Instant Pot Yogurt!!!!

I made homemade yogurt in my Instant Pot!!! What?! That's a crazy statement, right? I mean, I've made oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, muscles, chicken, Pho, and Creme Brûlée (and a few other things!) but Yogurt?! Crazy!!

What's even crazier: it was ridiculously easy, and I think it's even the best yogurt I've ever had!

So simple!! I followed this recipe for Cold Start Yogurt:

http://www.friedalovesbread.com/2017/06/easy-cold-start-yogurt-no-boil-method.html?m=1

In a nutshell: one bottle of Fairlife Milk (I used 2%) The milk must be ultra-pasteurized, and this brand is also extra filtered. I chose to use one can of sweetened condensed milk (for sweetness) and two tablespoons of plain yogurt for the starter.

Mix everything together, then put in Instant Pot on the "Yogurt" setting for 8 hours.

When it is done, chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set.

That's it!! I added some if our Plum Jam to mine, and it was phenomenal!!!

All the ingredients: Milk, condensed milk and yogurt

set for 8 hours in the Instant Pot

The yogurt has been incubating for 8 hours

passing the spoon test after incubation

after spending the night setting in the fridge

look how thick the yogurt is when scooping it out!

adding some Plum Jam

Yum!!

Instant Pot Creme Brûlée

Yesterday I made Creme Brûlée in the Instant Pot to have as dessert in the evening.

I used this recipe that I found online:

http://www.thispilgrimlife.com/healthier-instant-pot-creme-brulee/

It was incredibly easy, and turned out delicious!! The only thing I didn't do was caramelize the sugar on top, as I don't have a kitchen torch. We'll be ordering one, now! 😊

Egg Bites in the Instant Pot

I'm still a big fan of my Instant Pot. I probably use at least once every two days or so on average, whether it be for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

This morning, I tried this recipe for Egg Bites, or more specifically, Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites. They are based on the egg bites that are sold at Starbucks (which I've never had, but sound yummy).

The only changes I made were omitting the heavy cream, and I used sausage instead of bacon.
I happened to have a bunch of 4oz canning jars, so I used four of them which fit in my 6 quart Instant Pot just fine.

They turned out really good! Very filling, delicious, and easy!

Unfortunately for me, Dick doesn't eat cheese, and neither do my parents, so this is not a recipe for them. However, I think it's something my Sis and Graham would like, as well as several friends.

Beet, Carrot, Apple Ginger Juice!

When I was in Bellevue last month, I had breakfast with my friend Debra and tried a really delicious juice made up of beets, carrots, apples ad ginger. I really loved it and realized that it should be something I could make at home.

I looked up a recipe online and found this:
https://minimalistbaker.com/juice-without-a-juicer-apple-carrot-beet-ginger-juice

It's a pretty easy recipe with the right tools in the kitchen. I double the recipe since it takes the same amount of time, and so that we can have an extra serving the next day.

Here's what I use

2 beets, rinsed, lightly peeled and quartered
2 apples, peeled, cored and quartered
2 Tbsp size piece of fresh ginger (skin removed)
a couple handfuls of baby carrots
unfiltered apple juice

Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, adding a splash of apple juice if needed to get it moving. I probably added about 1/2 cup.

Then, place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the juice over. Use a rubber spatula to press the pulp down and squeeze all of the juice out. Let stand for 5 minutes so you get most of the juice.
Discard pulp and pour your juice into a serving glass. Drink immediately or chill for a bit. Will keep in the fridge for a day or so, but will taste best when fresh.

So, until this morning, I was using the strainer method, which works pretty well, but takes time. Dick didn't love how much pulp from the vegetables were left after being strained. He was certain that we could find a way to squeeze more juice out of the pulp for less waste.

I found this nylon cheesecloth bag meant for straining juices (among other things). We tried it this morning for the first time to great success! We probably got 1-1/2 to double the amount of juice as we had strained before.

The juice is delicious, and has lots of good nutrients in it. Dick and I both love beets and the ginger gives it a nice zing. I've been making this a couple of times a week for the last month or so.


My Blendtec jar filled with deliciousness: 2 beets, apples (I usually use two, but only had one today), ginger, carrots and apple juice


All blended together. I seriously love my Blendtec!!


All the blended veggies/fruits poured into the straining bag


Dick is squeezing out the juice through the bag


We yielded about 4 cups of juice today!

