Happy New Year! I just bought a bunch of herbs and spices (on sale). I try to use at least one or two of these in cooked and baked food. My resolution this year is to use these a lot more, and work my recipes around anti-inflammatory foods and seasonings.
If you're thinking about how to prepare your turkey, here's how I season chicken, turkey, and other kinds of poultry. You can apply this technique at the last minute, as well as a few days before, while the turkey waits in the refrigerator. What I get is golden, crunchy skin and moist meat underneath. Roasted chicken is the meal my kids would choose if stranded on a desert island.
You can just add pre-made chocolate chips to ice cream and they'll stay in the shape you added them in. Or, you can take a bit more time and create thin, irregular chips that seem truly authentic and an integral part of the ice cream experience (yes, I'm waxing eloquent about chocolate chips in ice cream). And you can use your favorite chocolate!
PS I'm pretty sure I learned this technique from David Lebovitz's website, but I can't find the page anymore.
Ah, the wonderful days of early spring have been overcast for a bit here because M has the flu. Not the swine flu - that might have been easier. It is a stomach bug of some sort, and it was so bad that we rushed to the hospital because M thought he might be having acute pancreatitis (what sent us rushing into the hospital two years ago and on this wonderful food journey to health).
Yes, it is a simple tip, but it really works and it’s a money-saver too. It is the first thing we learned to do to survive and thrive, food-wise. My kids pack their own lunch now*, which, besides learning how to cook, is a great skill to have and a sign of independence (which, ultimately, all kids want).
Last updated on 7/14/09
When I first started to make yogurt, I purchased my Yogourmet
I now use an Excalibur dehydrator
And here is a yogurt maker that uses no energy to incubate your yogurt. This insulated container maintains a uniform temperature. I haven't tried this yet, but I'm very curious.
I learned about making yogurt from several sources, so rather than pose as a self-proclaimed expert, I have listed the websites I found helpful in this endeavor.
Note: Some of these links offer instructions that are geared towards creating lactose-free yogurt (which is cultured for between 24-28 hours), but you don't have to culture your yogurt for 24 hours. The longer you leave the yogurt culturing, the more sour it will be and the less lactose it will contain.
A word about yogurt starter...
I usually have some yogurt around to use as starter for a new batch of yogurt. I now avoid using my previous batches of yogurt to culture new yogurt because I found some batches went bad probably due to new bacterial strains taking hold after a while. So now I tend to use only fresh, new starter, and I make sure the yogurt container is very clean (a run in the dishwasher helps). I use Yogourmet's starter, which you can find in some food stores, and online, and of course at Lucy's Kitchen Shop. GIProHealth sells a dairy-free yogurt starter. I avoid using commercial yogurt to bake, cook and use as starter because it tends to have gums and other fun additives. I make sure that the yogurt starter only has certain bacterial strains: lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, and Lactobacillus acidophilus (this last one is optional). I avoid the bifido strains (any word with a "bifido" prefix), because these are known to cause a problem if you have digestive issues.
A word about non-dairy yogurt...
You can also make yogurt using nut milks instead of dairy milks. For more assistance, see the Pecanbread website.
