Homemade Pastry Treats aka Pop Tarts

I was intrigued by a recent May 2010 recipe in Bon Appetit magazine for Pop Tarts and just had to make them. As a kid, no make that an adult no longer living under the roof of parents, I used to buy and enjoy toasted and buttered blueberry (no frosting) Pop Tarts. But then, I started reading the ingredients and found it hard to eat them with their artificial this and that not to mention calories, price, etc. Maybe that's why my parents very rarely allowed those in the house.

Anyway, despite the two sticks of butter, I made them (half batch so far) and they were very tasty. Basically it was pie dough with a bit of preserves. I did not use the recipe recommended Strawberry preserves but rather a favorite in our house of Swedish Lingonberry preserves. I made a little powdered sugar and lemon juice along with a little Lingonberry preserves frosting, another deviation from the original recipe. Try 'em, you'll like them.

Yogurt Day

In an effort to control my diet to the extent of knowing what ingredients, chemicals, or possible unknown contaminants I may be consuming, I am determined to make as much food from scratch as possible and stay away from canned, jarred, pouched, or any other processed foods out there. Most of what I am making does take some time and is not possible for some who just plain do not have the time or desire. However, when you ask yourself if you know what you are eating and cannot answer or pronounce some of the additives, then you may be harming yourself. This of course, is my opinion, and I have no scientific basis for my statement. When it's all over and done, I personally want to know what I am consuming.


With all that said, here is the recipe for the yogurt I made. It is an excerpt from Ricki Carroll's "Home Cheese Making". Here's a link to more info on making yogurt from her website. 


When I was finished, I decided I would use the yogurt maker in the future. Same ingredients just less hands on. The following is the "manual" method.


Equipment needed: Candy thermometer, non reactive (stainless steel) 3 quart or larger pan, glass container for storage, and if making Greek style yogurt: cheesecloth, rubber band, wooden dowel or spoon and large bowl.


1 quart any fat percentage organic milk (I used Organic Valley, whole milk)
1/4 cup milk powder, optional (used for thickening)
1 T. thickener as an option to using dry milk or in addition to, optional (such as carrageenan, pectic, or gelatin)
1 packet yogurt starter or 2 T. yogurt with live cultures


1. Combine milk, powder, if using, and thickener, if using, in non reactive pan and heat to 180 - 185 degrees F. using thermometer to monitor progress. This takes about 20 minutes on medium heat.


2. Let milk cool to 116 degrees F. Add starter, mix well.


3. Keep covered, at 116 degrees F. for at least 6 hours (mine did not set until about 8 hours), or until set to the consistency of thick cream. (I could not fit my pan into the oven warmer, so I transferred my mix to a glass casserole dish with a lid.)


4. Transfer to glass container, refrigerate and serve cold. This will keep, refrigerated, for up to two weeks.

5. If desired, keep 2 T. for the next batch. When it stops working, open a new packet of yogurt culture and start again.


Note: You can use store bought yogurt with live cultures in place of powdered yogurt starter.


Observations. tips, tricks, etc.: 


A. In my kitchen, the time to cool from 180 degrees F. to 116 degrees F. was about 45 minutes. I later read on Ricki's website that the cooling process should be as quick as possible and stop a few degrees before 116 F. (around 120) to accommodate the drop in degrees when you transfer to another container. She was using some container with a heating element. I am using the oven warmer set to the lowest and then monitoring to make sure mix stays at about 116 degrees F.


B.  Used half gallon of whole organic milk (twice the recipe) with just a 1/4 cup of dry milk powder. 

C.  I used store bought yogurt as starter. I used Fage (pronounced fa-hey) brand which I trust as an organically produced yogurt without chemicals or additives.

D.  After 8 or so hours, poured yogurt into cheesecloth. Drew up four corners of cheesecloth and tied with rubber band. Attached to wooden dowel (can use anything long enough to span bowl) and placed over bowl to catch draining liquid making sure cheesecloth was suspended high enough to avoid touching dripping liquid.

E. Strained for another 12-24 hours to get "Greek" style very think and creamy yogurt cheese.


F.  This is a very mild yogurt and tastes so yummy.

Split Pea Soup

I cannot say how I would loathe the days when my mother would make this concoction while growing up under her roof. I hated it! (My brother still hates it) Last year when visiting my sister, who BTW is a much better cook than me, made split pea soup and when I saw what actually went into it, I decided to try it at home. My version does not have any pork for the smokiness, rather smoked turkey legs and meat, and tonight I added some shitaki and white mushrooms for some "meaty" substance. Yummy and sorry mom.

Chicken and Dumplings

There are some things in life that are just good. Chicken and Dumplings are one of those things. We also had some honey crisp apple free form tarts. Had two couples over for fine wine, fine food, and fine conversation. (I missed taking pix of attendees.) This soirée took place this past Saturday with Yvette Matzek, Roger Remington, Becky and Gary Vaughn.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Despite the sunshine outside, I am determined to make some peanut butter cookies. The request comes from James and well he's more than worth it. Besides, it's Thursday, and that means he can take some to work tomorrow for his colleagues.

P.S. I did just come back from a walk and was looking for Gordy our missing Orange and White cat. No luck though. I'll keep trying.

Bread making

I have some great cookbooks and have found a great oatmeal bread recipe amongst one of the the many books. James said he could make a meal of just bread.

Garden Goodies

Hello,

I am testing this Blog posting. These are veggies from the garden this past summer.