Goat Yogurt

Woohoo!  We got to go milk my friend's goats on Thursday night.  Everybody took turns, and Nyah was the goat-milking rock star.  She picked it up quicker than anybody and did a lot of the milking.  So it was fitting that she help turn some of that milk into homemade yogurt on Friday.

3 TB plain yogurt from the grocery store
1 quart of goat milk
1 cup of canned milk, because I thought it might help while we're getting used the the flavor, but the yogurt was so mild I don't really think we need it

Other equipment needed: an instant read thermometer and a good dehydrator.  I divided the milk between 3 clean pint jars.

Start the dehydrator warming up by setting it to 110 degrees or so.  Warm the milks to 110 degrees, 115 tops.  Put 1 TB of yogurt in each jar.  Pour the warmed milk into the jars, dividing it evenly.  Stir it to get the yogurt start evenly through the warm milk.  Loosely put on the lids.

Put the jars in the dehydrator.  Turn it up to 115 degrees.  Check in three or four hours, but in my experience it takes longer than that to thicken up.  (Bear in mind, it won't get as thick as commercial yogurts without adding milk powder or gelatin to thicken it up.)  I left my first batch in the dehydrator for about 6 1/2 hours, and the second for closer to 7 1/2.

Our favorite uses for the yogurt have been in homemade frozen yogurt and yogurt whole grain waffles.  (Now those are some light and crispy waffles.  Recipe forthcoming.)  I also like the yogurt with a drizzle of honey and some pecans or fruit.  

Olive Pasta

This is an absolute favorite at my house.  If all you eat is spaghetti when your family has pasta, it's time to branch out and try something new!!  If you need a gluten free pasta, we've had good results with Tinkyada rice pasta.  Since I'm not getting paid to advertise, I can tell you with good conscience that it is cheaper to buy on Amazon by the case.

1 box penne or rigatoni
A total of 12 oz chopped olives:
     1 can black olives, drained and chopped
     Green olives, rinsed and chopped (and de-pimiento-ed) to make up the balance
2 oz bottle of capers, drained and rinsed
6 cloves garlic, halved
3 (14 oz) cans of whole tomatoes - drain one, partially drain the second, keep all the juice from the third.  Run a knife through the toms in the can just to chunk'em up a bit.
1 TB oregano
a sprinkle (or more) of red pepper
olive oil

In a pasta pot, start heating the water for your pasta.  In a wide, tall-sided skillet heat olive oil (a couple of passes around the pan, maybe 6 TB?), garlic and red pepper over medium-low for 4-5 minutes.  You want the garlic to give off its flavor but you don't want it to burn.  Smash the garlic with the bottom of a wooden spoon and remove.  Have a lid handy and put in the rinsed capers and then quickly cover the pan - it will spit a lot when you put the capers in the hot oil.  After a minute or two, add the tomatoes and smash any big pieces with your spoon.  Stir and let simmer for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the olives and oregano.  Let the sauce simmer on low while you cook your pasta.  We like it with lots of Romano cheese.  If you are used to drowning your pasta in sauce, be warned: this is salty, and you don't want more sauce than pasta.   Go easy, you can add more if you need it. ;)

Buckwheat Gluten Free Pancakes

These pancakes are very tasty, and if you have a wheat grinder of your own the flours are so inexpensive to grind yourself.  If you need the flours to be strictly gluten free, use a grinder that has not ground gluten grains.  I usually double the recipe.

1 TB melted butter
1 TB coconut oil (or skip the butter and use 2 TB c. oil)
1/2 to 1 TB honey
1 egg

1/2  cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup corn flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TB arrowroot powder

Melt the butter, oil and honey together.  I use an oven safe dish in the toaster oven, but you could just as easily warm them in a pan on the stove.  Let cool.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Add the liquid ingredients and the egg.  Add about 1/4 cup water, and start whisking together.  Keep adding water until the batter is the right consistency, depending on whether you like your pancakes thin or poofy.

