Soy Yogurt at Home

Yes, it's been forever since I added to this little page of mine.  Life has been percolating along nicely.  I will say that since our little one has been free to eat soy and gluten, I've not felt the intense need to search out allergen-free options for him, so I've been absent from here for a little while.   

Of course, it's not true that he's allergen free.  He still can't have uncooked dairy, nor can he have any tree nuts.  But since we've long been comfortable with the lifestyle of rice or soymilk vs. milk and sunflower seed butter vs. tree nuts and peanuts, life feels essentially... normal.   

Then again, I now have a 4-year old vegetarian on my hands!  He's an "animal protector," in his words.  The only exception ~ and we saw him struggle with this decision for about a week ~ is that he still eats bacon.  "It's the only animal I still eat."  You GO little man!  He has embraced tofu, miso soup, and nearly the entire frozen vegetarian section of Trader Joe's.  After his early years of homemade-only eating, he's an adventurous eater and this cornucopia of packaged options is a little overwhelming for all of us... but a home cooked meal is still thankfully the norm.    

But with the humdrum of many days, we have been starting breakfast with a very expensive item that I wondered ~ would it be possible to make it at home?  The item:  Soy Yogurt.   

Delicious, creamy, sweet, full of protein.  What's not to love?  The price tag.  Each 6 oz container ranges from $ .99 to $1.09.  If given the opportunity, this child will eat several yogurts in one sitting ~ and that becomes mighty pricey.  

So I set out to try something new, and I'm back to tell you about it!  

Homemade soy yogurt is easy.  Heat up the milk, let it cool to the right temperature, add the yogurt starter, and keep it at a stable temperature for a while for the bacteria to culture.  Refrigerate, then eat.  Really, its that simple.   When I made the batch you see here, I didn't mind so much that our little guy at 3 cups of it in a row.  In fact, I was sitting next to him, grinning.



Homemade Soy Yogurt

The basic recipe:

• 4 cups non-dairy milk.
  In this case I used soy, but you could use rice or coconut or almond...
• 1/2 cup non-dairy yogurt as starter
  Ideally plain and unsweetened / no fruit
• Optional: 1 packet of gelatin -or-
  agar-agar powder (to make vegan)

1. Heat milk on medium heat stove to just under boiling, stirring occasionally.  I used a digital thermometer to track this.  If you decide to as well, make sure you're keeping the thermometer away from touching the pan.  Perching it on a wooden spoon did the trick for me.  
2. While the milk is heating, wash the containers well. These came with the yogurt machine, but you could also use mason jars.  
3. When the heat reaches nearly boiling (at least 180 but better around 190-200 F), turn off the stove. 
4. Optional:  Add 1 package of gelatin or agar agar powder to make a firmer yogurt.  If you don't this will be pretty runny - but it will still be just as delicious
5. Let the temp slowly cool to between 100-110 F.  (~ 42 C) Any hotter, and the good bacteria you're trying to cultivate will not grow! Alternatively, you could cool the milk in the fridge a little more quickly.  
6. At 110 F, add the half cup of starter yogurt to the mixture and stir well.  Don't stir so much that there are resulting bubbles... just make sure it's evenly distributed. 

From here, you have a couple options:

Option 1:  If you have a yogurt maker: 

• Pour the mixture into sterilized yogurt cups that came with the machine.  I use a mason jar filling funnel to make the process a little less messy.  
• Turn on the machine and set the timer for around 8-10 hours.  You could also just let it sit overnight.
• When your time is up, turn off the machine and open one of the containers.  It should smell and look like yogurt!  Put the containers in the fridge for at least 3 hours, where the yogurt will firm up a little more.   

Option 2:  The Oven Method

• Heat your oven to the lowest temp you can (My oven is 140) and then turn it off.   Turn on the light inside the oven - it'll keep the interior warm all night. 
• Pour into sterilized mason jars and cover. (Hey, we're not canning here... just cover with screw-on lids and or rings/tops, but no need to process in a hot water bath!)  
• Line a large earthenware crock or dutch oven with a tea towel.  Place your mason jars inside. Cover with another tea towel, and then cover the crock with its own cover. 
• Put the crock inside the turned-off oven and close the door.  
• Leave overnight.  
• In the morning, open one of the containers.  It should smell and look like yogurt!  Put the mason jars in the fridge for at least 3 hours, where the yogurt will firm up a little more.   

Yum!

• Enjoy!  Add whatever flavors you enjoy:  honey, jam, fruit are all great options.    Not only is the yogurt delicious and allergen-friendly, but the cost difference is astounding!

Here's a comparison:

Comparison	O'Soy	Soy Milk	Milk	Organic Milk
oz	6	32	64	64
cost	$           1.09	$           2.99	$           3.89	$                  5.99
cost per ounce	$           0.18	$           0.09	$           0.06	$                  0.09

Some useful references I've found about general yogurt making, dairy and non-dairy:
- Granny Miller - Crock Pot Yogurt (dairy) 
- Stephanie O'Dea's Crock Pot Yogurt (dairy)
- There are some GREAT ideas at Waking Up Vegan about alternate milks, thickeners and flavorings! (non-dairy)

Pumpkin and Spice (r)Ice Cream!



Pumpkin Ice Cream with Gingersnaps



OK rice milk is in it too, but in fact the star of this pumpkin "ice cream" is really coconut milk. Rich, delicious coconut milk.

And this is SO simple to make!

All it takes is coconut milk, pumpkin you probably have left over from Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie spices, sweetener, rice milk. Stir it up, pour into the ice cream maker, and in a half hour you have some sweeeeet eats!

