Last night's experiment....yogurt

So, being the crazy person that I am, I decided I was going to make yogurt last night. Oh well that I live in the South and we got snow and ice the day before and roads were still icy. I was going to make yogurt, even if it took me walking to the store. Thankfully, I live really close to Food Lion. Not my favorite for most things, but for this experiment, it would do great. Made a quick venture out for a gallon of whole milk and some plain yogurt. It was surprisingly hard to find plain yogurt actually. Wound up getting their house brand of Greek yogurt. Then, back home to start the experiment. Found lots of recipes online. Most had a consensus of heating 2 quarts of milk to around 200 degrees, stirring frequently to prevent a skin and sticking to the bottom. Mine stuck a little, but scooped it out and had an unplanned snack. :) Milk was then slowly cooled to around 115. Then scooped out a cup of the warm milk and mixed in 2 cartons of Greek yogurt. Once well blended, mixed the milky warm yogurt with the rest of the plain milk and left it sitting on the stove while my persimmon pudding finished. Once pudding was done, sat the pot in the hot oven with the door open to get happy for 4 hours or so. At that point, checked on it and had yogurty goodness so set it on the counter to finish cooling and went to bed. It was a little milder tasting that I thought it would be, but still good. This morning gave it another stir. Flavor had gotten a little stronger and it thickened up some more. Is tasty. Shared a quart with the boyfriend. Will be trying some tomorrow with some maple syrup. Here's to hoping my experiment continues to go well!

Ooops....getting started again

A year and a half ago, I started this with high hopes and aspirations to do a post or so a week about my progress with eating cleaner. For the most part, I've been doing really well. There are times that I slip, but I work hard to control them. In addition to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Omnivore's Dilemma, I read 100 Days of Real Food. It discusses eating cleaner by eliminating sugar and refined grains and reducing meat intake while increasing the number of "whole foods" in your diet. It fits in nicely with my other reading. I also love Homemade Pantry which provides simple recipes for "real" or at least homemade versions of popular pantry staples. I haven't tried most of the recipes yet, but it's good to know that there are resources out there like it to help me in my quest. As this blog progresses, I will discuss some of my successes and failures and provide some of the recipes that I discover along the way.

Getting Started

A few years ago, I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Which is amazing! It's one of those rare books that can quite literally be life changing. And for me it was, it planted a seed in my brain to try to come off of the modern American food grid. This summer, I've been reading Omnivore's Dilemma. This book has cemented my goal to try to come off of the modern American food system as much as I possible can. Over the next while (not sure how long, may be months, may take years), I plan to eliminate most processed foods from my diet. Those processed foods that I do leave will be completely lacking of corn or soy derived ingredients (unless something that really needs them ie: cornmeal, soy sauce, etc). If at all possible, I will be getting things locally or producing them myself. There will be concessions for things like chocolate, coconut, bananas, pineapples, and the like. These will be bought sparingly. I plan on learning to make my own pasta, cheese, butter. I shall be canning and freezing as much as I possibly can when things are in season. I will also make concessions for hte times that I have dinner with a friend or family. I understand that they will not be eating like I hope to in the coming months. If I want to go out to eat, I will still eat where the people I go out with want to go. Most of them understand that I have a preference for non-chain restaurants anyway. It will be tough getting started, but I think that it will be worth it in the end, with both how I feel health wise and emotionally. We'll see where it goes.