Apple pie yoghurt breakfast parfaits {London marathon fundraising}

You may not know this about me, but I am an apple sauce fiend. It doesn't matter if it is commercial apple sauce, homemade apple puree, or even apple baby food, I love it. I could eat whole tubs. I was thus quite pleased with myself when I hit on this idea for apple pie yoghurt parfaits. The parfaits use apple sauce, but in respectable quantities; and unlike eating sauce from a jar, they are elegant and beautiful.

Tweet

Raspberry and yoghurt loaf, for a birthday

Those of you involved in research may empathise when I say that I spent all of today (or at least a good 8 hours of it) working on a grant application. The good news is that it is now largely done, or at least done as a complete draft. The other good news is that my life has had plenty of distractions from out-of-hours work. It was my birthday last week, and birthdays do make for nice distractions.

Mr Bite excelled at making this one particularly nice. I got sparkly flowers, above, a voucher to unleash myself at Whole Foods or Planet Organic (dangerous!), a dinner promise for 222 Veggie Vegan (exciting!), a new memory card (essential, with the number of photos I take), an amazingly enormous guide to touring Britain, and ticket to the ballet, The Nutcracker. 

Tweet

Failed yoghurt, thank yous, and 11 questions

You may remember that I recently found coconut yoghurt (that reads a bit like I found religion), and that I had high hopes for using the yoghurt as a starter for making non-dairy yoghurt myself.

People, my hopes are dashed.

Tweet

Chilli chocolate avocado pudding, and another Easiyo convert

In the past 14 months, I have posted six avocado-based dessert recipes. Today takes the count to seven. It's not a huge number - indeed, just one per two months - but it is starting to feel like a pattern.

Fortunately, I don't mind.

Today's recipe is really just a spin off of standard chocolate avocado pudding, but it is a spin off that I like very much. In addition to avocado, cocoa and agave syrup, there are strawberries and chilli powder in the ingredient list. The strawberries allow the amount of agave to be reduced, while the chilli adds a delightful depth and that subtle warmth that goes so well with chocolate.

If you are yet to try the chocolate chilli combination, this is a good way to do it. You can control how much chilli you put in, and because the dessert is cold, it offsets the spice quite wonderfully.

Still need convincing? There's more fruit in this dessert than anything else. You can make it in 5 minutes flat. And if you want, you can even eat it straight out of the food processor, bypassing the fridge altogether.

I'm not sure what more I could ask for in a dessert.

Chilli chocolate avocado pudding

This is everything good, in all ways!

Makes 1 large serve or 2 small

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 small avocado (mine was 115g with skin and stone / 65g avocado flesh)

4 large strawberries, washed, stems removed, and chopped in half

2 tbsp good quality cocoa powder

1 tbsp agave syrup (or maple syrup)

1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli flakes or powder (1/4 tsp will give just a hint of spice)

Method

Process the avocado and strawberries in a food processor until smooth.

Add the cocoa, agave and chilli and process again to combine. Chill in the fridge and serve alone or with extra strawberries.

This really is far more decadent than the ingredient list would suggest. I think I could eat it daily, and I may well end up doing so.

The other chocolate news for today is that of the yoghurt kind, with Mr Bite being brave enough to venture into the world of EasiYo. You may remember that I converted to homemade yoghurt this time last year, with the aid of the EasiYo brand. Since then, my Mum has also started using their system. I still use the plain, fat-free EasiYo sachets as my basic go-to yoghurt base. I have yoghurt a lot less than I used to, aided by the increased availability of non-dairy milk products, but it is one of my remaining dairy exceptions. Since last year, I always make it at home.

Chocolate yoghurt, in need of a stir

Mr Bite takes a flavoured yoghurt to work each day, but recently we have had great trouble finding his yoghurt flavours of choice. This is partially due to Coles' insistence on dropping brands from their range (seemingly in order to stock their own Coles range products, most of which we don't want or like), and partially due to at least one yoghurt company (Brownes) recently re-branding their stock and dropping a few flavours. Given  the increasing challenges, I suggested we try out a chocolate EasiYo mixture. Mr Bite has fond childhood memories of homemade chocolate yoghurt, and I figured it was a good time to try and re-create them.

