Comfy Belly

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Happy Valentines Day, almost. And happy birthday to M! If you like cranberries, you'll appreciate this cake. It is very similar to the upside down apple cake, with the added tartness of the cranberries.

Cherry Scones

 

I didn't realize that tart, dried cherries taste really good in scones. I've been cognizant of a bag of dried, tart cherries sitting in my pantry that I bought at Trader Joe's quite a while ago, occasionally throwing them in salads. But now they are making a play in my scone recipe.

Spinach Tart

I love green food. I always have. I was the kid who liked broccoli, spinach, squash, and brussel sprouts. My perfect quick meal is sauteed spinach with onions, olive oil, cheese, and 2 eggs. Basically the filling for Spanakopita, Greek spinach pie. Here is my version of a spinach pie using an almond flour pie crust.

Salmon Salad

 

This is a tasty salad that I make when I have left over salmon - although lately I purposely make salmon to create this salad. Capers, dill, lemon, and some yogurt and/or mayo, and you have the makings of a versatile salad base.

Watermelon Strawberry Pops

 

Here is our pop flavor of the week. Watermelon has a naturally sweet, juicy disposition that lends itself well to smoothies and pops. So here is a quenching treat for the last hot days of summer.

Sesame Dijon Crackers

 

I'm on a cracker hunt - a hunt for delicious cracker recipes that use nut flour, or other non-glutenous flour, or something healthy and non-traditional, if you know what I mean. There's nothing like a good cracker to support creamy goat cheese, a slice of smoked salmon, or a generous scoop of creamy dip.

A Soothing Smoothie for a Rumbling Tummy

A rumbling in the tummy is usually a good thing, because it means you are hungry and need to eat. But we have had a setback because M's rumbling in the tummy is not hunger. The stomach bug turned into a Crohn's flare and a bacterial infection. Out comes the arsenal of soothing smoothies, easy-to-eat food, probiotics, and lengthy visits to doctors (a naturopath and a GI doctor).

Grandma Rose's Rugelach

Psst... I have Grandma Rose's rugelach recipe. I think. But, I'm not sure. Many years ago, I asked Rose for all her recipes - or at least her most coveted recipes. A week later, I received a small, yellowed paperback book in the mail.

Cheesecake (with yogurt and crème fraîche)

This is my first attempt at making cheesecake, AND making cheesecake with yogurt and crème fraîche. There are so many great sources for cheesecake that I never had the need to spend several hours creating this treat. But I'm glad I did. This is a nice alternative to the standard recipe - creamy, with a slightly lighter weight to it.

Refrigerator Cake

It was my birthday a few days ago and I made myself a cake - mostly because I make most of the cakes around here, and I knew exactly what I wanted. An almond flour cake, chocolate ganache, and strawberries, refrigerated for a few hours. That's all. Oh, and our dog, Dexter, singing Happy Birthday along with the gang.

Tangy Curry Chicken Salad (and some chicken raves and rants)

Do you have any leftover chicken from roasting or grilling chicken? We invariably do because I roast a chicken once a week - my kids love it - they negotiate who gets which crispy parts. This salad recipe is a great way to use up leftover chicken in a salad for lunch or dinner another day.

Egg, Ham, and Cheese Bake

   

This is like a frittata or a crust-less quiche. It is a quick and easy recipe that goes great with a salad, some fruit, or just a glass of orange juice in the morning. And it's easy to reheat as well. You'll need lots of eggs - 8, to be exact. And this is one of the few brands of finished meats that I buy these days. If you like bacon, it is the best bacon brand around, in my humble opinion.

Vanilla honey ice cream

Happy New Year! This is a very simple recipe for vanilla ice cream using honey instead of sugar. It's sinfully simple.

How to Make Yogurt

Last updated on 7/14/09

When I first started to make yogurt, I purchased my Yogourmet yogurt maker from Lucy's Kitchen Shop, and Lucy is a great resource when starting out. But it is not necessary to own a yogurt maker - I have read about many techniques, from using a dehydrator to placing a jar in a cabinet with a lamp.

I now use an Excalibur dehydrator (also here) to make yogurt and it works beautifully. My favorite yogurt to make is crème frâiche.

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.

• Breaking the vicious cycle
  
• Pecanbread
  
• Cooking for celiac, colitis, crohns and ibs
  
• Eating SCD
  
• Weston Price
  
• Harold McGee has written an article about making yogurt that you may find interesting.
• 101 Cookbooks has a post on making yogurt.
  

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.

Upside Down Apple Cake

I've been looking for a way to bake apples and a cake together, and I was inspired by a recipe I read at La Tartine Gourmande. I use almond flour, however you can substitute your flour of choice - the amount of flour necessary may vary depending on the type of flour you use. It came out so moist and delicious, my son asked to have just the cake again, or add other things to it. I can imagine putting raisins and walnuts in the cake, or eating it alone as a pound cake. In any case, this cake recipe is definitely a keeper.

Mango pops

  

Here is a take on a creamy, fruity pop using mango, banana and crème fraîche. The recipe is the same as the berry cream pop, except that I swap out the berries and replace them with fresh or frozen mango pieces.

Lemon freeze pie

Lemony, creamy, and cool - my favorite things about this recipe. I eat this anytime of day or night (even for breakfast).

Berry cream pop

This is one of many fruit pops that I blend up to satisfy the craving for ice cream pops. I tend to vary the ingredients depending on what I have in the freezer, what season it is, and what I have on hand. I use crème fraîche to get it rich and creamy, but it can be made with lower-fat yogurt.

Raisin Walnut Scones

I love scones. I used to buy a chocolate chip scone on my way to work in midtown Manhattan - I can't remember where, but it was a little coffee shop that everyone rushed in and out of on their way to work on any given weekday.