Dosas!

I decided to try making dosas today. Dosas are a kind of Indian pancake or crepe. My mom had tried them a couple of times, but always expressed frustration with trying to spread the batter before it clumped up. My first attempt showed me how frustrating that can be, so on my second one, instead of pouring the batter in the middle of the pan, then spreading it with the back of a wooden spoon (as the recipe said to do) I poured the batter over the whole pan. It worked! I got a nearly perfect 9 inch dosa! It was thicker than the ones in Indian restaurants, but it did cook very evenly, and it didn't have any big holes.

It was also quite delicious. I filled mine with curried red lentils, and DH had one with maple syrup. He also thought it was good, in fact he liked it better than the paper-thin restaurant ones! Sweet success!

Sour

So they told me, and I didn't believe them. It is true. Sour dough bread is sour. Really sour. So sour I don't want to eat much of it. I've been trying to finish a loaf for over a week. It  doesn't usually take me this long!

So much for wild yeast. I'm going back to the dried, store-bought kind.

Going Wild

I've been contemplating learning to bake sourdough bread for some time now, and last night, I put together a diy starter from scratch. Just four, water, stirr, outside air to catch the wild yeasties, and cap it. We shall see how it evolves. It smells good so far! Apparently, the area I live in has some really great wild yeast in the air, so wish me luck!

Low Sodium Again

I forgot the salt in my bread again yesterday. Why is it that everytime I forget the salt, the loaves rise perfectly? Does salt inhibit rising? I wonder.

I think I'll be trying to find a recipe that requires breadcrumbs or making herb crutons or something. I don't want to go through two more loaves of salt-free bread. You'd think I'd have learned last time!

No Sodium

Never thought how hard a no sodium diet would be until I forgot the salt in my bread recipe. Ugh. I can tell it *would* have been delicious if only I had remembered that tiny amount of salt. But as it is . . . Adding salt on top just doesn't do it. Maybe I'll try making it sweet--execpt I usually don't want it sweet. If I wanted sweets, I'd make cookies or cake--and even those have some salt! I feel for anyone on a restricted salt diet.

Glue-Town

Now I know why its called gluten--it's just like glue. And I also know why flour paste can be used as glue . . .

Why do I know? Rye bread with gluten flour. Sticky! But yummy. Good plain or with ghee or in a sandwich. Eating more sandwiches lately. Convenient for being out and about at lunch time. Also have been learning how to sun-dry veggies. The farm has a make-shift sun-dryer. We've been making summer squash and tomatoes. The tomatoes are acidic, but the summer squash are suprisingly sweet and satisfying. Yum!

Yogurt Rice

Have been having fun in the kitchen--about the only place I've been having fun lately. I'm just a grouch. But I made this really yummy yogurt rice with cucumbers and tomatoes today. Mmmm! :) Now on to craziness of to volunteer church activities this evening, the end result of which is having to meditate and eat 2-3 hours earlier than I am used to. This could be difficult. I might end up even grouchier then usual due to hunger and/or tiredness. Ugh. At least I have more yummy yogurt rice for dinner! Yay!

Kreative Kitchen

I've been playing with foods and flavors and having so much fun. It started with a cheep, enriched rice, that had a funny taste. That prompted me to try flavoring my grains, and now I'm heading home to try my herb bread that's been cooling while I did my on-line business. :)

Yogurt

I've been trying to learn how to make yogurt at home, and I think I've finally got it! It seems that the store bought yogurt doesn't culture well, initially, but eventually, by re-culturing it, it seems to turn out well. My latest batch is so nice and smooth and tasty, it's even delicious just plain! The first few batches were so grainy, it was kind of frustrating.

Smoothies

I've gotten really into having smoothies as my afternoon snack the past few weeks. I've been trying for several years to find a way to incorporate more fresh fruit into my diet. I've tried buying it to eat as an afternoon snack, and in just sits in the bowl and rots. So this spring I decided to start making smoothies. I have a convenient little wand blender that came with a smoothie cup, and I just put in soft fresh and frozen fruit, add juice concentrate, yogurt, and water, and blend! I can make them in the morning and leave them in the fridge, all ready to satisfy my mid-afternoon cravings. Another benefit is that I use more yogurt in smoothies than in lassi (an Indian flavored yogurt drink), and that gets me more B12. (Calcium, too, but I don't think that's as important, as I can get calcium from veggies. B12 is the one essential nutrient that isn't found in the plant kingdom.) So there's my nutritional rant for the day. :) Oh, and did I add that smoothies are delicious, especially when made with fresh fruit from a local farmer's market?

The rest of my life is pretty complicated. Taxes are finally done, but now my car has an oil leak. Therapy is beginning, but baby-steps are all I can take at the moment. Convolutions in emotions lead to convolutions in inter-personal relationships. Money from new job is good, but drive is long. Arrive home hungry and tired, but too wired to meditate. Will have to get past this somehow. Grump, grump, complain, grump, growl, grr. Actually, I'm not feeling that bad, I just realized what I sounded like, and that's really how my life has been the past few days. Hoping for some peace soon. Here's hopin'. :)