Stirring in process

The title of this post may be a little exaggerated, as our first batch wasn't quite right and I don't think he's quite a convert yet. We bought a plain (natural) EasiYo sachet, which suggested adding 2 - 4 tbsp of sugar if you wanted a sweet yoghurt. We used 4 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp cocoa, but I wasn't convinced it would be sweet enough for someone used to commercial yoghurt varieties. To avoid it being too tart, I also set the yoghurt for the minimum recommended time - 8 hours - instead of the 12 hours I usually do for my own. The yoghurt gets thicker with standing time, but also tarter.

The resulting yoghurt was still deemed a little too tart by Mr Bite, but also a little too runny. Next time we will use more sugar and increase the setting time. Still, he has proclaimed this batch edible and I am taking that as success.

Ready to eat

It will be a bit more hassle for him to transfer yoghurt into a small plastic container before work, and then wash said container after work, but if we can get the flavour and consistency right then EasiYo will be easier than searching multiple supermarkets for appropriate yoghurt flavours, much cheaper, and I suspect better for him too. All in all, I am hoping we can get there!

What chocolate desserts have featured in your house lately (if at all)?
If you're a yoghurt eater, what is your preferred type?

Tweet

Thoughts whilst flying

Well, technically these aren't thoughts whilst flying so much as thoughts ahead of flying, scheduled to go out whilst flying. But that reads as far more confusing.

However we phrase it, I should be somewhere between Perth and Sydney at the time this goes out (Qantas willing). I'm a little peeved that my next four days of work training are in the same city as last year's work conference (my heart pines for Melbourne...and also Mr Bite, who is in Perth), but in truth it probably won't matter too much. I think this trip will leave little time for things other than work, and if it does, we're at least staying in a part of Sydney I've never been before - Parramatta.

Although my weekend has been interrupted by travel, we managed to squeeze quite a lot into it prior to my flight at midday today. Here are some of the more enjoyable components. Cleaning and washing don't make the list...although they are enjoyable when done, so there is that.

Western Australia Symphony Orchestra (WASO) Star Wars and Beyond Concert

That's right, we actually went to a concert. It's rather an exciting event in our household, given it only happens once a year or so. This one was in honour of Mr Bite's birthday, with two tickets to the concert being a joint gift from my family and me (the 'me' component only being fair, given my participation in the gift :P ).

We hadn't realised until Friday that the concert was on May the Fourth, a date that is known by some as Star Wars day (say it outloud and you should realise why...). As the concert title suggests, there was more than just Star Wars music - pieces from Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jaws, and other popular films featured too. The link was that all were composed by John Williams, a quite prolific composer who celebrated his 80th birthday this year.

Apologies for the phone camera quality...

...at least the first has some level of focus...!

It was a very enjoyable night, and there was something really fun about hearing familiar 'popular' pieces played by a symphony. The conductor, Anthony Inglis, was wonderful too - very interactive and really an attraction in his own right.

Boots

Or alternatively phrased, the onset of truly autumnal weather. I don't have pictures of the weather, but I do have pictures of the boots I was able to wear because of it.

Pictures in two lighting options, in fact, because it was rather challenging to get black ribbon on black boot to come out.

I love the black ribbon.

Over-day oats with applesauce and yoghurt

I am obsessed with this at the moment. Plain nonfat yoghurt with apple sauce and oats, thrown together at some stage early in the day (or pre-work, on a work day) and eaten at lunch or in the afternoon, has been happening a lot.

Sometimes even with chocolate chips.

With yoghurt to use up before I went away, last night it even happened at dessert (although sadly, in a chocolate chip free way).

What are you up to this Sunday / weekend?

Tweet

Making non-dairy yoghurt

One of the things on my 5 Things I Would Like To Make list was non-dairy yoghurt. After some months of experimentation, I am pleased to finally have some things to report. Not all good things, mind you, but things nonetheless.

If you dislike yoghurt then I'm afraid this post may not be the one for you. However, if you do, and/or if you might want to make yoghurt yourself one day, I hope some of the following may be of use.

