Here is a short little movie my girls made showing how to make yogurt. . . They watch a lot of cooking shows.  Here's the recipe.

Homemade Yogurt (makes 4 pints)

Supplies: 

Four 1 pint glass jars with lids

Candy Thermometer

Cooler and a blanket that will fit in the cooler

Ingredients: 

7 Cups of Milk

1/2 C instant powdered milk

1/2 c yogurt (plain or vanilla without preservatives)

Optional: 

1/2 c Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

Directions: 

1. MIX all ingredients EXCEPT yogurt  (milk, powdered milk, sugar, vanilla)
2. Heat to 180 degrees. (use a thermometer or look for little bubbles around the edges of the pot)
3. Pour into a bowl to cool.  Let cool until between 115 and 110 degrees.  (about an hour)
4. Measure out yogurt and let it sit on the counter to warm to room temperature.  DO NOT add it to the milk yet.  
5. When the milk mixture is between 115 and 110 degrees add the yogurt and stir until combined.  
6. Pour the milk plus yogurt mixture into the jars and put on the lids.  
7. Incubate: Put the jars into cooler, wrap a blanket around to add insulation.  Do not disturb for 6-9 hours.  Your goal is to keep the temp at about 90-100 degrees for the entire incubation time.  
8. You are done!  You did it!  Refrigerate as normal. 

  

If your yogurt did not set up - the temp when yogurt added to the milk was too hot or too cold or your yogurt starter did not contain live cultures.   

Sour-dough Banana Bread (Muffins)

I ended up with an extra 10 lbs of bananas today, and my new sourdough was ready to cook with.  So I did a search for sourdough banana bread and came up with this recipe.  Since I have had good success with other info from this site I decided to give it a go.  I didn't follow their recipe, but modified it and it turned out great!

1/2 cup pureed white beans
1 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2  (scant) cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup sourdough starter (preferably whole grain start)
1 Tbl olive or coconut oil
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I forgot to add these, I am sure they would taste great!)
1 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp grated orange rind (I also forgot this, but I am sure it would add to the flavor)


Blend the beans, banana, honey and molasses in the blender until smooth.  Pour into a large bowl (larger than you think) and add sourdough start, salt, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, vanilla,  nuts, whole wheat flour and oil. Stir gently until all ingredients are moistened.  
Put into greased 9x5 bread pan or muffin pan.
Bake bread at 350 for 50-60 minutes.
For muffins, preheat oven to 450.  Fill muffin cups all the way to the top. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and sugar (I did only because I have had a bowl sitting on my counter for several months and I wanted to use it up).  Put into 450 degree oven, set time for 5 minutes then turn oven down to 350 and bake for another 20-25 minutes.  (I learned this tip here )  This may not be quite enough for 12 muffins, probably more like 9 if you fill them really full. 

Minestrone Soup

I love soups.

I am sad to see soup season disappear, I just don't like soup in the warm weather.  It snowed this week so I was excited to get to make this soup at least once more before warm weather appeared.  

It is also my first go to recipe when I have too many veggies in the fridge. It is a good way to use up odds and ends.  I'll write the basic recipe out, then include a few tips at the end.

Ingredients. 

1-2 T oil of choice

2 potatoes

2 carrots

1 zucchini

1 c green beans

1 c shredded cabbage (I have used green, napa and red, they all work fine, just use what you have on hand)

1/2 c celery

1 onion

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

2 t Italien seasoning

1-2 t oregano

4 c stock

15 oz can tomatoes

1 small can tomato sauce  (opt, it does give greater depth if not cooking all day)

15 oz kidney beans

2 c water

4 oz dry pasta 

Chop the vegetables how ever you would like.  

Saute the first 8 vegetables in oil until crisp tender.  Stir in seasonings, cook 1-2 minutes more.  Add everything but the pasta and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Heat to boiling and add pasta,  let simmer until pasta is al dente (10-12 minutes).

Serve and enjoy. 

