A "New" Spice Rack

Yogurt Toppers

I love plain yogurt with a dash of sugar or agave nectar and a few fresh or frozen berries. Not everyone [in my house] is so thrilled with this. For those who prefer something a bit more like store-bought yogurt, here is my solution:

Yogurt Mix-in Sauces
4-5 Cups fresh or frozen fruit
1 Tablespoon cornstarch - this thickens the sauce so it doesn't water down your yogurt without being chunky

1/2 Cup jam or jelly

Sugar to taste - I used about a tablespoon for the recipe

Thaw fruit if frozen. In a saucepan combine fruit with the cornstarch and jam or jelly. Stir and cook over medium heat until mixture gets clear and boils. Remove from heat. Strain (if desired) to remove seeds. Store in a glass jar (reuse a jar from peanut butter, salsa, etc.). Chill. 

Add a spoonful or two to 6-8 oz yogurt and mix in for homemade yogurty deliciousness :)

Shown in the picture above - Blackberry Currant (made with frozen berries and currant jelly) and Strawberry Banana (frozen berries and a banana added in just before removing from heat). Play around with spices to make other flavors - apple pie would be fantastic with apples and cinnamon, and maybe some oats.

Pretty Pearls

I performed last night for the first time - well, my first more-or-less choreographed time, at least - with my wonderful bellydance ladies. We danced to History Repeating and our costumes included fedoras and pearls. Pearls, I have (had) only a few of. Shopping!

My fedora, complete with feathers (kindly donated by a bird who got his wings clipped at work) and a few little pearls...

Jewelry... little studs from my wedding, big studs were $1 at a local antique store and needed one "diamond" replaced. The dangle was a hoop earring with a cheap pearl bead threaded on and the earring re-bent; attached to the back side of the stud. I made a ring out of another earring and bead. Necklace, $2 at the same store.

Hooray for thrifty, fun costume jewelry :) And also for an amazing evening dancing with lovely friends!

Sockarms

There are always so many cute, fun knee-high socks around. Any discount or big-box store has them, in every color, for ever season. But armwarmers? So much potential, so little to be found. Sure, there are your standard knit ones, but long, cozy ones are rare, choices slim, and they're always $10-15 or more. Enter the sock arm.

The formula is simple: 1 pair knee-length socks - toes + heel-hole = sockarms!

See? Sockarms. At $5 tops, a bargain. And ridiculously easy.

Cilantro Goes to Seed

When it comes to spices, cilantro just might be my favorite. The leaves turn just about anything into a feast. You can even freeze them for (almost) never-ending goodness.

And when the plant bolts and goes to seed in the baking heat of a Colorado summer, coriander.

Well, it's not very much. And it was definitely a pain! Supposedly, let it hang with a bag around it long enough and the seeds fall off, saving you the work. Supposedly. Apparently 1.5 months isn't long enough! I think it would have been worth it, buying seed at the store. But hey, free is free!

Chocolate Chia Date Bars

A while ago, I discovered Chia seeds at my favorite Colorado grocery store (never to replace my all-time favorite grocery store!). Having heard of them while poking through a magazine in my chiropracter's waiting room, I picked some up. The chia gel thing didn't quite do it for me. Too small and crunchy when added to the granola. Chia milk, disgusting (sorry).

However, I found a winner in this recipe from Vegetarian times. I don't know what raw chocolate is (I just used Hershey's dark chocolate baking powder. I'm sure that's blasphemous.) or where to find it. And I'd likely be too cheap to pay for it in any case. But these are tasty! I made as directed, plus a bit of water and maybe a tablespoon of corn syrup- my dates were pretty dry.

Mix everything together in food processor, smush into a big pancake between 2 pieces of wax paper...

Refrigerate for a few hours, cut and enjoy!

Wrap the rest in pieces of wax paper and stick in the fridge for a tasty to-go snack.

Tomatoes & Plantlings

I learned a thing or two about starting seeds this year. If you start more seeds than you want plants, you will have LOTS of extra seeds. Sound obvious? Probably should be! Somehow I thought a few of them wouldn't survive.... :) But they did. After giving away about two dozen plants, I still have quite a few left - cherry, yellow and purple heirloom. I inherited three more larger tomato plants, as well as permission from the landlord to plant, so started a small tomato garden. 

I also found a great hanging planter tutorial and decided to give it a try. So far, I have only 2 2L bottles (since we don't really drink soda much!), so will need to find another to get my yellow tomato plant planted, but did the cherry yesterday and the purple today.

