Yogurt is an ancient wonderfood, brimming with beneficial bacteria to keep your gut running good ‘n healthy. But standard yogurt is made with dairy milks – blech – which contain hormones and carcinogens and acids and allergens and irritants. Oh my! But no worries, making your own alt yogurt is *super* easy and totally fun. It also saves a small fortune versus buying prepackaged products (which contain a slew of additives as well).

If you already have a yogurt maker you’re super stoked – and you can still use this recipe, but follow your machine’s directions when it comes time to culture. If you’re interested in making lots of yogurt at home, a yogurt maker may be a good investment for you. They’re really quite cheap – especially if you can find one secondhand (check Craigslist!).

But, a yogurt maker isn’t necessary! I make yogurt in my crock-pot, which is one machine that’s worth the money for all sorts of reasons. (I <3 my crock so much!) But even if you have neither a yogurt maker nor a crock-pot, you can *still* make yogurt at home! Just see the note at the end of this post.


Alright, yogurt time! Here’s what you’ll need:

• One batch of homemade alt milk (about 4 cups) (you can try subbing store bought – let me know how it goes)
• 2 heaping tablespoons tapioca starch (available at health food stores, specialty shops, or ‘ethnic’ markets)
• 1 tablespoon organic evaporated cane juice (or sugar; I’ve tried maple syrup with no luck)
• Some sort of culture (If this is your first time you have three options: 1 tablespoon store bought non dairy yogurt, 1 non-dairy probiotic capsule (refrigerated only, as the shelf stable ones are not alive), or a non-dairy yogurt starter.) (Every time you make a batch of yogurt, save some of it to use as a starter for your next batch. this will save you a lot of money!)
• A small pot
• A candy thermometer
• A slow cooker
• Dish rags/towels and a large blanket

Step One
Pour the entire batch of alt milk into the pot, over medium heat. Whisk in the tapioca starch and the sugar. Allow the milk to heat slowly until it reaches 180º F, whisking frequently. Don’t let it boil!


Step Two
When it’s reached 180º remove it from heat. Give it a good whisk, cover it, and set aside to cool. It will take 1 or 2 hours to cool down completely. You may be tempted to expedite the process by putting it in the fridge but I don’t recommend this. It can lead to tapioca lumps! Stir every so often to help prevent the lumpies.

At this point, place your crock-pot in the center of a blanket or big towel and turn it on to ‘low’. Leave the crock-pot on with the lid off while the alt milk mix is cooling.

Also, remove your starter, whatever it may be, from the fridge. You want it to be room temperature when you add it to the mix. I’ve tried various soy and coconut milk yogurts with equal success. Just make sure that whatever you use is plain, unpasteurized, and explicitly says “live active cultures”. If this is not your first batch of yogurt, you should be using the last few tablespoons of your previous batch!


Step Three
The mix needs to cool to below 110º F, but closer to 90º is better. If it’s too hot it will kill the starter cultures. When it has appropriately cooled, add your starter and whisk thoroughly to combine. Don’t add too much! More does NOT equal better – the bacteria need ‘room’ to grow. A full tablespoon of store bought yogurt or a few tablespoons of leftover homemade yogurt, or a single probiotic pill.


Step Four
Pour the entire mixture into a large glass jar. Cover with the lid but do not tighten it. It needs to be able to ‘breathe’.

Turn off and unplug the crock-pot. Wrap the jar in towels and put it in the crock-pot, put the lid on, and then wrap the whole shebang up tight in the blanket!

Now, leave it alone for a good 12-18 hours.


Step Five – Done!
You will know your yogurt has ‘yoged’ if it has a bit of a tang to it. The longer you let it culture, the more sour it gets. Be careful – it can get pretty sour! When it’s done transfer it to the fridge, without stirring or shaking, and let it set up in there for a few hours. It will thicken, but probably not as much as traditional yogurt.

Yay! Enjoy your yogurt! It’s awesome straight up with fresh fruit or nuts, or you can use it to make all sorts of incredible dishes, like . . . dairy-esque dips and dressings, labneh, tzatziki, raita, mango lassi, or frozen yogurt! It’s also delicious in – you guessed it – green smoothies! (Am I predictable or what? Ha!)