The background

Why did I want to make yoghurt at all? After discovering that gelatin was in almost all of the commercial yoghurts sold in Australia, I switched a few years ago to favouring the natural pot-set yoghurt varieties. Comparing typical commercial yoghurts with natural pot-set yoghurts (Jalna is a particular favourite) is like comparing a Mars bar with quality dark chocolate. They aren't the same at all, and whilst the latter in each comparison is probably an acquired taste, I well and truly acquired a preference for pot-set.

The problem with this switch is that, over time, it became harder and harder to find my preferred brands. Where pot-set varieties were available, they were increasingly of the flavoured sort, and I was having to invest more and more effort to track down the type I liked. Driving to a supermarket with the specific goal of buying yoghurt was getting a little frustrating.

This supermarket inconvenience corresponded with my experimentation with reducing dairy, and so the idea of making non-dairy yoghurt was born.

For reference, I shall note here that a 500g tub (0.5L) of natural pot-set yoghurt usually cost in the vicinity of $4, or a little higher, when bought from the supermarket. Let's see if we can beat that $8 / 1L benchmark, and achieve just as good a result...

The first step - cheating

Although my goal was to make non-dairy yoghurt, I actually started at the other end of the spectrum. So much so that instead of making non-dairy yoghurt from scratch, I was making dairy yoghurt from a sachet. It doesn't sound quite the same does it?

I invested in an EasiYo yoghurt maker, which is effectively a 1L jar and a larger thermos-type thing in which the yoghurt sits while it is fermenting. These cost about $20, and the EasiYo products seem to be available in a number of shops in Western Australia (in my case, I found that Big W had the biggest range of yoghurt sachet options, designed to go with the yoghurt maker).

To my slight embarrassment, I picked the 'Skimmers' EasiYo sachets as what seemed like the closest to the yoghurt I usually buy. I would have preferred a different name, but there you go. There are plenty of flavoured options too, if you prefer something with a better title and/or with added sugar and flavour (there is also a Greek-style option).

The ingredient list of the Skimmers variety is nice and short: pasteurised skim and whole milk solids (98%), from free range cows, and live lactic cultures.

There is no real challenge in making this yoghurt. You pour a sachet into the 1L jar, fill it half way up with cold water, put the lid on, shake, continue filling the jar up with cold water, shake again, fill the thermos thingy up half way with boiling water, put the 1L jar in the thermos, put the lid on, and wait.

You can wait anywhere from 8 hours until (reportedly) 24 hours - I've settled on about 12 hours as my favourite time frame to get the yoghurt nice and thick.

The verdict on this cheating option? Perfection in a bowl. Seriously. And despite how easy it is to make, there is still a strong sense of satisfaction at making the yoghurt yourself.

A 3-pack of sachets costs $9.95, so the cost for 1L made this way is $3.32. In other words, less than half of the price of commercial yoghurts.

The second step - still on dairy

It took me a little while to work my way up to my non-dairy aspirations. After trying out the sachets, I thought I would try doing things 'properly', using skim milk powder and a yoghurt starter.

Brydie talked about this recently, using the same EasiYo containers. My approach was virtually identical to hers, with 1.5 cups of milk powder and about 2 tablespoons of yoghurt as the starting ingredients. You mix those up with water, in the 1L jar, and then go through the same process as with the sachets.

I used skim milk powder for this rather than full-cream, and I think a mixture of the two may work slightly better than skim alone. My verdict on this, when made with skim milk powder, is that it wasn't quite as thick as the 'cheat' option (or the store bought varieties). Whilst it was still delicious, I was left preferring the sachet overall.

This does have the advantage of being very economical though, coming in at about $1.50 - $2 per 1L - and I suspect that using some full-cream milk powder would make it thicker if desired.

The third step - choosing a non-dairy option

When I was finally ready to enter non-dairy territory, I was faced with the challenge of choosing precisely what non-dairy option to pursue. I knew I didn't want to make soy yoghurt, as I like to vary things away from soy whenever possible (given it is the default non-dairy option available commercially). For those who are interested in making soy yoghurt, though, some links are at the end of this post.

