Puddle Jumping in DC

Easy Homemade (Refridgerator) Kefir

When I embarked on making Kefir at home, I expected it to be an extension of our long-established habit of making our own yogurt. However, incorporating this fermented food into my diet took a little trial and error. In honor of Farmer's Daughter's Green Moms Carnival this month on preserving food, I'll describe lessons I learned making kefir, so that you might find your ideal routine more quickly than I did.

While kefir and yogurt both ferment milk, the process and our resulting routine are very different:

• Unlike yogurt, making kefir with live cultures does not involve heating and cooling the milk.
• Kefir ferments at room temperature (or lower, as I discovered) and does not require being kept warm over night.
• Kefir continues to culture until it is consumed, even if the grains are removed, so must be eaten quickly. (The same is true of yogurt, but the process is much slower.)

There are many websites with instructions for making kefir, and some of them make the process seem very complicated and involved. It doesn't have to be. My kefir routine involves just a tiny bit of planning and adds only a few minutes to my smoothie routine every couple of days.

Standard Homemade Kefir Instructions

1. Put your grains into a clean glass jar.
2. Add milk.
3. Cover jar with a clean towel, not a lid (it carbonates), and store at room temperature.
4. 24 hours later, or when the kefir reaches the desired sourness, strain kefir grains.
5. Drink kefir.
6. Go back to step 1.

That system didn't work for me in the warm climate of Washington, DC, mostly because I found I was making a quart of kefir every 12 hours. Even when I reduced the amount of grains in the jar, I simply couldn't keep up. I had to figure out a way to slow production, and since I had been storing extra grains in the refrigerator, where they still fermented the milk in which they were stored, I decided to try putting the whole process in there.

Jen's easy no-sugar-added peach cobbler

I posted this recipe over at my DC Green Living Examiner page as a companion to my article on making the most of your farmers market, and thought I'd share it here too.

If you are looking for an easy dessert or something to do with your perhaps-excessive peach bounty, try this recipe:

Easy peach cobbler closeup, variation
with blueberries.

1. Put 1/2 a cup of butter (1 stick) in a 9x13-inch Pyrex baking dish, put the dish in the oven and set to 350°F. You can substitute oil or margarine here but the buttery flavor is one of the charms of this dish.
2. While the butter is melting, mix up a batter by combining 1 cup of whole grain flour, 1 &1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/3 cup of powdered milk (optional), 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 cup of grape juice concentrate, undiluted. Add a little water or addition juice if necessary to get a thick, but pourable, batter.
3. When the butter is completely melted, remove the pan from the oven and pour the batter into the melted butter. Do not mix.
4. Then, carefully spoon 3 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches and juice evenly over the batter.
5. Return dish to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. As the cobbler cooks, the batter will rise up and around the peaches. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Jen's easy, no-sugar-added peach cobbler ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup whole grain flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup of powdered milk
• 1 cup grape juice concentrate
• 3 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches, with their juices

Vegan variation: substitute vegan margarine or oil for butter and omit powdered milk.

Winter variation: use canned or frozen peaches and supplement with frozen berries (optional).

Reasons to Label Plastic Baggies of Stuff in the Freezer

Because ice cubes of frozen breastmilk make very nice soothers for teething babies but terrible yogurt starter.

Nutty Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes

Combine and set aside to curdle

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup soymilk

Mix

• 1 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or white wheat flour*)
• 2 tsp baking poder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/8 cups sugar

Mix

• Cider and soymilk
• 1 cup of okara
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Add

• 1 2 oz bar of dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup of dried cherries, chopped
• 1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped

Fill greased muffin tins 1/4 - 1/2 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

I find I gravitate toward mildly sweet deserts. If you prefer sweeter treats, you will want to increase the sugar or ice them.

*Whole wheat pastry flour, which is typically milled from white wheat, is lighter and contains less gluten than whole wheat flour.  It can generally be substituted for multipurpose flour.

These are based on the Fluffy White Cupcakes in the Vegan Lunchbox.

Whole Wheat Flax Soy Bread

Warm

• 3/4 cup of water to 110 degrees. 

Add and set aside

• 3-4 tsp yeast (I use bread machine yeast, though haven't used the bread machine in ages.)

