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I'd been reading about making strained yogurt but have never tried it myself until now. I LOVE Greek strained yogurt like the Fage Total variety now available in stores, especially with some honey and toasted almonds.

My mom has also introduced me to a delicious Indian spiced mango yogurt available from her cool local natural food store deli, which I believe must be made with strained yogurt as it is so thick (it's also got mango puree, cinnamon, cardamon, and slivered almonds).

So I decided yesterday to give it a whirl. I took a large carton of lowfat plain yogurt (Stonyfield Farms to be precise) and emptied it into a cheesecloth-lined metal strainer. I found the cheesecloth in the baking aisle at the grocery store. I let that sit draining into a larger bowl overnight. This morning, I found a nice thick lump of strained yogurt!

I emptied this back into the yogurt container, and mixed in 3 Tbsp powdered sugar, and about 1 tsp each cinnamon and cardamon. I also toasted some unsweetened dried coconut and chopped almonds to sprinkle it with later. I have a mango but I think I will try this plain first (and let the mango ripen one more day). Then maybe I will add the mango to the remainder. I also have some dried cherries I think I might add in.

I will have to update this when I actually try the finished product, and with a picture, but for now this entry can at least serve to remind me that the actual draining of the yogurt was quite easy!

Here's the bread I've been baking every week. I make the dough in the bread machine and then bake the loaf in the oven.

Into the bread machine goes (in this order, at least for my machine):
1 1/8 c warm water
1/3 c honey or maple syrup
1 Tbsp oil
2 cups whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat)
1 cup bread flour (again, KA's is good)
A few Tbsp powdered milk are nice but not necessary
1 1/2 tsp salt (I put it in one corner)
1 1/2 tsp regular (not rapid-rise) yeast (I put this in a well in the center).

My Oster bread machine lets me choose Whole Wheat/Small/Dough settings. It takes about 2 hours to produce the dough.

I put the dough into a loaf pan and let it rise a bit more (30 min? More might be better but I usually don't have time) while preheating the oven to 450 degrees.

Bake for 10 min at 450, then lower heat to 350 and bake 30 min more. Loaf should be golden brown and have a hollow sound when you tap the bottom. Cool on a rack.

I like this bread because it is moist and has a good texture, and doesn't crumble all to bits when I slice it. The crust is chewy. I store in the fridge, or slice and freeze it if I don't think I will use it in a week.

I bet you could add things like nuts or oats or raisins to this and it would be very nice too.

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One of our stand-bys as it is pretty quick and you can keep most of the ingrediants in the pantry/freezer:

Whole wheat tortillas sufficient for three layers in a large cassarole dish (I prefer the Joseph's high fiber ones that come 6 to a package, and use 2 per layer)
1 jar (2 cups) salsa (I used Newman's Own mild for the one pictured, but anything will do. I like ones that don't have sugar added best)
1 can black beans
1 can red/pinto beans
1 small bag frozen sweet corn (about 1.5 cups)
4 sweet potato/yams (about 2 cups mashed)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or more, if you want!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (350 works too -- everything is cooked so mostly the cooking is just to heat and melt the cheese).

Microwave or bake the yams until soft enough to mash (I prefer this to boiling as I think it intensifies the flavor). Defrost the frozen corn (doesn't need to be hot, just not all frozen).

Rinse and drain the beans; combine with corn.

In a large cassarole dish, spread a few spoonfuls of salsa to cover the bottom. Cover bottom with one layer of tortillas. Using the Joseph's brand, this takes two. I usually cut one of them up to make it fit better. Spread half the bean-corn mixture across the tortillas. Top with a few spoonfuls of salsa. Add another layer of tortillas. Spread mashed yams across tortillas, trying to make a single layer. Top with remaining half of bean-corn mixture. Add last layer of tortillas, and top with remaining salsa. Everything should be covered in salsa. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until warmed through and cheese is melted and turning golden.

Makes 8 servings. 260 calories, 6 grams fat, 41 carb (12 fiber), 15 protein when made as specified.

I've frozen this and it's worked out fine.

