Making Yogurt

I have tried in the past making my own yogurt, and I did it in this yogurt maker. I could never get excited about it though. For a large family, eight tiny half-cups of yogurt, in fragile plastic cups that *can't go in the dishwasher*, with lids that constantly crack and *also* can't go in the dishwasher, was not a good configuration.

But homemade yogurt is so good, especially when made Greek style (see end note), that I wanted to try again. What works for me is to ditch the machine, and use the following:

•half-gallon of organic whole milk
•two envelopes of starter
•two quart jars

I heat my milk, let cool, and mix in starter as directed on the starter package. While all that is going on, I fill my crockpot with hot water and turn it on to its lowest setting. When the yogurt is all mixed up, I pour it into my two quart jars, loosely cover them, and set them in the crockpot of water. I turn the heat off, balance the lid on top of the jars, and drape a folded bath towel over the whole affair. It's done in about six hours, or overnight. If I'm making it during the day I will occasionally turn the low heat back on for ten minutes or so--but this set-up holds a steady temperature surprisingly well.

Greek Yogurt:
Line a colander or steamer basket with a single thickness of paper towel. Set securely over a bowl. Put any amount of yogurt in, and refrigerate. It will immediately begin to drain off the thin liquidy whey. After a half day, the yogurt will be firm and extremely creamy, like a soft cream cheese. Drizzle local honey over your serving and enjoy!

Simple Yogurt

I've been making all of our yogurt for the last several months, with great success. I calculate that I'm saving at least  $700 a year, which is a little alarming. We were eating three single-serving cups of Fage yogurt a day. Lots of money, and lots of plastic trash (my grocery store only offers non-fat Fage in the bigger container. If I want fat, I have to buy the small).

So here's my super-simple method. I use an enameled cast-iron pot (it's an off-brand Le Creuset) and pour an entire gallon of organic whole milk in it. I put it over a medium heat and set the timer for 25 minutes. Meanwhile I get out my previous batch of yogurt and remove a heaping spoonful of it, and place it in a glass measuring cup with a spout, and leave it out on the counter.

When the milk has started to steam (be sure and jiggle the pot and get down at eye level to see if it makes a little steam), I turn off the flame and set the timer for another 25 minutes.  When the timer buzzes, I stick my clean finger in the milk. If it's too hot for comfort, I give it another ten minutes of cooling time. If, however, I can leave my finger in for three seconds, I move to the next step.

Which is to ladle out a cup of hot milk and put it in the glass measuring cup with my spoonful of yogurt. I stir this gently with a spoon, just breaking the yogurt up into small pieces, then pour all that back into the big pot and swirl it around a little.

Then the lid goes on the pot, the pot gets set in my Crock-Pot over an inch of water set to the "Keep Warm" setting, and an old bath towel goes over the whole thing. I leave it all day (or all night). Ten to twelve hours.

At the end of that time, I put my big colander in my stockpot, and line the colander with a large thin dishtowel. I dump all the yogurt in, and refrigerate it. In another ten to twelve hours, I have a large quantity of unbelievably delicious Greek yogurt. Very firm, tart, and thrifty. 

Small Appliances: The Yogurt Maker

I eat yogurt every day for breakfast. Plain, lowfat, organic, spooned over shredded wheat and sweetened with brown sugar. I buy two or three tubs of it at the store every week, so it seems like I should be making it myself with my yogurt maker, but I don't.

1. The process calls for careful temperature watching, gauging, and springing into action--granted, only for the first hour or so, but not the type of thing which can be left to its own devices for a while without disaster when Daisy has caused an emergency or I can't get off the phone with a distraught client and then forget what I'm doing.

2. The results are iffy. Sometimes the yogurt is great, sometimes it's thin and runny.

3. If I start it in the morning, I have to remember to refrigerate it at night. If I start it at night, it's quite warm in the morning, and gross to eat.

4. It's more expensive to make than buy, even the premium organic stuff.

5. The tiny pots, the lids that crack.

This appliance is gathering dust.

Daisy Helps with the Yogurt

In the winter I can culture my yogurt by the woodstove. If the cats don't knock it over.

Out of Hades' Clutches: A Springtime Feast

You know we gave the Composer's parents a Christmas gift of a dinner party--they invite their friends, we provide the venue, the food, and often a little after-dinner entertainment. This weekend they cashed in their gift certificate, and we threw a springtime feast.

My mother-in-law used to teach quite a bit of Greek literature (hence the Hades--remember that he kept Persephone underground for six months each year and only let her out in spring). She also got it when I set out the silver teaspoons engraved "Helen".

I was going with a Greek thing.

This was a really, really good dinner to eat--and one of the easiest to prepare. Much can be done ahead. See below for the full menu and recipes. 

