kitchen experiments

I've been keeping busy in the kitchen lately. I've experimented with a few things too.

I tried making yogurt in the crock pot using this method. I really didn't like it as much as the stove top/little cooler method. And I read in Wild Fermentation that using more starter can actually make a less firm yogurt. So I will go back to the stove top method and just use a little starter instead of the whole cup of yogurt my friend suggested.

Aleena made some really AWFUL cookies. She was making it up as she went. She was proud because it didn't have any butter or eggs in it. Then she tasted them. Yep, they tasted like they had no butter or eggs in them. I really need to do better about teaching my kids about nutrition. They are getting brainwashed by that silly food pyramid. I could rant on about that but I'll save that for another day!

I made a mixture of molasses and honey the other day like this blog post. It is so good. I love the taste of molasses, but it can be too bitter. And I really love that my boys think it's a great substitute for pancake syrup. So many nutrients in molasses and honey.

I have another sourdough starter going. I used it to make pancakes on Saturday and want to make this spice bread with it, but I need some spelt for that so it may have to wait until next week. I am really going to try to use my sourdough better this time. Duane was really wanting sourdough french bread like you get at the stores last year so I abandoned my starter. But this time I'll try to be more creative with it so we can get the benefit of that natural fermented food.

In the past couple of weeks I made a recipe with bulgur. It was this walnut chicken recipe. We all really liked it. And we had greens that night too. They weren't great but the kids ate them. I'll definitely make them again.

I made a different batch of granola yesterday. It's more of a clumpy type. The kids like that to snack on. It will become a staple in the pantry I'm sure as we wean off of boxed cereals. I told the kids about the studies I posted about before. They were all disgusted and thankful for things like homemade oatmeal and pancakes as alternatives.

I have a winter squash cake recipe to post too. I'll get it up later today. It's a great breakfast cake or dessert.