I probably owe ya'all a Summer Garden Recap - but that was kind of anticlimactic (given the Spring-Seed-Starting Frenzy!). But I'm not quite ready to post about that...
Ehh... When all else fails, fall back on a cheesy recipe, right?!
So yeah, one of the things I started getting into, this past summer, was yogurt-making. This was primarily because the dermatologist had put me on antibiotics, full-time. Antibiotics, as I'm sure you're aware, kill all bacteria - even the "good bugs" in your stomach so, consequently, I've decided that it would be best to counteract that with probiotics in the form of homemade yogurt.
Added bonus: It gave me an opportunity to use-up some of the AMPLE low-sugar jams that I'd put-up last year! Half cup of yogurt, couple of tablespoons of jam, and a teaspoon or two of sweetener (I've been using mainly Splenda) - makes for a tasty, (mostly) healthy treat...
So I bought a cheesy-cheap yogurt-maker from Groupon (no clue how long that link is good for, nor do I get any "kick-backs" if you happen to click on it).
The yogurt maker came with recipes. Plus there's a ton of recipes on the 'net as well. Basically all I've been doing is making plain yogurt from half-and-half + nonfat dry mik (for thickness), then flavoring with whatever SF Jams I excavate from the garage!
Plain Yogurt Recipe:
4 cups half-and-half
1/4-1/2 cup non-fat dry milk
Fresh yogurt culture*
*First Batch: 1/2 cup plain store-bought yogurt (with "live cultures" - check the label)
*Subsequent batches: Just use 1-2 TBS of plain yogurt from your last batch
*Optional: You can also add the contents of one tablet of Probiotic supplement
Mix the half-and-half + NF Dry milk with a whisk. Heat the mixture to 185*F. I've found it's easiest to nuke it in a glass pyrex measuring cup. Appx 5 mins to start, then check the temp with a candy thermometer. Keep nuking in 1 minute increments 'til the "milk" reaches 185*. Then let it cool down til it's appx 110-120*F, then add the "starter culture." (store-bought - or use your last batch)
Pour the milk+yogurt mixture into your yogurt maker. Plug it in and let it cook for appx 8-10 hours. The longer you cook it, the "sourer" it gets - so it's a personal taste thing...
If it separates and gets liquidy on the top (even if it's a funky color), you can just stir it back in - after cooking time is complete. Store, sealed, in the fridge.
Serve it by mixing your favorite fruit jam and adding sweetener, to taste...
Okay, so I made up a couple-three batches of yogurt. It really is quite tasty - but was starting to get a little boring (I'm actually not a huge fan of yogurt - to be honest!). So then I decided that, maybe, frozen yogurt might be a bit tastier.
I surfed online and found this on Amazon. I actually do have an electric ice-cream maker in our storage shed, but it requires ice and salt and time and - besides - it's buried under camping equipment (and it makes much larger quantities than I need or want). This li'l beasty - with it's 1.5 quart capacity - is perfect (since my yogurt-maker makes 1 quart at a time). I also like that the "bowl" has freezer-gel inside of it. Toss the bowl in the freezer and it's ready-to-roll whenever you wanna mix-up a batch of Fro-Yo or... ICE CREAM!
Yep - You were wondering when I was gonna get to the Ice Cream part, huh?!
Alllllrighty then! I am *almost* there! My first couple of batches were actually peach Fro-Yo (Future Post: 2013 was "The Year of the Peaches" - to the point where I was actually having nightmares about harvesting peaches!). I had some frozen "Peach-Spice Butter" out in the garage freezer.
I basically peeled/pitted a sh*tload of peaches and dumped 'em in the crock-pot with cinnamon, nutmeg and Splenda brown-sugar blend. Cooked 'em down for several hours and pureed them using an immersion blender, then stuck the resulting gooze into plastic freezer containers. So it ended up being 4 cups of yogurt + 1 cup of frozen peach-spice butter + a couple-three squirts of Toriani sugar-free peach syrup, all tossed into the ice-cream maker for 20-30 minutes. Dee-lish!
And - well, I'm still experimenting with the whole Fro-Yo thing - so I'm not quite ready to start posting bona-fide recipes - yet.
But.... Since Beloved Hubs seems to suffer from Giaourtiophobia (Ooh! New Scrabble Word!), and because I'd purchased a half-gallon of Manufacturer's Cream without checking the expiration date (it was expiring the next day - Oops!), I decided to whip-up a batch of low-sugar (but definitely NOT low-fat!) vanilla ice cream!
Cuisinart Ice-Cream/Fro-Yo Maker
(Yes, Crappy Droid Pic!)
Okay, so here is where I started: Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
And this is where I ended up:
QT's Ridiculously Easy Low-Sugar (but not low-fat) Vanilla Ice Cream
Yield - appx 9 @ 1/2 cup servings
Ingredients:
- 2C Heavy Cream
- 2C Half-N-Half
- 1T Vanilla
- 1/4C granulated sugar
- 1/4C granulated Splenda
- 1 small pkg (1oz) sugar-free instant vanilla pudding
- Make sure the cream and half-n-half are well-chilled (stick the cartons in the back of your fridge).
- Combine vanilla, sweeteners and pudding mix into the half-n-half. Whisk until well-blended. Then add cream and stir it in.
- Pour the mix into a chilled ice-cream maker and let 'er rip for 20-30 mins (mine was done in appx 15, actually).
Super-Duper Creamy and delicious! Recipe notes: I was reading where folks were complaining that the recipe ended up being more like "butter" than ice-cream so that's why I am suggesting that the cream gets blended in LAST - and make sure it is super-chilled before doing so. I didn't experience "butter" - but I figured I'd make mention of it...
I expect that I'll be doing a lot more experimentation with Fro-Yo - as well as Ice Cream. And probably something incorporating protein shake mixes as well. When I experience "successes" I will make an effort to post 'em here...
Cheers!
-QT
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