Entries from June 2008 ↓

I am so not good with titles.

Here is the recipe. I constructed this whole thing on a foil-lined pan, so clean up of the baked on cheese was nothing.

I cooked it in my toaster oven.

• cut thick slices of eggplant
• drizzled then with olive oil
• broil in toaster oven on one side, then the other, until each side just starts to brown a little
• top each eggplant slice with several fresh basil leaves
• top those with thick tomato slices
• broil until the tomatoes start to look like they are actually cooking (not too long)
• sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and or other good cheese. Feta would be nice, too.
• broil until the cheese is all melty, bubbling, and brown.

The predicted thunderstorm has finally arrived, and will hopefully cool things off a bit.

God knows I didn’t this evening. I was very busy in the kitchen. I made:

• coconut-cabbage curry with paneer (I made it up as I went along. It’s a bit spicier than I prefer. It’s ok, but I don’t think I’ll make it again.)
• another made up thing, this one rather divine: a broiled-in-multiple layers eggplant, basil, tomato thingy. Recipe to follow in another post.
• bread (Joy of Cooking Fast White Bread, made with part whole wheat flour)
• pizza dough, 2 to freeze
• pesto with walnuts instead of pinenuts
• yogurt

Whew. I just time out to eat some of the eggplant/tomato stuff and some curry. And now… the dreaded cleanup.

The temperature in the house is finally starting to drop. Just in time to preheat the oven to 450°F!

So, when it gets hot, I tend to lose my appetite. By late July I only want to eat plain yogurt and sliced cucumbers. Maybe some cold applesauce, or a tomato.

Strangely, since last summer, I haven’t really stopped with the yogurt. I crave it. Dipping into a bowl of Brown Cow whole milk cream-on-top yogurt is like heaven.

But it gets expensive. And I ran out of room for the quart sized plastic tubs.

So I decided it was time to start making my own yogurt.

We will not discuss my first attempt. Apparently maintaining the proper temperature is harder than I thought.

I broke down and bought a yogurt maker. The one I wanted was out of stock at the factory and all vendors. So I got this one, which is a bit more expensive than the other. But I got super saver free shipping and they happened to be running a $10 off promotion (valid through June 30, 2008).

Because I am a big old nerd and more and more of a tightwad, I made a spreadsheet to track my progress on recouping the yogurt maker expense with money saved by making yogurt at home.

And because I am an even bigger nerd, I published it on Google Docs for the world to watch my progress.