Guide to yogurt making: all the tips and tricks

I have been making homemade yogurt for five or six years. What began as a quirky hobby and means to save money has become so natural to me that I don't even think about the process, the advantages, or the unusualness of this activity anymore. It's really quite a simple and forgiving process, but there are many ways in which to damage (or think you've damaged) the finished product.

You see, because yogurt-making is a somewhat long but mostly hands-off process, the easiest thing that can go "wrong" is forgetting that you're making yogurt at all during one or another of the steps. Then comes the frantic Google search as you try to find out if you've ruined it all (spoiler: you probably haven't). In some cases I found ready answers, and in others I had to experiment and learn from the results.

So, with half a decade of experience in over-culturing, over-cooling, boiling, and forgetting my yogurt, I have decided to create the guide that I needed when I began my yogurt adventure (you know, be the change you want to see in the world and all that).

Guide to Yogurt Making: All the Tips and Tricks

The Supplies

You do not need a yogurt maker to make yogurt! Most likely you already have everything you need in your own home.

• A yogurt starter (more on this below)
• Milk
• A stove and pot to heat the milk
• A kitchen thermometer
• Glass jars with lids to hold the yogurt
• Some means to keep the yogurt at a consistent temperature for culturing. You can use a yogurt maker if you have one, but I've heard of using the pilot light in your oven, hot towels, a cooler filled with just-boiled water... You can get creative. My personal method is a heating pad on medium heat, inside a small cooler with a towel draped over the top. This works quite well for me, but I've also tried the boiling water and pilot light methods and had moderate (though less consistent) success with those as well. You may have to play around with it to find what works for you; make sure to test the temperature of your yogurt the first few times to get a feel for how it's working.

On Yogurt Starters

There are websites that sell so-called "heritage" yogurt cultures. They claim that commercial yogurt starters (i.e. the starter used for any yogurt that you'd buy in your grocery store) are not as viable as heritage cultures. The idea is that once you start a batch of yogurt, you can use a spoonful from that batch as the "starter" for the next batch, and thus have a self-perpetuating system so that you never have to buy yogurt again. According to these companies, commercial starters are not capable of indefinitely self-perpetuation and "wear out" after 3–4 batches.

In my early days of anxious yogurt production, I bought these heritage cultures multiple times and tried to build a lasting yogurt starter from them. Some people may be able to perpetuate their yogurt indefinitely from these heritage starters, but my experience was that after some number of batches (5, 8, 12, whatever), my yogurt stopped reliably producing more yogurt, and I'd have to buy more cultures and restart.

After spending more money than I should have trying to make the heritage cultures work, I tried the not-recommended method of using a spoonful of yogurt from the store (my rationale was, a quart of store yogurt costs about the same as a single heritage starter, but you can eat the rest of the container of yogurt, so if it doesn't work, at least you get something out of it). The result? I have still had to restart my yogurt cultures from time to time, but less frequently than with the heritage cultures! (In fact, sometimes I restart on purpose — when going out of town, for instance, it's easier to let the cultures die and just spend the few extra dollars buying a quart of yogurt when I get back, than trying to time my yogurt production exactly around travel).

Note that brand does make a difference; I have had more success with "nicer" brands like Nancy's than the cheapest store brand.

Lastly, make sure to make new yogurt every 5–7 days; yogurt is perfectly safe to eat after seven days, but after that the cultures may not be sufficiently active to produce more yogurt (though I've had success up to Day 9 or so).

The Process

Making yogurt is really quite a simple, forgiving process, but there are some key steps:

1. Heat milk on low heat till it reaches 180ºF. EDIT: I used to heat on the lowest heat possible, which would take more than an hour. However, heating milk for that long can result in grainy yogurt. Heating too fast can cause curdling, though. So now I set the temperature at one or two notches up from the lowest setting.
2. Remove milk from stove and cool to 105–110ºF. (Estimate an hour + for the heating/cooling process!) 
3. Put your yogurt starter in your glass jar (~1 Tbl yogurt per quart of milk), pour in a little of the cooled milk, and whisk. Once smooth, pour the yogurt-milk mixture back into the pot and whisk gently.
4. Pour milk mixture into jar (s) and culture at a steady temperature of ~105ºF for 3–24 hours.
5. Remove yogurt from culturing environment and chill.