Simple Roasted Vegetables

I sliced up some baby zucchini, yellow squash, a tomato, an onion and a red pepper.  Probably just about any veggies would be yummy this way.  Toss them with some olive oil, a little salt and pepper, Italian seasoning is an optional tasty addition.  Skewer or put on the BBQ wok and grill 'em up!  Super yummy. :)

Homemade Tortillas, or Wrappers for Wraps

The thing about recipes I've collected over the years is that they are almost like scrapbook or journal pages.  A recipe will remind me of where and when I first tried it, or the person I got it from.  This recipe is from our first stint in San Diego, where we met two wonderful people, Andy and Lara.  Lara made these tortillas one night when they had us over for dinner. :)

4 cups flour - I like spelt, you can also use wheat (soft or hard white, barley, and probably rye)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups warm water

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Pour in the olive oil and rub it through your fingers until you've got a sandy/ small peas kind of texture.
 

Make a well in the middle and pour in the water.  (Having read about the benefits of soaking grain, I also added some apple cider vinegar.  Probably about a tablespoon.)  Stir it in, mixing well and continuing to stir for a little longer to "knead" the dough.  It will be very sticky, but this makes it easier to roll it out thin later.

Let the dough rest for 10 minutes or until you are ready to roll...this batch sat overnight and into the next day before I had time to cook the tortillas.  I just stuck the bowl in the fridge until I was ready.  If it will be just a few hours you can even leave it out on the counter.

 Get a cutting board that is big enough to roll out tortillas/wrappers to the size that you want.  Preheat your pan to medium low, but watch as  you go and adjust the temp higher or lower as needed.  Adjust according to the size of tortilla/wrap you want, but I grab a glob of dough about the size of an egg.  Keep both sides nice and floury to avoid sticking, and roll it out as thin as you can.  Slap it on the pan and roll the next one while the first one cooks.  It will depend on how hot your pan is but plan on just a couple of minutes on each side.  Put it on a cooling rack and get the next tortilla on the pan.

Once you've cooked all the tortillas/wrappers and they've cooled off, put them in a bread bag.  Since the wrappers I make are too long to close the bread bag, I put another bag on over the open end.

Grilled Pineapple with Vanilla Sugar

Sounds pretty fancy, right?  This takes just minutes...and the sugar is now vanilla sugar because back in February when I made a vanilla bean cheesecake I put the pods in the bag of organic sugar after I scraped out all the little vanilla seeds.

1 fresh pineapple, "peeled," slice and cored
1 preheated barbeque
a sprinkle of sugar for each slice

Combine all ingredients except sugar.  Turn slices over after about 5 minutes, sprinkle with sugar and cook for until 5 minutes, or until sugar is caramelized, whichever your family has the patience for.

The "Brew"

Credit for this fabulous recipe goes to Brad and Sue Noall of We Do Feet.

I am sharing this recipe because it is really good for detoxing, for getting better when you are sick, and can even help you get off of soda.

1/4 cup honey (raw if possible)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
7 drops cayenne tincture (This is what you start with.  All cayenne tinctures are not created equal, and until you know how hot your current bottle is, you need to start small.  Then add more until it is to the heat level you can comfortably drink.)

Start by heating a little bit of water to dissolve the honey in.  Put the honey in a quart jar, add a little warm water, and stir.

Now add the 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 7 drops of cayenne tincture, and then enough cool water to fill the jar.  Taste and add more cayenne tincture until it is hot, but drinkable. 

Raw Carrot Salad

I got this one from Epicurius.com YEARS ago, and it's a good one.  Yummy on it's own, it is also good on sandwiches... (go ahead and try it!  I dare you.)

About 4 cups grated carrots
1/4 cup olive oil
3 TB lemon juice
1/4 cup cilantro (I doubled the recipe today and used one small bunch without bothering to measure)
2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
pinch of salt

Mix ingredients.  This is best prepared ahead so that the flavors can blend.

White Bean Spread and Avocado Veggie Wrap

This sounds like a big project, but I made the wraps a few days ago and the spread is a snap.  After that it's just fresh veggies of your choice.  I love to eat wraps because I don't do great with a lot of bread but I love sandwiches.  This fits the bill perfectly.

For the White Bean Spread:

1 can Great Northern beans, rinsed, or probably about 1 1/4 cup cooked dried beans
2 cloves garlic (I did 3, and it's a little strong)
salt to taste
about 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
olive oil
a squeeze of lemon juice

Peel the garlic cloves and put them in the food processor first.  Chopping them up on their own prevents big chunks of garlic in your spread.  Now dump in the beans, salt, seasoning and start with 2 TB olive oil and a little bit of lemon juice.  Process until smooth.  If the beans are too dry add some more olive oil.  Taste and adjust lemon, salt, etc.