Not-So-Hard Springtime Feast:

Homemade pitas*

Baba ganoush drizzled with olive oil and served with olives and parsley*

Homemade hummus*

Green pea soup with mint and feta*

Boneless leg of lamb marinated in yogurt, coffee, and cumin*

Steamed asparagus with lemon zest

New potatoes roasted a long time in olive oil

Sliced cucumbers in homemade yogurt*

Individual Pavlovas set in cream, topped with homemade lemon curd, cream, and berries*

*Can be made ahead--or in the case of the lamb, marinated the day before and roasted for two hours. And in the case of the dessert, the components can all be made ahead and assembled last minute.

Surprise Lunches

When I have a little one who is just not interested in food at midday, I fix a Surprise Lunch. Similar to Japanese bento in concept (the concept being that a child will eat food that is cute), but easier to prepare, Surprise Lunches always work. Start by sending the child out of the room to cover their eyes, and don't let them peek until the plate is in front of them.


Use tiny dishes if you have them--I've recently been picking up little restaurant butter dishes at the thrift store; they're perfect. For food, I rarely use anything special or different from the child's usual food. Here Daisy's lunch is a peanut butter sandwich cut up, a few pretzels, a few cherries, and oh joy, four chocolate chips right on the plate. A tiny bowl of yogurt in the center of the plate, for dipping fruit, is nice too.



But look at the symmetry and the design: what toddler wouldn't want to eat that!

(Food styling credit to Giles today, as well as the usual photography.)

Le Bon Marche, and Notre Dame by Night

There's always time for a little yarnwork before we leave the apartment. I bought some beautiful wools before we left for France, and started a massive Granny Square that will be this year's new afghan.

Our sunny morning kitchen. Which we left as we headed out to spend the afternoon at Le Bon Marche, a classy department store that's been around for 160 years.

Lunch in the dining room--we unravelled the mystery of the "plat froid" and all had turkey club sandwiches with glass dishes of yogurt with red fruits to follow.

Then started roaming. Embroidery floss and yarn, Liberty of London fabric (which I did not buy, way too much money!) I did get one skein of mossy green merino to add to my afghan. Daisy approved the color choice. She is very into my crocheting at the moment (see later picture).

The kitchenware department was a delight! See the tiny copper pots, just right for Daisy's dolls! We chose a . . . potato masher! We've been needing a good sturdy one, as Bella remembered at just the right time.

Isn't this stunning? The whole store is such an aesthetic experience. Oh, and I finally got to smell Caron's "Nuit de Noel" perfume, which I've wanted to do for years--only by accident, as we got lost in the lingerie department and there it was, not with the other fragrances.

Then home to rest up, and time for Daisy to work on her crocheting chain. She's been so frustrated, but when I finally suggested that she make up her *own* way to hold the yarn, something clicked, and she started racing along.

Bella and I had fun in the kitchen. First I had to learn the French word for yeast (it's "levure", y'all), so we could buy ingredients for Bella's fantastic pizza with potatoes, leeks, Gruyere, and bacon. Except in Paris, apparently we use lardons instead of bacon. Even better! Already diced, you see.

Then a nighttime walk over the bridge to get ice cream cones, and admire Notre Dame's bright back side.

Sent the girls upstairs with grandparents, and the Composer and I went to another concert, sacred choral music in the Cathedral. No biggie.

Thinking About Breakfast

I have been thinking about breakfast this week and wondering why I have been satisfied to serve my family so little for lo, these many years. I have routinely allowed (made) them to subsist on cold cereal with the occasional pancake morning. And why? Because it felt like too much work to do anything more!

I have resolved to do much, much better and in fact we have had a week of wonderful breakfasts. I have made breakfast every morning since Sunday, and served it at a table set with plates, silverware, napkins, juice glasses, and cocoa mugs. My aim is to serve a little protein, a little fruit, and some nice whole grains every morning. It seems so luxurious to sit down *together* and eat something nice, all at the same time as a start to the day. Such a change from everyone standing around in the kitchen with a bowl of cold cereal.

It is taking much less time that I feared--I start preparing at 7:30 (Clara makes a silver pot of cocoa; I do the rest) and we sit down at 8:00, everyone dressed and beds made.

Sample Menus:

Cinnamon-raisin toast, bacon, cocoa, orange juice.
Toast, scrambled eggs, caramelized apple slices, cocoa, orange juice.
Biscuits, sausage patties, cocoa, orange juice.
Cinnamon rolls, fried eggs, plain yogurt with brown sugar and fresh raspberries, hot tea.

I'm having fun!

A Jaunt Through Germany

We're home at last from our wonderful two weeks revisiting the Composer's German past. For the next few days I'll share pictures, while catching up on laundry, sending Felix off for the summer, and tending to all the things that family life entails.

We loved our elegant little hotel in Cologne. In the grownups' room there were embroidered linen curtains hanging in the dresser's glass front.

About to head out for shopping--very happy after our wonderful German breakfast, a spread of rolls, cheese, cold cuts, fish, fruit, yogurt, and pickles! But not all on one plate. All so beautifully presented that each big strawberry had its own little china dish.

We left Cologne through its iconic and massive train station.

In the special high-speed train. 200 mph, baby.

Daisy busied herself with her new blank book. This one says "The Girl Who Met a Goat."