So have fun playing with it – it’s just so good for you, you can’t go wrong!

*** If you don’t want to use a yogurt maker or a crock-pot, you can try the heating pad method, or the cooler method

So you’re trying to eat more raw foods – which is awesome! Incorporating living foods into your diet is one of the easiest ways to increase nutrients and displace less desirables. It’s great for energy, clarity, and best of all it’s deliciously satisfying in a way that only truly nutritious food can be.

But, it’s often a hard sell for unenthusiastic partners, disinterested housemates, or ever-so-picky kids. And that’s why so many aspiring raw foodists end up quitting – it’s just so hard to make 2 entirely separate meals all the time!

But that’s what the ‘RAW 101′ series is all about: Raw recipes that easily assimilate into a cooked meal. And we’re starting off with one of the most important and fundamental raw techniques. Zucchini noodles!





The fancy-pants raw gourmands use a spiralizer to craft the most perfect pasta replicates. Someday I’ll have one too, but until then I’ll carve my noodles the old fashioned, low budget way – and you can too! Don’t let a lack of glitzy gizmos ever stop you from eating raw. You don’t *need* any of that stuff!

If you’ve got a potato peeler then you’re good to go. Simply wash your zucchini (I’ve used extra large green and yellow variaties in these photos) and begin peeling, being careful to keep each strip as long as possible. Rotate the zucchini as you peel.








Once the entire zucchini is peeled into pieces you have two choices. If you want, you can use a knife to slice the noodles skinny, more like a spaghetti. This can be pretty time-consuming, but makes for a more elegant presentation.







Me? I tend to leave my noodles alone. I prefer them wide and flat, more like a fettuccine.





Okay, now you’ve got your noodles, so what are you going to do with them?! Here I present three options: three RAW sauces that work equally well on cooked ‘real’ pasta. (I toss the sauce in the hot fresh pasta, which heats the sauce up.) No really, I promise – these are husband approved!


#1 – RAW Pesto

Ingredients:
a large bunch of basil – about 3 cups packed
3/4 – 1 cup walnuts
1/3 – 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2-5 cloves garlic
s + p to taste

Instructions:
Put everything in a food processor and blend until smoothish. This recipe is very forgiving so feel free to adjust all flavors to taste. You can use arugula, spinach, or cilantro in place of the basil, and pine nuts or sunflower seeds in place of the walnuts, but each of these will change the flavor. The nooch is important though!





Garnish with fresh diced roma tomatoes or a handfull of hemp hearts. Sprinkle with extra nooch for more of a cheesy/parmesan-y flavor.

Whole wheat penne pesto, left, and zucchini with Raw Pesto, right.

#2 – RAW Puttanesca

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup halved kalamata olives
1/4 cup diced white or yellow onion
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons capers + 1 tablespoon caper brine
2 tablespoon fresh herbs, like oregano, thyme, marjoram, basil, etc
1 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (traditionally, puttanesca *should* have quite a kick to it)
2-5 cloves garlic, crushed
s + p to taste

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in a big bowl, cover, and refrigerate. Allow to marinate at least 1 hour but ideally for 4+ hours. This is best when made in the morning to be served that night.





Puttanesca is traditionally served over spagetti and garnished with fresh parsley.

Spagetti alla puttanesca, left, and zucchini tossed in Raw Puttanesca, right.

#3 – RAW Vodka Sauce

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup cashews, soaked
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
12 sundried tomato halves – actually dry, NOT oil packed
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon dry Italian herbs OR 1 tablespoon fresh Italian herbs – oregano, thyme, marjoram, basil, etc
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-4 cloves garlic
juice of half a lemon

Instructions:
Place everything in a blender or food processor and blend until very smooth. Try not to make a huge mess of it, like I did.





These pictures just don’t do it justice, but this is both Damian and my favorite sauce. I could seriously eat this stuff with a spoon. Okay, I did seriously eat this stuff with a spoon.

Spagetti and vodka sauce, left, and zucchini with Raw Vodka, right.

Enjoy! Happy RAW adventures!

Making your own nut and seed milks is so damn simple, I just wish I’d figured it out sooner. It’s super economical, easily customizable, and you get to avoid all those additives and fillers. But best of all, it TASTES AMAZING. Seriously, a totally different experience. You gotta try it!