The non-dairy milk comparisons I blogged last month were actually part of this decision-making process, as I wanted to start with a milk that I liked the taste of and (ideally) which contained reasonable amounts of protein and calcium.

Based on those comparisons, I decided to try protein-enriched rice milk and coconut milk yoghurts.

The coconut milk didn't have the protein or calcium content I was hoping for, but I thought the slightly higher fat content might be useful for yoghurt-making, and I knew that others had made coconut milk yoghurt successfully before.

The fourth step - rice milk yoghurt

For this, I mixed about 1/4 cup soy vanilla yoghurt (as a starter) with nearly 1L of the Vitasoy protein enriched rice milk pictured above - enough milk to fill up the 1L jar, when mixed with the starter yoghurt. The 1L jar went inside the EasiYo thermos half filled with boiling water, and was left to ferment away.

I actually left this for over 14 hours, as I found it didn't thicken as readily as the dairy variety. Even with the slightly longer standing time, the final product was still, if I'm honest, more like drinking yoghurt than yoghurt. Very good with cereal, but not so much in a bowl on its own.

Whilst some separation of liquids is normal with pot-set yoghurt (as the whey separates from the yoghurt), this was also more marked with the rice milk variety:

I do wonder whether spooning off the top whey layer would have made the overall product thicker, but I  just kept stirring the two layers back together. I think the separation is probably related to the amount of yoghurt starter, which is somewhat of a moving target when making yoghurt at home. In this instance I may have used a little too much soy yoghurt at the beginning.

All in all? The tart yoghurt taste was there, and it was thicker than regular rice milk, but it wasn't at all like dairy yoghurt. With that said, I did like it, and will continue to play around with this to try and get the proportions right and reduce the whey-yoghurt separation.

This option works out to be about $3 per 1L. Still big savings!

The fifth step - coconut milk yoghurt

I had such high hopes for this. After my experience with the rice milk yoghurt being a bit too thin, I added 1 tsp agar-agar flakes to the ingredient list, in an attempt to thicken the final product. The agar went into the 1L EasiYo jar with 1/4 cup soy yoghurt starter and just under 1L coconut milk, to ferment in the thermos in the same way as above.

Sadly, this was a dismal fail. In every sense possible.

The whey-yoghurt separation was so pronounced that the 'yoghurt' was extremely odd to look at and far too off-putting to even taste:

Not quite what I was looking for.

I'm unsure if the problem here was not enough sugar for the yoghurt bacteria to breed on - as the coconut milk was lower in sugar than some of the other non-dairy options (and than regular milk) - or whether it was the soy yoghurt starter. I know that some people use commercial powdered yoghurt starter to make yoghurt at home, which I guess is similar to what comes mixed into the EasiYo sachets. 

I do wonder if that would work better than guessing at soy yoghurt quantities, especially as it would also be a 'purer' source of the live cultures. Also, I don't know if soy yoghurt and coconut milk go together particularly well, and if not, trying to combine them here may not be sensible. Unfortunately, I've not been able to find the powdered yoghurt starter and am reluctant to order it online when it may not prove to be any use.

All in all, then, this did not inspire me to pursue coconut yoghurt! It was also rather an expensive mistake, considering the $5 price tag per 1L carton of coconut milk (albeit still cheaper than store-bought yoghurt). I know that coconut milk yoghurt is possible, but I may take a break to re-gain confidence before trying it again...

The sixth step - reflection

Interestingly, after this process of experimentation, I went back to the EasiYo sachets (I had two left) and fell in love with yoghurt all over again. After trying the slightly thinner options that came from skim milk powder and rice milk, the EasiYo result was noticeably thicker and more enjoyable. 

As the sachets don't require a yoghurt starter to be on hand (useful given that I'm happy to have a few days off between yoghurt batches, and don't really want to keep buying soy yoghurt to start things off), and the ingredient list is short enough to seem 'almost' from scratch, I suspect that this cheating option may in fact remain my default. It isn't dairy-free, in fact quite the opposite, but this may be a time where I need to acknowledge that real milk does have its place.

