Amanda's Homemade Yogurt (sans yogurt maker)

So once I started Phase 3 I was so excited to be able to eat yogurt again.  I had taken a class from Becky and she talked about making her own yogurt and I wanted to try too.  I found a bulk yogurt maker on Amazon and promptly ordered and made my first batches of yogurt, 5 cups a a time.  When I mentioned this to my dear friend Amanda she said "Why'd you get a yogurt maker?"  and promptly sent me this super simple recipe for the best dang Greek yogurt this Iowa girl has ever eaten.  And bigger batches.  Instead of making yogurt every couple of days, I make it every week or two.  MUCH more economical

For the amount of milk, I only use a half gallon.  I don't need great amounts at any one time and this makes enough for me to eat, occasionally cook with and if the hubs wants some he can have some too.  If you want a greater amount of yogurt go with the full gallon.  Still use the 8 oz carton of plain yogurt as your starter.

This is plain yogurt at the end.  I'm not sure how you would make a flavored yogurt, but I like mine plain with honey and some blueberries so this works perfect for me.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/2 - 1 gal. whole milk

1 8 oz container of plain, Greek yogurt (I always use the full fat version)

Tools

Food thermometer

A large pot with matching lid

Two large towels

Sieve

Large bowl (big enough for the sieve)

Cheesecloth or flour sack (non fuzzy) kitchen towel

* Two or three clothespins (optional)

The process

Pour the gallon of milk in the large pot.  Heat on low/med heat until it reaches 180 degrees, stirring occasionally to cut down on the "skin" on the top and the burning on the bottom

When the milk reaches 180 degrees, turn off the heat and move the pot to a cool burner.  Continue to monitor the temp.  When the temp reaches 125, add at least half of the container of yogurt into the warm milk.  I always use a full container but as little as a 1/4 cup will work.  Stir lightly.  Put the lid on the pot.  Wrap one towel around the pot.  Fold the other towel in half and cover the top.  Put the pot in the corner of the kitchen counter and leave it alone for 24 hours.  

After 24 hours, take off the towels and lid.  You'll see whey (a clear liquid) on the top.  The yogurt should be semi solid.  Now it is time to set up drain the whey (optional, but this is the way you make thick Greek yogurt).  Take the sieve, cheesecloth/towel, and bowl.  Put the sieve inside the bowl.  Line the sieve with the cheesecloth.  *sometimes it is nice to have wooden closepins to clip the cheesecloth to the sieve*  Pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth sieve.  Cover the sieve with the lid (optional).  Let the whey drain out of the yogurt for an hour or two.  

Store in the frig.  Eat at your leisure

Lindsay's Overnight Oats In A Jar (OOIAJ)

Mornings can be hectic (especially when you hit the snooze 2 or 3 times before actually getting up :))  I know for me, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day and if I'm rushed it can set a bad tone (food-wise) for the whole day.

One of the recipe's my awesome coach gave me when I started Phase 3 was Overnight Oats In A jar (or OOIAJ as I call it in my head).   I had never heard of such a thing before and wondered if it could really be that good.  But Lindsay swore by it so I gave it a try and of course it was delicious!  Simple too.  Just fill a mason jar (or other container) with all the ingredients and let it soak over night.  To make it even more streamlined, I fill mason jars with all the ingredients except the yogurt and the milk and stick it in the freezer.  I usually have 2 or 3 in the freezer at any one time.  When I know the morning is going to be hectic, I pull a mason jar out of the freezer before I go to bed, add the milk and yogurt and let it sit in the frig overnight.  In the morning I stir it up and put the lid back on and take it to work.  It doesn't get any easier than that!  Its filling and creamy and peanut butter-y.

Here is the recipe:

Lindsay's OOIAJ
1/3 c. quick oats
1/8 tsp vanilla
1/2 banana (or 2-3 T fruit of your choice)
1 T all natural peanut butter (only nuts and salt on the ingredient list)
1/3 c skim milk
2 T plain Greek yogurt (I use homemade - I'll post that recipe sometime soon)

If you are freezing it for later - mix first 4 ingredients in s mason jar or freezer container.  Make sure its big enough to hold the milk and yogurt later.  When ready to eat, add milk and yogurt and let sit in the frig overnight.  Stir it up before you eat it to mix all the flavors.

If making just a single serving, mix all the ingredients and let it sit for at least 5 hours to soak the oats.  Stir and enjoy

Nutrition information (courtesy of MyFitnessPal.com)
Calories: 319
Fat: 12 g
Total Carb: 40 g (Net carb: 35 g)
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 13 g

Pizza Bites (Stuffed Mushrooms)

Let me start off with I am not a mushroom fan.  But If they get masked by what ever they are with I can handle them.  These pizza bites use a baby portabella mushrooms as the base for a sausage meatball, pizza sauce and cheese.  They are in a word - phenomenal

Here is a link to the super simple recipe:  Baby Pizza Bites

The only change I made was the cooking method.  I am not much of a griller and the hubs was otherwise occupied (setting up the RPG game area for the company we were having that evening).  So I decided to bake them.

