On Repeat

 

 

 

 

Refresh Again

 My poor neglected yogurt, again.

 

 

 Fortunately, November's batch still looks okay - not pink, gray, or fuzzy. phew

 

 

Making yogurt is going to take two days. A day to refresh the culture and a day to make yogurt using the refreshed culture.

Today is just to feed and coax the yogurt. At the end of today I will (hopefully) end up with floating bits of happy yogurt.

Whole milk steamed in the Instant Pot for 1 minute.

 

 

 Cool down to 116 - 118° before adding one tsp of the previous (November) yogurt.

 

 

Back in the Instant Pot for eight hours.

 

 

Eight hours later I have a wee bit of happy culture that I will use to coax tomorrow's batch of yogurt.

 

Yes, Yogt

I was able to gather a teaspoon of culture from Monday's batch for each half-pint jar. Processed for another 8 hours (not counting steaming and cooling down) and this is what Happy Yogurt looks like:

 

Note to self: Please try harder to keep your yogurt happy.

Almost Yogt

I made yogurt today. Well, at least I tried to make yogurt today.

After eight hours in the Instant Pot, not even counting the time spent steaming the milk and then cooling it down, I produced maybe a teaspoon or two of yogurt floating in two pint jars of warm milk.

It's not the yogurt's fault. It's totally on me. I - er - may have neglected the yogurt since November. Yup, the poor yogurt has been sitting in the back of the fridge waiting to be fed and rejuvenated since November.

Luckily my yogurt is very forgiving and, like the last time I neglected it, I will take those precious teaspoons of culture and coax it along and make my yogurt happy and lively again.

Oil and Massage

An unexpected sequela of last week's storm was a very sick goat.

 

 

I first became aware that something was wrong when Mama the goat refused her special treats. Every afternoon she receives a teaspoon of powdered apple-flavored aspirin mixed with kitchen scraps. Usually she's waiting by the garage door to receive her "special treats".

It was very unusual for her to turn up her nose to the apple core, lettuce, and kiwi peelings. Perplexed I made another batch of ASA with bits of bread and COB (goaty granola), she sniffed it and turned away. Next I tried a couple of peanuts, she mouthed it, dropped it, and walked away.

Here's the thing about Mama, as The Man likes to say, "She's a tough old goat".  She suffers from arthritis and has been receiving daily aspirin which seems to help. The warmer months are easier for her and every winter we think it'll be her last but every morning she's standing and waiting to be let out of her house. On colder mornings, it takes her awhile but Mama eventually makes her way out of the pen to find some breakfast.

For Mama to refuse food something was wrong. Her thick winter coat covered her abdomen but when I placed my hands through her fur I noticed quickly there were no bowel sounds. I could not feel or hear any gurgling and her belly felt tight as a drum.

As I gently palpated Mama's belly, she didn't move away as she normally would but instead stood with her head hanging low and I could hear her grinding her teeth. It's a terrible sound, it's the sound of pain.

I thought of the stormy winds that had swept through the oak trees and then covered the property with fresh green oak leaves and wet oak moss.  I thought of the way the goats looked with green beards as they dined on the lush lichen.

We have experienced this sudden and dangerous condition before - goat bloat.

I started to rub and pat Mama's abdomen, concentrating mostly over her left side, her rumen. The Man came by and he helped me administer 5 ml of Goat Probiotic. We bedded her down in the garage, it was warmer and we didn't think she could walk the distance to the pen.

The next morning she was standing by the door to be let out. She left the garage and headed to the dog house. There were only a couple of goat poops in the garage, not nearly enough.

Mama stayed in the dog house all day. It was large enough for both of us as I sat with her and massaged and thumped on her with cupped hands. We gave her more Probiotic and 1/4 cup Canola Oil (orally with a syringe) to help break up the froth and release the bubbles. She drank water but did not eat anything and spent another night in the garage.

