It isn't easy to follow up a blog post like that last one, so for awhile, I haven't! And now I'm back, not because I have anything great to report but more like just the opposite. (Not that I have anything BAD to report, I just don't have anything particularly exciting). I got put on call for work today and my schoolwork was finished a week or so ago, so I don't have anything in particular that I really need to do today.
Not that I'm complaining. I love being at home, and it seems there are always more things to do than hours in which to do them. Here's what I've been up to so far:
Did a few loads of dishes
Vacuumed the apartment/tidied up
Scrubbed up an old hairball I found on the carpet (hot vinegar works wonders!)
Enjoyed a nice long chat with my mom
Left a message for my sister (who will most likely call back once we're in bed tonight)
Made yogurt and strained it (more on that below)
Started a batch of these naan to go with the mattar paneer we're going to make tonight
Made a few phone calls
After a long hiatus, we've been back making yogurt again. We like our yogurt thicker as opposed to runnier, which is how homemade yogurt tends to turn out--a situation that leads many to add powdered milk as a thickener. The trouble is that powdered milk (and eggs, for that matter) contain a form of cholesterol called oxidized cholesterol, which some studies show is much more likely to contribute to the buildup of plaque in a person's blood vessels. Plus, it is inherently a very processed food. So we've opted out of that and instead thicken our yogurt by straining it, thereby yielding a product referred to alternately as Greek yogurt or yogurt cheese, which is absolutely delicious with fruit and/or honey. We just pour it into a piece of muslin, tie it up above a bowl for an hour or two, and let the whey collect underneath. Voila! Naturally thickened yogurt.
The only frustration with this method is that it obviously cuts down your yield. Okay, that, and we haven't exactly found a really good use for the whey yet, either. I know you can use it in baking or to water plants, or to soak grains or rice, but those just don't come up that often and I wish I had a really useful use for it. In the meantime, the naan recipe above calls for yogurt, and so I mixed a little yogurt in with the whey and used that. We'll see how it turns out. Maybe next we can try our hands at Gjetost.
Interesting to note that a year ago this month, we were up to pretty much the exact same thing!
Not that I'm complaining. I love being at home, and it seems there are always more things to do than hours in which to do them. Here's what I've been up to so far:
Did a few loads of dishes
Vacuumed the apartment/tidied up
Scrubbed up an old hairball I found on the carpet (hot vinegar works wonders!)
Enjoyed a nice long chat with my mom
Left a message for my sister (who will most likely call back once we're in bed tonight)
Made yogurt and strained it (more on that below)
Started a batch of these naan to go with the mattar paneer we're going to make tonight
Made a few phone calls
After a long hiatus, we've been back making yogurt again. We like our yogurt thicker as opposed to runnier, which is how homemade yogurt tends to turn out--a situation that leads many to add powdered milk as a thickener. The trouble is that powdered milk (and eggs, for that matter) contain a form of cholesterol called oxidized cholesterol, which some studies show is much more likely to contribute to the buildup of plaque in a person's blood vessels. Plus, it is inherently a very processed food. So we've opted out of that and instead thicken our yogurt by straining it, thereby yielding a product referred to alternately as Greek yogurt or yogurt cheese, which is absolutely delicious with fruit and/or honey. We just pour it into a piece of muslin, tie it up above a bowl for an hour or two, and let the whey collect underneath. Voila! Naturally thickened yogurt.
The only frustration with this method is that it obviously cuts down your yield. Okay, that, and we haven't exactly found a really good use for the whey yet, either. I know you can use it in baking or to water plants, or to soak grains or rice, but those just don't come up that often and I wish I had a really useful use for it. In the meantime, the naan recipe above calls for yogurt, and so I mixed a little yogurt in with the whey and used that. We'll see how it turns out. Maybe next we can try our hands at Gjetost.
Interesting to note that a year ago this month, we were up to pretty much the exact same thing!
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