the Greek yogurt that wasn't

There is a slightly kooky Greek-American who posted a how-to-make-Greek-yogurt video on You Tube that charmed my 3-year-old son and me. We decided to try his recipe. It took us a couple weeks to assemble the ingredients (cheese cloth, yogurt starter, whole milk....then more whole milk as we'd drink our supply). Finally, we got around to trying it. The majority of the time it just sits in your oven, proofing.

Sadly, our yogurt looked the same when we started as when we finished. Like milk.

I'm not sure what went wrong, but the most likely cause of error was heating to the wrong temp. I don't have a candy thermometer, so just guessed on when it reached 185 degrees, then cooled to 110 degrees. Better luck next time.

Here is an exciting photo of what the pan looked like sitting there in the oven for 14 hours:

Why I Love Press-n-Seal

For those times when you severely misjudge your food storage container size when stowing left-overs and just don't feel like moving it to a larger one. Press-n-seal to the rescue!

Boiled Meat=Delicious?

I've been working my way through Lourdes Castro's Simply Mexican cookbook. The photos are beautiful, and recipes very approachable, even for (slightly ambitious) weeknight dinners. I feel my Mexican grandma's cooking secrets are being revealed to me. Not that I have a grandma of that variety. Simple recipes that turn out restaurant-quality Mexican dishes. So good.

So what does this have to do with boiled meat?

Mexican grandmother secret #17: The chicken or beef used in enchilada or carne-type dishes should be first boiled with onions until almost cooked through. It looks pretty unappetizing, but must be key to making these dishes flavorful, because they are consistently turning out well for me.

Week 88--Mishmash

Mon – Pork kebabs and sweet potato fries

Tues –  Jerk ribs and couscous

Weds – Tacoritos (TOH)

Thurs – Chicken tostadas (Simply Mexican p56)

Fri – Alfredo w/greens

Alts – pizza

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My mom just returned from 3 weeks in Texas where they grow real actual strawberries, not the ones they sell in grocery stores in Minnesota. She brought back nearly 20lbs worth! We're going to make freezer jam using some of them today. Yum. Happy cooking.

Wave of Destruction

It was just one of those days. Things were going to break, catch on fire, or otherwise fall to pieces.

It started when I tried to use the blender like a food processor, chopping corn. It started to smoke then spew black bits all over as the rotator-thing seized. You can actually see some of the smoke toward the bottom left of the appliance in the photo. Miraculously, after the smoke cleared and the black bits were wiped up, it managed to whip up a smoothie just fine. No more corn.

A bit later, my 10-month-old was playing in the cupboards. Taking advantage of a completely inattentive mother, he pulled a stack of 3 mixing bowls off the shelf. While 2 of the bowls cracked (ah, the last of our fantastic wedding-gift Italian ceramic bowls--boo hoo!) the little boy was completely unharmed. Phew.

New bowls ordered on Amazon that night (don't ask why, but we ordered ceramic again). The last set dwindled over 11 years, so I guess that's not too bad. My husband thinks it was cheap pottery, citing the numerous Roman vessels that are still in fine shape today. I suggested that perhaps the Romans had better sense than to let their 10-month-old babies near them.