With all of that said, I will continue trying rice milk yoghurt and if I ever see powdered yoghurt starter I will re-commence experimentation. I'm certainly glad I went through this process and I love the fresh taste, the reduced cost, the reduced packaging, and the ability to have the resulting yoghurt plain or mixed in with any flavours or add-ins as desired.

For other references on yoghurt making, I collected the following bookmarks -

Soy:

How to make soy yoghurt at soya.be

Making soy yoghurt at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Coconut:

Homemade coconut milk yoghurt at Small Footprint Family

Nut:

Homemade nut milk yoghurt at Group Recipes

Almond yoghurt at Pecan Bread

Oat:

Vegan oat milk yoghurt at Spark recipes

Dairy:

How to make butter and yoghurt at cityhippyfarmgirl

Tweet

100 posts and yoghurt coated banana chips

I spent some time wondering what to write for this post. I wanted to commemorate 100 entries, but I wasn't sure of the best way to do it. I also wanted to say thank you to those who have read and commented on those entries, and, in so doing, helped me to realise how amazing and supportive the blogging community can be. Again, though, I wasn't sure of the best way to do this.

In the end, the choice turned out to be easy. I realised that I had the perfect recipe for the task.

Yoghurt coated banana chips.

As I explained in my 5 Things I Would Like to Make post, I have never been able to find these in Australia. They're readily available in England, along with many other yoghurt coated products, which somehow taste better than the few yoghurt confectionary options available here. I find the Australian market to mostly offer yoghurt coated sultanas (raisins to America!), which taste more like white chocolate coated sultanas, such is their level of sweetness and artificiality.

The version I have created here is rather sugary, and is definitely in the 'treat' category of foods. As with most yoghurt coated products, the yoghurt component is also quite small. However, there is at least a yoghurt-like flavour, and I have at least managed to feature a banana chip filling. Both of these things make me very happy.

If you overlook the refined sugar component, they are also vegan to boot.

Without further ado, therefore, let me present...

Yoghurt coated banana chips, for 100 posts

(or yoghurt coating for other dried fruit or nuts)

Adapted from this recipe for yoghurt coated raisins

Makes ~ 50 yoghurt coated banana chips

Ingredients:

• 100g soy cream cheese
• 5 cups (!!) icing sugar
• 3 tbsp soy yoghurt (I used vanilla as it's the closest to plain I can find)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
• 2 cups banana chips (dried bananas)

Instructions:

1. Prepare a double-boiler, with a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

2. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.


3. In the heatproof bowl, combine the cream cheese, soy yoghurt, vanilla, and 3 cups of the icing sugar. Stir to just combine and then place over heat, stirring regularly until smooth.

4. Add the remaining 2 cups of icing sugar gradually, and continue stirring until the mixture is smooth and warm.

5. Remove from heat and dip the banana chips into the yoghurt / cream cheese mixture.

I did this by putting in ~1/4 cup of banana chips at a time, and then using a spoon to make sure each chip was coated before being removed.

If the yoghurt / cream cheese mixture starts to thicken, return it to the heat and stir until it is again smooth.

6. Place the yoghurt coated banana chips on the lined baking trays, and set in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight (I did mine overnight).

The result? Pretty close to my English memories!

The recipe I modified originally called for white chocolate, and I think including that would have helped with the setting of the yoghurt mixture. It sets fine in the fridge, but the yoghurt banana chips do need to remain refrigerated to prevent melting. If you're not averse to white chocolate (I personally can't stand it!) then that could be added.

I would also like to experiment with reducing the sugar (or subbing in some stevia) in the future, but I suspect this will be a recipe best tried in its original, less healthy form.

And on this occasion, I think I'm just fine with that.

Do you like yoghurt-coated products? Or have you ever made yoghurt coating in a different way?

Tweet

5 things I would like to make

This is a short-list of foods I've thought about making for some time, but not quite got around to. I'm hoping that by listing them here, I'll be motivated to give them a try sooner rather than later! My goal is to try all of them before the end of the year.

Rice paper rolls

I love these, but I don't love the $5 price tag per pack of 3. I have actually made them before, but it was some years back and I was a bit put off by the fiddly-ness. I think I've gained patience with age, so I'm hoping a repeat effort might prove more successful.