The cherry tomato plant is already flipping its little leaves over to get the sun! Currently these guys live under the porch on the north facing side of the house - we'll see if they get enough sun there or if I have to buy a shepherd's hook to put them somewhere better suited to growing :)

Three more of my tomatoes, along with tomatillos and habaneros, have a new home in our plot in the community garden, which is coming along well!

Yummy Yogurt

Well, I've finally had enough people ask me about yogurt making. I know there are dozens of tutorials out there already, but here is my own, for easy referrals.

Upon moving to Denver, I discovered that out here, milk is dirt cheap compared to PA (despite PA's abundance of cows). At under $2/gallon, it's definitely worthwhile to make my own yogurt! I first tried it before traveling to West Africa for 3 weeks last summer and realized how incredibly easy it is. It does take time, but making your own yogurt is simple, fun and tasty.

So, how?

In a nutshell:

1. Heat milk to 180 F (ish - hot but not boiling)
2. Cool to 110 F (ish - still warm, but doesn't hurt your finger)
3. Whisk in starter - some plain yogurt or freeze-dried starter
4. Pour into glass containers
5. Stick somewhere slightly warm and forget about it for 6-8 hours or overnight.
6. Remember about it, discover you've made yogurt, and enjoy! (well, maybe refrigerate first...)

So you can do it now, right? Still have questions? Detailed version below!

1. Heat milk to 180 F (ish)

I use a candy thermometer (after my very slow digital one fell into the hot milk a few too many times). This works great, but in reality, you don't need a thermometer - I've done it plenty of times without. Heat it to near boiling (like when you start to hear it, or when it's too hot to really touch for long). Then proceed to step 2!

*Note: you can use powdered milk for this (overseas, for example, where that's cheaper), or you can add a bit of powdered milk or evaporated milk to make the yogurt thicker. DON'T use the nasty instant milk powder, though. I've not had very good results with it! I get the expensive stuff from the natural foods aisle and add a couple tablespoons per quart of milk. Works well to thicken, but not necessary.

2. Cool to 110 F (ish - still warm, but doesn't hurt your finger)
Again, I use a thermometer, but I've done it without. When it feels "lukewarm" (like, if your coffee got this temperature you'd microwave it or throw it out), it's ready.

3. Whisk in starter - some plain yogurt or freeze-dried starter
You can use it, but I haven't had great luck with store-bought yogurt as a starter. I use YoGourmet starter, from a natural foods store/aisle. It's usually refrigerated near the yogurt, if you're looking for it. Once you've made a batch, though, you can use that yogurt as a starter, and keep the rest of your purchased starter for several batches from now. Supposedly the yogurt cultures eventually get a bit unbalanced and you should start from a fresh starter.
You can also freeze some yogurt in ~1/4 C batches to use later - that will keep your starter good longer, since each comes from the original batch. Doing this, one envelope of starter lasts me for 20 or so batches - freezing 5 starters, using them up then making 5 more from the last batch, etc. about 4 times before using a new envelope of starter.

4. Pour into glass containers
Rinse them well with hot water first to make sure you don't have other contaminants in them. I like to use jam-sized canning jars and make individual serving containers. If you don't fill them all the way, you'll have room to add some sugar or honey and some fresh cut fruit on top.

5. Stick somewhere slightly warm and forget about it for 6-8 hours or overnight.
I've seen a lot of suggestions for this, from an oven with pilot light on (gas oven) to just wrapping the already warm jars in thick blankets, to putting them in a cooler along with a few large containers of warm water. My personal favorite is to turn my oven on for a bit while I'm waiting for the milk to cool with a baking stone (or heavy ceramic casserole dish, etc.) in it. Then turn the oven off, but the heat from the stone will keep it slightly warm. You're going for around 80-90 F.
Even better is to make cookies in the oven first :) Then you have a pre-warmed stone and fresh cookies to boot!

Then just leave it be. In 6 or so hours, you will have yogurt! If you like it thicker, stronger flavored, or if you're lactose intolerant, leave it in for 8 or 10 hours or overnight. The longer it stays unrefrigerated, the longer the bacteria have to digest the sugars (lactose!) in the milk, producing the acid that turns your milk to yogurt. I nearly always leave mine overnight, and the last batch was in there a good 12 hours and still is great.

6. Remember about it, discover you've made yogurt, and enjoy! (well, maybe refrigerate first!)
Put some lids on and throw it in the fridge. Enjoy with sugar, honey, applesauce, fresh/canned/frozen fruit, even Nutella!

*Note: always mix in your extras after incubation. Yeasts and other bacteria from fruit can change how it works. Exception: I have tried adding some instant coffee and/or cocoa powder (sans sugar) before culturing the yogurt. I found it takes a bit longer to set, especially the coffee, but it does set, and tastes great! Add a spoonful of sugar before eating.... Yum yum :)