The next day she seemed better. She had started pooping again, her abdomen was softer, and less distended. Most noticeably she had stopped grinding her teeth. One more Probiotic dose and an occasional pat and rub when I could catch up to her.

 

By the fourth day Mama was back to normal - chewing her cud, eating, burping, and pooping - her usual goaty self.

 

 

 

Winter Orange

The early mornings have been chilly and foggy but warming up later in the day. The goaties are starting to shed their downy coats and the chickens are laying an egg or two.

Winter is moving on.

Our Talley Farms Fresh Harvest CSA weekly box has been awash with the color orange. Sometimes a little creativity is required to discover new ways to use up all the produce.

Butternut Squash Soup

Sweet Potato Chips

Candied Blood Oranges

Yum: Toasted sliced almonds topped with small wedges of candied fruit and melted dark chocolate.

We've also been happy recipients of both fresh and dried persimmons from Jerry and Jan's trees. Although the sweet Fuyu persimmons can be eaten sliced like an apple, the Hachiya needs to be eaten spoon-soft. Take a bite into a crisp Hachiya and you'll remember the difference between the two, trust me.

Jan passed on the discovery that Hachiya persimmons loses it's astringent flavor when dried. I gave it a try; how sweet it is.

Yellow and orange - fresh and flavorful - are the winter colors for the Central Coast of California.

Merrymaking

Let the festivities begin ~
 

Yoghurt Yogurt

The other day I noticed our 2% milk was quickly approaching it's sell-by date and we had almost a full gallon left. That was a lot of milk to drink so I thought about how best to use it up. What about Corn Chowder? Nope, the weather's been too warm for soup. How about Macaroni and Cheese? Nah, too hot to turn on the oven.

What about yogurt?

Why, yes, that's a good idea. I've been meaning to try a batch in the Instant Pot. All it takes is milk and starter culture and I just happened to have a freshly opened container of plain Yoghurt that contains, "Billions of live and active cultures." Perfect.

Although I could make the yogurt directly in the Instant Pot's stainless steel liner I decided on just a few jars in case I messed up and had to toss my culinary science experiment. I watched a couple of Youtube videos and read a couple of recipes for Instant Pot yogurt. Easy Peasy.

First the milk is steamed for one minute. Then cooled down before adding the live cultures because you don't want to kill the little buggers off by adding it to too hot milk. Unfortunately, I got distracted and by the time I checked the temperature of the steamy milk it had already cooled to 107°. I was aiming for 115°.

I was pretty sure I messed up and would be drinking thick sour milk from pint-sized canning jars.

Oh, well. I went to the next step anyway and added a couple of dollops of Yoghurt and stirred it into the milk, pushed the "Yogurt" button, and used the machine's preset time to incubate for 8 hours. I watched the Instant Pot count the hours and minutes, and then it displayed the word "Yogt" when it hit the eight-hour mark.

 Ta-Da. Smooth, thick, and creamy.

I gotta say The Man is not a fan of plain yogurt though he was a good sport about trying a few spoonfuls of the stuff and making appreciative (I thought) mmmm sounds. But eventually he reached his limit and declined any further tasting, ie. "I'm not going to try it anymore, it tastes like sour milk, quit sticking it in my face."

Okay. Right. Maybe plain yogurt is not the end all for a few some most people. I like it "as is" but I guess I could add a little fruit, maybe use it in my cooking, or add it to smoothies.

But you gotta admit, it's pretty cool to make yogurt from yoghurt.

Instant Love

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Amazon Prime Day, July 12, 2016, I was counted as 1 out of 215,000 people that purchased an Instant Pot. The multi-functional 7-in-1 electric pressure cooker was the top seller of the day. The funny thing is I didn't even know I needed one, heck, I had never even heard of an Instant Pot and I wasn't even a Prime Member. But I got one anyway because, well, I did need a new rice cooker.