To assemble:

homemade spelt wrap (check out the recipe here)
White Bean Spread
slices of red bell pepper (still working on the one from the omelet)
half an avocado
romaine lettuce
sliced tomato
salt and pepper

An Omelet, Frittata - Call it Whatcha Wanna

eggs whites (left from the peach ice cream), plus one more egg (personally, I prefer omelets with the whole egg, and normally use 2 whole eggs)
1/3 of a small chopped red pepper
chopped onion to taste
a small handful of spinach leaves sliced into "ribbons"
a couple of tomato slices
about 1/2 TB butter

Heat frying pan over medium-low heat.  Beat together the whites and the extra egg.  Melt butter in the pan.  Pour in the eggs, then sprinkle in the veggies.  Put on a lid and let cook for 2-3 minutes.

When ready, flip over or fold as desired.  Put tomato slices in the pan, replace lid.  Let cook for a minute and turn tomatoes to warm on the other side.

Plate it up, and enjoy!  I like to have omelets with with some Romano cheese.

Apple Crisp

To start:  Butter 9x9 dish for a deeper crisp, or a larger pan for a more shallow crisp.  (It won't be enough stuff for a 9X13 pan, though.)   Preheat the oven to 350.

 For the "filling":

1 quart bottled apple slices bottled in apple juice
2 TB corn starch
dash of cinnamon
2 TB honey
apple juice as needed

Pour juice from the apple slices into a small saucepan.  Whisk in the cornstarch until lumps are gone.  Add honey and cinnamon and stir over medium heat until honey melts and mixture thickens.  If needed, whisk in more apple juice - I needed to thin my mixture a little because there wasn't much juice in the bottled slices.  Pour apple slices into the buttered dish and gently stir in the apple juice/cornstarch mixture.  Spread evenly around the pan.

For the topping:

about 3/4 cup spelt flour
3/4 cube of butter
a couple dashes of salt
1-2 TB evaporated cane juice
1/2-1 cup rolled oats

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the spelt and salt and sugar.  Slice in the butter with knives or a pastry cutter.  When the butter is evenly mixed in, stir in oats as desired.  Crumble topping over pie filling.


Bake until heated through, or if desired, until topping is browned and crunchy.

My Creamy Peach Ice "Cream"

Ah, I've finally got it - a creamy, dairy-free ice cream that is not too sweet.

In a small saucepan, whisk together 3 egg yolks and 1/4 cup honey over medium heat.  Keep stirring until little bubbles show up on the sides of the pan.  Pour this into the pitcher of your blender.

Add:
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 dash sea salt
frozen peaches (was probably just under 1 lb)
1/4 tsp guar gum
about 2 cups of rice milk

Blend it up!  Now pour into your ice cream maker and get ready for some cool, creamy, not-too-sweet yummy-ness.

Cucumber Salad

I never would I have guessed that the Mayo Clinic did recipes, but when I did a search for recipes using English cucumbers, this is came up.  It was DELISH.  I will be trying it this week with "regular" cucumbers.

Ingredients

For the dressing

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 English cucumber with peel, washed and thinly sliced
• Cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions

In a small saucepan, add the rosemary, vinegar and olive oil. Heat over very low heat to blend and intensify the flavors, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the mustard until well blended.
In a serving bowl, add the cucumber slices. Pour the dressing over the cucumbers and toss to coat evenly. Add the black pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Collard Greens, For the First Time

Jeremiah picked a big bunch of collards last night.  I cleaned them and put them in a ziploc with a paper towel, just like I do with washed lettuce.  These are older leaves, so they are tougher and need more cooking time than younger leaves would.  (That's what I've read, anyway...)

Put a pot of water on to boil.  Cut the stems out of the leaves and then stack several leaves and slice into ribbons.When the water is boiling, add the cut greens and some salt.  Stir into the water, and let simmer for 30-40 minutes.

In the meantime, if desired, cook some bacon.

Drain the greens.  Heat olive oil in saute pan.  Add sliced garlic and greens.  Cook for about 5 minutes, serve.

We ate the greens on a sandwich/in a wrap with mayo, tomatoes and the bacon.  Yum!  Some recipes seem to indicate that you don't have to cook them to death before sauteing the collards, so I'll be experimenting a bit.