My favourite type are vegetarian with slightly spicy tofu mixed in with the vegetables. And mint.

Vegan chocolate mousse

One of my favourite childhood food memories is of discovering mousse. It was a joyous day!

Although there are lots of recipes for vegan chocolate pudding out there, I want to create the fluffiness of mousse. 

This texture would do just fine. As would this one.

Yum!

Almond milk

I'm not sure if I would make this on a regular basis, but I'd like to try it at least once. Again, the financial savings would be big. Being able to make the amount I want would also be nice, seeing as I rarely get through a tetrapack of milk in the recommended time.

Another motivator is that almond milk isn't that common in Australia. I've only ever seen one brand, and even that sometimes isn't available. I suspect the lack of variety contributes to the steep price tag.

Source

Yoghurt coated banana chips

These are also uncommon in Australia - to the extent that I have never been able to find them, despite searching hard. Readily available in English supermarkets and health food stores, they're one of the foods I most miss when I return from UK holidays.

Source

They aren't the healthiest substance around, so if I could figure out a way to reduce the sugar and saturated fat, that would be an added bonus. If not...well, I think I'd settle happily enough for the original.

Dairy free yoghurt

As I've mentioned before, I struggle to find dairy-free alternatives to yoghurt that appeal to me. The few soy varieties stocked near me are fruit flavoured and sugary.

I like plain, pot-set yoghurt and would love to make a soy variety at home.

I've also heard of coconut yoghurt in the US, which I find rather intriguing. I noticed this recipe for coconut milk through Oh She Glows today, so if I could generalise from that to yoghurt that would be fun too.

Do you have things you would like to make, but haven't yet got to? Or any tips for me regarding the above?!

Tweet

Vegan vs. Vegetarian vs. ... Not

The idea of switching to veganism or proper vegetarianism (as opposed to my current version - more on this below) has been on my mind for a while now. This stems from my reading of other food blogs, my own interest in health and healthy eating, growing concerns over the environment and our deteriorating planet...and the niggles that I experience when thinking about the reality of eating meat, keeping chickens in sub-optimal conditions (even for 'free range' eggs), and drinking the milk of another animal when no other creature does this.

How do I currently eat? I'm often considered vegetarian by friends, by virtue of not eating red meat (by which I mean beef, lamb, veal, pork / ham / bacon...), which I haven't eaten for approximately 10 years. But I do eat chicken and turkey, at a frequency of 3 to 4 times per month, and fish and seafood, at a frequency of 1 to 2 times per week. So clearly I'm not vegetarian.

I could imagine dropping chicken and turkey, and indeed would quite like to (my main consumption is through Subway, and chicken salads). As I enjoy fish hugely, and think of tuna as an easy protein source, I'm less sure about seafood. But it would be possible.

What about the switch to vegan? I dislike cheese, so that wouldn't present a problem. I would have to adapt to using egg replacers in baking, and might miss the very occasional poached egg I enjoy, but could cope with that. I don't drink much milk (having been lactose intolerant as a child, I've never regained the taste), and could easily transition to soy or other non-dairy alternatives for hot drinks and cereal. The sticking point for veganism is yoghurt.

I love yoghurt. It is one of my favourite foods. I also love frozen yoghurt, especially soft serve. I enjoy non-dairy versions too, like frozen banana-based soft serve, but really like the yoghurt varieties as well. So I would miss yoghurt, at lot. Although soy versions are available, I've only been able to locate 2 brands where I live - and neither has many flavour or fat versions available (they're all full fat and all fruit flavoured; I like to alternate between flavoured and natural).


Other possible challenges? Other people's cooking - which would apply to anyone making the transition. I have to admit, probably also chocolate. For baking, cocoa and non-dairy chocolate would work fine. But my preferred chocolate is dark, and I haven't yet found a vegan / dairy free dark chocolate where I live.

My current thinking is to try to transition to a more vegan like approach: reduce or eliminate the chicken and turkey, reduce dairy in 'non-essential' (to me) forms, and keep the things I can't quite conceive of giving up yet.

I will keep you updated on my progress...

Tweet