it's FINALS time !

It's sad that my course in Chinese History is ending :(. But all good things must come to an end and I have to do my final soon which means, less time on my blogs. So, I won't be around consistently the next few weeks because I really must study.

I will be in an out but not enough time to really post much. So with that I leave you, my dear little spot on the web and hope you don't miss me too much.

And to my fellow TWD'ers....I will miss you but I will be back in full force after I get my 100 ( I hope) on my final :o). So click the link up there already and go see how this weeks pick turned out for everyone!

So please, if you are reading this, check out the wonderful Fruit Gallette's that the Tuesday's with Dorie Crew has whipped up for this weeks recipe! It was specially chosen by none other than, Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs! Thank you Michelle and if I get time tonight..it's still Tuesday somewhere in the world, I will try to make your tasty sounding selection. :o)

Home Made Yoghurt

Yoghurt in Arabic is Laban (sounds like leh bun, e is not short)

The blog owner of My Baking Adventures needed a recipe for home made yoghurt that does not use the yoghurt making machine.

Yoghurt is like a staple in every household here in Lebanon, like potatoes are back home at my mom's house. The yoghurt here in Lebanon actually tastes different than the plain kind back home and I actually prefer the one here better. If you look at my Chocolate Pudding post, you can see this container in my fridge. It's just behind the nice little bowls of Chocolatey Goodness :).

So here you go and very good luck making this. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.



Home Made Yoghurt


You need to prepare 2 pounds (1 kilo) of milk, you will see the weight on the side of the can and prepare according to directions. I usually make the powdered milk to my liking and go from there. It is up to you really but just make sure you make a full 2 pound container of the powdered milk.


Nido is very rich and creamy and I like it a lot so that is my powdered milk of choice to use when preparing yoghurt. Nestle Nido, they even make baby milk :)


Heat the 2 lbs of mil until it is moderately hot.


Beat a 1/2 cup of regular PLAIN yoghurt or some left over home made yoghurt and then add it to the hot milk stirring constantly. (this is the 'primer' for the yoghurt) make sure you get PLAIN and not VANILLA. :)


Pour this into a saucepan and cover the saucepan with a lid.


Then wrap this covered pan up with a towel. This will help to retain the heat.


Let it stand for 4 hours or overnight without moving it.


You should have yoghurt after this :)


****It is very important to not move the pan and whatever you do, do not be tempted to open it up to "see how it's doing", like I did the first time I made it lol.**** If you follow these directions, it should turn out great for you. See? Not so hard!


There are several Lebanese dishes that call for cooked yoghurt so I have included a cooked yoghurt recipe.


Cooked Yoghurt


Crush one clove of garlic ( I usually use more because I love love love garlic) with about 1/2 tsp of salt.


Add a few drops of vinegar to the garlic.


You need to beat one egg and add this to the crushed garlic mixture.


Add 2 tbsp of dissolved cornflour (cornstarch) in 1/2 cup of water.


Add the garlic-egg mixture to the yoghurt and beat this very very well.


Cook this over a low heat stirring it occasionally until it comes to a boil. Important to keep on low heat. Making the temperature higher to "speed" things up can cause it to mess up.


Remove this from the heat and serve as you like.



I will post, later, a recipe using this cooked yoghurt. I am hopeful you will like it.

Enjoy!

Again, do not hesitate to ask me questions if you need help with the above recipes.

I finished it..yeah!

Well I did it. I started I think on Tuesday and I just completed today leaving comments on all the posts that participated in this weeks Dorie Recipe. It was a big task and I was very determined to visit all the posts. Even those that were not able to participate had some really tasty looking entries for other things. Of course I can not remember all of them and that is why I am thankful for bookmarks.

My blog reader made it very easy to see the posts instead of having to click back and forth for links. I really liked doing this and had a lot of fun. I really look forward to this weeks challenge and it will be just that, a challenge since the rhubarb season is finished over here.

Well, I am off to go make something in the kitchen!

comments and my taste buds

What a huge task commenting on all the wonderful posts for this past weeks, Tuesdays with Dorie pick! I have seen some really amazing presentations and could actually even "taste" some of the chocolatey goodness others have prepared.

Taste...how you might ask? By the description of course! Well that and the fact that I know what chocolate tastes like but since my ever aging pallete ('scuse the spelling) got used to the pudding cups that usually a child has a taste for, I had forgotten about those days of old until this week.

Does anyone remember LOVING the heck out of macaroni and cheese out of the box? Do you remember how that was like the best stuff you had ever had in your life? Does anyone remember saying that they would never in a million years eat shrimp cocktails? lol..I do.

It's cool how our taste buds change over time and we find ourselves eating things that we never really thought we would like. Well, that's all I wanted to express at the moment. For not, I head back to my ever so useful Google Reader to comment on the M's through the Z's. Yes, my goal is to comment on everyones beautiful personal blog.

As for my post, it was brought to my attention that my comment link was not easy to find so, and no, I am not fishing for comments *smile*...I just want to let you all know that should you feel the urge to type away, my comment link is the link that has either 0 comments or 5 comments, so you would have to click on the link that showed the number plus the word comments. I hope that helps with any confusion, also, on some people's blogs I accidentally left my regular blog link on the page and I apologize for that, hope it was no trouble.

Well, I have had a long night, my husbands cousin got married and I am a bit beat. Here a couple of photos from the wedding that caught my attention. Enjoy!

TWD - Chocolate Pudding

This weeks pick was from Melissa who can be found at It's Melissa's Kitchen and I am so very happy she chose Chocolate Pudding! Nice to have a pretty easy one for my first Tuesdays With Dorie project.

I remember from days past, yeah I am getting old and the word "past" just seems to fit this so nicely as Chocolate Pudding for me represents my childhood. I remember waking up one summer morning to check out side for snow. Yes, SNOW of all things. My mom was making chocolate pudding, home made of course, and the smell drifted through the house and it smelled just like the hot cocoa she made us during the cold winter months in Oklahoma.

So when I embarked on this trip down memory lane I could not help but sniff around the pan to see if I would be taking on a small trip to the past and as I closed my eyes and took that whiff...AHHH yesss..I'm home.




This pudding worked out so wonderful, and yes ladies, the Corn Flour that I have is Corn Starch!




The proof was in the "pudding" so to speak because my pudding set so nicely. So getting all the ingredients together was not that difficult and we are really lucky to have milk here similar to what I am accoustomed to in the states.




Once I got everything all dished up in the bowls, I realized I had not plastic wrap. So I had to use the little plastic lunch bags that are common over here for just about everything from freezing meat to sending a small lunch with love notes for the kiddies! I covered the bowls, I made big bowls of this delectible treat and into the fridge it went.




Here we go...we made some whipped topping, ground up some chocolate and there you have it. My trip down memory lane came to life on my counter.