use it for a Yo-J type drink if it didn't thicken.  But guess what.  It thickened just as well as the stuff in the little jars at the "official" 110 degrees for six to eight hours.

Eventually memory of that accident led to my current yogurt making system.  We prefer our yogurt thick, so I generally heat the milk first.  But that's about the only "rule" I follow.

• I usually fill up my dutch oven, so I suppose that's 5 quarts of milk, or so.  But I don't get too particular about amounts or the the heating process.  
• I set it on low and after it gets a little foamy I turn it off.  With the volume of milk and heat setting I use, it probably takes an hour or so to get the frothy look .  
• After it cools to blood warm, I stir a ladleful of milk into 1-2 cups of  starter culture.  
• Then I wisk the starter/milk mix into the milk in the dutch oven.  Sometimes I run the immersion blender through it if it doesn't seem to want to mix in well.
• I put the lid on and let it sit until I feel like dealing with it.  Sometimes it's overnight.  Sometimes it's a couple of days.  

The result might be a bit thicker or thinner; it might be a bit tangier or sweeter.  Because I'm not very consistent, my result is not either.  But it works for me.  The higher proportion of original culture you use, the faster it will culture.  The riper the yogurt is, the tangier it will become.  The warmer your home, or the location in which you culture it, the faster it cultures.

In case anyone wants to try not heating the milk first, I've also gone through stages of skipping that step.  This also makes a tasty yogurt, but not thick.  It's about the consistency of heavy whipping cream, but tastes like yogurt.  It has the same pro-biotic properties as yogurt. We drink it from a juice glass or pour it over oatmeal or other cereal.  But it's definitely a pouring product.  It is a bit clotty, so if that turns you off, you can whip it with an immersion or regular blender.  This will result in a silky smooth beverage or topping. 

So, in short, don't be intimidated by the process.  It's very forgiving.  There are as many right ways to make yogurt as there are people who make it.

A Taste of Summer

For a little glimmer of summer in the midst of deepest winter, try one of the following counter-top fermented salsa recipes. Once you have the process down, you can tweak it to do your own thing; but because they are fermented at room temp, you may want to stick to one of the originals for your first try.

What does counter-top fermentation mean and why do it? Good questions. When we ferment foods prior to eating them, they pre-digest a bit, and they also grow a colony of pro-biotic cultures that help us digest more efficiently everything else we eat. This leads to better over-all health because we are getting more nutrients into our blood stream.

Those who advocate using fermented foods recommend starting the day with a tablespoon or so of fermented food and then including little something at each meal. The more traditional American choices would include dairy type items such as yogurt, raw cheese, kefir, buttermilk. But don't limit yourself to dairy. Sauer kraut, kimchee, or any kind of pickled vegies, if eaten raw (not canned), will do the same.

For more information on counter-top fermentation, see Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions or the featured titles.

And now on to salsa. Making salsa with this method results in one of the freshest, summeriest foods I've ever eaten. Hope you enjoy it.  The first two are just cut and pasted from other sources.  The last one is what I do.  Roughly.

Cat's Salsa
Based on Emillio's TexMex Cafe` recipe in Blissfield, Mi.
2/3 cup of onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp celtic sea salt
2 serrano peppers (more if you like hot hot hot less if you like mild)
1-28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons of whey
1 handful of fresh cilantro leaves or 2 tablespoons dried

Place all ingredients in a blender or processor, blend until a fine puree is obtained. Ferment 2 days. (If you can. Mine rarely makes it that long before someone is eating it)

Cilantro Salsa From Eat Fat Lose Fat:
Makes 1 quart, about 20 calories per 1/4 cup

28-oz can organic whole peeled tomatoes, liquid drained off
1/4 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 serrano chile, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp dried oregano
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes
1/4 cup homemade whey
1 large bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Place all ingredients except cilantro in a food processor and process until smooth. Stir in cilantro. Place in quart-sized wide mouthed mason jar. The top of the vegetables should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about three days before transferring to the refrigerator.

Bulk salsa

6lb 6oz can whole peeled tomatoes, liquid drained off
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
8 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 dried chiles
4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried oregano
Juice from 8 limes (or do a couple of lemons instead; or use a combination)
1 cup homemade whey
4 large bunches fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Combine everything in a large bowl and mush a bit with an immersion blender.  A food processor or traditional blender would also work.  Process to your preferred chunkiness.

Cover loosely.  I usually set my bowl on a round pizza pan if it's really full.  The contents may grow a bit as it ferments.  It's advisable to catch the mess if it should occur.

Stir frequently (perhaps every 3-5 hours).  This keeps the pro-biotic cultures and the lactic acids mixed evenly as the fermenting takes place.  We had one batch spoil on the top layer because we forgot to stir it.  

You can taste as you stir.  It will keep getting better and better.  The time it takes to fully ripen depends upon the temp of the counter area at which you have it sitting.  Ours usually take 2-3 days.

When it's ready, refrigerate.  

