Dairy Tag

Shrove Tuesday doesn't have to include pancakes. Today is really about gorging on rich foods before the 40-day fast of Lent. Pancakes just happen to be cooked in grease, filled with eggs and topped with more decadence.  It's okay to think beyond the griddle. Any...

I'm going to steal President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes, we can!" Hope he won't mind. It's for a good cause -- yogurt. You see, while I love my homemade yogurt, for almost a year I've been frustrated. The instructions on my electric yogurt maker clearly state, in bold text and ominous wording,  to add nothing to the yogurt but starter. Despite the machine's packaging, which shows little pots of pastel coloured (and presumably fruit-flavoured) yogurt, it was designed to incubate plain yogurt only. Their options for adding flavour involved stirring in sweetened fruit post fermentation, which I already do. So imagine my delight when Pat Crocker's newest book, The Yogurt Bible, arrived complete with recipes for flavoured yogurt. Yogurt full of fruits and spices you add before you fill those little bottles and hit "start." When I read this I wanted to shout to all the frustrated homemade yogurt fans out there, "YES, WE CAN!"
Looks can be deceiving. Plain old vanilla ice cream? No. Guess again. It's actually lemon. With some orange thrown in. I based this ice cream on my father's favourite lemon meringue pie recipe, which calls for condensed milk. With a bowl of oranges threatening to dissolve into a green powdery heap before my eyes, I salvaged the best looking one and added it to the mix. The results? An exceptionally creamy Philadelphia style ice cream with a light citrus flavour. No eggs. No firing up the stovetop. Just a few minutes with the microplane -- important factors in this relentless summer heat.

This is the dessert that helped salvage last week's birthday fiasco. It's rich, it's mocha-y, it's almost like a truffle. It can stand on its own as a decadent treat, or elevate a mediocre cake to the realm of greatness — providing you like the...

This is the long-awaited salted caramel ice cream post. Asked for by Cheryl of 5 Second Rule, with a recipe provided by Cheryl the Backseat Gourmet and tweaked by yours truly. I know I ranted about caramel in the past. I was critical of undiscerning food...

Looks can be deceiving. This blueberry-raspberry frozen yogurt looks tasty but was chalky and unpleasant. I ended up letting it melt and pouring it over granola for breakfast. Thinking fresh and simple is best, I'd pureed raspberries and blueberries in the blender with plain yogurt and...

While the rest of the nation celebrates Canada Day, in our house July 1st is Dominion Day. And Andrew has the t-shirt to prove it. For those who are curious about my husband's patriotic insistence, check out last year's blog post. For those who care about...

I just found out my friend Geoff is coming to town this summer. His visit is more than a month away, but I have got to start planning the pie NOW. You see, I'm into cakes and cookies, but Geoff is all about Pie-Pie-Pie. For my...

I'm on the road this week and will be dipping into the archives for a few tasty blasts from the past. This posts has a bit of a back story so click through the hyperlinks to understand why I salvaged $8 worth of brownies with...

I haven't bought bottled salad dressing in years. Not only is homemade vinaigrette quick and easy to make, it tastes so much better than the store bought versions, I no longer even bother to walk down the dressing aisle. Ask me about the latest trends...