After 5-10 minutes, or sufficient bubbles form, add

• 3 tbsp brown sugar.

Mix

• 1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup of ground flax seed

Add yeast mixture to

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup okara (at room temperature)

Kneed in dry mixture adding additional whole wheat flour as necessary to achieve a moist, but only slightly sticky dough.

Let rise in a warm place for one hour or until doubled.  Punch dough down.  Let rest 5 minutes and form into loaf.  Let rise for another hour. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until crust is firm and bread sounds hollow when thumped.

Recipe originally based on Bob's Red Mill Oat-y-licious Wheat Bread (now with no oats).

Apple Ginger Cake Redux

Since my original attempt was a modification of a modified applesauce cake, I went back to a classic applesauce cake (Joy of Cooking) and modified it. Makes two moist, if slightly crumbly loaf cakes.

In a sauce pan, bring oil and spices to a simmer for a few minutes:
    1/2 cup of canola oil
    2 tsp cinnamon
    at least a tablespoon of minced fresh ginger
    1 tsp nutmeg

Blend oil mixture into wet ingredients and sugar until sugar dissolves:
    1 1/2 cups brown sugar
    1 1/2  cups applesauce
    1 1/2 cups okara

Add a cup or so of chopped walnuts and one medium apple, also chopped.

Sift dry ingredients together:
    1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
    3 tsp baking soda
    2 tsp baking powder
    1 tsp salt (or less)

Combine wet and dry mixes.  Add additional liquid as needed. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour.  Top with fresh plain yogurt (no longer vegan) . . . mmmm.

Vegan Junk Food (Apple Ginger Cake Redux)

I was going to respond to Pamela's comment that mimicking processed junk food only vegan wasn't really my style . . Then I was walking home reading (yes) the latest VegNews magazine in which was a really interesting looking recipe for devils food cake (including a little history).  I was itching to bake, I had beets, I had a container of okara in the fridge . . . but since cake can be a hassle, what did I make: cupcakes.

Modified from VegNews "Can't Beet Devil's Food Cake" Jan-Feb 2007
This recipe made 18-20 very moist, not too sweet, very chocolaty cupcakes. 

Blend wet ingredients and sugar:
      1 can beets
      1/2 cup water
      1 1/2 cup okara
      2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
      1 tsp vanilla
      3/4 cup sugar

Sift dry ingredients:
        1/2 cup cocoa (not Dutch or alkali processed)
        1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
        1 tsp salt
        1 tbsp baking soda

Combine wet and dry ingredients.  Add additional liquid as needed. Bake in greased muffin pans at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Frosting
    I'm still working on finding a frosting method that I like. Here's what was given in VegNews:
      Beat:
      3 cup powdered sugar
      1/3 cup vegan margarine*
      1/4 cup soy milk
      1 tsp vanilla

I didn't have margarine of any kind so I used 50:50 blend of canola oil and palm shortening; it was kind of runny at room temperature and didn't dry out like a simple milk/sugar frosting. Tasted fine but cupcakes kind of had to be eaten cold or they got sticky quickly. Work in progress, I suppose.

Easy Loaf Cake

Did you know that there are a lot of food and recipe blogs? Am I going to post a recipe here anyway? Yep. 

I'm always experimenting with baked good and dessert recipes in an attempt to make healthy treats.  This cake has been modified so much from any inspiring recipe that I can safely say it's a Jen original.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup non-fat yogurt, plain
1 egg or substitute
3/4 cup fruit juice concentrate
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour
1 cup other whole grain flours (try whole wheat and oat flours)
1 cup berries, chopped fruit or chocolate chips

additional fruit juice concentrate or water as needed

Directions:
Grease 8 cup loaf pan.  Add canola oil, yogurt and egg to mixing bowl. Mix until smooth. Add remaining ingredients in order presented above, mixing and breaking up any lumps as you go along. Bake at 350¬∞ for 40-45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean and crust is golden.

Comments: If you are using wet fruit, hold  back some liquid until the end and add as needed. You could try whole fat yogurt and omit the canola oil but the above are the ingredients that I keep in my kitchen.  Makes a moist, mildly sweet loaf cake.  Ice with yogurt based icing (3/4 cup powder sugar, 1 tbsp yogurt) or serve plain.