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Two Indian recipes from our most recent dinner with friends:

Dal
Adapted from Sundays at Moosewood by the Moosewood Collective

1.5 c brown lentils
4 c water
1.4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 c chopped onion
2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 package frozen spinich, defrosted and squeezed free of as much water as possible
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp salt

Wash the lentils in a change or two of water, then drain it and put in a medium pot. Cover with the 4 c and bring to a boil. Add the tumeric and salt, and reduce heat. Simmer for about 30 min, until lentils are soft (can go longer, unless you object to mushy lentils). Add the tamarind paste and mash it up until it breaks up (you might want to do this separately with an extra half-cup of boiling water, in case you want to check for seeds).

Meanwhile, heat the oil and fry the cumin seeds for a few seconds, then add the ginger and onion and cook until the onions are nice and brown.

When the lentils have cooked enough to your taste, add in the onion mixture, spinich, tomato paste, lemon juice, garam masala, and additional salt to taste. Mix well and cook a while longer.

We then cooled this off and refrigerated over night, to reheat in the microwave for our dinner guests. It tasted fine -- maybe even better as the flavors got to meld. I found this very tasty over the following rice dish, with the suggested accompaniments and mango chutney.

Next time I will probably add more spinich, and try making it with split yellow peas (though that will increase the cooking time a bit).

Brown Rice Pulao
Adapted from the Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 c chopped onion
1 Tbsp grated peeled ginger
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp tumeric
2 tsp ground coriander
4 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
1/2 package frozen peas and carrots
1/2 c raisins
2 c (uncooked) brown rice, prepared according to package (should make about 6 cups)
salt to taste

And to accompany: unsweetened coconut, toasted, and cashew nuts.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add onion, ginger, and spices. Saute until onions are well browned. This will cause the ginger to stick and get browned too-- you can pour in a bit of water as needed to deglaze the pan and allow you to scrape up the bits. Watch out for spattering oil though!

Add the garlic and saute until it too is browning. Add the defrosted peas and carrots, the rice, and the raisins. Mix well and continue cooking over low heat until rice is heated through.

We then (again) cooled and refrigerated this, and microwaved it the next day. It still tasted great, with the dal and other accompaniments!

As part of an ongoing series of dinners we have been preparing for and with our friends who live down the street, we've been having fun making ice cream in our ice cream machine. Here are two easy and tasty recipes we made recently

Coconut Ice Cream

1 pint heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 can of sweetened coconut cream (Coco Lopez, in the mixers section of the grocery store)

Blend the milk and coconut cream in a food processor. When smooth, stir in the cream and coconut flakes, and transfer to ice cream machine. Prepare according to machine directions.

I neglected to record the size of the coconut cream can, but I think it was around 15 oz.

This was a delicious recipe and held up well over several days without turning into a block of ice. I liked the chewy bits of coconut added to it, but it would probably also be great with bits of banana, dried pinapple, toasted almonds, or chocolate. Or marachino cherry bits. So many options, so little time!

Chai Ice Cream
1 large can sweetened condensed milk
4 chai tea bags (we used Stash decaf Chai)
1/2 c milk
1 pint light cream

Heat condensed milk and milk until simmering, with tea bags. Let cool, then refridgerate overnight. Add cream and prepare in machine as per manufacturer's instructions.

We've only tasted this in it's just-barely-frozen state, but it was delicious. A bit too sweet, perhaps, so maybe next time I will use less condensed milk or more regular milk. But it definitely tasted like the masala chai with sweetened condensed milk we get at some of our favorite Indian restaurants!

My friends Maureen and Matt made this for my birthday this year, and I've been thinking about it every since. I finally remembered to get the recipe for myself.

The original recipe is double the below, and is meant to be cooked in a bundt pan. I decided to use four mini-bundts. The recipe below filled them, plus two oversized muffin tin cavities. I liked the small cakes even more than the original large one, because they maximize the surface area covered in sesame seeds.

Apple Seed Cake

Spray the cake tins with cooking spray, then sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds (the more the better, in my opinion). Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together 3/4 c vegetable oil, 3/4 c. brown sugar (not packed), and one large egg. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp water and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, a dash of ground cardamom, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Add dry ingrediants to wet, and mix until smooth. Fold in 1 1/2 c chopped apple and 1/2 c walnuts (I used large pieces, because I like the toothsome quality they give the final product).

Pour batter into pans and bake for about 30 min or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

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I've been experimenting with crock pot cooking lately, for those days when writing, walking the dog, etc. take priority over food preparation but I still want something tasty and don't want to spend the money to eat out. Thus far it's all been chicken.

