My Yogurt Craze

First I fell in love with Starbucks Black Cherry Parfait.  I couldn't afford to buy one every day, so I started making them at home with a recipe I found online.  Tweaked it slightly to my personal taste.  I  found using greek yogurt really adds a wonderful flavor, but regular works fine too.  I use a coffee filter and in 8 hours there is 1 cup of whey drained from yogurt.  Right now I throw it away, but feel a bit guilty about it.  I'll have to find a use for it.

Black Cherry Yogurt Parfait

4 cups (32 ounces) reduced-fat plain yogurt
1 cup frozen pitted dark sweet cherries, thawed and quartered
1/2 cup 100% cherry juice
2 T honey
1 1/2 cups of granola

Line a strainer with four layers of cheesecloth or one coffee filter and place over a bowl. Place yogurt in prepared strainer; cover yogurt with edges of cheesecloth. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.  Quarter cherries before they thaw for ease of cutting.

Remove yogurt from cheesecloth and discard liquid from bowl. Place yogurt in a small bowl; stir in the cherries and cherry juice. Cover and refrigerate until serving. It will keep in the refrigerator for the week. Before serving add 1/4 cup of granola to yogurt. Yield: 3 cups. 6 Servings.

With fall being here I got a craving for something maple, cinnamon and apple.  I thought the combination would make a great parfait and it did!

Maple Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Parfait

4 cups (32 ounces) reduced-fat plain yogurt
1 diced apple
1/2 cup 100% apple juice
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp maple extract
1 1/2 cups of granola

Line a strainer with four layers of cheesecloth or one coffee filter and place over a bowl. Place yogurt in prepared strainer; cover yogurt with edges of cheesecloth. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove yogurt from cheesecloth and discard liquid from bowl. Place yogurt in a small bowl; stir in apples, apple juice, maple syrup, cinnamon and extract. Cover and refrigerate until serving. It will keep in the refrigerator for the week. Before serving add 1/4 cup of granola to yogurt. Yield: 3 cups. 6 Servings.

Both are absolutely delicious and make a great start to ones day.

Outdoor Movies and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

My brother started outdoor movies in the 90's at Halloween.  He'd affix a bed sheet tautly to his porch for a screen.  Then project a movie of his choosing in the Halloween genre, but G rated since is nephew and niece were quite young.  "Mad Monster Party" was a particular favorite (see movie trailer at link.)  After "Trick or Treating" we go back to his house for a movie. We'd bring our sleeping bags and lay down on the lawn.  We'd mostly watched the movie, but sometimes we'd fall asleep.  It was all apart of the fun.

Ever year at the same time I was having a Halloween party for my friends.  Kids were not invited for many years, basically because they were too young to stay up that late.  They would go to Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Then the year came when the kids wanted a Halloween party of their own.  So, I combined the parties and invited all my adult friends to bring their kids.  I asked my brother that year if he'd do an outdoor movie at my house.  We showed "The Nightmare Before Christmas."  It was a big hit.

We had many outdoor Halloween parties, but one year my daughter asked if we could do an outdoor movie for her birthday.  Having a summer birthday it sounded like a great idea.  That's how the summer outdoor movies started.

We tape a white sheet on to our garage door and project the movie on to it.  We make quite a night of it.  I have 2 portable fire pits we roll out for warmth and s'mores.  I pop lots of popcorn.  We encourage everyone to bring a chair if they like.  Definitely bring a blanket and pillow.  As with tradition someone always falls asleep during the movie.  The blanket serves to keep one warm, because even though it's summer we get what's called "The Delta Breeze" in the evening.  It takes a 100 degree summer day and brings the temps down to the 60's nearly ever night.

This years snacks included chocolate dipped strawberries and I made some peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kisses.

Chocolate dipped strawberries are simple and yet very impressive looking.  Not to mention they just taste great. 