I cooked them at 400 for about 20 minutes.  Sacrifice one and cut it in half to make sure the sausage is cooked all the way through before you top it with the sauce (OH and I found a no sugar added pizza sauce too - Great Value brand at Wal-Mart - it was great on these and I used the left over sauce in a pasta bake the next night).

I topped with mozzarella (since they were for company and I was out of the soy cheese) and then returned them to the oven to broil for about a minute - just to get the cheese melty and gooey.

They are also super cute on a plate and look all fancy for the little bit of work they take.

Here is the recipe for reference:

Baby Pizza Bites (great for all phases)

Ingredients

12 button mushrooms, wiped of any dirt and stems removed

½ lb Italian chicken sausage

1 egg ehite

¼ to ½ c no sugar added marinara sauce

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400.

Wipe down your mushrooms and remove stems. Then place them stem side up on a plate.

Throw your Italian chicken sausage in a bowl along with your egg white. Use your hands to combine it all together.

Then make tablespoon size balls of the meat mixture and plop them into the cap of the mushrooms.

Place on a sheet pan (with sides) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until sausage is cooked through.

Remove pan from oven and turn on the broiler.  Top each mushroom and sausage cap with either pizza/marinara sauce and a little mozz. Pop back in the oven for a minute or so until cheese is melted and bubbly!

Stick a toothpick in it and EAT IT.

Baked Rutabaga Slices

So while we were in Italy, we had some of the most amazing food I've ever eaten.  A lot of it was basic, comfort food, like the potatoes Stephania made.  They were little potato slabs, cross cut, and baked.  Amazingly simple.  Amazingly tasty.

I knew I wanted to try them when we got home, but I'm back in Phase 1 since the vacation until I lose the rest of what I gained.  So, back to the trusty rutabaga.

Don't those look amazing!   They were too, trust me. And super simple.

Enjoy!!

Baked Rutabagas
1 small rutabaga, peeled and sliced into 1/4" slices
EVOO
Sea Salt,  garlic powder to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.  
2. Cross cut the rutabaga slices on each side.  Just make a little tic tac toe board on each side but be careful not to slice all the way through.
3. Place rutabaga slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Flip the slices over, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and garlic powder.v(you can use what ever spices you think sound interesting.  For the first time out I stuck with simple)
5. Bake at 400 for 25 min
6. Remove from oven, flip over and put back in oven for 10 minutes.

Serves 1

Enjoy

Oh Mamma Mia!

That's how you say omg in Italy - mamma mia.  OMG would be Oh Madonna.

That's how I would describe vacation. 10 days in Italy ... mamma mia.   It was our honeymoon (we delayed it so we had vacation stored up).  Oh Madonna!

Seven of the 10 days was a wine tour.  We got to pick grapes and watch them go through the "turning into wine" process (well up to the point where the fermentation has to work).  We had 2 or  more wine tastings per day (PER DAY!!) which included appetizers at a minimum or a meal depending on the time of day.  We had 4 course dinners most nights.  We had pasta and pizza and dessert! Oh the desserts (mamma mia) !

Definitely not IP protocol on any phase :)  But I knew that going in.  That's one reason I wanted to be on Phase 4 before we went so it wouldn't be such a shock to my system.

I gained 10 pounds...in 10 days ... Oh Madonna!

But there is good news in all of this.

First - it was expected :)  I was going to enjoy myself and I did, immensely!  I was hoping all the walking we did would offset some of the weight gain ( and maybe it did :))  but I wasn't going to restrict myself on my honeymoon.  It was like a cheat week and a half instead of a cheat day or cheat meal :)

Second - I went back on Phase 1 the day after we got back (we got in at midnight on Monday so it was Tuesday morning).  I had my weigh in and Lindsay and I talked about getting the weight off.  So far (its now Thursday) I'm down 4 pounds by my scale at home.  This is SO encouraging to me because it tells me this program really works!!  When I have been on other programs and gained some weight (which really is inevitable), I couldn't get it off following the program.  It just didn't work a second time for me.  Not sure what I was doing differently but whatever the reason I still failed consistently to maintain a weight loss.  And now the first time out, when I knew I would gain weight, its coming off the second time as easily as it did the first time.

That makes me happy!

I figured it would take about 3-4 weeks to lose what I gained in Italy.  It may be faster than that at this rate.  But whatever the time frame, I am confident it will be gone in the near term.  I have never in my life felt more confident that I could lose weight.

Thanks Ideal Protein (and Lindsay) for this success!

Now that I'm back to reality I'll be posting recipes and thoughts on a more regular basis again.  I've got a few recipes I really want to try (Spaghetti Squash mac-n-cheese among them).  And I've got 2 new cook books that I need to work my way through :)  They will mostly be Phase 4 recipes, but some will be Phase 1 friendly as well with little to no adjustments.  I also really want to look into soups and crock pot meals to make things a lot easier in the evenings.