Greek Yogurt Tour: Yogplait’s Greek Yogurt

I must say that this yogurt is the most non-greeky yogurt I’ve had. It kind of tastes like a slightly-denser not-as-sweet regular good old yogurt. Plus, it has a really long list of ingredients… gelatin, pectin, beet juice concentrate, sugar, milk, dry milk… etc. For comparison, Fage had… milk and cultures. Yep.

Honestly, if you’re looking for Greek Yogurt, this isn’t really it. If you’re a regular-yogurt lover wanting more protein (12g!) give this a try. It is not terrible… its just not really good Greek yogurt.

Greek Yogurt Tour: Oikos

I was really enjoying this challenge, until today. Stonyfield’s Oikos Greek Yogurt (0%) was… not at all good. This may have had something to do with the fact that it was vanilla and not fruit flavored, but I have my doubts.

Conclusion: Add some preserves, or pass.

Greek Yogurt Tour: Fage Total

Upon discovering Chobani Greek Yogurt only last week, I’ve embarked upon a tour of all available Greek yogurts I can put my little hands on. As I was at the grocery store last night with my husband, I walked over to the cart with a column of Greek Yogurt in balanced percariously in my hands. I told him of my plan, and he approved.

Today I tried Fage Total Strawberry. I fully intended to pick up the 0% Total product, but failed miserably. I’ll get one of those next week to review. The Fage Total has 17g protein, but 12g of fat. This is a lot for a snack, though with a balanced diet and planning, it can be fit in just fine.

It was absolutely amazing.

This yogurt was thick and creamy, luscious on the tongue almost. The strawberry preserves came in a separated container, so you can mix in what you want. The perfect fruity sweetness of the preserves was amazing the balance of the sour yogurt. I can see why people use plain greek yogurt in place of sour cream! I can’t wait to try that.

Against the Chobani, it did win in flavor, though that’s like comparing a lean cuisine meal to my Grandmother’s homemade meatballs and spaghetti sauce. I did prefer the fruit in the Chobani because it was a bit ‘meatier’ if that makes any sense.

I’ll get another Fage next week at the store and give it a fair shake. I’m wondering though if I made the mistake with the other 2 yogurt brands I picked up. Lesson learned – pay a little more attention.

But at least I discovered something truly amazing.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

A few weeks ago, I went to go visit my Mother in Boston. We had a great time outlet shopping (they have a White House/Black Market outlet up there… I know, right!) and cooking and talking. I love my mom very much.

Mom (with lots of makeup, on my wedding day):

While I visited, we had a BBQ at one of her friend’s houses. My mom’s friend brought a desert from the local grocery store. I looked at it, I hadn’t even tasted it… and I knew I had to figure out how to make this. It was a light chocolate cake with a peanut butter sauce on top and a whipped chocolate frosting around the outside, garnished with peanut butter cups.

This is my take on that desert. I wanted a thicker peanut butter sauce that was on that dish as well as a more simple Cool Whip topping.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix, plus the stuff it calls for (You can make this from scratch, I did not have time)
1.5 cups Peanut Butter, creamy, reduced fat
3/4 cup sugar, plus a bit extra
4 tbsp butter
Cool Whip
Peanut butter cups
Chocolate, for shaving

Directions:
Bake the cake. I used 2 round cake pans, I froze the second cake though. You do not want more than one layer here, so you can make 2 separate cakes or save half for later. Once the cake is done, allow to sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely.

Once the cake is cool, place it on your final platter or cake carrier base. On the stove over med-low heat, melt the butter, pb, and sugar. It is really important to taste this sauce as it melts, make sure it is sweet enough. Heat to about 200 degrees.

Poor over the cake slowly, then use a spatula to coat just the top of the cake, allow the sauce to pour over the sides. Place the entire platter in the fridge for 1 hour to allow it to cool again.

Now its time to add the cool/sweet topping such as cool whip, whipped cream, or whatever else you want to use. I used lite cool whip and I put it in my decorative frosting thingy to make pretty tufts of cool whip. A short cut here, get the spray can of cool whip.