The first thing the User Manual recommends is to boil water as a test run. Thataway, you get used to the device, it's features, and to make sure "your unit is working perfectly". I decided to watch it work perfectly from a safe distance.

The Instant Pot is amazing. It was especially perfect for summer cooking when it was just too hot to cook. I could set it, forget it, and spend my time outdoors.

Beef Stew

3:30 pm

6:05 pm

 Roast chicken

Browned on Saute Mode in the IP

Fall off the bone tender

Not Re-fried Beans! (recipe included with IP) and chicken soft tacos

I have also made Spanish rice, Pot Roast, Chile Colorado, St. Louis Style ribs (check out Flo Lum YouTube videos), hard boiled eggs, steamed veggies (potatoes, artichokes) slow cooked Kalua pig, Minestrone soup, and the easiest pan gravy.

I love my Instant Pot. The Man loves my Instant Pot.

When Good Veggies Go Bad

Sometimes I get behind using up our weekly CSA produce box. That is, I can't keep up with all the fresh goodness and the happy vegetables starts looking a little less happy.

Recently I gathered up a few neglected items tucked away in the back of the refrigerator: leeks, fennel, cauliflower, and red potatoes. Discarded the brown bits and saved the not-too-icky parts for the critters.

Sauteed the leeks and fennel in olive oil for a few minutes.

Added in the potatoes, cauliflower, two cans of chicken broth, salt and pepper.

Closed the lid on my Instant Pot* and set it to Manual for 10 minutes.  (*My, my, my, I have not even talked about my wonderful new Instant Pot. . . . )

A few swipes with the Immersion Hand Blender, a sprinkling of fresh corn, and we've got soup.

Though, you know, not much goes to waste around here. It's all good.

Slow Foods: It Ain't Instant

So, there I was making orange juice.

On this unseasonably warm winter day (80°) I was finally getting around to putting the squeeze on the box of oranges that Jerry had shared with us. From the kitchen sink window I could see The Man - and his entourage of dogs and goats - walking back and forth as he went about his chores.

We've been fortunate that Jerry has been keeping us in fresh Vitamin C these past few months by bringing us boxes and bags of oranges, lemons, and kiwis grown in his neighborhood.

It seemed wasteful to turn the oranges into juice, all that lovely fiber, but The Man thought it was a tad too sour for eating, so it went untouched for a few weeks. It would be even more wasteful to have the oranges go bad, so juice it is. Besides the goats eat the peels so no waste - really. But it also means I have to cut the peels up into bite-sized pieces; a choking, coughing goat spewing a mouthful of food is not a pretty sight.

Last month we canned albacore tuna.

It was a week of planning: Two frozen fish to thaw slowly in the refrigerator - just like a turkey, one day to clean the fish by my personal fishmonger, aka The Man, and then the next day - Canning Day. The Man's commercial fisherman skills kicked in and he did an excellent job of cleaning the fish. Maybe too good of a job - I ran short of jars. The Man had to make a run to Ace Hardware to pick up more jars and lids for an unplanned second batch in the pressure canner.

This was our second go-around of canning our own tuna; let's just say the process went a lot smoother compared to the first time. Our two fish yielded 39 half-pint jars.

Oh, and while I was getting my jars and canning stuff ready for the tuna, I thought, what the heck, I think I'll make some orange marmalade with Jerry's oranges and preserve with the water bath canner. Easy-peasy, it shouldn't take too long, right?

Wrong.

Note to self: Spur of the moment marmalade-making and canning is not a great idea.

This week: Apple sauce (I used the last of Jerry's apples from last fall's harvest).

I don't know, maybe part of it's the fact that you're in a hurry. You've grown up on instant orange juice. Flip a dial - instant entertainment. Dial seven digits - instant communication. Turn a key - push a pedal - instant transportation. Flash a card - instant money. Shove in a problem - push a few buttons - instant answers.    Sergeant Joe Friday, Dragnet, 1968.