A yogurt break

                I decided to take a break from making yogurt for a little while. I had two batches in a row that spoiled really quickly, and I was frustrated. I suspect that this was due to bad starter. I had been dividing a quart container of yogurt of yogurt into 10 little bags that I kept in the freezer and took one out at a time to use as starter. I wonder if the starters all got contaminated when I was dividing the container of yogurt into the little bags. Eventually, when I was ready to get back into making yogurt, I threw out the leftover starter I had in the freezer and used fresh yogurt. I just made my second batch with this new starter, and so far it has been lasting long enough to eat it all! I like making it, and I definitely take pride in being able to make foods on my own that take a bit more effort. Good to be back in the routine.

Trying to make yogurt with an Instant Pot

                Apparently there is always more to learn about yogurt. I was recently gifted an exciting kitchen gadget—an instant pot with a yogurt setting! I was so excited to try it, and on that weekend I made a batch of yogurt. Because I had always depended on a thermometer to make yogurt, I tested the temperature of the milk and yogurt throughout the process. After heating the milk, the temperature was only 165⁰ F. I tried to rerun that setting, but it would not heat much further, so I used the regular slow cook function to get the milk to 180⁰ F. Then, I cooled the milk as I usually do, added the starter, and set the machine to the fermenting setting for 14 hours. As soon as it beeped to let me know it was finished, I checked the temperature, and it was below 100⁰ F. The texture was much thinner than I get when the yogurt ferments at 155⁰ F. The yogurt still tasted good, but it was not quite the texture I was hoping for. 

                I contacted the Instant Pot customer support, and their answers were not particularly helpful. I am still unclear if they intended the Instant Pot to ferment yogurt at below 100⁰ F or if the pot does not work as it is supposed to. At one point they offered to send me a new heating element, but I want to see if I can get it to work well enough with the one I have first. I am going to try to ferment it for 18 hours to see if fermenting it for longer can make up for the lower temperature and still result in a thick yogurt.

Instant Pot yogurt

Sugar Cookies

                Last year I thought it would be a good idea to make sugar cookies without using margarine. And while that is a great idea on many levels, I decided to make the “real deal” this year. It was well worth it—a taste of nostalgia. I have been using this recipe to make sugar cookies for as long as I can remember baking. Sometimes I would color the dough and make fancy patterns, but in more recent years I made colorful glaze. A tall pile of sugar cookies in all the colors of the rainbow was so exciting. And the best part of it for me was sharing them with my friends and family. The joy of good food is multiplied when I can share it and let others enjoy it too.

                This year, I did not buy food coloring, but I did get margarine especially for this recipe. I had not bought margarine in two years probably. The recipe needs only two sticks, and the other two sticks are now in the freezer. (Maybe for next year?!?) I did have colored nonpareils, and the cookies did have the riot of color that I wanted, despite not using colored glaze.

                But who could I share the cookies with? I did figure that part also. I met a fried for lunch, so she got some, and I also sent a package with cookies to my family. Those cookies are still in transit, but I am looking forward to hearing that they received the coolies.

                I am so glad I made “real” sugar cookies this year. It’s a once a year thing for me. Food is not just to sustain us physically. We attach all sorts of values and emotions to food, and those are important to recognize and understand too.

colorful nonpareils

lots of cookies

MIlk

        I was never a big milk drinker, but because I now make yogurt, I go through a lot of milk. I use one and a half gallons in a batch of yogurt, and easily a half gallon or more for cereal and such. More than a year ago, I discovered that milk at National Wholesale Liquidators was $2.50. That was pretty awesome because it was around $4.00 in other stores. Last Wednesday, I was in NWL to get milk, but they had none, so I decided I would go back on Saturday night when I actually planned to make yogurt. But alas, it was not meant to be. As I approached the parking lot on Saturday night, things looked unusual. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot. Then I saw a large sign that said, “Everything is 20-60% off.” A bit more unusual and suspicious. I parked and started walking towards the doors, and then I saw the sign that said, “Store Closing.” I ended getting milk from another nearby grocery store, but this, unfortunately, will be the end of cheap milk for me.

Blondies or Greenies??

                Recently, I had a foray into gluten-free baking. We had a guest who could not eat gluten, and I wanted to impress. But I did not want to buy special gluten-free flour. I had once before made recipe that had chickpeas in it, so I decided to give it a try. This was the recipe:

No-Flour Blondies

1 can (15oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

½ cup nut butter

⅓ cup sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

⅓ cup chocolate chips

Put all ingredients except chocolate chips in a bowl. Using an immersion blender, blend until very smooth. Then, fold in the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 20-35 minutes or until skewer inserted does not come out wet.

                Last time I made them, all came out well. They looked and tasted like blondies. But this time, I made one small change that made a huge difference. I used Sunbutter instead of peanut butter. And this is what happened.

                What happened?? According to the Sunbutter website, the chlorophyll in the sunflower seeds reacts with the baking soda and powder and the green color is a byproduct. Thankfully, it is perfectly safe to eat green blondies. But then maybe they should be greenies?

Why bother eating well if I can't lose weight?

                I am taking a course this semester on obesity, and this week’s content is about dieting versus non-dieting approaches to obesity management. The dieting approach involves following a prescribed set of rules or guidelines that are intended to help a person with overweight lose weight. The non-dieting approach eschews that entire idea and posits that dieting does not work. Rather, it focuses on body acceptance and taking care of one’s health without the specific focus of weight loss.

                From my experience working with patients, it is clear that it is difficult to lose weight. You’d be surprised with how little some of my patients eat in attempts to lose weight. Sometimes, they lose weight slowly, and usually they regain it when their strict attempts become unbearable. Some of my patients do lose a significant amount of weight and are able to maintain their new weight, but this weight may still be in the overweight or obese category. I can think of only a handful of patients who were able to lose enough weight to enter the “normal weight” category.

                Healthy eating is a good idea for someone with overweight or obesity whether or not weigh loss is the outcome. Benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables extend to heart health, decreasing diabetes risk, and improving digestive health. Yes, weight loss might not happen or might not happen to the extent hoped, but I would advise my patients to take care of themselves by eating healthfully anyway! There is more to health than body weight.

     Have you ever had one of those days that you felt like complaining, “There is nothing to eat”? Well, when I arrived home late at night after being out of town for more than a week, I had that feeling. This is what the refrigerator looked like.

     What would I pack in my lunch for the next day? Well, for me, lunch has three main components: a protein, a carbohydrate, and a vegetable. The protein was pretty easy—2 hard-boiled eggs would work. For my carb, I took Wasa crackers I had in the cabinet. Now for the vegetable, all that I had in the fridge was celery, and that just wasn’t going to cut it for me. Luckily, I remembered that I had canned green beans, so I was all set.

     Sometimes people ask if canned vegetables are healthy. The only potential downside to canned vegetables is that they contain salt. In an overall healthy diet that does not contain excess sodium, having some salt in canned vegetables is definitely not a big deal. I like to think of a diet as a whole rather than as the disparate parts. I diet definitely needs vegetables. And honestly, we do need some sodium every day. In an overall wholesome diet, including some extra salt will not be a big deal. Some people do have specific medical conditions that require a sodium restricted diet, so you can always ask your doctor for specific advice.

     Oh, and I did go grocery shopping the next night.

     What do you do if you feel like there is nothing to eat? Answer in the comments below.