Tzatziki

After making Greek yogurt, I was ready to make tzatziki. Because I wasn't smart enough to ask my friend for her recipe, I looked around for some recipes and found one. It didn't turn out like my friend's tzatziki, but it isn't bad.

Tzatziki

• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 medium cucumber
• 1 teaspoon dill seed
• Salt and pepper to taste

You can make Greek yogurt like I showed you in the previous post. Or maybe you could do it the easy (slacker) way and buy some.

Peel the cucumber and slice it in half lengthwise. Then use a spoon to take the seeds out.

Chop the cucumbers into small pieces.

Then, put the cucumbers in a colander or screen and sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt.

Put this over something so they can drain. I didn't get much water out of the cucumbers, honestly, but I assume that it made some difference. After they have drained, get out your blender or food processor.

In your blender, but the cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, and dill. Grind them up as best you can, then stir this mix into the yogurt. I mixed in a teaspoon of garlic grains as well, to add some flavor.

Let it stand for at least two hours and enjoy! We used it for chip dip and it was a big hit.

Watch later this week for another tzatziki recipe.

Greek Yogurt

After a friend gave me some homemade tzatziki, I wanted to try making some myself, and tzatziki starts with Greek yogurt. Most people might be able to buy some Greek yogurt, which is becoming more and more available around here. However, we aren't most people. Milk seems to make Dona feel like she has arthritis, so I thought I would try making some Greek yogurt with non-dairy (soy milk) yogurt. I bought some soy milk yogurt from the health food store and let it drain, just like the the Food Network's recipe for Greek Yogurt explains. One thing that was different was that I didn't get as much liquid out of the non-dairy yogurt as they talk about in other recipes.

This is really easy.

Greek Yogurt

• 1 cup non-dairy plain yogurt

Place the yogurt in a coffee filter that you have placed in a small strainer. Allow to set in the refrigerator overnight. That's it! Now you are ready to use it in whatever recipe you want.

I'm not at home as I work on these, and I forgot to bring my camera with me. So, I will add some pictures later.

Creamy Broccoli Risotto

After my success with the sweet potato risotto a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to try some more. I found this recipe for broccoli risotto. We like creamy stuff, so I thought this would be a good option.

Broccoli Risotto

• 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil, divided
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 Tablespoon of dried parsley flakes
• 2 1/3 cups chicken broth, warmed and divided
• 1/2 small onion
• 3/4 cup brown rice 
• 2/3 cup cooking wine, dry white wine, or chicken broth
• 1/4 cup nut cream (I used mimicreme almond & cashew cream)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a skillet, warm 2 tablespoons of oil. Saute the broccoli and garlic until the garlic is soft. Add 1/3 cup of chicken broth and parsley; simmer until the broccoli is tender, about ten minutes. Turn off until the rice is ready.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the rice and stir, coating it. Heat 2/3 cup of broth in the microwave and add to the rice.

Stir often, so that it doesn't burn. Simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. Warm another 1/2 cup of broth and add it to the rice. Keep adding the rest of the broth 1/2 cup at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed before adding warm broth to the rice. Cook until the rice is creamy and the rice is tender.

Add the mimicreme, broccoli, butter, and Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Waffles

Last week was Dona's birthday, and her favorite breakfast is waffles. The waffle recipe I use is pretty good, and we all like it. Whether you put syrup or something else on them, these waffles have nice flavor and are just as good toasted the next day!

Waffles

• 1/2 cup  tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 4 tablespoons melted butter, margarine, or oil
• 1 1/2 cups milk (or 1 1/2 cups water, with 1/4 cup soy milk powder in the dry mix)

Beat the egg whites until stiff and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients together. Beat the egg yolks; add in the melted butter and milk beat to mix. Add in the dry ingredients in thirds, mixing each third in before adding the rest. Once all the dry ingredients are added in, gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Once this is mixed, add, 1/2 cup at a time, into a waffle iron. Mine takes 4 minutes, but yours might be different.

We topped our waffles with the strawberry filling for the crepes I made for Valentine's Day. Using the same recipe, I also made a blueberry topping. It was good, but I had to add water because the blueberries didn't have as much moisture as the strawberries did.

Sweet Potato Risotto

The national tournament was held in Connecticut this year, about 45 minutes outside of New York City. While there, I was able to go to the Risottoria restaurant. They had some of the best food I have ever eaten. After talking to a friend about making risotto, I decided to try it myself.

One ingredient common to most risotto recipes I've looked at is Arborio rice. I'm sure you find this hard to believe, but I didn't find Arborio rice at the store here in Powell. So, I just used long grain brown rice instead. I based this recipe on one for Butternut Squash Risotto I found at Cooks.com.

Sweet Potato Risotto

• 1 medium sweet potato, or two smaller ones
• 1 cup Arborio Rice, or long-grain brown rice
• 3 cups chicken broth, warmed
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or white cooking wine

Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 2-4 chunks. Boil it until soft enough to mash.  Mash it fairly thoroughly with a fork or potato masher. You can see that in the picture at the top.

In another large saucepan heat the oil. Add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the rice and cook for five minutes, stirring regularly. Add the wine to the rice and cook until wine is nearly all absorbed. If you are using regular wine, pour yourself a glass.

Stir in a cup of chicken stock and the mashed sweet potatoes. Simmer until the stock is nearly all absorbed. I used powdered chicken stock and water. I boiled a cup of water in the microwave, added the chicken stock, stirred it up, and then added it to the rice. Continue adding a cup or so of chicken stock at a time until the rice is creamy but still firm.

At this point you can serve it as is, and it's pretty good. You might add some cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and it will be sort of like rice pudding, which makes it even better.