Throwing a Little Something Together...

     I've got friends who have an obsessive desire to follow recipes exactly.  I used to be this person.  It's what you do when you're first learning how to cook.  But I think it makes you afraid a little.  Afraid you might mess something up.  You know what?  You almost never do and a lot of times what you come up with is better than what the Internet says, especially one of those recipes from TV, blerg.  AND most of the time the recipe has got one or twelve things you don't have sitting in your fridge at the moment.  So let's talk about what is in your fridge.  At any moment I have every ingredient necessary for a good soup, Italian anything, stir-fry, and hummus.  Always have the ingredients for hummus.  All you need for hummus is any bean variety, oil, garlic, and salt.  All you need for soup is a can or two of tomatoes and a variety of vegetables, and sometimes you can pull it off without the tomatoes!  Italian needs tomatoes, basil and garlic.  Mushrooms are good, other herbs, or onions, but really all you need are tomatoes, basil, and garlic.  Let's get to that stir-fry now.

I started on this because I had some peanut sauce from the Farmer's Market calling my name all week.  I also had purple cauliflower, red cabbage, carrots, a squash from my garden, oyster mushrooms, a white bell pepper, half an onion, and some garlic.  Sounds like stir-fry to me.  Does it matter what color your vegetables are?  Nope.  Do you need all those vegetables to make a stir-fry?  Nope, though it does help to feed a larger group to have a variety if you only have small quantities of each like I had.  Do you have to have fancy soba noodles like I did?  Not even.  I wasn't even thinking of noodles when I realized I had the makings for stir-fry.  I was going to do rice first, but realized I hadn't left enough time to pull it off, so noodles it was!  What I'm trying to say here is relax.  Take a deep breath.  It's just one dinner.  You can do it.  If all else fails, there's always peanut butter or grilled cheese, or whatever sandwich combination your family is allowed to eat in this day of allergens and intolerances.

The biggest thing to remember when doing a stir-fry for a family is not to cook everything in the same pan unless you have a huge pan.  I like my stir-fry veggies warmed and nearly raw, cooking everything in the same pan tends to steam everything and take forever so you're left with a long cook time and mushy veg.

Refrigerator Clean-Out Stir Fry
Serves 4

3 large carrots, sliced
1/2 large onion, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 medium cabbage, sliced
1 large or 2 small yellow squash, sliced
1/2 lb oyster mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup cauliflower florets
1 bell pepper, sliced
2 green onions, sliced
1 Tbs sesame seeds
1 bunch of soba noodles, boiled and drained
1 tsp high heat oil
1 Tbs peanut sauce, soy sauce, or tamari sauce

On medium/high heat, cook onions first in a small amount of oil until they have softened slightly, then set them aside, then carrots cooked until slightly soft and set aside, continue cooking vegetables one at a time until all are cooked, excluding the green onions and sesame seeds, mushrooms and garlic can go in together.  Mix all the veggies together.  Plate noodles and top with cooked veggies, finish with the sauce of your choice.

Now, go to your fridge and start experimenting!!  Here's a few more ideas to get you started:
Chicken, pork, or tofu, eggplant, peas, bok choi, broccoli, any color of bell pepper, zucchini, green beans, water chestnuts, baby corn, bamboo shoots.

Ice-Pops, Ideas, and a Give Away...

So these are Zipzicles.

     You want these.  My friend Cara from Fork and Beans found some at Cost Plus World Market and went on to make some lovely homemade Otter-type pops.  I fiddled around on the Internet a bit and found that WizCo is just a few miles from my house!  They graciously sent me a sample pack and I went a little bonkers, ya'll.  I just kept on thinking of things to use these little pouches for!

     First off, I did make pops.  'Cuz yeah, Summer.  These are each a different type of juice.  The clear one is a simple infused water concoction of nasturtium and mint.  Not sweet for the kiddles, but so nice for me on hot days!  Each pouch contains almost 1/2 a cup, so to make my grown-up Zipzicle:

Nasturtium and Mint Ice-Pop
1/2 C water per pop
2 nasturtium flowers per
1 two inch sprig fresh mint (about 5 leaves) per

Combine in a cup and let steep for 30 minutes.  You can muddle it a bit at the end if you like.  I chopped up a few blossoms to make it pretty, but you don't need to.  If you are using flowers, place a few chopped blossoms into the pouch, pour infused water in to the fill line, close bag, and tilt it back and forth gently to distribute the flowers evenly.  Lay flat for a few hours to freeze.

The other pops are juices I bought at Trader Joe's, one is the Very Green Smoothie, one is carrot, and one is Tart Cherry.  The cherry one is especially good.  We also enjoy orange, grape, and fruit puree pops regularly!