That's the simple part — but what happens if something goes wrong at one of these steps? Is your yogurt a lost cause? That's what the section below is all about (organized in chronological order for steps 1–5).

What can go wrong

What if I forget my milk on the stove and the temperature goes above 180º?

Your milk is still usable! Just remove from heat and proceed to step 2. (I actually think yogurt sometimes turns out a bit thicker this way, though I still try to avoid heating beyond 180º because higher temperatures destroy more of the milk proteins.)

What if the milk is taking forever to heat and it reaches 167º and doesn't want to go higher?

Be patient! You can turn the heat up a little, but not much. There is something special about 180º; if you stop before you reach that temperature, your yogurt will not be as successful.

What if I forget my milk while it's cooling and it drops below 105º?

Your milk is still useable! Return to stove and heat on the lowest heat until it reaches 105-110º and then proceed to step 3.

What if took too long to heat/cool the milk and now I have to leave my house while it's still cooling down?

If the temperature has made it to 180º but you don't have time to wait for it to cool to 105º, put a lid on the pot so it will cool more slowly. If you're not away too long, it might not have dropped below 105º when you return, and you can just proceed to step 3. If it drops below 105º, just return to stove and reheat to 105º. I've even had good results putting the heated milk in the refrigerator overnight and reheating to 105-110º the next day and making yogurt at that point.

What if I forget I had yogurt culturing and it stays in its culturing environment for hours longer than planned?

Note there is a wide range for culturing times (3–24 hours), so if it goes a little longer than planned, don't sweat it. The longer yogurt cultures, the more sour it will taste (because the yogurt cultures are eating the sugars in the milk), but it's still edible and viable. The sweet spot for me is 5 hours, but I have no problem pulling it out after 4 or leaving it for 8 if that's what works best for my schedule. Make it work for you and don't stress it.

What if I test the temperature during/after culturing and it's fallen below 105 or gone above 110?

Figuring out how to culture yogurt in your environment may require some experimentation, but you'll likely figure it out after a few batches (for example, I found that I could make significant changes to the temperature by adjusting my heating pad between the low, medium, or hot settings, or adjusting how many towels I put on top). See below for the various effects on yogurt texture from culturing too cool or too hot.

What if my yogurt looks kind of thin and wobbly when I pull it out of the culturing environment?

Put it in the fridge before you despair — the chilling time really does help firm up the texture.

What if my yogurt turns out thin and runny?

There are various reasons why yogurt can have a thinner texture than expected. This is more common with raw milk, for example (see below). The temperatures really do matter — stopping the milk before it reaches 180º will result in thinner yogurt, and a culturing environment that falls below 100º will also result in thin, runny yogurt.

If you've followed all the steps correctly and it's still thinner than you'd like, you can strain it: line a strainer with a clean tea towel and place over a bowl. Pour the yogurt into the strainer and place in the fridge for 1–5 hours, until the desired amount of whey has dripped out of the yogurt (leaving you with thicker, "Greek" yogurt in the strainer). You can then toss the whey or use it in a variety of ways (protein in smoothies, hair wash, add to dried beans when soaking, etc.).

What if my yogurt's texture is grainy, lumpy, or otherwise inconsistent?

Heating your milk too fast in step 1 or culturing your yogurt too hot in step 4 is the most likely culprit for curdled texture or separation. Heating milk for too long (i.e., too slow) can also cause grainy textures, too, though — there's a happy medium on a low (but not the very lowest) temperature that allows the milk to heat evenly.

Of course, some inconsistency in texture is normal (especially if you use milk that's not homogenized — expect to have a "cream" layer of yogurt at the top). After the yogurt has chilled and before eating, you'll want to stir it.

What if my yogurt totally fails to culture and all I have is warm, weird-smelling milk?

Let it go and try again. You'll get this.

Miscellaneous Tips

How long does homemade yogurt last?

Quite a while for eating purposes (I've kept it for a month, though that's probably not recommended). After about a week, yogurt cultures are no longer sufficiently viable to make more yogurt, though.

What kind of cultures do you need to make Greek yogurt?

