Goat Yogurt Cheese

I’m going to a cookout next weekend and everyone was asked to bring an appetizer, side or drink. Most parties are chock-full of meatballs, pigs in a blanket, and other fat-with-a-side-of-fat finger foods.  As a healthier alternative, I decided to make some goat yogurt cheese.  This did take a little more planning than I’m used to as the cheese takes at least 24 hours, if not 48, to set up.  But it’s easy as pie and gives you a little dose of healthy probiotics to help digest all the other junk at the party.

Ingredients:

• Plain goat yogurt
• Fine sea salt
• Black pepper
• Fresh dill (dry is ok too, just a little different taste)
• Garlic powder

Tools:

• Cheese cloth
• Small mesh strainer

Directions:

1. Pour yogurt into a bowl
2. Add salt, pepper, dill and garlic to taste
3. Cut the cheese cloth into a shape that overlaps 3-4 times and fits into the strainer
4. Pour yogurt mixture into the strainer on top of the cheese cloth
5. Place strainer over a bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least a day, but up to 3 days.  The water in the yogurt will strain out and leave you with a thick, spreadable cheese.
6. Remove from strainer, peel cheese cloth off cheese. Place on a dish and smooth out the top to remove the marks from the cheese cloth
7. Serve with crackers or veggies

Gluten-Free Maple Spice Teething Sticks

 

My little guy is almost 10 months old and finally cutting his first tooth.  I’ve been cautious about introducing foods that may trigger an allergy and hadn’t found a teething product with ingredients I liked.  And making foods from scratch is always healthier so I whipped up a test batch and my very picky eater loved them!

Spices are optional and you can add more or less of any of the listed.

Ingredients

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup millet flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 4 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce or apple baby food
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• dash of nutmeg

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees
2. Place parchment paper on baking sheet
3. Combine all ingredients until moist–may need to add a few more teaspoons of maple syrup.  Mix will be grainy and not stick together well
4. Dump mix onto a Silpat or other non-stick surface and combine  mix further by hand
5. Mold 2-3 tablespoons of mix into the size sticks you’d like-they should be very dense
6. Cut off sides to make sticks a little cleaner looking, but not necessary
7. Place pieces on prepared baking sheet
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes on top rack
9. Turn off oven and let cool in oven for an hour
10. Store in air-tight container for up to 2 weeks or place in freezer.

Grass fed (and finished!)meats

I buy my beef and chicken from two great guys at our local farmers market.  But I was in search of turkeys and pork, so I went looking online. 

www.eatwild.com is a site that connects you with farmers that sell grass-fed and grass-finished meats, pastured animals and heritage breeds in your area.  Many of these farmers also offer their meats via mail.

Meat from animals that are pastured are higher in omega-3′s and lower in fat.  They don’t need anibiotics because they’re not jammed into feed lots living in their own feces and without grass (what most of these animals are supposed to eat!)  The benefits go on and on. 

I’ll give a shout out to my favorite beef family River Run Farms in South Carolina.  You can find them at farmers markets in Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, and Columbia, or they welcome you to come to the farm. Give them a call.

River Run Farms, The Olivers: Ray, Nancy, Les and Page, 187 River Run Drive, Vance SC  29163. (803) 492-9878. E-mail: riverrunfarms@live.com.

Prickly Pear Fruit

My parents have a small farm in rural South Carolina where we spend our Thanksgiving. At one time, this was a full working farm. My parents don’t live there full time now, so they just let things grow that are already there. I’m lucky that there are tons of things that don’t need tending –just me to pop in a few times a year to harvest.

Last year I picked a few prickly pear fruits and took them home to experiment. I ended up making sorbet that was amazing. I peeled the fruit, threw it in a blender and strained the seeds out of the juice. Added lemon juice and some agave syrup for a hot pink frozen dessert.

