Shakshuka

I've seen and made multiple versions of the eggs-poached-in-chunky-sauce meal...one with a bed of sauteed spinach and mushrooms, another with caramelized shallots and a marsala-beef consomme reduction, among others.  This one is a recipe from the cookbook Jerusalem by Ottolenghi that uses a stovetop-simmered pepper-tomato sauce as the poaching bed.  A similar sauce that would probably also work well for cooking eggs this way is this roasted red pepper sauce.

The original recipe calls for harissa, a super-spicy pepper paste, that I don't have on hand.  I used some minced jalapeno and ginger from my freezer stash to bring a little heat and depth of flavor to the sauce.  If you like things hotter, use more or hunt down some harissa.

To chop your pepper finely enough for this dish, I highly recommend using the food processor.  Pulse quickly and stop short of pureeing them.  If you use canned tomatoes instead of fresh, drain them very well to shorten the cooking time needed to thicken the sauce.

I like how quickly the sauce went together and how well this recipe lends itself well to prepping ahead and freezing ahead.  You can chop all the ingredients for the sauce ahead of time and fridge them, or make the sauce completely in advance.  If you're going to freeze the sauce, you can even freeze it in individual portions for a quick meal-for-one.  Just bring the sauce back up to a simmer (from its frozen state even!), crack an egg into the sauce, cover and simmer 8-10 minutes.  Probably this thaw-and-poach process could even be managed in microwave...I don't know offhand how long to zap an egg to poach it, but if you do, let me know!

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Further Adventures in Homemade Yogurtry

Attempt #2.  Interesting.  Recap of the basic recipe:

8 cups milk
1/2 cup yogurt with live cultures
Optional: unflavored gelatin or Jello (I used 2 3 oz. Jello packets this time)

Put the milk in the crockpot and heat on low for 2.5 hours.  Turn off and let stand 3 hours.  Whisk 1 cup of warm milk into yogurt along with gelatin if using.  Mix back into crockpot.  Let stand, covered and well-wrapped to retain heat, for at least 8 hours.  Fridge for a few hours if using gelatin.

Funky browned milk

First of all, I have discovered that a regular ol' crockpot is the way to go.  I tried using a fandangled pressure cooker-crockpot-steamer thingie that I really like, but not for this.  The cooking element gets too hot, and made a layer of custard crust at the bottom of the pot...a desirable result for some recipes, but not this one.  I screw up so you don't have to...just use a plain crockpot with a ceramic insert that can't be used for speed-cooking beans.

I also tried using more gelatin this time, in the form of fruit flavored Jello.  I'd love to say that I'm making homemade yogurt because it's healthier, blah, blah, but I'm tired of buying ridiculously expensive tiny cups of kiddie yogurt so I'm trying to duplicate it more cheaply.  Per ounce, two 3 oz. packets of Jello will not make my homemade yogurt contain any more sugar than commercial yogurt, so that's good enough for me.  Although adding the flavored jello to the whole batch does compromise the future use of your homemade yogurt as a starter for the next batch (I used 1/2 cup of the last batch instead of buying another container of plain), unless you're planning to do the same flavor next time.

Two packets did create a MUCH firmer yogurt, but it was too firm...kind of like milky Jello.  The kids won't eat it LOL  But the flavor is pretty good and it looks appropriately neon-colored.  Back to 1 packet of gelatin next time. Pin It

Homemade Yogurt: Day 3

I didn't expect there to be a Day 3 post, but there is!  After 24 hours in the fridge, the yogurt firmed up to a lovely soft-but-spoonable consistency.  I forgot that while the yogurt cultures need heat to do their thing, the gelatin I added needs cold to do *its* thing.  I must confess that I'm not enough of a purist foodie to enjoy runny yogurt, so I'm going to call this a success. 

Next time, I'll still try to keep the crockpot warmer for the yogurt cultures, but I may even add a second packet of gelatin for an even firmer texture. 

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"Yogurt napping now"

All bundled up, waiting to turn into yogurt overnight:

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Homemade Yogurt: Day 1

When I told my Dear Husband that I was thinking about trying to make homemade yogurt, his response was, "I'm not surprised."  Haha!

Why?  Why not.  I'm following directions from A Year of Slow Cooking.  You don't need a yogurt-maker, just a crockpot and a towel.  I'm using whole milk because that's what we feed the boys, which should thicken up nicely according to the directions.  I do, however, want a firmer, more spoonable-by-a-3yo product than what I *think* I'll get with this process, so I'm adding some gelatin per the low-fat milk directions.  We'll see what happens.

I was hoping to start this early in the morning and have a finished product by tonight, but my younger son grew an inch last week and can now reach the wine rack.  Crash, bang, surprise!  No yogurt-making this morning.  So I'm starting in the afternoon, but that's okay because the magic will happen overnight.  Fresh-made yogurt in the morning!

I am so stinking excited!

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Berry Good Smoothie

"It smell delicious!" says my almost-3yo.  He has no clue there are beets in it...shhhh!!  This is my latest attempt to slip more vegetables into my kids' snacking routines.  You can use whatever combo of berries you wish, just be sure to get about 3-4 cups of berries total.

This recipe makes a lot of mix.  I needed 4 full ice cube trays to stash it all.  It also has a high mess/stain factor, and I'd use paper towels or a red dish cloth to mop up after yourself.  Be prepared.