My kids really like a little fresh parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

A few tips.  I usually add at least 1 cup of chopped greens to the vegetable mixture.  I have added spinach, kale, collards, really whatever I have on hand.  I usually add too many vegetables and I end up with 2 gallons of soup and I take one to a neighbor.  Occasionally if I am feeling really decadent, I will saute 1/4 lb bacon or italien sausage and then saute the veggies in the drippings. This makes the soup even richer, I then crumble the bacon and add it in just before serving.    I usually leave out the pasta, mainly because I put in so many veggies I don't think the pasta adds anything. 

In the summer when I have veggies coming out my ears, I chop my veggies and freeze them in the proper amounts in quart bags.  Then I can dump them in and make this soup even easier.  Frozen vegetables from the  store work well too.  

This soup works great in a crockpot, I just skip the sauteing step if I am in a hurry and cook on low 6-8 hours. 

If you are out of one particular ingredient, substitute something that you do have on hand.  I frequently blend up fresh tomatoes in place of the can of tomatoes and it works great. 

The can of tomato sauce is something I only add if I am not going to let the soup simmer for a few hours to give the flavor of a longer simmering time. 

Creamy Lemon Dressing

This dressing is so good! I have been using it all over the place, but especially on my favorite salad.
Ingredients
1/4 c sugar (I used sucanat, but agave would work as well, you might be able to even decrease to 2 TB agave!)
1/2 c lemon juice
2 t onion
1/2 t salt
2/3 c  Olive oil
1-2 T Poppy Seeds (Opt.)

Combine everything but the oil and poppy seeds in blender or food processor, blend until well blended. Slowly add oil in steady stream until slightly thickened and smooth.  Add poppy seeds and blend for a few seconds.
Serve on your favorite salad, especially great with salads that have fruit in them.  This is enough for 2 good size salads.

My Favorite Salad (Right Now) Mango Kiwi Salad

Ingredients:

Spinach, or romaine lettuce, or a mix of your favorite greens.

2-3 mangos peeled and diced

3-4 kiwis peeled and diced

1/4 c dried Cranberries

1/2 c chopped almonds

Lemon Dressing

Place clean greens in a large bowl Pile remaining ingredients on the top and drizzle with dressing.

Serve and enjoy.

To make chopping the mango easier, if you are like me and terrible at it, peel them first. Then set them on your cutting board and cut down lengthwise about 1/3 in from the side.  Continue to make small slice in from the side to get as close to the seeds as possible.  Then flip and repeat for the remaining 3 sides.  The pieces that have been cut off are then easy to slice cleanly.  I then scarp all that I can from the seed/pit with my teeth and throw it in the compost heap.

Mexican Squash Soup

This is yummy! I made it a few years ago and we all liked and I forgot I had the recipe. We made it tonight and loved it, the kids even ate it.

Spiced Mexican Squash Soup

1 ½ T Olive Oil
2C chopped Onion
6 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tsp Oregano
1 Butternut Squash (peel and dice into ½ inch cubes)
3 C Water
1 tsp Salt
¼-1/2 tsp. Cumin
1 ½ tsp chili Powder
2 C fresh Tomatoes (diced) or 1 can
2C Red or Green Peppes (chopped)
2 C Corn Kernels
1 can black Beans (15 oz- drained and rinsed)

Saute Onion/Garlic with Oregano
Add in Squash with the water and remaining spices. Simmer 5-10 min, add tomatoes and peppers and simmer 10 more minute.
Stir in corn and black beans and simmer few more minutes until corn is tender.

Serve with Tortilla chips and avocado dices
(optional: serve with sour cream and shredded cheese)

Clean Food

My Mom bought this book and I am loving it. Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You by Terry Walters. (Sterling Epicure, 2009)
My favorite features:
1. Has recipes divided into the four seasons using the fresh produce available.
2. Everything is Healthy.
3. The index is search able by ingredient particularly by vegetable. For example there are 13 recipes using Kale, 11 with lemons, 5 with parsnips, 9 for Quinoa, 20 with tomatoes and the list goes on
4. Recipes call for few ingredients and are simple
5. The intro has some great info.

We have tried the cookies and the Pad Thai and are trying more this week- black bean burgers and shepherds pie.

Available on AMAZON HERE