#Sweetly Savory Kathleen

[sweetlysavory]

Holy Yogurt, Batman!

Yogurt can be made at home – and I tend to forget this. Or am I intimidated by my instant pot? (A little of both.) It’s probably more cost effective and will be a tad healthier. Even though I eat plain, Evan gets vanilla – that changed when I incubated my first batch of yogurt in my kitchen.

Yogurt is what is the fermentation of milk from bacteria known as yogurt cultures. Calling it fermented milk isn’t marketing friendly, and therefore was called by the ancient Greeks: oxygala. “Oxi” meaning sour, and “gala” meaning milk. Written about by Greek physician, Aelius Galenus, and Roman author, Pliny the Elder, the earliest yogurts were enjoyed much like we do today – with a touch of honey. Seen throughout cultures from Greeks, Turks, and Russia – with a variety of milks like water buffalo, camels, and goats – and a myriad of flavors like mustard seeds and cinnamon in Mughal Indian Empire – today’s yogurt sold in the U.S. would be unrecognizable. Companies like Dannon and Colombo made yogurt what it is today for our store shelves. And what happened to Colombo? It was bought out by General Mills in 1993, then transitioned to focus on Yoplait.

Credit: Fooducate.com

To sweeten plain, unadulterated yogurt for American palates, Colombo Yogurt added fruit preserves to the bottom creating the “fruit on the bottom” craze. This idea alone brought in more than $1 million dollars per year. The yogurt industry has blossomed with different styles like Icelandic, Lassi, Probiotic Yogurt Drinks – and what I’m interested in making myself – Lactose Intolerant Yogurt. According to the package of live cultures it can be made with dairy free milk! I’ll try that one later – right now, let’s make Instant Pot Yogurt.

Before adding the milk and cultures to the pot and smashing that YOGURT button, the milk first needs to be pasteurized. To do that, set the sauté and let the milk warm up to around 180 ͦ Fahrenheit  (82 ͦ Celsius).

After the milk has reached the necessary temperature, fill the skink with cold water, and cool the pasteurized milk to around 116 ͦ Fahrenheit (46 ͦ Celsius) so the cultures don’t immediately die when added. Stir to combine the active cultures, cover the instant pot, then finally slap that YOGURT button.

You can choose to incubate this from 12 to 24 hours, I did mine at 24 hours and daaaaamn did this turn out better than expected. Even just after the reveal, I found thick Greek style yogurt like described by Galenus and Pliny the Elder.

To strain and keep that Greek style, you can invest in cheese cloth and a hook to drip the whey out. Or if you’re creative like me: a metal strainer and coffee filters work just fine! I had these left over from making snowflakes for my Annual Ugly Sweater Party – and finally have a new use for them! Layer a few filters around the strainer, and pour your yogurty goodness on in. It might be more practical to spoon in at first to create less mess, but when filming and cooking – both hands need to be used for the cooking.

Set the strainer back over the pot used from incubation, and finish draining the whey. I let mine sit a total of 2 hours (cause I’m impatient!), but for extra thick goodness – 4 hours will do the trick. Then scoop out to store or eat straight away!

“Yogurt History”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogurt#History

“Colombo Yogurt”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombo_Yogurt

“The Home Cooking Survival Guide for Your Busy Work Week”, Pro Home Cooks, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0boZvBnzQzc

Yogurt Cultures: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XQHND6M/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00XQHND6M&linkCode=as2&tag=broth0b5-20&linkId=935dbc1465ae128c96c4add9b5fff0a2

[sweetlysavory]

I made the Taco Bell Breakfast Burrito - but better!

I saw recently an advertisement for Taco Bell’s breakfast menu – and you’re thinking, “Taco Bell meets breakfast”, so it’s gonna be a little inspired. I went to their website, and it is anything but inspired. Sausage or bacon, and cheese and egg wrapped up in a burrito. Seriously? C’mon guys! It’s Taco Bell! They have the crunchwrap surpreme gordita with cheese and all sorts of stuff and put Doritos in things! I decided to step it up a notch! I’ve got my breakfast burrito right here – little bit of taco seasoning, little bit of salsa, all wrapped up nice in a warm tortilla.

While slicing the veggies, I realized my onion technique – the same one I showcased in my Sweet Secrets video – is a little haphazard. Yes, the skin needs to come off but even with a small knife, trying to adjust the root to stem slices can be tricky. If you’re looking to up your onion dicing game, like I am, I recommend checking out Ethan Chlebowski’s video that I linked below on why you should be slicing from root to stem and how to safely accomplish it. No home chefs were injured in the making of this scene.

This homemade burrito differs from Taco Bell’s by not adding the breakfast meats, since they are a tad pricy now. To give our burrito a variety of textures, the onions and peppers will do the trick! And let’s talk about spices – cause it’s sometimes that “Taco Bell flavor” you’re craving – but like I said, this item on their menu really only offers meat, eggs, and cheese. I say it’s time to bring the taco flavor to breakfast! I did a video on my own taco seasoning, but this one truly is Taco Bell-esque.

With the vegetables on the cooktop, and 4 eggs scrambled, dump in the spices. It might look like a lot, except it will get soaked up into the eggs making the flavor disperse throughout the burrito. Get your tortilla shell warmed up for easier construction. And you’ll notice when adding the eggs all that seasoning getting absorbed. Flip the tortilla after a couple of minutes and Sprinkle on some cheese – any kind you have, but cheddar is better for a good stringy melt.  

To safely transport everything for assembly, portion the scrambled eggs in with the tortilla. I’ve made enough eggs here to prep this for a few days, just warm it all up and build for a quick, filling breakfast to-go!

Spoon on a little salsa for more flavor, just make sure not to add to much. Burritos can fill up quickly! Then tuck and roll. I used to say there was an art to rolling wraps, except with these ingredients, it’s messy … so tuck and roll.

Now that my friends is what a breakfast burrito should taste like!

It’s got a lot of kick, you’re gonna have that taco seasoning flavor in there. It’s gonna get permeated into your eggs and man, really wake you up in the morning! And it’s this nice little convenient to-go wrapper - I mean, you can just eat this all!

It’s got a lot of kick, you’re gonna have that taco seasoning flavor in there. It’s gonna get permeated into your eggs and man, really wake you up in the morning! And it’s this nice little convenient to-go wrapper - I mean, you can just eat this all!

Sources/Inspiration:

Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme at Home. Ethan Chlebowski, February 4, 2022.

Chlebowski, Ethan. “Why I always slice Onions from root to stem” YouTube video, 1:32. June 27, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUXKbBEjSqU&t=0s

Taco Bell, Cheesy Toasted Breakfast Burrito Bacon: https://www.tacobell.com/food/breakfast

Mentioned Sweetly Savory Content:

"How To: Dicing Garlic & Onion" - https://youtu.be/lDWrN6DSusU "Love Me Some Taco Salad!" - https://youtu.be/rNF67zZvCVE

"I made the Taco Bell Breakfast Burrito - but better!" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txAQItsl7E8