To answer, "When is it ready?" is a bit hard.  It will get more tangy as it's fermenting. And the flavors blend and ripen (they actually seem to grow in richness).  And it may be a very slight bit bubbly.  But if it starts to taste like beer or wine or yeast, it's probably beyond its prime.  It is still usable, still pro-biotic.  But it's not as palatable at that point, and the flavor will continue to deteriorate once it reaches this point. 

Gluten Free Soda Bread

Yes, it's late for St. Patrick's Day, but here's how this recipe came about. Unfortunately, this is how many meals come about in my kitchen.

I had about 3 qt of vegetable beef soup left from Wednesday night soup supper at church. Not quite enough for all of us, but I also had about 2 c of beef chunks left from when I made it the other day. Easy enough to add the meat and some bone broth for a little extra volume. Yeah, well, I must have used my bone broth, because I didn't have any. Not to worry, I added water and taco seasoning and salt. It turned out just fine.

I wanted to make some sort of bread to go along. I have a 25 bag of corn flour that we don't particularly like. It's quite bitter and strong tasting; not to mention I thought I was getting corn meal and when I opened the package, it was corn flour. 25 lb bummer! So I looked around a bit on line for recipes that use corn flour. I have been trying to add it to any baked goods to use it up a little faster. But tonight I wanted something that actually called for corn flour.

I found a recipe for Arepas, a Latin American bread, similar in size to an English muffin, but made with corn flour. I decided to try my hand at them, so I downloaded three videos with instructions from a genuine Venezualan lady. These videos were fun to watch and really well done. But alas, Arepas take a corn flour that is different yet. They take masarepa, or masa precocida, or pre-cooked corn flour. I don't happen to have any on hand. In fact I did not even know it existed. But I really want to make Arepas, so I'll keep my eyes open for some when I'm next in town. I'm not sure Thief River would have any, but we shall see.

Back to the recipe search. I have gotten quite adept at using the mix of flours I've invented. But my GF baking has been extra challenging lately, because I've not been able to get either sorghum or tapioca flour from my buying club. (Azure Standard.) Perhaps their regular farmers had a poor crop last summer. I could, of course get them from Bob's Red Mill and spend $50 on shipping 50 or 75 pounds of flour. Yes, I do usually buy the sorghum 50 pounds at a time and the tapioca at 25 pounds. Or I could buy it a little at a time in the small bags at the grocery store. But even so, in the volume I use, the price is quite prohibitive when buying such small packages. So I've been experimenting with other flour blends, so far without much satisfaction.

Tonight I really wanted to use a recipe for which I had the correct ingredients, but it was not to be. Instead I found this Soda Bread recipe on BBC Food. It looked pretty simple and I had everything (kind of) except the tapioca starch. I wasn't' sure about substituting the potato starch for tapioca, but experience told me it would probably work.

I didn't have buttermilk, and I no longer keep powdered milk on hand. I simply skipped the powdered milk. In place of the buttermilk, I used half potato water and half yogurt. Even with wheat flour baked goods, I often used potato water. But the improvement in texture when using it with Gluten Free recipes is even more remarkable.

There is a bit of a mystery surrounding the volume of the potato starch I ended up with. The original recipe called for 4 oz (1/2 c) tapioca starch. I intended to double the recipe, but somehow I ended up with 2 c. of the potato starch.

I had the recipe up on my computer. I was going back and forth between the cupboards and mixing bowl and computer. Joe came in just then and did some work on the computer, also. I often cook this way, interrupting his computer reading, to have him check on a recipe amount. But somehow between that, and the British measurements, and doubling the recipe, we ended up quadrupling the starch amount.

But it turned out to be an excellent mistake. The bread was wonderful. We've all been somewhat ambivalent about my previous GF biscuit/scone/soda bread attempts before. But this was really quite tasty. The inside was moist and held together well. Often with Gluten Free baked goods, because the flours used are so heavy, the crust gets quite dark before the inside is completely done. But this crust was tender crisp, and not too thick.

I'll have to make it again soon, to make sure the entire thing was not an accident that I'm unable to replicate. But I did make sure to record my changes right away.

GF Soda Bread
Preheat oven to 400F
Grease and lightly flour a jelly roll pan with GF flour of your choice.
Prepare a clean GF floured surface upon which to work your dough when ready.

• 2 1/2 c brown rice flour
• 2 c potato starch
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/4 c sugar

Wisk together dried ingredients.

• 1 c yogurt
• 1 c potato water
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten

Mix together wet ingredients.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in some of the wet. Do not pour it all in, but about 2/3 or 3/4 of it. Working with your fingers, as quickly as you can, so as not to overwork your dough, mix the wet ingredients into the dry. Add more liquid if necessary. Dough should hold together, but be neither dry nor especially sticky.

Form a loose ball and move the dough to the floured surface. Divide into two balls and work them just enough to form nice, smooth rounds. Transfer to baking sheet, one at each end. Pat gently to about 1/2 -2 " thick rounds.

Score. I scored mine into eighths, so I had sixteen servings.

