Homemade with a Heating Pad

The results are in! After trial and error, and more trial and error, we have achieved YOGURT! At first I used an online recipe and my oven warming drawer, then a friend's recipe and a crockpot. Both flopped, due mostly to an over-warm atmosphere for the six hour culture growth period - they got up to 145 degrees and I think that killed the yogurt bugs. Finally, I hit upon the idea of putting the glass jars of yogurt in a small box, covering it with a heating pad, then closing the box and insulating it with a thick towel. I was able to maintain a temperature of 90-100 degrees for a long period this way - although I made sure it was when we were awake and around the house (I'm not super sure that it would be fire-safe enough to do overnight).

All you need is milk, powdered milk, and a couple tablespoons of existing yogurt to grow the culture. You can add vanilla if you like, and if you want it quite thick like the store kind, you can add a packet of plain Knox gelatin powder. Once you make a batch, you can use your own yogurt to culture your next batch. I figured that my homemade yogurt comes to about 12 cents a cup instead of 50 plus cents a cup even at the big box store. And mine has no sugar, high fructose corn syrup or corn starch! We just spoon it in a bowl and add some fresh fruit or a big spoonful of homemade jam!

If you want the actual instructions, I can send them to you. I also made some non-dairy yogurt this way using a can of coconut milk plus soy milk.

P.S. Don't feel too bad if you need add some sweetener with your fruit to get the plain yogurt to your taste: after looking on the back of the store-bought fruit yogurt, I realized that 20% of the cup is sugar - the equivalent of 10 teaspoons! I doubt you'll need that much!

Micro-Gardening in January

So, what can a frustrated gardener grow in January?

Yes, sprouts. We ate up the first yummy batch of broccoli and mustard sprouts, and I've put another batch on top of the frig to warm now. But another thing to grow is.... YOGURT cultures! We usually buy a flat of flavored dairy yogurts and a half-gallon of plain each month for our bottomless pits a.k.a. two teenage boys. I love the So Delicious gluten-free, nondairy coconut yogurts, but rarely buy any because they are so pricey! In a recent mad-scientist mood, I decided to try making dairy and non-dairy yogurt so save money and to avoid all the unnecessary ingredients (umm, high fructose corn syrup in the yogurt? That's health food?).

I have to admit that I am still perfecting my recipe. I think my main issue is maintaining the correct culture-growth temperature for the required 6+ hours needed to get the yogurt nice and thick. I have tried the crockpot and the warming drawer of my electric oven, and both got too hot (over the 90-115 degree optimal range). My best success was with the non-dairy version: it thickened up only slightly runnier than the store-bought brand. My next attempt will be with a heating pad and an insulated box - I am determined to succeed in my experiment! MU-HA-HA-HAAAA!

2008 Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Top Ten

In honor of Mama Kat and everyone else who finds this blog while searching out help going gluten and/or dairy-free themselves or for their kids: I present my top ten tips for 2008 that have made my food-intolerant life more pleasant and yummy this year. I've been working at Manna Mills grocery/health food store for over a month now as a cashier and customer service rep specializing in gluten and dairy-free and I must meet at least one customer every shift who is newly diagnosed as celiac or food intolerant or who has an autistic kid whom the doctor recommends to go gluten- and casein-free! There is a HUGE demand for knowledge and help out there!
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1. Tinkyada brand pasta: The best noodles I've found in my five years on this diet! They make all shapes of pasta, including lasagna noodles and spinach-brown rice spaghetti, that is great hot or cold, freshly cooked or even as leftovers without getting all grainy and sticky-gross. Available in many mainstream and specialty stores.
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2. Nutritional yeast: Not the kind that makes bread rise, this is a yellow flake that you can use as a condiment and tastes cheesy without being cheese. Great on popcorn and makes a great "cheese sauce" for pasta or au gratin potato casserole. Healthy too!
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3. Xanthan gum: A fine white powder that adds viscosity to many products, like salad dressings. In cooking, xanthan gum gives the cling that the gluten in wheat has - it keeps your breads and muffins moist and whole, not dry and crumbly. Quite pricey, it is used in very small amounts, and is available by the jar or bag, or in bulk bins at specialty grocers.
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4. Hemp milk: Made from hemp seeds, this is is a creamy white milk that is a nice alternative to soy or rice milk.