Plumpacalypse 2017: The Final Tally

(This photo has 130 jars. We had already given away a dozen!)

It was a bumper crop year for us!!

2017 Plum Jam Final Results:

144 jars of jam (12 oz)
10 batches over 10 Days

> 240 cups of fresh plums
80 cups of sugar (40 lbs)
10 4.7 oz jars of pectin

Our last record was 97 jars.
We smashed that record with 144 jars!!

For the record:

Recipe for each batch:

24 cups of fresh plums
Boil down with 3/4 cup of water

Strain

Add 1 tbsp butter to pot of plum juice
Bring strained plum juice to a simmer
Summer for 5 minutes

Add 8 cups of sugar
Bring to a rolling boil, constantly stirring

Add 1 cup pectin (1 4.7oz jar)

Bring to a roiling boil
Boil for 1 minute, constantly stirring

Makes 12-16 12 oz jars of jam

Plumpacalypse 2017!!!

And so it begins....

We just finished making our first batch (12 jars) of Plum Jam!
We were really lucky with the weather/timing. I was afraid that Plumpacalypse 2017 would coincide with our RV Trip. In the past, it seem that I have made jam the last week of June. I think the weather has been cooler over the last couple of weeks, so lucky for us, the plums haven't really start dropping yet. We came home to enough ripe plums in the net to make our first batch today.

Just for the record, i'm putting down our recipe and some step-by-step photos below so I can remember what we did. We just tasted this first batch, and it's relish!!

24 cups of fresh fruit
1 cup of water
cook down the fruit, strain in the new pot using the mesh strainer

Add 1tbsp butter to the fruit juice
Bring the fruit juice to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes

Add 8 cups of sugar

stir constantly, bring to a rolling boil

add 1 cup of pectin (add 1/2 cup of sugar).
(This year and last year, I used the 4.7 oz jars of RealFruit Classic Pectin. One jar equals one cup.

stir constantly, bring back to a rolling boil

stir constantly, boil for 1 minute

pour jam into the 8 oz glass pyrex
use pyrex to pour into each individual jar

This batch yielded almost 12 12-oz Jam Jars


Dick, sifting through the plums, picking out the best ones for the jam


24 cups of plums


here's the set up - boiled fruit in right pot, strained fruit juice in center, compost on left


stirring the pot, waiting for it to come to a boil


stirring the hot jam!


the first batch of 12 jars


new labels!

New Year's Day Dinner

We had our traditional southern New Year's Day dinner tonight: Eastern Carolina BBQ pulled pork, Blackeyed Peas and Collard Greens. Here's to 2017!

Fun with Farm Fresh Produce!!

Mike and Wendy came over for a visit yesterday. They have a really amazing garden in Napa and they brought us a whole bunch of produce!! Dick and I were thrilled and excited to receive all of this amazing yumminess!!

Tonight we made an amazing meal with some of the produce that they brought.

We started off with padron peppers - per Mike's instructions, we simply sautéed them in olive oil then added sea salt. Scrumptious!! We had these as an appetizer with cocktails.

For the main course, we made a roasted egg plant soup! We used three of the Japanese egg plants and some of the tomatoes that Mike and Wendy brought. We also added an onion and garlic.

For dessert: they brought over a dozen peaches that they just picked yesterday morning. We used six of them to make a cobbler! I haven't baked dessert in such a long time, so I'm really excited! (Dick generally doesn't care for dessert, so I treat myself when we go out. If I baked at home, I'd be eating all of it, and that's not a good thing.)

Thanks, Mike and Wendy for the amazing produce from your garden! We're excited to eat the rest of it in the next few days!!


Poblano Peppers with cocktails


roasted egg plant, tomato, onion and garlic


roasted eggplant soup!


Peach Cobbler!

Traditional Southern New Year's Day Meal

We will be out celebrating Nicole's birthday tonight, so we prepared our traditional Southern New Year's Day Meal for lunch today.

Country Ham (or any pork) symbolizes forward progress. Collard Greens symbolize money, and black eye peas symbolize luck.

2015 was a bit of a mixed-bag. We had many great times, but also some significant lows, too.

Here's to a healthy and prosperous 2016!!

Southern Cooking Week Continues....

I've got a big batch of Chicken and Dumplings simmering... Mmmmmm..!

Tonight's Dinner

Nothing like a good 'old Southern Dinner: Vinegar based BBQ Pork, Collard Greems and Summer Squash. So yummy.