What I do is I put 2 cups of chocolate chips in double boiler.  A double boiler consists of a pot that holds hot water and a bowl or another pot that sits securely over this pot. The top bowl or pot holds the chocolate while it melts over the indirect heat.  Do not boil the water.  Keep the heat low.  Also don't let the water touch the bottom of double boiler.  The chocolate chips melt fast like this.  Once melted I turn off the heat.

While the chocolate chips are melting I wash the strawberries.  Making sure to get the dried blossom off the end and little seed flakes off of the strawberries.  Don't know what else to call them, but if you rub each strawberry gentle under water you'll have a clean strawberry ready for dipping.  I like to find large strawberries, but no one has ever turned their nose up at a small chocolate dipped strawberry.  Make sure strawberries are completely dry.  Since I don't make a lot of them I dry each strawberry individually.  You don't want water in the chocolate or it will cause the chocolate to seize and makes it completely unmanageable.

I cover a cookie sheet with wax paper and begin dipping.  I pinch all the stem leaves in my fingers to use as sort of a dipping handle and to keep them out of the chocolate.  Then I lay the strawberry on it's side in the chocolate (probably a 45 degree angle) and twist it until strawberry is coated to my liking.  I've found you don't need the chocolate really close to the stem as it's a part of the strawberry one does not eat.  Lay dipped strawberry on wax paper.  When all are dipped I find a flat spot (or make one) in my fridge to let the chocolate set.  If you don't get the sheet flat all the dipped strawberries will slide off cookie sheet if there is no rim or slide to rim and set in one giant aggravating clump.  So, flat is the key.  Once set peel off wax paper and put on serving dish.

Where Am I?

I've been busy machine knitting.  You can find me over at my machine knitting blog.  I did take the time last night to make up one of our favorite Christmas snacks.  It's very rich and sweet, so I like to make it when there are going to be a lot of people around to eat it.  That way we won't eat ourselves sick.  Yes, it's that good.

White Christmas Snack Mix


2 cups Chex® wheat, corn or rice cereal
2 cups broken graham crackers
2 cups pretzel sticks
2 cups broken rice cakes
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup craisins
1 cup slivered almonds
1 pound white chocolate baking pieces or baking bars, chopped
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

In a very large mixing bowl, mix together cereal, graham crackers, pretzels, rice cakes, marshmallows, raisins and nuts; set aside. Line a very large baking sheet with waxed or parchment paper; set aside. Place white chocolate, whipping cream and corn syrup in medium saucepan. Heat over low heat until melted; remove from heat and stir gently until smooth. Stir in extract.
 
Pour warm chocolate mixture over cereal mixture. Toss gently until cereal mixture is coated. Immediately spread onto prepared baking sheet. Cool about 60 minutes or until chocolate is set. Let stand up to 12 hours. Seal in plastic bags for longer storage.
 
Lynne's note:  This I believe was a Chex recipe from the 90's.  This time though *looking over shoulder* I used Crispix cereal.  It has rice on one side and corn on the other.  I never can decided between corn or rice Chex.  The wheat is just too healthy for this mix.  I like to use Teddy Grahams instead of breaking up graham crackers.  When I bought the white chocolate it came in a 12 oz. bag, 4 oz. shy of what the recipe calls for.  I put a tad less cream in.  It worked out fine.  Just as rich and tasty.

Return of the Fruit Leather

Can't help it we love it so much.  It's quite an involved project, but so worth the effort.  I do it once a year, so it doesn't seem like such a chore.  If you click on above link it will take you to last years post with all the directions on how I make fruit leather.  This year is not much different.  I did decide last year it was easier to remove all the wild Sierra yellow plum seeds before putting pulp in food mill was easier.  They are the size of cherries, so it took me about an hour.  I did find out pretty close to the time I was done a technique that worked well.  If I took about 2 or 3 plums and squeezed them tightly the pulp would squeeze out the cracks of my fingers and the seeds and skin would stay in my palm.  That worked great, but I was nearly done by the time I figured that out.  Anymore than 2 or 3 plums and the seeds would squeeze out too.  Next year I'm hoping to remember this technique. LOL

This year I had some leftover Rough and Ready sour cherry pulp from my 2 batches of jam.  I decided that I'd save it for making cherry fruit leathers.  After cooking it down for a while it was still too watery for leathers.  I decided that I'd mix some plum pulp with the cherry to thicken it up.  That worked out great.