And now for the rest!

     Next up, can we just talk about how long I've been wanting to make yogurt tubes?  I don't like store bought ones that are full of sugar and chemicals, and the organic frilly ones are few and far between.  I have thought for years that there had to be a better way.  Some way to make yogurt tubes at home.  This is it, yo!  These are homemade yogurt sweetened with a bit of honey.  No cane, beet or corn sugar, no rBST, just milk, bacteria, and honey.  Yummers.

     Number 3 is applesauce pouches.  1/2 C is a good portion of sauce.  You can fill past the fill line if you're not going to freeze it.  I found that the best way to fill these pouches with thicker things like yogurt and applesauce is to use a pastry bag to fill them half way, tap it once or twice to get out the bubble, and then fill the rest of the way.  For thicker substances or tough bubbles, a poke or two with a chop-stick will go a long way.

     Fourth up, any small, amusingly shaped cracker will fit beautifully into these pouches.  It's slightly less than a serving size, but just right for a lunchbox or a quick snack after karate.

And speaking of snacks, let's talk dessert, shall we?  A few mini chocolate chips, some tiny marshmallows, and a graham cracker bear or two.  A large pastry tip makes a nice funnel for the chocolate chips.  I know this is the complete embodiment of opposite from what I said about the yogurt tubes, but you know, cute is cute sometimes and dessert is dessert and s'mores is s'mores.

     For a healthier alternative while camping or hiking, Good Old Raisins and Peanuts really hit the spot.  A serving of peanuts almost fills up to the fill line, mix in a few raisins and GORP's your uncle!

     For flying, camping, or car trips, hummus makes a great snack, and 1/2 a cup of hummus makes a pretty healthy portion!  The flexibility of the pouches makes it really easy to get all of it out.  I've got a straw brush that I used to clean the pouches out after the hummus.

    Again, with the food coloring, but you know what?  There's exactly enough room in these pouches for Jell-o.  I used the quick-set method so that the heat wouldn't melt the plastic.  Sets up faster that way, too!  I wonder if agar agar jello would work in these, but I think that by the time it was cool enough to pour, it would be set too far.  An experiment for another day, perhaps.

     Need a sweet little pouch for party favors?  Fill them up with candy, jewelry, or confetti!  (Maybe don't give out the confetti filled ones until the end of the party...)

     I think this is my favorite idea: A little tomato soup and a pouch of oyster crackers!  Again, I poured the soup in cold, and served it at room temp.  It's a nice, healthy change-of-pace snack for the kid who's tired of cheese sticks and fruit slices.

     And then there are the non-food options.  Let's talk art-on-the-go, shall we?  Four thin markers fit very well in here, four or five colored pencils would do nicely, as well.  Just right for trips!  You can fit a few pipe-cleaners in here, too I bet, though I haven't tried it.  I did try Rainbow Loom bands and they were near impossible to get back out. Think, long and thin, and things that shake out easily.

     Speaking of things that shake out easily, a few Lego bricks are just the thing for a quick creation on the go.  Nanoblocks fit well, Micro Machines, too.

Here's a few more ideas!   

I haven't tested them, but you can!

• Make your own "Pedialyte" pops.  Coconut water is an excellent (and more tasty) electrolyte replenisher!
• Try these for pureed baby foods or toddler snacks like Cheerios.
• Going camping? Fill one with ketchup, one with mayo, and one with mustard.
• Maybe a small First-Aid Kit, a couple of Band-aids and a tube of Neosporin.
• What about filling one with mouthwash for weekend trips?

And Now, A Give Away!!

Have some ideas for these lovely little bags?  Wanna get some for free?  Well, you, my friend are in the right place!  WizCo is allowing me to give three lucky people a free 12-pack of Zipzicle pouches!  Leave me a comment here or on my facebook page with your favorite ice-pop flavor or a new idea for the bags and you'll be entered to win!  Contest ends on Friday so chime in!

*Give Away Has Now Ended*

Canning Revisited

 Last year I did a post on canning using traditional metal canning lids.  I mentioned then that there were some reusable lids on the market and I wanted to try them.  My main reason for canning tomatoes is that the regular metal cans in the market have BPA sprayed all over the inside and acidic foods are supposed to be the worst for releasing the toxins.  I haven't been able to find any jarred tomatoes anywhere I normally shop, so I thought it'd be easier and less expensive to can my own.  I canned 20 pounds two years ago, 40 last year, and am shooting for 80 this year.  I... uh...  use a lot of tomatoes...  Imagine my chagrin at finding out that the metal canning lids also have BPA coatings as well!  That clinched it for me to try the new lids.  I have canned pickles, jam, and now tomatoes with Tattler Reusable Canning lids and they are extremely easy to use.  I haven't had them long enough to speak to longevity and food spoilage but strictly from a canning standpoint they are nearly as easy to use as the metal ones and I feel glad I'm producing a safer product for my family.  Plus, they're made in the USA, and who doesn't love that?   

