Tag Archives: yogurt

D-sert

Mmmmm, lunch.

Lunch rivals breakfast for my favorite meal of the day…it may even win.  I eat more vegetables and savory for lunch and I am hungrier for lunch than dinner (too much afternoon snacking).  Yep, lunch wins.

And this Romaine & Kale Salad topped with 1/3 cup pinto beans, sauteed mushrooms and onion, salsa, and pom balsamic was a winner.

But what I was really excited about was dessert.

We’ll call it a Yogurt Torte.  Sugar-free cause that’s how I roll.

This little delicacy was inspired by this recipe I saw on the beautiful 101 Cookbooks blog. I didn’t follow the recipe however, I glanced at it days ago and ran with it.

I started by mixing 3 cups of plain yogurt with vanilla and stevia to taste in a food processor.  Once I liked the sweetness I added three eggs.

(I used 3 packets of Sweet Leaf stevia but the sweetness of each brand varies so go for your taste.  You could certainly make this with sugar if you would prefer)

Pour the yogurt mixture into another container so you can now use the processor for the crust.

Don’t bother to clean the food processor, the little bit of liquid will help the next step.

Pulse 1/2 cup of almonds until nuts are broken into small chunks.  Add 1 cup of rolled oats, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/4 cup of flax seeds, and a pinch of salt.

Whirl away until the “dough” starts to stick together.  Add 2 tablespoons of yogurt.

Line the bottom of a spring form pan with parchment paper.

Press the oat mixture into the bottom of the pan.

Once the bottom is spread firmly across the pan pour the yogurt mixture on top.

Gently move the pan to a 350* oven. I set my pan on top of a cookie sheet because sometimes my spring form leaks, just fyi.

Bake for 35 minutes.  Turn off the oven and leave in for another 15 minutes.  Allow to completely cool before eating half of it in one sitting serving.


Note: This is not a cheese cake made with yogurt, the top is light in texture and taste and sweetness and the crust is chewy and textured.  I loved that it is full of whole food with no refined sugar so keep this in mind if you make it, it’s not going to be dense, heavy, and overly sweet like a traditional cheese cake or similar dessert.

Time to get outside!  It’s a balmy 48* degrees out so Tate and I are going to do a grocery run on foot (C’ville Market ♥).  I may even bring my hand weights with me for some multi-tasking strength training.

 

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Filed under cooking, food, recipes

Soda Pop

A love story.

It all started back in September at the Heritage Harvest Festival.

Tate and I attended a workshop on fermented foods.

Until this day my love of good bacteria, probiotics, and healthy enzymes was limited to kombucha and lots of yogurt.

And then Dawn introduced me to the world of spicy kimchi, tangy sauerkraut, and bubbly kefir water soda.

[well, she didn’t actually introduce me because my dad used to make all kinds of ferments when I was little and he was following a Macrobiotic diet. at the time I just thought it was all “weird” and slightly embarrassing when my friends came over.  oh boy, I can’t wait to embarrass my own future children!]

As soon as I got home I dove into making my own fermented veggies.

I loved the idea that I could use that giant $2 head of cabbage that I bought at the farmer’s market to make some ‘kraut that would last me weeks.  And fiery kimchi soon became a household favorite to add a little zing to any meal.

I ♥ bacteria.

🙂

I have seen improvements in my digestion, appetite (smaller), and a strengthening of my immune system since I added more fermented food into my life.

Back at the festival Dawn told us about making “soda” from water kefir grains and let us sample a few flavors from her cabinet.  Many of you have probably heard of the milk/yogurt drink Kefir, water kefir is the same thing except it ferments in water instead of milk.

In order to make kefir soda you have to have grains, which you can buy or get from someone else because once you start the process the grains multiply and you end of having loads of them.  Dawn was talking about websites to buy grains from when an audience member raised her hand and offered to give grains to anyone in the C’ville area.

I took her e-mail but soon got side tracked by a new love of fermenting vegetables and a cabinet full of kombucha.

The other day I saw the e-mail address tacked to the side of my fridge and decided I would give kefir grains a go.  Stephanie promptly returned my inquiry and said that she would be happy to leave me some grains on her front porch (she’s not home much).

She conveniently lives just a half a mile or so from me so I trotted on over there on Tuesday morning and found this waiting

Directions and everything!  Thanks Stephanie!  I left a little jar of my homemade lavender salt and a thank you note in it’s place.

When I returned home I quickly got to work on my first batch.  And just as quickly finished!  Kefir soda is super easy to make, the grains do 95% of the work!

The hard part is the waiting while it ferments but at least it is much quicker than kombucha (1-2 days instead of 1-2 weeks!).  After waiting 48 hours I eagerly got to work on the second step.

After the first 24 hour ferment

The grains from the bottom of the jar, they remind me of tapioca balls from “bubble tea”

I poured off the watery liquid into clean, empty kombucha bottles and added a splash of homemade grape juice to each

Now I wait.  In a day or so these bottles will start to get all fizzy and be ready to drink!

The flavoring possibilities are endless with popular ones being vanilla and lemon, both of which I am excited to try next!

I am SO looking forward to a 4:30 Vinyasa yoga class this afternoon at the gym!  My body with going to thank me from the inside out as soon as I hit the mat. 🙂

If you are missing COMMENT COMMIT from the holidays, no worries, let’s keep it going on Facebook!  Every morning I will post my workout plan on Gracefulfitness’s page and if you want a little extra push/bragging rights add your workout plan (or accomplished workout) as a comment.

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Filed under Fermented Food, goals, yoga