Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Abracadabra, Watch This Lid Magically Reappear!

I found the missing thermos bottle lid. I can't even take credit for it. When I went out into the kitchen to look for it, it had magically appeared on the counter. I swear it wasn't there when I left the kitchen. Gremlins? Children? Early onset Alzheimers? You decide because I wouldn't even try to guess at this point.

No matter how the lid materialized, the fact that it did means I can try my hand at yogurt making tonight! I am psyched! I'm going to hedge the bet and use vanilla soymilk for my first batch. I'm thinking of it in much the same way as sourdough starter. If I can get a successful batch going, I should never have to buy yogurt again, not even to use as starter. More on this tomorrow.

Speaking of sourdough, that's something I'd like to revisit in the future. I like the idea of never needing to buy yeast again. I mean what could be more local than the spores floating around your own home? (Eww, that doesn't make sourdough sound very appealing, no matter how technically correct it is.) For now, I have a huge amount of yeast in the freezer so its a down the road project.

I did make a several batches of carob banana muffins with walnuts yesterday. I also mustered up the energy to make split pea soup, biscuits and burger patties out of leftover sloppy joe but that's pretty much where my energy ran out. On tonight's agenda is French Onion soup along with Cajun black eyed peas and collards. I still don't feel like cooking but I also don't feel like spending when there's tons of food options in the house!

7 comments:

Ruthie said...

yummm your dinner sounds really delicious. I've been making lentils and rice or spaghetti marinara perhaps maybe a bit too often lately. :-)

AnnMarie said...

I'd read and found to be true myself that homemade yogurt fails to work as a starter after a number of batches. I bought freeze dried starter, and only use half of the packet, so still don't buy yogurt anymore.

Ruthie said...

I just thought of something. The free dehydrator we got awhile back has instructions for using it as a yogurt incubator if you're interested! I don't know if you have a dehydrator or not. I may try it if your yogurt works out.

I never buy soy yogurt because I did once and Russell and I finished a whole quart in a day. Then I looked at the label and noticed it had TWENTY NINE grams of SUGAR per serving!!!! I was floored. No wonder it tasted so good.

Jan said...

I don't make yogurt often but the only way I've done it is by the thermos method. Usually it turns out, sometimes it doesn't, but I always find a use for the results either way. I like the idea of using vanilla soymilk, will try that soon.

Jan

Katie said...

Ruthie, we go through so much pasta with this or that because its quick. We don't have a dehydrator but there's a great story about one that we did have a long time ago...

Thanks for the tip Annmarie.

That's so cool Jan. Until I read Melanie's tutorial I'd never heard of using a thermos.

Chile said...

I had the same thought about sourdough some years back when I first read the Tightwad Gazette series. Instead of keeping it simple, though, and just enjoying bread, biscuits, and pancakes, I got books - several books - filled with sourdough recipes.

I then proceeded to feed our compost pile regularly. Sourdough cornbread? Hideous. Chuck it! Sourdough blueberry muffins? Gag! Out it goes. My sourdough didn't save me money and I ditched the whole effort.

I'm going to try again, someday, but stick to what I know we'll like. And, you might finally push me to get around to trying the yogurt. I even picked up a widemouth thermos at a yard sale a few months ago just for this, but never did it.

Wow, sorry for the long comment!

Katie said...

Your comments are always welcome Chile!