 (I have very patriotic tomatoes)

When it comes to canning recipes, I don't think it gets easier than tomatoes.  Peel them, add lemon juice, put a lid on it.  Pretty simple...  The Tattler lids are safe for both pressure and boiler canning, but tomatoes only require boiling.

These are "sauce" quality tomatoes.  I get them from one of my favorite Farmer's Market vendors, Garden Treasures.  Being sauce quality, they may have bruises or cracks, odd shapes, or may even have a touch of mold.  (Especially when you do like I do and let them sit on the kitchen floor over night...derp)  Since they're not display quality, you can often get them for less.  They still taste great, but usually they're nothing to write home about looks-wise...

After washing the tomatoes, cut out the core, sever any imperfections, and slice an X in the bottom of the tomato.

Pop them in the oven under a broiler.

Meanwhile, begin heating your canner on the stove.  Submerge the jars, lids, and rubber rings and bring them almost to a boil.

When the tomatoes reach this stage, they're ready.

Once they have cooled a little, you can peel the skins off easily.

You can pack them whole or make sauce, but I prefer to chop them quickly and pack them "raw" though they have cooked a bit from the broiling.

 Add a tablespoon of lemon juice to the bottom of each pint jar.  Two for a quart.

 Pack the tomatoes.  You can either use boiling water or juice to fill it in.  The tomatoes produce so much juice, I prefer to use it.

 If you're going to use the juice, you need to process the tomatoes for longer.  (Hot water- Pint 40 minutes, Quart 45 minutes. Tomato juice-85 minutes for both quart and pint.)

 Run a knife down the side of the jar to release any bubbles.  Check head space.  This jar is too full and I pulled a couple of pieces out.

Clean off the edge of the jar.

*****

Up until now, all these steps are what you use to do any canning.  Here is where the difference comes in.

 

Put the rubber gasket on the edge of the jar.

 Put the lid on the jar.

 Or you can put the gasket on the lid and then put the lid on the jar.

 

 Then put the metal ring on.  This is the most important step.  Unlike metal lids, you cannot put the ring on too tightly when using the Tattler lids.  I put them on just until it grabs tightly, but not until it's fully tightened. Tattler calls it "fingertip tight" in the instructions.  Another way to try it is to tighten it up completely and then loosen it about a quarter inch.  These lids need some space to vent while processing.

The other big difference between these lids and the metal ones is you don't let them sit in the canner for any length of time.  As soon as the process time is over, pull them out and tighten the rings.  Let them sit on the counter until they cool completely.

Once they've come to room temp, check the seal by removing the metal ring and  trying to pry the top off with your fingers.  It will just come right off if it hasn't sealed.  If this happens, check the jar for cracks and rubber gasket for debris, put the lid back on and process again for the prescribed time.  This happened to me with the jam and pickles on a couple of jars, but all of these tomatoes sealed!  Store with the metal rings on or off.  I like to leave them so I know where they are to keep the lids on when I open jam or pickles for refrigerator storage. 

I'm not gunna lie.  The first time I tried to open one of these, I spilled a hefty amount of tomatoes on the counter.  You are supposed to pry the top off with a butter knife, but you have to be careful and not pinch the rubber gasket because if they rip you can't use them.  It was a sexy thing to do, I know.  They do sell an opener but I'm going to try it again a few times before I add another gadget to my bulging utensil drawer.

The only thing I don't absolutely love about these lids is that it's hard to make them stack totally straight.  This is a little dramatic for photography purposes, but they really don't stack very "firmly."  Other than that, these lids are a breeze.  They come in standard and wide-mouth sizes.  They do not come with the metal rings, but if you're like me, you got rings when you bought your jars.  Otherwise, they are readily available at grocery stores and even hardware stores!

For those of you who missed my Canning Primer last year or who would like a little refresher on the tools and the types of canners, here's a link!

PS, Tattler has not paid me for this endorsement.  They don't know me from Adam.

Yogurt the Magnificent!

     Unlike the butter post in which cream became butter in a matter of moments, this week's yogurt process is an exercise in patience.  But not too much if you do it at night.  Then, it's an exercise in sleeping.  My favorite kind of exercise...