I'm finding that vegan cooking sites are a treasure trove of ideas.  Take this one from the lovely blog So Good and Tasty, written by Jaqui (who also has a great Etsy shop, check it out!)

It's a deviously simple pumpkin pie flavored ice cream made with just a few ingredients that you can whip up in five minutes and freeze up in thirty.   Once you're done, you will have not only the admiration of your children but also anyone else who has the good fortune to be eating with you that day!

Now, don't get nervous about it tasting coconut-y.  It doesn't.  The coconut adds just the right amount of richness to the ice cream ~ and unless someone told you that it had coconut in it, you'd never know it was there.  It's smooth, creamy, sweet, spicy.  Delicious!

So below, I am quoting Jacqui's recipe directly, but when I made it, there were a few changes.  Instead of almond, I used rice milk in the same amount, and since I didn't have any cloves on hand I used some ginger and allspice in overall the same measures. 

The first time I made it, I used Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of the cane sugar.  I did this mainly because I didn't want to wait an hour for the mix to cool in the fridge. (I guessed that was to allow the granulated sugar to dissolve.)  So, I used the only pre-dissoved sugar I had on hand, and Lyle's was it!  It ended up not sweet enough.  The second time, I used Karo (corn) syrup and it still wasn't sweet enough ~ until I added a 1/4 c more of maple syrup!  Perfect.  So if you go that route, it's 3/4 c Karo or Lyle's, plus 1/4 cup maple syrup. 

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

1 14 ounce can coconut milk

3/4 cup almond milk, or other dairy free milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

3/4 cup cane sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients and whisk together well. Let chill for about an hour in your fridge. Once really cold, follow instructions for your ice cream maker. 



Ready to come out!

My ice cream maker suggests around 30 minutes of stirring in the machine.  It goes in looking like thin pudding, and comes out like... well, Ice Cream!   You can eat it then, but it'll be pretty soft.  Most ice cream makers will suggest you "cure" the result in the freezer for at least a half hour afterward.   But seriously, who has time for that?!

We finished about half of the container that night.  It was perfect with (allergen free Pamela's) ginger snaps.  Can you imagine this over apple pie?  All I can say is, WOW!

Simple as Blueberry Pie

One of the simplest pleasures in life is pie.

Not 3.14... though it's fun to imagine the connections between a pie's round shape and that famous infinite number. If we had, in fact, infinite amounts of pie, I think I'd be pretty happy. Dividing it in eighths is fun, but then again there are those people who are just tasters, who insist in "half a slice" (which creates challenges when you have a soupy fruit center), and those midnight pie eaters who attempt to evade detection with their tiny sliver slices. Oh yeah, you know who you are.  And we're watching you. 

So inevitably as the cold weather comes upon me, I want to bake.  Thanksgiving's coming, too... but I feel the need to have something bright and surprising after a lot of Halloween pumpkin related food.  I mean, we're going to have a lot of cold weather related food coming up soon, so why not have a quick taste of summer just before we go full boar into the Holidays? 

OK, that and I accidentally left out some frozen blueberries and they needed to be used asap. 

So, while I'll be making pumpkin pie later this week, I give you... Blueberry Pie!

I have a ridiculously simple "regular" gluten-filled pastry dough recipe that I've adapted for this recipe.  I literally keep it in my recipe box on a Post it.  Here it is in its original form:   

All you have to do to update this is use Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (I use Bob's Red Mill), and palm shortening (I use Spectrum Organics).  Seriously that's all there is to it ~ just put it in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few minutes, then roll it out.  This makes enough for one crust.  If you intend to put on a top crust, just double it. 

For those of you who cannot read my chicken scrawl, here you go:

Food Processor Pastry

1c. Flour
1/4 t. salt

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup cold water

Put flour and salt into the food processor.  Pulse 3 - 4 times.

Add shortening. Pulse 5 - 6 times.  Dough should look like coarse meal.

Then with machine running, add water 1 Tablespoon at a time until it suddenly WHOOSHes into a ball of dough.   Put in a plastic baggie (or something that will avoid its outsides from starting to dry out) in the fridge to cool for a few minutes. 

For a pre-baked crust:  Roll it out, prick sides and bottom with a fork here and there, and bake at 425 for 10 - 12 minutes.  Cool then add things like chocolate pudding etc.

For a non-pre-baked crust:  Roll it out, prick sides and bottom with a fork here and there, and then add your fruit mixture, pumpkin pie filling, etc. 

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Blueberry Pie

Jessica and I made a blueberry pie last week.  She was very excited about making a pie for little one, and we had these frozen blueberries hanging around doing nothing... why not?   When I came down for lunch there was pastry rolled up into balls and waiting to be made into crusts, and a big bowl of defrosted blueberries.   How do we make that into pie?

Well, my mom always just told me to cover fruit with a few tablespoons granulated sugar, a couple tablespoons of flour, and let it sit awhile.  Vague but serviceable.  The New York Times Cookbook told us a little more.   They suggested that for 3 cups blueberries, we add 9 tsp of corn starch and 1/2 cup sugar!  Plus a little lemon juice.  Stir it up and you're all set.  More gluten free... yay.  If you have a corn allergy you can also use tapioca starch instead of corn starch.

Once the filling is ready, pour into your pie shell , cover with a top crust if you like.  I didn't have quite enough pastry for a 2 sided crust so I rolled it out and sliced it into strips to make a lattice work.  Looks pretty and covers up a multitude of sins like... well, not having enough pastry! 

Bake at 400 degrees for around 40 minutes or until the pastry becomes golden.  And there you have yourself a pie! 

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