This is a trick question! There are no cultures specific to Greek yogurt — Greek style just means that the yogurt has bee strained. See the question above about fixing thin yogurt to learn how to go about this.

How do you make your yogurt more or less sour?

The sourness of your yogurt is mainly dependent on how long it's cultured. The longer you culture = the more sour the yogurt. Fiddle around with it to figure out how you like it.

Can you make yogurt from raw milk?

Yes, this is what I always do! However, heating it to 180º means that it's technically not raw anymore; you've essentially home-pasteurized the milk. Early on in my yogurt days I attempted recipes that only heat the milk to very low temperatures, thus keeping it raw. The issue is that the healthy bacteria present in raw milk are then competing with the yogurt bacteria. The result is that the yogurt never gets very thick (it's more like kefir at this point). Since I eat yogurt for the benefit of the fermented cultures anyway (not the raw milk bacteria), I've made peace with the slow, low pasteurization process that allows those bacteria to take over the milk and produce a thicker yogurt (though commercially-pasteurized milk probably still makes an even thicker yogurt). And, by heating the milk very slowly and capping it at 180º, you can still maintain the integrity of the milk proteins, which are destroyed by ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization, the method used to treat most commercially-sold milks.

That's it for this guide to yogurt making! I hope my experiences are helpful to someone else trying to get started in this world. 

Happy spring,

Blueberry Peach Crumble Muffins – Gluten-free, Vegan and Refined Sugar-free

I saw this post I wrote a year ago, and I thought to myself "Wow, that would be a good muffin". So I adapted the Chocolate Cherry Muffins that I posted in June, as follows.

Blueberry Peach Crumble Muffins

Prep time: 10  minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

3/4 Tbl flax meal
2 Tbl and 1 tsp water
2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
2 tsps baking soda
2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (if your mix does not have xanthan gum, increase to 1 tsp)
1 1/4 cup milk of choice (I used unsweetened non-GMO soy milk)
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup and 1 Tbl canola oil
1/4-1/2 tsp liquid stevia*
1 Tbl vanilla extract
1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 cup chopped peaches (each piece should be about 1 centimeter cubed)

1 1/2 Tbl Earth Balance 

1/2 c oats

3 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Combine the flax meal and water in a small bowl. Let sit for five minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray with oil.
Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together wet ingredients (including flax mixture) in a medium bowl. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more milk. Stir well, then fold in blueberries and cherries. Scoop 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. 

In a small bowl combine Earth Balance, oats, and 3 teaspoons of cinnamon. Place a rounded 1/2 tsp of this mixture on the top of each muffin.

Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins sit in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

*These muffins are not very sweet. If you like your muffins sweet, add the full amount of stevia.

Namarie,

Chocolate Cherry Muffins (Gluten-Free, Vegan, and Sugar-Free)

I've nothing witty to say about this recipe. It's good. Make it. Eat it. Enjoy.

Chocolate Cherry Muffins

Prep time: 10  minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients
1 Tbl flax meal
3 Tbl water
2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsps baking soda
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (if your mix does not have xanthan gum, increase to 1 tsp)
2/3 cup milk of choice (I used rice milk)
1/2 cup agave nectar
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp liquid stevia
1 Tbl vanilla extract
1 cup tart cherries, fresh or frozen

Directions
Combine the flax meal and water in a small bowl. Let sit for five minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together wet ingredients (including flax mixture) in a medium bowl. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Stir well, then fold in cherries. Scoop 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins sit in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.


Notes:
I find it helpful to use the same cup in measuring the oil and agave, so the oil comes out quicker (assuming you have a one-cup measuring cup with 2/3 and 1/2 markings).
If you've had problems with your cocoa powder clumping, push it through a strainer. It comes out beautifully fine.
This recipe is loosely adapted from this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/blueberry-muffins-recipe2.print.html

Bon appetit!

Dairy-free, Meat-free, Gluten-free (etc. and etc.) Rice and Beans Tortilla Soup

If I were a food blogger, I would name my blog "Food Does Not Have To Be Pretty".