     A few years ago, I found a blog called Crockpot 365.  This dear lady posted a new crockpot recipe a day for 365 days.  And one of the things she made was yogurt.  Oh My.  Her method required a timer and since I never, ever, ever, ever, *sigh* ever remember to set mine, I found another blog post at wikihow with temperatures for making yogurt.  I like how simple the crockpot recipe is, but it takes a lot of baby sitting that I generally don't have the patience for.  And there are a lot of steps in the wikihow article I also really don't feel like messing around with.  Recently, I came up with my own method for making yogurt using a mixture of these two methods and this is how it goes:

You'll need:
Yogurt culture
Milk, any kind will do, even non-fat*
Crock Pot
Large heavy bottomed pot
Thermometer
Whisk
Container for storing your yogurt in

     Acquire yogurt culture.  You can buy powdered culture, but most people just buy a small carton of plain yogurt at the store.  I have found my very favorite yogurt for starting a batch is Dannon.  Don't ask me why, I actually don't like it by itself.  But something in it makes the best-tasting homemade batch to start off.  Be sure to save 1/2 C of your yogurt to be the base for your next batch.  If you forget or it goes bad before you are ready to make your next batch, just start again with store-bought!  For this demonstration, I am using yogurt left over from my last batch.  Because I'm cool like that.

     Heat milk to 185° in a heavy bottomed pot, stirring with a whisk the whole time to keep it from burning.  I put mine on high heat so it heats up faster (5-7 minutes)  If you are uncomfortable with using high heat, by all means, use lower heat, but you will have to stand there stirring longer.  You don't have to use raw milk, I just thought I'd give it a try this time and found I really like it!  You can use any kind of milk whole, non-fat or anywhere in between, *but not ultra-pasteurized.  Apparently, the ultra-pasteuriziation process, in addition to making it taste weird, kills everything in it.  Since yogurt requires bacterial action, U-P milk just won't work.

Just in case you need to know what it looks like to pour milk into a pot...

This is what stirring with a whisk looks like...

When milk reaches 185°, remove from heat and pour into room temperature crock pot.  Remove yogurt from fridge and leave on counter to warm up. 

Milk getting poured again.  Groundbreaking, right?

When milk cools down to between 110 and 90 degrees, whisk culture into warmed milk.   Depending on the temperature of your room, this can take an hour to an hour and a half.

You see this?  This is a highly adequate picture of what it looks like when you put the lid on your crockpot...

Cover and wrap in insulated bag or towels.  Let sit at least 8 hours.  The longer you let it sit, the firmer it will be.

     This is what mine looked like the next day.  I let it sit for quite a while since I got knocked on my tail by a cold between starting the yogurt and getting around to opening it up.  Nearly 18 hours, I estimate.  You can see the cream layer on this whole milk yogurt.  A half gallon of milk will yield approximately the same amount of yogurt.

     If you see some yellow water-y looking stuff floating on top of your yogurt this is perfectly normal.  It stands to reason that the one time I actually wanted to see it so I could photograph it for you guys I didn't get any!  This is the first time this has ever happened...  Maybe the longer sitting time?  Anyway, I use a big spoon to scoop it out, as I like my yogurt a little thicker.  You can stir it in if you want.  If you want your yogurt even thicker, many people add a little powdered milk to theirs, though I never have.  On rare occasion, I strain mine through some cheese cloth or coffee filters to make it extra thick, but I feel like it wastes a lot of yogurt to do this (reduces the volume by more than half) so while it's delicious, I save that for special occasions.

My youngest son's favorite breakfast of all time...

     Occasionally I have had the milk not set.  Perhaps the yogurt was added when the milk was too warm, or maybe the culture was bad.  Once, I had it turn out pink.  In either of these cases, (especially the pink one) it's best to throw it out and start again.  That said, I've only had those results maybe three times in the years I've been making my own yogurt.

     But when it works (and it totally will, trust me) it's another one of those funny little miracles in the kitchen.  You buy it in the store for years, but you never think about how simple it is to make all your own.

     This yogurt beats the pants off anything you've ever bought.  Not sour at all, just creamy and wonderful.  If you don't want to eat it just plain, we have used fruit, agave nectar, honey, sucanat, and pure maple syrup as sweeteners.  I also like cinnamon and vanilla as flavorings.  You can use this in Indian cooking (Raita, anyone?), baking, smoothie creation,  and also apparently as a facial and a hair conditioner.  Eh.  Who knew?

     One last note, I've never done it, but it seems homemade soy yogurt is a thing that people out there make.  It appears to be a similar process and relatively simple, but you have to add a thickener like agar flakes.  And I hear, sometimes it involves a microwave...