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5. Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts: the best gluten-free cookbook ever! Everything in it is a five-star success that even the non-g.f.ers of the family will love. This recipe book includes dairy, but it's easy to substitute milks and margarine for butter. Check out all the raving positive reviews on Amazon.

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6. EnviroKidz' Panda Puffs: My favorite cold cereal, it's kind of like peanut butter Capt'n Crunch.

7. Gluten-Free Goddess a.k.a. Karina's Kitchen: a great website with new recipes every week. I got her Tastebook cookbook for a Christmas gift this year from my hubby!
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8. Tofutti Sour Supreme and Better than Cream Cheese: Awesome products that can substitute for sour cream or plain yogurt in recipes, and a good alternative in cream cheese frosting or in quiches.
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9. PCC's Brown Rice Sushi: I love my Manna Mills for my g.f. groceries, but I'll wander down the street to our competition to enjoy their fresh sushi bar. And when it's brown rice sushi, I feel even healthier about it!
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10.GF/DF Friends: Networking with fellow gluten-free folks is key. You are NOT alone! Just last week I made some awesome easy multigrain bread from a recipe a customer at work emailed me. Most people I meet love to share their experiences, favorite recipes and good restaurants. And there are tons of blogs to check out. Try googling for gluten-free recipes too.
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Merry Christmas and a happier, healthier New Year!

Warm vs. Cool

It has been lovely here in Western Washington for the last few weeks. Nice cool mornings (in which to wear a sweater as you walk around the garden in the early morning light) and warm 70-ish afternoons (when you can walk the doggy and weed in a tank top). No bugs, low humidity... aaaahhhhh! I'm making a conscious effort to store up this lovely memory in order to make it through October-to-May.
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Here is my pup's typical pose in the morning as I check my email and blog in our "new" office - curled up in the brown corduroy armchair, getting in his first nap of the day.
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And the latest off the ice-cream maker? Rhubarb sorbet! OMG! I made it exactly as this recipe, with rhubarb from my bulging freezer. It was awesome! Quite tangy, like a lemon sorbet, if you (like I) enjoy that type of thing. And after searching other sorbet recipes on epicurious, I can see I'll be needing to step up my fitness routine soon...

A Rosy Wedding Day

My babysitter of a few years back got married on Saturday, and I made the cake for them. She just wanted a small cake, so this is a 6" square on top of a 10" square. White cake with raspberry filling, buttercream frosting and real roses for the decoration.

It wasn't too hard to do - I assembled it on site at the reception. I put covered cardboard under the small cake, and placed it on plastic support pillars in the large cake, then piped a shell border over the edge. One of my neighbors generously donated her light pink unsprayed roses!

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My family thought the best part was that I had a good sized piece of cake left over from the base that they got to eat!

Dairy-Free Bliss

My own invention:

Coffee Fudge Ripple Soy Ice Cream
(12 servings/about 3 pints)

3 cups powdered sugar
12 egg yolks
1 Tbs cornstarch
4 cups soymilk
2 cups coffee
1 Tbs vanilla extract
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Put egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch into a bowl, whisk together. Meanwhile, heat soy milk and coffee to near boiling. Slowly pour hot soy milk/coffee mixture into egg mixture while continuing to beat. Pour mixture into a saucepan on low/med heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil, and boil one minute. Stir in vanilla. Cool mixture in refrigerator until cool (about 3-4 hours). Make icecream per your machine instructions.
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Meanwhile:
Hot Fudge Sauce
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3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbs margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla
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Heat chocolate and water over low heat in saucepan until squares are melted. Add sugar and a dash salt, cook over medium heat for 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved and mixture gets thick. Remove from heat and add vanilla and margaring. Let cool.
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When ice cream is "soft serve" in the machine, spoon into a freezer container, top with fudge sauce, and give a few stirs with a spatula (not too much or it will combine and the ripples won't show). Freeze until hard if you can stand it (we couldn't!!)

For the Graduate

This crazy conglomeration is my latest cake creation - a graduation cake for our friends' son. She looked through my cake picture album, and we decided on a "game of Life" cake, similar to the layout of one I've done before. This one describes the graduate's moves to different states, childhood, sports, loves (his Facebook is on the itty-bitty laptop!), and future at college.