Bake at 400F for 5 min., then turn the oven down to 350F, and bake an additional 20-30 min. Dough should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Fast and Easy Creamy Mexican Chicken

Creamy Mexican Chicken
Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

• 1 package queso fresco (mine came in 15 oz package, available in the Mexican part of the refrigerator section of my local Wal-Mart)
• One bag frozen chicken thighs. (My bag had six very large thighs)
• 1 package taco seasoning (or the equivalent if you make your own)
• 6 T salsa of your choice (I used Pace's Pico de Gallo)
  
• 1 qt heavy whipping cream
• One thin slice of lime for each chicken thigh
  

Cut the cheese into about 1/2" chunks or break it up into sprinkles. Sprinkle about half the cheese in the bottom of a greased baking dish (I used a 10x13 roasting pan).
Rub the chicken thighs with the taco seasoning and then arrange them on top of the cheese.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese around chicken.
Put a dollop of salsa on each thigh, about a tablespoon, perhaps.
Pour cream over all and top each chicken breast with a slice of lime.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 for about an hour. I did mine longer since I used such large thighs.

Serve with something to pour the cream sauce over. We used rice. Mmm.

This turned out so creamy and good. The chunks of cheese were gooey; the cream had kind of browned to a golden crust; the chicken was juicy. And the whole thing had this creamy heavenly flavor.

And best of all, I think all the kids liked it and even complemented me on it. (Actually they made their typical backhanded jokes like, "Oh, did Dad cook tonight?" or, "Is this take-out?"

I don't know how it got started, but there is kind of standing joke in our home that Dad's the good cook and Mom's the practical, boring cook. I have to consider cost and time involved and the nutritional value. Dad just has fun coming up with some wonderful meals.

So it is always a HUGE bonus when they really enjoy something I make.

I adapted it from a recipe in Beatrice Ojakangas's Best Casserole Cookbook Ever. I had read the original when I had the book from the library. Now I have my new very own copy that my friend, Char, sent me recently. Thanks, Char! When I looked for the recipe that I know was in there, I could not find it. I think the original had halved jalepenos and queso fresco. But that's all I could remember for sure. I knew I probably did not want to use halved jalepenos for the entire family, so this is what I came up with.

It was definitely a winner.

White Bean Chili

I have seen many white bean chili recipes, but this one on Ana Caban's blog looked really good to me. Just imagining the lime and cilantro focus topped with the avocado and tomato made my mouth water. Mmm.

I did notice, however, that it would be a really easy recipe to do in the NT (slow foods) style. Here is the adapted version I'm going to try. I'll post an update when I've tried it. I don't have any chickens on hand, so who knows when I'll get to it.

Keep in mind this is s-l-o-w foods. I don't start out thinking, "Oh, today I'm going to make chili." Instead I roast chickens when I feel like it. We eat some that day and I plan a second meal or freeze the rest. I cook a big batch of beans at once, again, use some and freeze some. I make bone broth when I run low. I try to keep slower things on hand already prepared, so when I decide to do the chili, it won't be a slow job. Yes, I could do it all in a day or two, but then I'd be crazy. Imagine focusing on a single meal for all day. Yuck!

Not to mention my bone broth would not be as nutrient rich as it will be after simmering for several days.

Slow White Bean Chili
Meat

• 2 whole chickens

Roast using your favorite seasonings. A good combo might be 1/2 T salt, 1 t chili powder, 1 t garlic powder, 1/2 t cumin. Mix together and rub inside and outside of birds. Roast until falling apart using your favorite method.

Eat for supper. Freeze the rest of the meat. For bone broth see previous broth post. Although that original post is for beef soup bones, I include a note toward the bottom on using chicken frames.

Beans

• 5-6 c dry white beans

Sort and rinse (in several changes of water). Put in large bowl, add water until level is several inches above beans. Add 1/4 c of whey. Soak overnight. Drain and rinse if you like. (I don't know what the difference is. I've seen directions both ways.) Put the beans in the crockpot (I use a 5 qt, I think; might be 6 qt) and cover with water. Cook on low all day or until soft to your preference. Add water as needed. I then usually use about half and freeze the rest. Adding an acid will prevent beans from softening further, so I add a bit of vinegar or tomato juice to the ones I plan to freeze so they don't turn to mush when thawed. I will also occasionally do this to all of them if they get too soft.

You could also cook on the stove top. I think they say simmer about an hour. I never do mine this way, so read the directions on the bean package to verify cooking time.

The Chili

• 2 T fat of choice
  
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Sauté vegies in fat until tender.

• 8 c cooked beans
• 4 c cooked chicken
• 1 qt frozen corn
• 1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 c lime juice
• 1 T ground cumin*
  
• 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
• 1/2 t red pepper sauce, or to taste (Joe makes some awesome lacto-fermented hot sauce from dried chilies)
• 4-6 cups bone broth
• salt to taste 1/2 -1 T

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes. Make it a day ahead and it will taste infinitely better.

Serve with sour cream and wedges of tomato and avocado.

*A note on cumin. I've recently read up on cumin ( I think while planning for my tamales a while back). I found that cumin loses it's flavor very rapidly once ground. The stuff we get in the store apparently does not taste very like cumin ought. Hmm. One ought to buy only whole cumin and grind it just prior to use. The original white chili recipe recommended roasted cumin. I might try that some day. Here's the instructions.