I was just looking through these pictures in preparation for this post and realized I probably don’t even need to write anything. It’s pretty self-explanatory, because it really is that easy. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup RAW nuts or seeds (almond, hazelnut, sunflower, hemp, etc)
water
food processor or blender
sprouting bag/cheesecloth/mesh strainer (I use a sprouting bag, you can get one here)
various containers, and a funnel helps


Step 1: Soak 1 cup nuts/seeds in plenty of water. Place in the fridge, covered, for 8-24 hours.

Step 2: Drain and rinse nuts/seeds. Place in food processor or blender with 4 cups of water. Here’s where you can get real creative. Add a vanilla bean or vanilla extract for vanilla flavored milk. Add maple syrup or other sugars if you like it sweeter (though it really doesn’t need it.) Add almond extract or peppermint extract or cocoa. Add cinnamon and other spices for a twist on horchata! The possibilities are endless. Now, Blend blend blend!





Step 3: Line a large bowl with sprouting bag or cheesecloth. Pour entire contents of blender into bowl. If using a mesh strainer, pour blender contents through strainer.





Step 4: SQUEEEEZE





No, really. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!!





Now you have a bowl of milk!





Step 5: Pour it into a big jar for storage. Here’s where a funnel helps, though obviously not enough. Try not to spill it all over – like I always inevitably do!





Step 6: Save the pulp. It freezes well. This is a nutritious almond meal that can be used in tons of ways, like thrown into smoothies, blended into dips, dehydrated into raw crackers, and much more. Mine most often becomes the crusts in my raw tarts!





And that’s it! Enjoy your alt milk over cereal, in smoothies, in baking, with fresh berries – anywhere you’d use milk. But the flavor is so divine, I do suggest you go for a glass straight up!

Yesterday I shared some photos from a recent Farmer’s Market excursion. Being the Ultimate Food Geek™ that I am, the Farmer’s Market is pretty much my favorite place in the world. Especially this year – I’ve been eating super healthy and super seasonal, and I can feel it energizing every cell in my body! Food is so magical!

And as you know, each week Damian and I choose something special, our ‘ingredient of the week’. Sometimes it’s just something standard that happens to be at the absolute height of its season and thus overflowing with nutrients and irresistible flavors – think blueberries, sugar peas, asparagus, or raspberries! But more often than not we try to select something a bit more unique. Ideally, something we’ve never tried before. As they say, ‘variety is the spice of life‘ . . . and we like or life spicy!





So a few weeks back we waded into the waters of that big and burly bush bean, the fava. Neither of us had ever eaten favas, and I certainly hadn’t cooked with them. Not that I’d let something like that stop me! I did what I always do – I asked the farmers. They began sharing their preparation methods with me, and a few other patrons overheard and jumped in with their favorite techniques, and pretty soon we were in the midst of a full on recipe-swapping fava convention. LOVE IT!

There were tons of great ideas – favas can be enjoyed in so many ways, including raw – but as soon as I heard the words ‘like a hummus’ I knew what I would be doing. I have a deep and undying love of hummus and any excuse to riff on that template is a happy day in the kitchen as far as I’m concerned.

I think dips are an essential warm weather food. A protein-packed dip (like this one) is the perfect dinner for a hot summer night, and it’s a common theme around our house. Simple and seasonal and totally refreshing.


Ingredients:
fresh favas, between 1-2 cups shelled beans

1 medium onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic (to preference), chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
splash of cooking wine (I use dry vermouth)

1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1 ‘heavy’ tablespoon minced parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil





Instructions:
Split the pods and remove all beans. Favas have two layers you have to get through – the outer pod and then a transparent ’skin’ covering each bean. To get this off you need to steam them. 15 minutes or so should do it. Once they’re cooled you can pop them out of their ’skin’.

In a large pan heat the olive oil over medium. Add the chopped onion and sauté until glassy. Add the garlic and the favas, cook a bit more, then deglaze with a splash of wine. Turn the heat to low and simmer a few more minutes.