This year we'll have 2 1/2 cherry/plum leathers and 4 1/2 plum leathers.  This will make 21 servings.  Last year I didn't think 18 servings was going to be enough, but they made it through the whole summer.  In fact one got pushed to the back of the fridge and my daughter found it the end of September.  She said it was dried out like chewy gummy candy and was still fantastic.

This is a peak into my Excalibur food dehydrator.  A dark door goes on the front to hold the heat in.  I've had it about 15 years.  It's still going strong.  Most of the year we make beef jerky, but summer it's fruit leathers.

Cranberry Orange Breakfast Barley

This is my favorite breakfast in the whole wide world.  I love barley.  I love cranberries.  AND I love cranberries with orange.  So, this recipe really fit the bill for something I'd love.  I found this recipe in the Raley's magazine  "Something Extra" a few years ago.  Fortunately, the recipe is online for all to enjoy.

This recipe says it will serve 3, but I'd say it will serve more like 5 or 6.  Since I'm the only person in my family who likes it I usually divide it into 4 serving and I eat a serving every day for 4 days.  Every time I do this I think, "I'm going to be sick of this in a day or 2."  Nope I love all for servings and on day 4 it is still delicious.  I probably make this about 3 or 4 times a year.  Once I eat it 4 days in a row I'm good for about 3 months.

Cranberry Orange Breakfast Barley

3 cups water
1 cup barley, rinsed and drained
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp. Simply Organic Cinnamon

Prep time: 5 minutes, Cook time: 45 minutes

Place water and barley in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining ingredients and continue cooking over low heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the barley is thick and creamy. Makes 3 servings.

At this stage I always think it's too watery and cook it a bit longer.  In the end as it cools off that's when the real thickening begins.  As it's stored in the fridge it really becomes thick and delicious.

How To Make Fruit Leathers

That's what they were called when I was a kid. Fruit roll-ups or fruit snacks is the name you see now-a-days. They are very easy to make if you have a dehydrator. I don't use my dehydrator often, but during the summer it is put to good use. The fruit leather that is highly coveted at my house is the Rough & Ready Wild Yellow Plum leather. This is a plum tree that grows wild in the foothills of the Sierras. My parent's original tree was down by their pond. It was a grueling walk in the summer to get them. That made anything done with the plums that much more precious. Grueling because the pond is at the bottom of the hill. We used to joke that it was a 1/2 mile down and 2 miles back. It's summer, it's hot, it's uphill and now you're carrying bags full of plums. They are tiny plums the size of a cherry, so you need a lot to do anything with them.

What I do first is fill my clean sink with water enough to wash the plums. I pick out the leaves, sticks, bugs, and bad plums if any and wash them up. I then usually fill my biggest pot to over filled with plums. I set a lid on the top of the pile and turn the heat on to the first setting. Just as low as it can go without being off. Probably within an hour the lid is fitting nicely on the pot. I don't add any water. I let this cook on the stove on it's lowest setting until the plums are squishy. At this time I take a slotted spoon and spoon all the solids out into a bowl. The juice that's left over I save to make the worlds best jelly. Now it's time to run the plum solids through the food mill to get out the seeds and skins. I've found over the years it saves me time to run my clean hands through the cooled plums and pull out as many seeds as I can first.

After the food mill I have a bowl of plum pulp. This is what I use to make the fruit leathers.

Above is the bowl of the plum juice I save to make jelly. It has nothing to do with making fruit leathers, but it is nectar from the Gods for making jelly. Cover and stick it in the fridge until you're ready to make jelly.

Into the bowl of plum pulp I stir in just enough sugar until it tastes good. It's pretty sour to begin with. This time I had 12 cups of plum pulp and added 4 cups of sugar.

