It’s cold out there!
I guess you can forgive a man for wearing a fur headdress when it’s 26 degrees out (and he’s so darn cute!).
After dinner Tate and I bundled up, filled to-go mugs with herbal tea, and went for a 2.5 mile walk around town. It wasn’t that we necessarily needed/wanted more exercise today, it’s just one of our favorite things to do together. For some reason walking (especially hiking) facilitates some of our best conversations.
It was cold all day around these parts! It made me want to hole up and cook! I spent most of the day in the kitchen.
My first project was making yogurt. Making yogurt at home is super simple and very rewarding. Yogurt is one of my favorite foods and I have a bowl of it nearly everyday. At $3.70 a container for Plain Organic Yogurt it can add up fast. Not to mention the environmental cost of all of those plastic containers!
I started making my own yogurt a few months ago and now I make 4 quarts every few weeks. The best part of making yogurt is experimenting with flavors!
Yep, I made a chocolate yogurt! Into the bottom of a pint jar I put 3 tablespoons of cocoa and three stevia pellets.
I also made vanilla and PEANUT!
The jar on the bottom right has 6 heaping teaspoons of Trader Joe’s Peanut Flour.
This stuff is brand new to my kitchen but I am excited about all of the possibilities! Peanut cookies in particular but those will have to wait for another day.
My afternoon project involved Peach-Apple-Oat muffins where I replaced a bit of the flour with peanut flour. Hmmm, I may have to rethink this combo, not bad but…
Tate and I set out on a run jog this afternoon. We actually planned on jogging, as in taking it easy, but something came over us and we had a great 4.7 mile RUN. This morning I wrote about how I used to jog, not run, well now it’s hard for me to jog! I love the feeling of pushing myself and seeing how fast I can go and maintain it. I attribute this to a.running with friends who are slightly faster than me and b. sprint training. Adding regular sprint intervals into my runs have made me more comfortable with uncomfortable conditions (being out of breath!).
Before setting out for our run I did these two workouts on Exercise TV.
Active Sculpting with Steve Maresca (strength training with dumbbells)
http://www.exercisetv.tv:80/workout-videos/active-sculpting-0466
This is a great workout. It’s full-body, fast-paced, and would be challenging except that the 18 minutes seem to fly by. Steve has some odd mannerisms but he’s oddly charming also.
20-Minute Sweat Workout with Holly Perkins (strength training with dumbbells)
http://www.exercisetv.tv:80/workout-videos/body-sculpting/20-minute-sweat-workout-5065
Eh. This workout is so-so. I don’t think I will do it again. There are some good twists on exercises but she takes her sweet time explaining some of the exercises.
I was planning on some chocolate and peanut yogurt for dessert but I am still satiated from this delicious dinner salad…
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…and the post-dinner muffins. 😉
Is it SNOWING on your site!?!
The choco peanut yogurt sounds incredible!
Mmmm!
That’s so great that you make your own yogurt.
It must be fun to create a bunch of different flavors.
Which flavor is your fav. so far?
Ginger! I’ve made it with fresh ginger and ground powder and the fresh was REALLY GOOD.
The yogurt writeup brings to mind how when you were growing up on Sassafras Ridge Farm, our Jersey cow and herd of goats provided the fresh milk for making yogurt, butter, ice cream and cheeses. Some of the yogurt was packed into blue plastic pints for sale at our community coop natural foods store, the New River Trading Company, as well as gallon jars of our farm fresh milk. This past spring I started making yogurt again, although the milk was not quite as local. The MacKenzie farm is about ten miles away.
Hi Faith!
You’ve mentioned in several posts using a yogurt maker, but I can’t find where you mention what kind. Do you recommend one? Thanks!
Fran
I have the Euro Cuisine and LOVE IT. It’s super simple and turns out great results. As you probably read, it was a hand-me-down from a friend. If I was going to buy one I would get one that makes bigger batches, I think there are ones that make a few quarts at a time, but you may like the idea of 7 little 6 oz jars. If you eat yogurt regularly it is totally worth it and it’s a cost saving and environmentally friendly choice!
Thanks for the info, Faith, I appreciate it. I had a yogurt maker years ago and I loved it. I don’t remember what happened to it, I think it broke. Now I’m on a mission to find one. Thanks again!
Fran