If I were a food blogger, this would be a really high-quality photo of my latest creation (it's from the Shire by the by). I would then tell a wildly amusing story about why or how I invented this deliciousness. Further, I would list the benefits of this dish, including what diets it is suitable for and what substitutions are possible. I would conclude by describing in creative detail the hints of tapioca flavoring and the ambience of... something.
I'm not a food blogger and I have no funny story about this soup's creation. We needed dinner, we're on a very strict and specific diet, and no recipe was quite right.
This soup is animal-product free, sugar-free, gluten-free, onion-free, tomato-free, and a whole lot of other things free (no cocoa powder here, nor lettuce, nor basil, nor pickles, nor popsicles). But what's far more important than what is not in the soup is what is. Do look below to discover that.

Rice and Beans Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 Tbl olive oil
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can pinto (or kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups frozen corn
• 10 cups vegetable stock (or 7 cups vegetable stock, 3 cups water)
• 2-3 tsps chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1-2 tsps oregano
• salt and pepper to taste*
• Tortilla chips (optional, but would it be tortilla soup without tortilla chips?)

Directions

Heat olive oil on medium heat in a large pot. Sauté the bell pepper for about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and sauce for 1-2 minutes more.
Meanwhile, rinse the rice in a colander. Add it and the other ingredients (minus tortilla chips) to the large pot. Turn the heat to medium-low, put the lid on and simmer for 30-40 minutes (until rice is plump).

*If you don't put tortilla chips on top you need significantly more salt.

You could also top this with sour cream and cheese (but it wouldn't be vegan) or salsa (but that wouldn't be tomato- or onion-free).

Cheers!

Pfeffernüsse: What I baked today

I saw a package of pfeffernusse cookies in Trader Joes yesterday and almost couldn't resist buying them. I am reading a book for school about Catherine the Great of Russia and she mentions eating pfeffernusse (she's German). So obviously I needed to eat these things. But I'm glad I didn't buy them, because I made these for cheaper and got more:
Gluten-Free Homemade: Pfeffernüsse—The Best Gluten-free German Christmas...
Plus they're gluten free and delicious!

I'm going to endeavor to post a little something more regularly, but you know how ambition often falls flat. But for now, au revoir.

Recipe: Sautéed Spinach

Yes, yes, I know, I'm a lax blog author, but I really don't want to begin 30% of my posts with an apology, so I'm not going to. So there.

No, indeed, I have not the time for an apology, because I'm here to post a recipe which I hath invented this very eve!

Wild garlic in some nice part of the world. Be quiet, it's not random, it's pretty.

Braised Spinach*

Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

Serves Two

Ingredients

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 an onion, chopped

Olive Oil

About 1 1/2 cups chopped spinach, fresh or frozen

1 tsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Optional: Red pepper flakes or cooked corn

Directions

Heat a little oil (about a teaspoon or two) in a pot. Sauté onions and garlic until soft and golden. Add spinach and lemon juice, and cook until spinach is wilted. Salt and pepper generously. Garnish with red pepper flakes if desired. This is also nice with corn mixed in.

*No, this is not technically braised, but doesn't braised sound better than plain old "sautéed spinach"?

Au revoir, my readers.

Blueberry-Peach Crumble Smoothie

I don't have anything witty, thought-provoking, or just plain interesting to say. I haven't posted a smoothie recipe in a while. That's why today I'm posting…

Blueberry-Peach-Crumble Smoothie 

Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Serves: Two medium glasses

Ingredients:
¼-½ cup water
5-8 ice cubes
1 peach
¼ cup oats
1 cup blueberries

Directions:
Add all ingredients to blender; blend until smooth.

Notes:
*You can hide a handful of spinach in this smoothie; no one will know and you can get in some of your necessary greens.
*Adding a half teaspoon of cinnamon adds to the "crumble" flavor.
*All the amounts are approximate as I make smoothies without measuring cups.

Cold days, hot breakfasts

Good morning! While most of you are in school/at work I am sitting here making a lovely hot breakfast – yay homeschooling!I don't know about where you live, but here it has been cold, cold, COLD. There's no solution for that other than a hot meal (or put on two more coats).
So without further ado, your cold morning solution!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

Serves four. Approximate time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

3½ cups water, your milk of choice (coconut, almond, cow, etc), or a combination

1¾ cup oatmeal
4 tablespoons chocolate chips (If you wanted it to be healthier, you could leave this out, or use cocoa powder instead, or even add apples)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
⅓ cup almond milk
½ cup peanut butter

Directions
Bring the water (or milk) to boil in a saucepan. Add in the oats (and apples, if using) and turn down to a medium-low simmer (really, if you want it to cook faster, you can turn it up as high as you dare, but don't let it boil over!). Simmer until the oats have absorbed all the liquid, around 10-15 minutes. Don't forget to stir! Especially towards the end, the oats will want to stick to the bottom of the pan.