I cover my dehydrator tray with a sheet of plastic wrap or the pulp will run right through. I also tape down all 4 corners as they occasionally blow up and cause a mess. I spread 2 cups of sugared plum pulp out on the plastic wrap. It is now ready to go into the dehydrator. It takes about 12 hours to dry. I do this in the evening and then it's ready the next day after breakfast when I have time to deal with it.

As you can see the dried fruit leather just peels off. It is tasted for quality control as one should do with any food them make. :D In my house this may be the last time I get any fruit leather before consumed by the kids.

It tears easily for sampling. hmmm not sure better have another taste.

Oh no the teenagers have found out they are out of the dehydrator and ready for eating.

Well Allison how does it taste?

Can you stop for just a minute to give me an answer?

OK your mouth is too full to answer.... I'll take that as my answer. It must be good if one wolf's it down.

I sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar, so they unroll easier.

I then roll them all up.

I cut mine into thirds, which makes a generous fruit leather serving.

Put them in a ziploc bag and put them either into the fridge or freezer and watch them disappear.

You can make these with any fruit. This is the season to get wonderful ripe fruit hopefully you'll known someone with a fruit tree or you can go to the farmer's market.

Don't be afraid... it's delicious

My children don't like it when I refer to this as "Mom"ba Juice, my play on word for the popular Juice chain. They say, "Motherrrrrr.... don't you know it is the largest venomous snake in Africa and the second longest venomous snake in the world?" When I was a kid the most exotic thing my brother and I knew about was the "Tsetse fly." Not nearly as exciting as the Black Mamba. I think they watch too much Animal Planet.

“Mom”ba Juice
1 cup Tropical Frozen Fruit (140g)
½ cup Orange Sherbet (86g)
1 cup V8 Fusion (Mango Peach, Tropical Orange, Açai Mixed Berry) (250g)

Add ingredients to a blender (Magic Bullet works great!) in order listed. Whirl until all frozen fruit is pureed and drink. The grams are provided, because I put my blender container on a food scale. I then weigh in the frozen fruit. Push button to clear weight. Weigh in the sherbet. Push button to clear and then weigh in the V8 Fusion. Saves having to dirty measuring cups. Makes 1 serving.

Any kind of fruit can be used. Any flavor of sherbet and V8 Fusion can be used. The above is our favorite. Experiment and find your favorite.

Lynne’s Note: I originally started making this smoothie as something my kids could drink before soccer practice. It seems like soccer practice is always right around dinner time. If they eat before practice they get a stomachache. If they don’t eat they are uncomfortably hungry when they get home. This is light, delicious and has 1 serving of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit.

Pomelo... have you heard of it?

My daughter and I were looking at one at the grocery store. It was bright green and larger than a grapefruit. When a woman walked up behind us and exclaimed, "Put that down! That's not any where near ripe. They should be yellow and smell intoxicating. They taste like grapefruits only sweeter." She picked up a couple smelled them and told us not to buy any of them. It was nice to get some information as we had no idea what they were. Go forward 3 weeks and I'm in Red Bluff on my way to the family cabin. My daughter is picking out fruit to make her famous fruit salad. I see a pomelo... yellow and smelled SO good. I put one in the basket. I couldn't wait to try it.

We're at the cabin and my daughter is making her fruit salad. I say let's put the pomelo in it. She now informs me that she doesn't like grapefruit not even a little. My dad had said that they have a surprisingly thick skin. I cut it in half and yep a very thick skin and again it smelled great. I show it to my dad as he hadn't seen one in years. He agreed it smelled great, but due to his and my mom's meds they couldn't have any. OK now we're down from 8 to 5 people, who will eat it with me. After I had a bite I wasn't so sure I wanted to share it. It did taste like a grapefruit only sweeter. I love grapefruit when it's sweet. Not having to sprinkle it with sugar was SO nice.

I've seen a few more since them, but all are bright green. Still on the hunt for a yellow intoxicating smelling pomelo. Maybe I'll see if I can grow my own?