Every year in the Fall I host the Gardening Gems Club. Today is that day! Here is the handout I prepared for them.
Gardening Gems, October 2022 Karla Kimball
Advanced Master Food Safety Advisor
Mexican Lasagna
1 lb. hamburger
2 c. salsa
¼ c. taco seasoning
1 t. chili powder
1 bag Doritos, any flavor
1 c. chopped red and green peppers
½ c. chopped onion
1 to 2 tomatoes, diced
2 c. grated cheese
Brown hamburger and add salsa and seasonings. Set aside.
Spray a 9x13 baking dish and cover the bottom with Dorito chips. Cover the chips with the meat mixture. Top with a layer of peppers, a layer of onion
and a layer of tomatoes. Sprinkle with
grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 30
minutes.
Healthy Lemon Yogurt Zucchini
Muffins
2 large eggs
1/2 c. plain yogurt (I used lemon yogurt)
1/2 c. honey
2 T. Coconut oil, melted
1 large lemon zest and juice
2 c. shredded zucchini
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
½ c. coconut
2 1/3 c. whole wheat flour or spelt flour or 3 c. all-purpose flour
Topping:
1/3 c. rolled or quick oats
1 ½ T. honey
1 ½ T. coconut oil, melted
1 large lemon zest of
1/3 c. coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin with liners or use
silicone muffin tin.
In a large mixing bowl, add eggs, yogurt, honey, oil, lemon juice,
lemon zest, zucchini, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk well to
combine. Add flour and coconut and stir gently to mix. Do not over mix.
To make topping: In a small bowl, add oats, honey, oil, lemon zest,
coconut flakes and mix with a spoon.
Using large ice cream scoop, fill 12 openings with batter and spoon
topping on top (if using). Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in
the middle comes out clean. Remove from
the oven and cool muffins in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a
cooling rack.
Websites to explore:
https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/about-us/news/blogs/fermented-foods-the-latest-trend
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_freeze_veg.pdf
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_freeze_fruit.pdf
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_dry_fruit.pdf
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_ketchup.html
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/ensuring_safe_canned_foods.html
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/recomm_canners.html
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/equp_methods_not_recommended.html
** https://nchfp.uga.edu/ for all your questions, National Center for
Home Food Preservations
Or https://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/blogs/usdas-complete-guide-home-canning The USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning
Great sites for sourdough https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/
& https://ballerinafarm.com
Instant Pot Yogurt
I keep experimenting with my yogurt.
These are my notes and suggestions for making yogurt.
I use my 8 quart instant pot because I like to make a big batch.
Instant Pot Yogurt
Pour milk into the instant pot (don’t fill past the fill line). You can use any kind of milk, 2%, whole,
etc. I prefer whole raw milk.
Put the lid on - it doesn't matter if you set it to sealing or not
because you are not cooking under pressure.
In fact you can just use a glass lid if you would like.
Press the YOGURT button until the word boil appears. It takes about 45 minutes for the word YOGT
to appear. This means the milk has
reached the pasteurization temperature of 176 degrees. You can use a thermometer to check and make
sure. I recommend you do at least for
the first few times. Once this
temperature is reached, remove the liner pan from the instant pot and allow the
mixture to cool to 115 to 110 degrees.
Use your thermometer!! This
temperature is important because if it is too hot you will kill your active
yogurt. Once this temperature is
reached. Add 3 oz. of live active yogurt
and stir well. A good one is Tillamook french vanilla yogurt. But only 3
oz. as more can make your yogurt runny.
Return liner pot back to the instant pot, put on the lid, and press the
yogurt butter until the hours appear. I
adjust the hours to read 11:00. You can
adjust this anywhere from 8:00 to 24:00 hours, depending on the flavor you
like.
When the time is up I open it up and place a silicone or glass lid on
and place in refrigerator. Once it has
completely cooled I open it up.
Sometimes there is a lot of the liquid whey floating on top. If so, I skim it off into a wide mouth
jar. This can be used in soups, gravy,
smoothies or whatever. It is full of
probiotics and very good for you.
The first thing I do is remove 3 oz. of the yogurt and put it in a
small glass jar. I freeze it for my next
batch of yogurt.
Then you can strain the yogurt if you want to. Strain it until it is as thick as you want it
to be. Sometimes I don't strain it at
all. You certainly don't have to. Once again anything that you strain off is
called whey and if very good for you.
Find a way to use it.
At this point you can flavor it or wait to flavor it until serving time
or simply leave it plain.
Some ideas for flavoring.
I like to divide it in half and make 2 different flavors from 1 batch.
My most used method is 1 package of unsweetened Kool-Aid + ¾ to 1 c.
sugar.
My favorite Kool-Aid flavors are; lemonade, lime and strawberry, but
any flavor will work!
Freezer jam makes a great flavoring.
A box of instant pudding sprinkled in or a batch of cook and serve
Pudding also makes a great flavoring.
Lemon pudding is my favorite!!
If you want to keep it sugar free, my favorites are agave or honey.
Granola topped with fresh or frozen fruit is great too.
You will find your favorites too!!
As for storing your yogurt....I like to use wide mouth canning jars
with plastic lids. Don't over fill the
jars; especially if you are going to be freezing some of them leave a 1 inch
headspace. I often put some of it in the
freezer for later. If you want
individual serving sizes simply use half pint jars.