I made two half-sheet cakes, one chocolate and one butter cake, and frosted them together on a fullsheet board. Four cake mixes, four pounds of powdered sugar, and two pounds of butter.

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Now I have an order for a wedding cake next month! Our former babysitter is getting married and I'm doing her cake. Hear that? creak, creak I'm feeling old...

Rhubarb Fest 2008

Rhubarbamania continues around here, fueled by a friend with a seemingly-endless supply. So far we have had rhubarb pie, rhubarb muffins, and yesterday I made a batch of rhubarb jam (made with strawberry jello powder??!) which is delicious!

This morning I made a rhubarb-raspberry custard cake for breakfast, which is a variation on a recipe in one of my favorite gluten-free cookbooks. It sounds good, doesn't it? How about rhubarb sorbet? Hmmm....

Not Deprived

O.K, I don't eat wheat. And, I don't eat dairy - not even an eensy-weensy little bit. I mean, I'm not even tempted, the consequences are that bad.

But NO, I am NOT DEPRIVED! Not as long as good people like Annalise Roberts write gluten-free cookbooks as good as this one! This coconut cake was so good and so rich, I could barely finish a one-inch slice. Barely.

Our lovely library system keeps a steady influx of new cookbooks and this one was so good, I had to buy it.

But I only make desserts on Sundays, when we have family over for dinner and the dessert gets polished off that day (To my 5 year old nephew I'm known as "Auntie Cake"). Otherwise I'd never have lost the fifteen pounds since Christmas.

IF - "Superhero" and Birthday Mania

Here is my Illustration Friday entry - and the media is... FROSTING!

We are in the midst of birthday season around here: sons' birthdays, nephews' birthdays, husband's birthdays, mom's birthday, friends' birthdays, dog's birthday...

Last night we had my nephew's 5th birthday celebration dinner here at my house. He (like his daddy) is into Superman, so I made him a Superman cake. Inside, it was gluten-free, dairy-free banana cake which was a new recipe and got raves, so I'll put it in my "keeper" file!

Have a SUPER day!

Thanks to my son, J, for recognizing that this fit the IF topic of the week!

Holiday Spirit

We have been enjoying our Christmas break around here! The weather outside is frightful -- rainy, in the low 40s-- but inside is warm, dry, and ginger-scented! I got some major shopping done yesterday, and while it was crowded everywhere, everyone was very patient and pleasant. I think those of us with electricity are especially grateful to be Christmassing and not just in "survival" mode!

Tuesday, I made some gingersnap cookies, substituting rice flour for the wheat, so I'd have something to nibble when the gingerbread house pieces were baking. Nobody else cares if the gingersnaps are gluten-free, they are gobbled up! Then yesterday I mixed up a double batch of gingerbread dough and royal icing and slapped together three little houses, "glued" extra well to withstand heavy decoration. This morning my little nephew joined my boys and each decorated their own house. My 3 year old niece kept busy counting pretzels and eating M&Ms.

Look quick! The nibblers can't be held off for long!

Happy G-F D-F Thanksgiving!!

O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people." Psalm 105:1

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Here is my gluten-free, dairy-free cornbread made last night for making our stuffing. I use the recipe from Bob's Red Mill corn flour, and my kids love it! Today I'm making the pies (two pecan and a Polynesian pumpkin) and hubby is in charge of the stuffing and turkey in the morning, since we're having our family celebration on Friday. Blessings to you and yours!




Gip says, "I'm thankful for my family and ALL MY TOYS!"

Enjoying Ancient Arts

What have I been up to? Not drawing lately! I've been finishing up the wall hanging quilt below (just hand-stitching the binding now, and I'll be done) and yesterday, making jelly and jam! I had bought raspberries at the farmer's market Saturday, and had lots that needed using up fast so I made a batch of jam. I left all the seeds and pulp in and it is fantastic! Like summer in a jar! Just for fun, I had the guys do a taste test and compare it to a store-bought raspberry jam I had in the refrigerator. No contest! We felt like throwing the store one in the trash! But winter will come, and this homemade won't last long!

