Home Cooking Gourmet Blog

I’ve always wanted to make my own yogurt without buying a yogurt maker. I do not need more specialized appliances. After a thorough investigation, I came out with make your own yogurt. It takes very little prep time and is done within a day. And it tastes good! I suggest straining the yogurt and use the nutritious whey (strained ‘water’) in homemade bread. I used Dannon plain nonfat yogurt as the starter because it is neutral and has active live cultures in it. My wife said it tasted as good, if not better, than Dannon.

I mix in a splash of vanilla flavoring and sweetener then mix well and enjoy.

Store-bought turkey breast has always tasted salty and slightly off. It is probably from the processing and packaging of the turkey breast. Normally, I would go with the entire turkey but since the breast meat is the favorite part in our household, and is easier to cook, then turkey breast it is.

To tame down the salt and improve the taste, the turkey breast is covered with water and soaked for a few hours. This leaches out surface salts and other impurities. After soaking, I rinse the turkey breast then prepare it for cooking.

The taste improvement is very noticeable.

I usually buy Butterball frozen turkey breast or the store brand; both benefit from the water soaking.

I love to save time and not dirty up dishes. Which brings me to an experiment I did last night.

Garlic chicken, my favorite meal, was on the menu. Normally, the chicken is cooked, drained, and set aside then the vegetables are stir-fried and the chicken merged. I didn’t like the idea of draining the chicken and putting it aside so I came up with this:

Stir-fry the vegetables and set aside
Cook the chicken for a minute or so then merge in the vegetables and cashews. Sounds like a plan.

Well, the dish turned out pretty good but the vegetables were not crisp-tender; more like soggy-tender. All in all, it was still an acceptable dinner and a little time saver. Maybe you will have better results.

Doug

The past several Thanksgivings I took the easy way out of cooking a turkey – I used a cooking bag. This may be an out-of-style way to cook but it has always worked. Nice moist turkey with a good shade of brown.

First thing is to get a cooking bag large enough for the turkey. And make sure the turkey is thawed. To save a half hour cooking, the turkey should be at room temperature. I shake a tablespoon of flour in the bag then put a layer of roughly cut onions, celery, and carrots on the bottom. The turkey goes on the veg layer and into a roasting pan. A few small cuts in the bag and you are ready to go. I put the thermometer right through the bag into the thigh. The last turkey I cooked was 16 pounds and it took about 2 1/2 hours at 325 degrees.

Have a nice Thanksgiving!

Doug

I have come across this scenario many times:

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 cup chopped walnuts

The difference is: the first example calls for 1 cup of walnuts then chopping them. The second calls for chopping walnuts until a cupful is attained (which may be 1 1/4 cupfuls of unchopped walnuts) .

Doug