Adventures in Food
Posts tagged Greek yogurt
Monkey smoothies
Jan 17th
Our scheduled has ramped
up lately with basketball games, play practices (x2), homework projects–oh, and I’m squeezing in a little kitchen renovating. To fill in the gaps when it comes to snacks (uh, and sit-down meals) I’ve been making these smoothies for my kiddos. They’ve now dubbed them “monkey smoothies.”
The smoothies are packed with protein courtesy of the peanut butter and Greek yogurt. I’ve found that if my kids fill up on protein it gives them the energy they need to make it through our sometimes crazy schedule.
Recipe
Prep time: I’ve got it down to 5 minutes
Servings: 2-3 depending on the size of your glasses
Ingredients:
1 cup crushed ice
1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth, creamy, take your pick)
2 tablespoons Nutella or chocolate syrup
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 banana
1/2-3/4 cup milk
Directions:
- For the right consistency (another way of saying “so the peanut butter doesn’t get glued to the side of your blender), put the crushed ice, peanut butter, Nutella, and banana into your blender first. Pulse briefly.
- Add in the milk and pulse until smooth, then add in the Greek yogurt.
- Finishing touch–pour in the chocolate syrup or Nutella for a little sweetness. You can add more if you’ve got a child with a real sweet tooth, or skip it entirely.
- Serve in a glass with a lid on the way to volleyball/piano lessons/theatre class…
Greek yogurt guacamole
Mar 10th
For my birthday Mr. Squid made a Mexican feast–chicken and potato ancho-spiced taquitos, rice and refried beans. But we only had one avocado. Not enough for guacamole. So he poked around the refrigerator to see how he could improvise. Now we’ve been whipping Greek yogurt in with salad dressing and vinaigrettes for awhile now, so he figured the creamy consistency of the yogurt might pair well with avocado. It did.
A few good reasons to give this Mexican-Greek fusion guac a try? Here you go:
At least around here avocados are pricy right now–adding Greek yogurt into your guac makes it go farther!
Say your avocado isn’t quite mash ready; mix in Greek yogurt and you can get the perfect consistency, whether the avocado is ripe or not.
Kids who are turned off by regular guac might like this lighter version.
Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4-6
Ingredients
1 avocado
1/3-2/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup salsa (green preferred)
1/2 lime (enough juice for 1 Tbsp.)
Tabasco (or other spicy sauce)
salt and pepper
Directions
- Cut the avocado in half lengthwise.
- Scoop both halves of the avocado into a mixing bowl along with 1/3 cup Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup salsa.
- Mix together using a emulsion blender (or you can use a blender).
- Add 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice.
- Adjust taste and consistency by adding extra salsa and Greek yogurt, salt and pepper.
- Blend and serve.
*For a chunky guacamole, put only half of the avocado into the Greek yogurt mix. Follow the remaining steps. Cut the other half of avocado into dices and mix with a spoon into the pureed guacamole mix.
Kids’ reactions: The teen gave it two thumbs up (it’s taken her a long while to like avocados). My two younger kids tried a dip or two of guacamole with their taquitos–they liked that it was dippable, but no rave reviews from them. I’m working on it.
Yogurt banana cake with chocolate chips
Mar 8th
Shhhhh, don’t tell my kids but this recipe is simply a tweaked muffin recipe. Yup I just didn’t want to take the time to fill up all of the muffin tins so I poured the batter into a 9×13″ pan instead, called it cake, and my kids were hooked. Okay, the chocolate chips helped, but so did the hefty amount of Greek yogurt which makes this ‘cake’ moist and filling.
Recipe
Servings: 20
Prep time: 15 minutes + baking
Ingredients
3 cups flour (whole wheat flour would work well too)
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
2 eggs
8 Tbsp. melted butter
2/3 cup chocolate chips
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Using a hand-held mixer mash the bananas and then add the brown sugar, followed by the yogurt, then eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients.
- Blend the dry ingredients into the banana mixture. Stir in the melted butter and chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into a greased 9×13″ pan.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool and eat for dessert, breakfast or snacks.
Kids’ reaction: Well, no surprise but this was a big hit with my crew. I’ve now made it twice this week and my kids are trying to keep from eating bananas around here so they’ll be ripe enough to use in this recipe. Originally, I was going to make a simple glaze for this using powdered sugar and maple syrup but it doesn’t need it.
DIY Greek yogurt
Mar 6th
It’s Greek yogurt week here at MKES! Lately, I’ve been throwing it into just about everything. I even came up with a yummy banana chocolate chip Greek yogurt cake last night that my kids loved. (I’ll post that next.) But before you go out and buy tubs of Greek yogurt at Costco like me, why not make it yourself? Jessie Voigts, Ph.D., owner and creative force behind Wandering Educators (if you haven’t checked out the site yet, you should!), graciously passed along her method for making Greek yogurt at home and one of her recipes for Greek yogurt cheesecake.
Here’s her take on making one of my favorite foods:
We eat yogurt every day – cook with it, bake with it, make smoothies, eat it with rhubarb sauce, make dips…well, the list goes on and on. But do you know what is in some commercial yogurt? More than just milk and yogurt starter. Making your own yogurt is easy, economical, and you know exactly what goes into it – yogurt, and milk. Once you get started, you’ll never buy yogurt again!
Yogurt
It’s easiest if you have a yogurt incubator, available online or in thrift stores for a few dollars. If you don’t have one, that’s ok. You can still make yogurt easily.
Equipment you will need:
A large pyrex measuring cup (8 cups) or a pan
A glass candy thermometer
A yogurt incubator with jars, or 2 quart jars, a towel, and a small cooler.
Heat 2 quarts of milk to 175 degrees. I do this in the microwave. In my microwave, it is 19 minutes at 80% power. You can also heat it on medium low on your stove, but this requires careful tending. Once it is at 175, sit on the counter and cool until it is 110 degrees. You’ll see a film on the top of the milk. Remove it with a fork right before the next step.
When the milk is at 110 degrees, stir in 2 T of yogurt. This can be storebought yogurt or homemade yogurt. If you have Greek yogurt, even better. Whisk the milk and yogurt until the yogurt is dissolved. Pour into your containers and place in your yogurt incubator. Or, pour into your 2 quart jars, wrap in a towel, and put in a small cooler. The point is to keep it at a low temperature for 12 hours, so the yogurt cultures can grow. Once your twelve hours are up, put the jars into the refrigerator and let sit for another 12 hours, to firm up. Eat and enjoy! Be sure to make your next batch of yogurt before you run out – you’ll need 2 Tablespoons to start your next batch.
To Make Greek Yogurt:
Put a strainer over a bowl, and line your strainer with a coffee filter (or doubled up cheesecloth). Pour in your yogurt and let sit for a few hours. If it is warm out, or you need to let it sit overnight, place it in the fridge. The whey will drain out (you can use this for other purposes, but I just throw it out. No haters, please). You’ll be left with nice, thick Greek yogurt.
Recipe: Yogurt cheesecake
Here’s a delicious, easy, and healthy recipe using Greek yogurt.
2 c Greek yogurt
2 T sugar (or to taste. You might want 1/4 c or more)
1 t vanilla
2 beaten eggs
If desired, a graham cracker crust
Mix up the yogurt, sugar, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Pour into a baking dish (pie plate, 8×8 glass dish) with or without a graham cracker crust. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until the middle stops jiggling. Cool and refrigerate for 4+ hours. Serve with fruit or jam.
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