First was a simple barbeque sauce and chicken thighs, cooked until the chicken could be shredded. It would have been even easier with bottled BBQ sauce, but as it was I liked it quite a bit. I wish I had picked up rolls to eat it on, but instead we had it with corn biscuits.

Second was more chicken thighs, cooked with a jar of salsa, then shredded for tacos. This was good, but Next time I will try the variation where you use a packet of taco seasoning instead of salsa.

Most recently, and best of all, was chicken curry. This was pretty much my own invention, though I can't take credit for the most important part, the spices, as I just used my Patak's curry paste from a jar. I thought it turned out very tasty and it was quite easy to make. First I added a large can (~28 oz) of chopped tomatoes (unsalted, unseasoned). Then I mixed in two heaping spoonfuls of the curry paste and mixed it into the tomato juice (testing for seasoning level/spiciness here). I then added three chicken breasts, cut in chunks (mine were frozen, partially defrosted), and half a red onion, chopped. I stirred that all up so everything was coated in liquid. Then I peeled and chopped a large sweet potato and added that on top, but did not stir it in (so as to avoid it turning to mush too fast). It cooked on low from about 8 to about 4. It probably could have kept cooking longer, but at that point the chicken and potatoes were starting to fall apart. We had this over brown rice, with mango chutney, and it was quite good if I do say so myself. And really, not that different from my stovetop curry. I missed having the onions nicely browned, but it was worth it for the convenience. The result was quite soupy, so next time I may only add some of the tomato juice.

I'm definitely going to try more crockpot cooking.

This recipe, despite being Swedish, did not come to me from my Swedish Grandma. I never wore the candles in my hair or dressed in the white dress and brought my family sweets on Saint Lucia's day. But one of the great things about life is that it's never too late. Well, actually, I still haven't worn the candles or the white dress, but I did start making lussekatter last year for Saint Lucia's day.

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When I was home recently at Thanksgiving, I took the opportunity to copy down a number of my late Grandma's recipes from the hand-written cards she had given my Mom at various points. My Grandma, Ellen VanDerWerf, was my Dad's mom. Her parents (the Olsons) came over from Sweden and raised a large family on a farm in Minnesota. She married my late Grandpa Al and they settled in Sandstone Minnesota, where they raised my Dad and his four brothers. I can only imagine how much food five teenaged boys must have eaten! One of the recipes I copied down, for bran muffins, uses 6 cups of bran and 5 cups of flour, not to mention 3 cups of sugar!

All the recipes are for foods I have fond memories of eating during our regular trips out to see the Minnesota clan throughout my childhood. It's not surprising, however, that the first one I tried out was Blueberry Buckle. Unfortunately I had only frozen berries, but they were the small wild ones, and they worked well enough. I will definitely be trying this again next summer though!

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The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.
~C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

My experience of reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was probably similar to many others, in that I had no idea what Turkish Delight was, but dreamed of it being some incredible delicacy, the perfect sweet. My imaginings made it into something similar to the Indian dessert gulab jamun; a fried pastry soaked in syrup. I don't know why. I suppose even then I loved fried things! And I thought it should be something warm, if Edmund was eating it in the midst of an endless winter. When I learned what Turkish Delight really was (a starch and sugar mixture, flavored with rosewater or other extracts), I felt a trifle disappointed.

Nevertheless, when my friend Maureen proposed that we attempt to make the stuff, I threw myself into the project. I searched fruitlessly for rose water (Maureen finally found it at a gourmet food store), I mixed the cornstarch glue, I tested the sugar syrup to see if it was at the softball stage, I did my part to stir the combined mixture for the hour specified, as it turned pale golden.

I think my first real inkling it might not turn out well was when someone (there were various guests and onlookers present) observed that it looked rather like vaseline. And they were right:



It might have still worked out okay, except that we think that the fridge went on overdrive during the two day interlude between the brewing of the TD and the return of Maureen from her business trip, when we planned to sample it. It seems that the whole pan froze, and then defrosted, resulting in a strange gelatinous slab drifting in a thick syrup. We gamely tried to extract and slice the slab and dust it with sugar, and both Bob and Matt (Maureen's husband) bravely sampled the result.

But alas, the fate of the Turkish Delight was as ugly as it was:



Maybe next time we will just try fudge!