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Green smoothie

I have been scheming ways to get more vegetables onto our snacking menu, and I now give you Green  (honeydew-spinach) Smoothies.  No, it does not taste like spinach.  I promise.  It tastes like sweet honeydew lightly accented with cardamom. 

I recommend scoping out your produce section to see if they have a "clearance" area.  I rescued a container of pre-chunked honeydew that was on its last good day (and was thusly discounted); this is the BEST fruit for this type of recipe because it is super-duper ripe, soft and sweet.  And on sale, ka-ching!  And you're saving perfectly good produce from being thrown away.  Fruit rescue perhaps isn't as emotionally fulfilling as animal rescue, say, but it does put me in a dancing mood.

You want to get the spinach pureed as smoothly as possible so the texture doesn't rat you out.  I did pretty well with pureeing the spinach with the honeydew, but next time I'd zap the spinach in the microwave for a few seconds to make sure it's really soft and whiz it in the food processor by itself first to get it even smoother.  My instructions reflect that planned change of procedure.  As with the other smoothie recipe detailed on this blog, you'll need 2 or 3 ice cube trays to freeze the mixture.

Honeydew-Spinach Smoothies
Makes 7 toddler-size smoothies or about 3 adult-size smoothies

1 10-oz. box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup apple juice
1 lb. cubed very ripe honeydew (about 4 cups)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp cardamom
1 cup vanilla yogurt

Put thawed, squeezed spinach in a microwave-safe container and zap for about 10 seconds.  Squeeze again.  Put spinach in a food processor and add a tbsp or so of apple juice.  Puree until very smooth.  Add honeydew and puree again until smooth.  Add cardmom, sugar and yogurt and puree again.  Pour mixture into a container with a pouring spout and stir in the remaining apple juice.  Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.



Kitchen Assistant (optional)

 To make a smoothie: Put 3-4 cubes in a blender with 1/2 cup water (for a toddler portion), or 6-8 cubes with 1 cup water (for an adult portion).  Blend and serve. Pin It

Breakfast Done Yesterday

Breakfast is by far the hardest meal for me to turn out in real time.  I am NOT a morning person, and the feral monsters that emerge from my children's bedrooms at 7 am every day do not morph into pleasant little people until after they've been fed and watered.  Every minute counts, and saving even a few minutes saves a lot of my sanity.

Homemade frozen pancakes and cereal are great for the kiddos, but I like something a with a little more staying power for myself.  Neither the Morning Power Drink nor Breakfast Muesli to Go can be frozen really well, but they can be made in large batches (on Sunday night, say) and kept for a week or so in the fridge to cut a snooze-button's worth of time off your breakfast prep.

Morning Power Drink (makes 6 servings)

2 1/4 cup milk
2 1/4 cup orange juice
3 6-oz. yogurt cups (any flavor, or plain)
3 bananas
1 cup soy protein powder or non-fat dry milk powder
Optional: 3 tbsp flaxmeal

Blend all the ingredients together and refrigerate.

Breakfast Muesli To Go (makes 5 servings)

5 cups rolled oats
1 32-oz. tub low-fat plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
5 cups assorted berries (fresh or frozen)
Optional: 1 banana, apple or kiwi per serving

Stir together the oats, yogurt, milk, honey or maple syrup and berries.  Divide into 5 sealable containers.  If desired, slice a piece of fresh fruit just before serving and stir it into one serving of the muesli.

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Shlurp!: Fruit Smoothies

I made up a bunch of smoothie-in-an-instant before Boy #2 was born thinking that I was going to need all the quick, healthful, easy, homemade snacks I could get (as opposed to my post-Boy #1 snack of choice, Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies ::blush:: ).  Turns out I HATE smoothies.  Good thing Boy #1 digs ‘em!

My smoothie mix is based on a Raspberry Soup recipe from the cookbook from the Cedar Crest Victorian Inn, a beautiful B&B in Asheville, NC.  I substitute local honey for sugar and only use half as much as the original, and leave out the water in order to create a "concentrate" for freezing.  The original recipe also calls for using all raspberry-flavored ingredients; it's very tasty to reinforce the primary fruit with yogurt and juice in the same flavor family, but also fun to mix things up.  Try orange juice with blueberries, apple juice with peaches, and so on. 

You can choose to strain the mixture or not.  I don't strain partly because I think food is at its most healthful when left whole and partly because I'm a lazy cook :D

Ice cube trays are one of the staple pieces of equipment in my kitchen.  Freezing things like leftover broth, extra wine, and tomato paste in cube form gives you versatility in portioning when you're ready to cook later.  One regular ice cube tray holds about 2 cups of liquid; this recipe will require 2 or 3 trays.

Frozen Fruit Smoothie Mix (makes 7 toddler smoothies, or about 3 adult smoothies)

20-24 oz. frozen fruit (e.g. raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches), thawed

1 cup juice

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 whole cloves

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

8 oz fruit-flavored yogurt

Puree the thawed fruit and juice in a food processor or blender.  Transfer to a large saucepan. Add the honey and spices. 

Bring just to a boil while stirring over medium heat.  Allow to cool and strain through a fine sieve, if desired.  Whisk in lemon juice and yogurt. 

Pour into ice cube trays to freeze.  You can store the mix in the trays or pop them into zip-top bags when frozen.

To make a smoothie: Put 3-4 cubes and about 1/4 cup water in a blender for a small smoothie or 6-8 cubes and about 1/2 cup water for a large smoothie.  Blend until desired consistency. 

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