While the oats are simmering...
In a small bowl, combine maple syrup, ⅓ cup almond milk and peanut butter using a hand mixer (or a whisk).  Be careful, because it will probably splash a little (it's best to remember to close your measuring spoons drawer so you don't have to stop and clean almond milk off your teaspoons… not that I'd have any experience with that).
Divide the oatmeal into four portions and serve each one with 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips and ¼ of the peanut butter mixture. Enjoy!
Notes:
If you like your oatmeal to crunch (I don't), my sister recommends cashews or peanuts. "It depends on what flavor you want," she said. "The peanuts make it more peanuty, but the cashews complement the flavor well."
If you're planning on reheating it, store the chocolate chips and the peanut butter separately. Oatmeal does reheat well.

Well, that's about all I have to say.

5-Minute Lunch – literally

Okay, so this really is a five-minute lunch.  And it's not box macaroni. It is healthy, it is tasty, and I thoroughly enjoyed eating it. Oh – and I made it up!

Ingredients

• 1 can of beans (pinto, black, kidney, etc.), or alternately you could soak and cook two cups of dried beans
• Around 1/2 teaspoon (to taste) of the following spices: dried cilantro, chile powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper ((really, you can season it how you like, this was just what we did)
• About 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• Tortilla chips
• Optional greens, tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc.

Directions

Drain the beans and rinse them. In a bowl, combine beans and spices. Heat oil in a frying pan and add in beans. Fry (stirring them so as not to let them stick to the pan) for five minutes, adding more oil if needed. Divide between bowls and enjoy with chips! Although we didn't add anything else, you could eat it with spinach or tomatoes, or fry some peppers or onions with the beans, which I'm sure would be delicious.

Serves two.

It really is that easy to make lunch.

A most delicious recipe

I simply must share. It was so delicious. So extremely delicious.

I wanted to take a picture, but I am such a terrible photographer that I decided my photos weren't worth sharing. But this recipe is.
Yesterday, my sister and I made homemade granola bars. Delicious homemade granola bars (did I already say that?).
The recipe, taken from Honest Cooking, was easy, fast, and horribly addicting. The ingredients are as follows:
2 cups oats
½ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon or nutmeg (we used nutmeg)
½ cup chocolate chips
1 cup raisins
¼ to a ½ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup flax seeds
¼ to a ½ cup shredded coconut
⅔ cup peanut butter or almond butter
6 Tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup honey
1 Tbsp water

(Their ingredients were slightly different; They used less peanut butter but we had trouble getting it to come together, and even with adding more, it still kind of falls apart, so even more might be necessary. Also, they recommend olive oil but we decided coconut oil might go with the flavor better.)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking dish with parchment paper, then lightly grease it (We used a 8 x 8 baking dish, which worked, but I think next time we will use a larger one, since it was very thick).
Process ⅓ cup of the oats in a blender or food processor until finely ground (we actually used our nut and seed grinder [an old coffee grinder] because it was such a small amount).
Stir together all dry ingredients (oats, ground oats, sugar, salt, nutmeg, chocolate chips, raisins, seeds, and coconut). Stir in oil honey, peanut butter and water.
Spread into pan. Press firmly into the corners and edges to top is even.
Bake for 30 minutes, until top starts to brown. The edges will become deep golden and may feel underdone in the center, but that's okay. They'll firm quite nicely as they cool. (The last three sentences were directly from the recipe, and I'm not sure if they're true. Our granola bars sort of fell apart as we cut them, so I wonder if maybe cooking longer would help? But then again, I tend to overcook rather than undercook.)
Cool in pan for 20 or so minutes, then take them out of pan using parchment. Let cool completely before cutting.

Once again, I'm sorry I have no pictures to share. You will simply have to go on my word that they were wonderful, without any tantalizing pictures to tempt your tastebuds. The sweet and salty and chocolaty taste, with the hint of peanut butter… Oh, they are so good.
Thank you, Honest Cooking, for this good recipe!

