23 August 2009

Cooking Breakfast

I've been making yogurt lately. I'm on the third batch and each time I fine-tune the process. I've found that non-homogenized milk is the best to start with and overall is better for you. I get a gallon of milk, organic of course, and heat it up to about 180 degrees. Then I pour it into a bowl and let it cool to about 110 degrees. At that point I get my yogurt starter out of the freezer and add about half a teaspoon of starter to a few tablespoons of the warm milk and stir it up before adding it to the larger bowl. Doing it this way seems to disperse the culture throughout the milk better. Then I keep it warm for around 15 hours and then put it in the fridge!

I've also been making granola. I've tried a couple of recipes but haven't really made a batch that I love yet. My breakfast of choice now is Blue Planet coffee, black or with a bit of half 'n half, with my homemade yogurt with my homemade granola mixed in.

This time around I put some fresh blackberries into a few containers of the yogurt with a bit of agave nectar for sweetener.

I'll let you know when I get the granola recipe figured out. If you have any tips, let me know!

10 August 2009

The Summer of 2009

This has been a good summer. I have felt more like myself this year than I have in a long time!

I've been dieting which has brought me closer to my passion: eating locally. I've lost about 30 pounds and have thoroughly enjoyed visiting the farmer's markets every Saturday. I've frozen corn, green beans and an assortment of berries... which should get me through about a week of the off-season. I've also done a bit of canning of some spring berries and plan on making salsa in the next week or so.

I've been walking/jogging in training for a 5k run I'm doing in Chicago in September. I realized today that I only have 16 training session left until the run. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to walk most of the race... which is unfortunate, but it's kept me motivated!

I've started making my own yogurt and granola, I'm eating lots more veggies and fruits than I ever have and in general I'm pretty happy.

So to recap: so far it's been a good summer!

until later!