This year I got lazy. I peeled, blended and strained but didn’t feel like making the effort to stir the concoction every 5 minutes to make sorbet (I don’t have an ice cream maker, I was using the ol’ toss it in the freezer and stir every 15 minutes for 2 hours method). Instead I poured the prickly pear fruit juice into ice cube trays for later use.

Today was deemed a good day for later use! I popped 3 ice cubes of juice in to a glass. Added a squirt of agave syrup, a splash of lime juice and topped it off with seltzer water. What a fantastic, refreshing drink!

The picture below is of the prickly pear in May.  All those flowers become dark purple fruits by Thanksgiving.

Bok Choy for the sinuses!

I’ve never cooked Bok Choy before and never even considered buying it. But once again our CSA has opened me up to new veggies. I found the recipe below and it is FANTASTIC! I put way too much ginger in (I never measure) and my sinuses were cleared instantly! WOW! SPICY!

If you’re looking for gluten-free, be sure to substitute tamari for the soy sauce and check the ingredients in the corn starch (or leave out the corn starch, I don’t think it really needs it!)

SWEET AND SOUR BOK CHOY

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 head bok choy, washed, trimmed, & cut into 1″ pieces
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 sliced sweet onion (I used half of a red onion)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 c. red wine vinegar

Heat oil in large skillet, add bok choy and onion. Cook and stir over high heat 1 minute. Blend sugar, vinegar and ginger; add to skillet. Mix well. Cover and steam 1 minute. Combine soy sauce and cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Fun with Turnips

Our Fall CSA has started and every week we get another bunch of turnips. I had never cooked with them before, so they sat in the fridge until I was faced with 2-3 pounds of turnips asking me to not let them go to waste. I hit the web in search of a recipe. I found turnips for breakfast–and even better, you can make this the day before the big football game and it makes a wonderful tailgate food!

The only negative I found was that to make this, I had to dirty up a lot of dishes–grater for turnips, mixer bowl, pan for bacon, pot to cook turnips, mixing bowl, pyrex dish.

Oh, I also forgot to add the sugar to the turnip water and it all tasted great without it.

Turnip Souffle
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds turnips, peeled and sliced (about 12 small turnips)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (can substitute brown rice or millet flour)
2/3 cup milk (can substitute goat milk or unsweetened almond or rice milk)
4 eggs, separated
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (be sure to buy preservative-free bacon!)

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook bacon, set aside. Grease 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. glass baking dish, set aside. 

2. Place turnips, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and sugar in a saucepan; cover with water. Cover and cook until turnips are tender, about 20 minutes; drain well and mash.  Set aside.

3. In another saucepan, melt butter; stir in the flour and remaining salt until smooth. Add milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Beat egg yolks in a small bowl; gradually stir in 1/2 cup hot milk mixture. Return all to pan; cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in turnips; remove from the heat. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.

4. Spoon batter into a greased glass baking dish. Sprinkle with bacon. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe of the Week: Fall Soup

I hosted a brunch this past weekend and planned on making the following recipe.  Can you believe that the Harris Teeter wasn’t selling canned pumpkin?  AT ALL!  I even had the manager walk me around the store.  All they sold was canned pumpkin pie mix (right next to the pre-made pecan pie mix–people are so lazy these days!)  So I ditched the soup plan.  Turned out I had enough in my pantry, but already had an alternative lined up. 

This is a great Fall soup, freezes well, and is even better the day after you make it–the spice sets in.  You can also water this down more with coconut milk if you prefer it thinner.  And if you have leftovers, it tastes great as sauce on top of chicken. 

Pumpkin Coconut Bisque

2 tablespoons butter (or ghee or olive oil)
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic gloves, minced
3 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 1 /2 cups (about) canned unsweetened coconut milk

1. Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add pumpkin, broth, sugar, allspice and crushed red pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
2. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to pot (or better yet, use an immersion blender and do the whole pot at one time.)  Bring soup to simmer, thinning with coconut milk to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm soup before continuing.) Ladle soup into bowls. Optional: Sprinkle with nutmeg.