Top with shaved chocolate and pieces of peanut butter cup. Serve chilled, possibly to the cutest baby you can find:

Product Review: Chobani’s Greek Yogurt

I’ve been hearing a lot about Greek yogurt recently, but I have valiantly stuck by my yogplait. I do like yogurt, but I can’t take too large of a serving of it. Plus, it was NEVER on sale. Ever. But this week, I decided to finally give it a shot. There are 2 brands in my grocery store and I decided to try Chobani’s first. The package is a bit larger than I normally like my yogurt to be, so I figured I would eat it as part of a breakfast rather than a snack like I normally do.

This morning I had it for breakfast, and I was pleasently surprised. Greek yogurt is not quite as sweet as the ‘normal’ kind, and I also found it ridiculously filling. I love the fact that the fruit still had some texture to it, too. I tried the peach flavor, and the peaches felt like freshly cut up peaches rather than peach mush in regular yogurt.

According to Chobani.com (which, btw, is a bizarrely amateur website), the benefits to Greek yogurt are:

· All natural. No preservatives. No artificial flavors.
· No synthetic growth hormones: No rBST-treated milk.
· Includes 5 live & active cultures, including 3 probiotics.
· Made with real fruit.
· Twice the protein of regular yogurts.
· A good source of bone-building calcium.
· Gluten-Free and Kosher-Certified.
· Safe for people with corn, nut and soy allergies.

In any case, this is delicious. Now I just need to find coupons.

Confession: I hate cilantro

I hate cilantro. It tastes like soap to me. But Julia Child hated it too.

This is an excellent article in the NY Times about “Cilantrophobes.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html

Blech. Cilantro.

Last post tonight. I swear.

Root Beer Floats that fit your diet!

Root beer floats? How amazing! How decadent!

50 calories. Zero fat. Enjoy this diet-friendly treat. Cheers!

Root Beer Floats

Ingredients:
6 tbsp fat free Cool Whip, frozen
Diet A&W Root Beer

You know the rest!

Crisp Gnocchi “Tater Tots”

April 2010 Food and Wine magazine offered a generous helping of advice on wine, and a handful of fantastic recipes. It also featured an article about the winner of last season’s Top Chef, Michael Voltaggio.

This is where I lose a lot of readers. Just… remember this moment. How you feel about me right now. You like me, that’s why you read my rambles. Ok, hold on to that for a few more minutes.

I liked Michael Voltaggio, and I am glad he won. Yes, he was arrogant and yes, he said some nasty things. But I really did feel like he deserved the win. I loved his style and take on food. I loved his adventurous nature. I thought he was hot in that “you’re not really my type” kind of way. I’d eat his food any day. Would I rather be friends with Kevin or Bryan? Absolutely. But Michael can cook for me any day of the week.

Back to the part where you liked me now, please.

This is one of Michael Voltaggio’s recipes, Crisp Gnocchi “tater tots” and the description is accurate. They are like little puffs of heaven, but crispy on the outside. There is one thing I did not love about the recipe, but I’ll leave that for the end. Please join me for April 2010’s Food and Wine Edition of Loki’s Kitchen!

Michael Voltaggio’s Crispy Gnocchi “Tater Tots”

Ingredients:
3 large baking potatoes
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cornstarch
6 tbsp flour
1/2 cup fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese (I used romano… don’t do that)
Kosher salt
1 beaten egg
Canola oil
Ketchup

Directions:
FYI, this takes 2.5 hours. Prepare ahead of time.

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with 4 inches of cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, about 40 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the water and let cool for a few minutes.

Remove the skins from the potato, then press the potatoes through a potato ricer. Don’t have one of those? Me either. I used the shredder attachment on my kitchen aid!

Allow to cool completely. After 1 hour, add the cornstarch, flour, cheese, and 2 tsp kosher salt. Mix completely, then add the egg and knead into a soft dough. Cover with saran wrap and allow to stand at room temp for 15 minutes.

Bring a very large pot of water to boil and then fill a bowl with ice water. Divide the dough into 4 pieces, and roll each piece into a 16 inch rope. Cut each rope into 1 inch pieces. Add these dough pieces into the boiling water and stir gently a few times. Allow the gnocchi to cook for about 20 seconds, or until they float to the top of the water. Remove the gnocchi and immediately place in the ice water. Remove the gnocchi and place on a paper towel to dry.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 inches of oil to 375 degrees. Carefully add the gnocci to the oil and heat until golden and crispy, which will take about 4-5 minutes. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Alternately, if you have a deep fryer, use that!

Serve with ketchup. A hint for those cooking for 2, you can freeze half of the dough and use it later!