This one's filling up with poems. 

I had a tea from the man who was walking by with hot drinks. So many Euros but how could I not?

Clara and I knitted away. She's making a lacy linen apron, I'm working on a merino shrug. I ask for help every ten minutes or so. She's probably tired of me.

Here's where we parked for the next week, an idyllic Bavarian village. The weather wasn't great--drizzly and quite chilly--but we bought ponchos (I had a love/hate relationship with that giant royal blue  piece of plastic) and we had umbrellas. The flowers are unbelievable, and the grass is so green. We arrived at the height of lilac time! Two lilac seasons for me this year, hurray.

As we stepped off the train, Daisy said, "I smell goats!"

Hikes were definitely on the agenda. We went upstream to a waterfall.

Oh, hello, Felix! Nice of you to come all the way from Peru!! He got some life birds this day, and we were all the time trying to point out new ones to him. I think I showed him the same kind five times in one day.

More tomorrow, when we are joined by . . . others.

Frosty Drinks

Every day there are two or three sweating, determined men up and down ladders, painting my house. It is So Hot. They are out there for so many hours. The least I can do is bring them frosty drinks: one at 11:00 in the morning, and another towards the end of the afternoon.

Here's what I've made.

• Grape juice frozen to slushiness in the ice cream freezer (popular).
• Apple juice and ginger ale, over ice, or made into a slushy (see above).
• Half iced tea, half apricot nectar, squeeze of lime juice, fresh mint.
• Coffee, half and half, sugar, and ice cubes run through the blender.
• Homemade cherry limeade.
• Homemade strawberry lemonade.
• Homemade vanilla ice cream, raspberry frozen yogurt, chocolate ice cream, strawberry ice cream, coffee ice cream. Etc.

They still have days to go, so, other ideas that don't rely on corn syrup? I'd love to hear them!

That Birthday Dinner

Most years we prepare a birthday feast for the Composer's dad. This year I cooked straight through the recipes for Nigella Lawson's Georgian Feast* (in the aptly named cookbook Feast).

The foods were unusual but still accessible and we all loved the menu--from the melon with hot pepper relish to the mountain of stuffed cheese bread, the stuffed chickens, the pungent beet puree, and the green beans in herbed yogurt.

Not being a chocolate man, Grandpa appreciated the walnut cookies, grapes, and homemade vanilla ice cream at the end, too.

Then we all played cards, and Daisy won!

*That's the Georgia that's in Europe, not the one with peach cobbler. 

Kitchen Projects

Tuesdays are kitchen days around here, and usually that means that we do the week's baking, and a speedy deep-cleaning of the kitchen. This week I decided to forego almost all of the cleaning and instead do more of a deep-cooking, getting to all of the cooking projects I had in the back of my mind but hadn't gotten around to.

First, I put Clara to work with the Granny Smith apples and a package of puff pastry.


Apple tart, dairy-free.


I scoured the freezer for all the bags labelled "Use for Stock", and made a huge pot of chicken stock, and a smaller pot of ham stock.

A large bowl of hummous for snacks. Pita chips for dipping.

A double batch of chocolate cornstarch pudding. Poured into pretty china coffee cups, it will keep for a few days in the fridge until we finish the apple tart.

A double batch of yogurt, long overdue. I haven't had any around in a week, and I miss it.

And bread, as usual. *Now* I need to deep-clean!

What We Had for Lunch

Because it is delicious and cheap and easy, healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian . . . if you need all that.

*Black Bean Skillet*

In a large skillet, saute part or all of a bag of frozen mirepoix mix (Cajun or regular--I prefer Cajun for the green peppers.)

Squeeze a couple of cloves of garlic in, add 1 tsp. cumin, and add salt and pepper generously.

While that sautes for a few minutes, open and rinse in a colander the contents of 2-4 cans of black beans--you can't go wrong with quantities here.

Add the beans to the skillet, and then 1-2 cups of chicken broth (homemade or storebought), or water if there's no broth handy.

You can opt to add a bay leaf or a chopped canned chipotle pepper also at this point.

Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and leave to cook down over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more liquid if necessary. Taste for salt.

You can leave it loose and soupy, cook it dry, or leave it loose and then puree it (try not to puree that bay leaf though!).

Serve it over rice, or with tortillas, or with corn chips, and garnish with some or all of: chopped avocado, salsa, Greek yogurt, etc.

Tea Party

Last week's lunch was so much fun that today I had friends over to tea. Besides, the round table was still under the maple tree ready for setting!


I didn't have a lot of time to prepare so I kept the menu simple: cucumber sandwiches on homemade bread spread with Greek yogurt, dusted with sea salt and fresh-ground pepper; brownies; and dried cherry scones with whipped cream and raspberry jam. And, of course, Cream Earl Gray tea.





My lovely neighbor brought over roses! They looked gorgeous with the table setting.



Eating and drinking and talking in the dappled shade of the maple, watching the sky change and the clouds blow by, was wonderful. If I had a staff, believe me, I would have a tea party every day.