Transfer the entire contents of the pan to a food processor or blender. Add the lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, and thyme. Blend until smooth. If you need more liquid you can add water or olive oil or lemon juice, whichever your preference. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chill the dip in the fridge before serving. While it’s cooling down, dice the cherry tomatoes and mince the parsley. Mix these along with the olive oil and use as a garnish atop the dish when you serve.





This is great served as a party dip with sliced veggies (my favorite) or organic corn chips (Damian’s favorite). But you can also make it more ‘meal-like’ by wrapping it up in the vessel of your choice. Flat breads are great for a heavier meal, while cabbage leaves are awesome for something lite and refreshing. Top with avocados for absolute deliciousness!

Now that the Solstice has come and gone we are officially into summer – woo hoo! That means it’s time for pool parties, picnics, beach excursions, lawn bowling (amiright??!) and of course, BBQ. From the 4th of July to Labor Day and many a long lazy weekend in between, tis the season for gettin’ your grill on!

At the urging of one of our readers, Kathryn, I’ve scoured the internets for vegan BBQ recipes. And you know what? There’s not a whole lot out there! Toooons of vegetarian recipes but slim pickin’s for the purely veg. Well, I’ll just have to do something about that . . . summer cooking projects!

In the meantime, here’s the best of the best that’s out there right now. My criteria were that the recipe had to be interesting (anyone can drizzle olive oil on a mushroom cap and grill it) and that it had to include an image – I won’t make something if I don’t have a picture to associate with it. If any of you have an awesome vegan BBQ recipe, please link to it or write it up in the comments!


Veggies

• Starting off with the veggie that inspired this whole post, no BBQ is complete without corn on the cob! Try my Barbecued Miso Corn, or hit up this Chili-Lime Corn on the Cob from Epicurean Vegan.
• I’m a super sucker for artichokes, and these Grilled Baby Artichokes from Planet Green look delicious!
• We all know I’m I’m not a huge fan of eggplants, but I’d be willing to try this Grilled Eggplant with Walnut-Cilantro Pesto that was featured in the LA Times food section. As well, SusanV from FatFree Vegan Kitchen offers these Grilled Baby Eggplants with Korean Barbecue Sauce that not only look delicious, but are totally adorable as well!
• For spudsy people there are a few varieties: Rachael Ray’s Spicy Steak Fry Skewers look divine, and these Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette at gourmet.com make my mouth water (that’s the power of the photograph!)
• And finally, my love of fresh seasonal tomatoes has me pining over these Plum Tomato Skewers with Artichoke Pesto, again from Rachael Ray.

Faux Meats/Omni Subs

• There’s no absence of barbecued tofu recipes out there, so I wanted to feature one that was extra special. This Chipotle Barbecued Tofu from FatFree Vegan Kitchen really impressed me! I must try this recipe! For a more traditional route check out these many variations from Vegan Dad.
• Seitan is great for grilling because it really holds up well. If you ever loved barbeque ribs, you’ve gotta try SusanV’s Barbecued Seitan Ribz. If you prefer your seitan skewered, Vegan Yum*Yum has a lovely looking Tamarind Seitan Kabob.
• And what about a not-dog?? No BBQ is complete without a sausage in a bun, right? How about Vegan Dad’s own Homemade Vegan Bratwurst, smothered in probiotic-rich sauerkraut? NOM!
• I can’t wait to try this South Carolina Golden Mustard Barbecue Sauce from the apparent BBQ Queen, SusanV. I think it would be absolutely amazing on tempeh!

Desserts

• I love the idea of barbecued desserts! These delicious looking Sweet and Hot Sugared Melons from Rachael Ray really remind me of my own Mezcal Grilled Pineapples.
• Um, Barbecued Bananas with Caramel and Chocolate Sauce? Thank you, Vegan Dad.
• This Grilled Apple Pie recipe is genius, such a fun idea. Just make sure you use vegetable shortening to make it vegan! I like this organic, non-hydrogenated palm shortening the best.

Techniques

• How to use a Clay Baker on the grill, from Vegan Dad.
• Also from Vegan Dad, how to Smoke Tofu (or veggies, or whatever).
• And last but certainly not least, The Post Punk Kitchen shows us how to Make Pizza on the Grill.

Are you hungry yet? Prepare to drool with this little video featuring one of my own personal inspirations, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau:





Happy grilling guys!