I also tried out making lavender jelly from some culinary lavender I got on our trip to the lavender farms a few weeks ago. I used the recipe for mint jelly that comes in the pectin package, but I substituted 5 Tbs. of lavender heads, tied in cheesecloth, for the mint leaves, and used a little red and blue food coloring to tint it lavender. It was totally easy and tastes INCREDIBLE! Try putting a big dollop over a scoop of French vanilla ice cream - YUM! And I have lots more lavender to use, in my dried bundle.

Bette/Betty's Strawberry Pie

As someone who has to carefully avoid dairy and wheat, I appreciate a good recipe that tastes "real" so I thought I'd share this one that I've made recently. It's a good thing I like to bake, because most of the ready-made dairy-free and gluten-free products available in stores are nasty! This one is a hybrid from Bette Hagman, Betty Crocker, and me! (modifications for dairy-free in parentheses)

Strawberry Pie
9" Baked Pie Shell*
5-6 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
3 oz. cream cheese** (Tofutti dairy-free)
(1 teaspoon vanilla)
(1 tablespoon sugar)

Bake your pie shell (regular or gluten-free). Let cool. Mash 1 cup of strawberries. Mix the sugar & cornstarch in a pan, then slowly add in the water while stirring. Stir in mashed berries and cook over med-high heat, constantly stirring. Boil and stir for one minute more. Let cool. Cream your cream cheese with a mixer (add vanilla and 1 tbs. sugar, cream together). Spread cream cheese in bottom of baked pie shell. Pour in the remaining berries into shell. Pour glaze over the berries, covering completely. Chill in refrigerator for 1 or more hours.


*Gluten Free Pie Shell
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup tapioca flour, Asian groceries or health stores have it
1 rounded teaspoon of xanthan gum, health stores have it, ESSENTIAL!
1 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
4 tablespoons ice water

Pour first 3 ingredients in a bowl or gallon bag and mix well. Measure out 2-1/4 cups into a bowl, stir in xanthan gum, salt, and sugar. Cut in shortening until reduced to crumbles. Beat the egg and vinegar together and pour in to dry ingredients, pour in ice water. Mix with a fork until a ball forms, use your fingers for only a minute to knead and smooth into a clean ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Take out and roll out as usual for a piecrust, using remaining flour mix on board and pin to dust (this will make 2 shells! Wrap one and freeze after baking.) Prick with a fork and bake shells for 10-12 minutes in a 450 oven.

Graduation Cake

Here it is! The fruits of my last 48 hours labor... 29 lbs. of butter and sugar, baby! You can see the original idea sketch below from last month. The Starbucks cup will be better secured - I just stuck a chopstick in the cake to hold it on for the photo. I took it back off for the delivery, and then I'll put it on with a dowel rod and buttercream "glue." I'm pretty pleased with the result. The yearbook is a little uneven, but I really like the graduation tassel and the candy keys. I hope everyone likes it!

Other Cakes

I just saw this week's IF topic is "cake" so I wanted to post some of my favorite cakes I've made while I think of what to DRAW! (Check out the entry by thickblackoutline!) "Yoda" was made this year for my younger son's birthday. I used a tip from his build-your-own-lightsaber to cover a chemlight for the glowing effect. The "Quilt" cake was made for a friend's twin baby shower - and everyone thought it was a real basket!


The "gameboard" cake was for a friend's 40th, and detailed major events of his life. The "soccer" cake was for my son's end-of-season party. Nothing like creating a STINGRAY on a cake!

Graduation Cake Design

I was asked by a good friend of mine to make a cake next month for her daughter's graduation party/open house. I have been designing and decorating cakes for (eek!) at least 30 of my 40 years! I like to get ideas from books and Wilton magazines, but usually combine ideas to come up with something original. I especially enjoy doing 3D decorated cakes. I love to make them to give them as my "gift" for friends and family - the few times I was "hired" it wasn't half as fun! The sketch is of 2 options I am presenting to my friend to choose from - one is festive and colored with the school's maroon and white, the second is a tableau of objects associated with her daughter. Both of them would serve about 120 people, and will take 8 cake mixes (I don't make the cake from scratch when I'm decorating so elaborately)! Just to show you it's possible, I also am posting a photo of a tableau cake I made 5 years ago for another friend's 40th. Yes, it's all edible, except the laminated photos in the scrapbook! And I usually have to be the one to cut and serve the cakes since no one wants to "ruin" them.
P.S. She picked #2! So now I figure out how to bake a Starbucks-cup!