Watermelon Recipe

After my cousin, Bruce, posted this yesterday, I thought I'd give it a try: watermelon, cilantro and chili flakes: surprisingly delicious and refreshing combo!

Ratatouille Recipe!

For the second time in the last month, Dick and I made Ratatouille for dinner.

I found this great recipe online a while back, and we liked all the ingredients so we figured we'd give it a shot. We really loved it the first time around, so I figured I'd document it this time.

It's a delicious recipe, and so easy to make. We served it with baked chicken breast, and it makes for a really great meal.


this is a mixture of sauteed onion and garlic, mixed with olive oil, tomato paste and water. It is spread at the bottom of the baking dish


sliced eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and bell peppers coated with a bit of olive oil.


the veggeies are arranged in the pan, alternating with each vegetable


pretty presentation before going into the oven


after baking for 45 minutes


final presentation with baked chicken breast

Beet/Red Smoothie

Last night, Dick and I roasted beets for the first time. We both love beets (especially as a salad) but had never made them at home. We found some really nice looking, inexpensive beets at the local Farmer's Market. When I came home yesterday afternoonn, Dick had washed them, cut off the tops and bottoms of each, rubbed a little olive oil, and wrapped each in aluminum foil. We roasted them in the oven for an hour on 375. We peeled and split one as part of our dinner and it was delicious!

Here's a handy list about beets that I found on the web:

Ten Benefits of Beets

• Beets are a super food, a super anti-oxidant that fights cancer and reduces inflammation.
  
• Beets are good for working out. They improve blood flow, which increases endurance during a workout.
  
• Beets purifies the blood and cleanse the liver.
  
• Beets have been proven to lower blood pressure and reverse hypertension.
  
• Beets help to deliver oxygen to the parts of your body that need it, even the brain.
  
• Beets may have an aphrodisiac effect as they contain high amounts of boron, related to the production of sex hormones.
  
• Beets are high in fiber, high in vitamin C and folic acid, and contain sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron and phosperous!
  
• Beets contain folic acid aids in physical healing, and is good for pregnant women.
  
• Beets are good for your mental health, as they contain betain, which aids in depression.
  
• Beets are the sweetest vegetable, high in good carbs, low in calories and give you the right kind of energy.
  

GO, Beets!

After dinner, we discussed trying out a few smoothie recipes made with beets. These are known as "Red Smoothies", versus the Green Smoothies that we usually make with Kale or Spinach. We tried a recipe that Dick found on the web (Sorry - I couldn't find where he got it from, so no link): Blend: One large Beet Root 1 Red Apple 3 celery stalks baby carrots (we did 2 regular carrots, cut) Ginger Root (we didn't have any ginger root today, so used about 1/4 tsp of powdered ginger) Lemon Juice We also didn't have a fresh apple, so I used about a cup of apple juice with a cup of water.

all of our fresh ingredients

I forgot to take a photo of all the ingredients in the blender for full effect, but here's the final product:

It actually made two servings, which made for a nice breakfast this morning. We both really liked the flavor. It's a little like a V-8, but without the tomato juice. It was a little thick, so I added a bit more water, but overall, we really liked it.

I found another Red Smoothie Recipe (here) and may try it tomorrow morning:

Red Beet Vitamix Smoothie with Kale, Apple, Orange, Berries

Serves: 2

Recipe for red beet smoothie with kale, apple, berries is super nutritious.

Ingredients

• 1 red beet
  
• 1 small apple including core
  
• ½ naval orange peeled
  
• handful frozen berries
  
• handful kale
  
• ¼ cup frozen pineapple (optional)
  
• ½ cup ice
  
• ½ cup iced water
  

Plum Jam: Batches 2 and 3

I've been a Plum Jam making machine!! 27 more jars made tonight. There aren't many plums left on the trees, but I'm hoping to get one more batch out before I leave this week.

The First Two batches of Plum Jam of 2014!

Plumpocalypse came early this year, due to the drought. My Gay Boyfriend had already composted about 65lbs of plums over the last two weeks, before I came home.

The really good news: the new net system worked REALLY well! They made it so much easier to collect the plums, with a lot less of a mess. So wonderful that we got it figured out.

My Mom helped me with the first batch. I was able to recall the recipe and steps from last year. Not hard, just takes a while.

By the end of the night, we had finished our first two batches of Plum Jam of the season. 30 jars total! (My parents had taken one jar home before I took the final photo.)