Science experiments: Beneficial Bacteria take over my kitchen

After a recent unsuccessful attempt at bread, I purchased Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavors.

I've been overtaken with the desire to develop a quick, easyish recipe for bread that I can throw together when at school (maybe a Saturday Morning ritual, while doing laundry.)

I'm also experimenting with yogurt. If my poor mom could see me now--all the things she struggled with trying to get me to like, simply because she knew it was good--whole grains, plain yogurt, plain tea...as I kid I couldn't appreciate.

Now, I think I'm eating better than I ever have, and I'm starting to feel better. Hopefully, this won't stop once I go back to New York and my standard of living drops dramatically.

So, though I've used my mom's yogurt maker at least a dozen times a year, I am perfecting the recipe so that I can get the same results every time. I'm now making a yogurt that is better than my favorite store bought brand (St. Benoit) but not consistently. I now have the perfect consistency of slight tartness, creaminess, and I can do it without the yogurt maker, too. I just made a batch in my slow cooker that turned out pretty well. Really, all it comes down to is giving the bacteria a chance to do their thing.

I was surprised to know all one needs is consistent temperatures between 105-110 degrees farenheit. I'm planning on trying this even more rustic approach--when the radiators are off and they STILL put out a constant bit of heat, setting up some mason jars near it may be the best use for the unwanted heat.

I also have been looking at the paltry pickin's with regard to organic food in NYC. I was ordering from Fresh Direct, but a recent check left me horrified at the decrease in selection. Brands I used to get are now gone, and instead of having ten different types of organic peanut butter, now they have one. Instead of 20 kinds of organic crackers, they have two...their produce section is pathetic--Where there were once hundreds of different fruits and veggies to chose from, there are now around ten (total!) to pick. I can't live on this.


So a quick Yelp search lead me to Urban Organic a strange type of organic grower coop that you sign up for, and receive, without the ability to pick and choose too much what's in your delivery box. In a socialist "you get what we give you" kind of way, I think it's kind of cool to take the burden off, to plan what I want, and what I can make during the week...to plan out my shopping and cooking schedule ahead of time...I'll use what I get, and maybe learn something about preparing the things I don't normally eat (like...what's a turnip? and how do you cook and eat it?) Don't get me wrong, you can change items out, but it gets expensive to do this, so to keep costs down, I may only eliminate things I don't eat (like potatoes and corn) and learn to eat like our ancestors did...eating what's in season.