Greetings from Crete!

No, I haven't decided to travel to the land of the Minoans (though that would be pretty cool). But, my family has decided to have a new tradition. Once a month, one of us picks a country and we have a themed dinner in the theme of that country. Sorry, that was a really bad explanation. Let me try again:

for instance, this month, I picked Crete, so we had a Cretan dinner.

I picked Crete for three reasons:

One: As you all know, I'm working on a Greek tragedy, titled The Minotaur, which is set in Crete.

Two: We just finished studying ancient Greece (look out, Rome!), so I thought it would be appropriate.

Three: I. Love. Mediterranean. Food.

I think my sister is picking Egypt next, which oughta' be fun.

So, I had a pretty good weekend. On Friday, my sister, mother and I went to a cute little consignment store to shop. They had the perfect combination: great prices (picture $10 to $14 for a nice dress!), great clothes (good condition, colorful, stylish). My oldest sister had an art show (!) that we were going to, so Sister 2 and I picked out some cute dresses. I got a black dress and a blue one, my sister got a mustard coloured dress (and one other). She ended up wearing the blue dress 'cause the mustard one didn't work out and I wore the black dress (!!!). And.... I GOT THOSE AWESOME SANDALS! This year (and last year, too) I had just flipflops, which are not elegant. at. all. But, my sister and I both got a pair of sandals (hers are brown) from the store I mentioned. $3 each!

And, being that they were Greek-ish looking sandals, I wore them for our Cretan dinner, too. :)

The art show was a lot of fun. My sisters are awesome; the oldest is a painter  (and a good one); the other one still lives at home (but she's going to be 16!!! AHHH!!!!)

So, onto Saturday. Well, my sister and I walked to the grocery store (it's not even a block away), picked up some last-minute ingredients, and started cooking (at, like, 1:00 PM). We spent the rest of the day cooking. :) 

This was the result:

 

In detail, this was our menu:

We had a salad, Choriatiki, which we adapted from here;

Ingredients

1 tomato
1 cucumber
Crumbled feta cheese, enough to cover the surface
½ onion
2-3 tbs olive oil
Salt

Preparation

Wash the vegetables well and cut them into small pieces. Mix on a plate and add the feta, and oil. Season with salt and the salad is ready. A little oregano can also be scattered over the feta, for a stronger flavor.

Then we had Dakos, which we found here; though we didn't grate the tomatoes, we just chopped them finely.

 

Then, we had Tzatziki, with flatbread (Garden of Eatin' multigrain tortilla chips) to dip in it. That, too, was delicious. We found the recipe from here; by the by, should you choose to use this recipe, 1 kg of strained yogurt means 4.5 cups of greek yogurt. 

This dip made a lot, but it was pretty good!

 

 The main course was honeyed shrimps, found here.

15 large, raw shrimps cut lengthwise

2 tbsp honey 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon thyme or savory
20 grams butter
1 tbsp dill
½ lemon thinly sliced

Directions:

Using a non-stick skillet, heat the olive oil and the butter. Add the shrimps and fry them for 3 to 4 minutes until they turn brown. We fried them for a bit longer than this. Add the garlic, dill, thyme, lemon and honey.  It sort of spits at this part. Cook together for 3 minutes. We served it with rice, and we just avoided the three cloves of garlic (we ate some of the lemons, but not all of them).

For dessert, we had Kalitsounia Kritis (kah-leet-SOON-yah   kree-teez), found here. I just love all these names! And the food!

The Kalitsounia was pretty easy, though with the recipe we had, we doubled the dough and still had plenty of the filling left!
And instead of using 1 lb. of cottage cheese, we used 1 lb. of ricotta, which I think was better since we were having this for dessert.

 

This was my first time frying anything without parental supervision, and my sister's first time, too (she did the shrimp) .

We had dinner at 7, which meant that we successfully spent 6 hours in the kitchen. :) But it was worth it.


And, I forgot to mention: Cretans eat "family style". In other words, they don't use serving spoons; they just take their fork and eat right out of the serving dish. I convinced my mother to let us do this; it was a lot of fun. :)