Trader Joe's Cherry Preserves
It has whole cherries in it and is now one of my favorite condiments. It's actually somewhat like a jelly, with tons of the cherries making up the bulk of it. I made jam bars from it about a week ago, and this morning I mixed it with some thickened yogurt for breakfast (it felt like a sinfully rich breakfast, but I can't imagine it's that bad for you - just plain, nonfat yogurt and a spoonful of the cherries).
Thickening yogurt is easy, and I like the finished texture better than the regular yogurt: I line my strainer with a paper towel and put it in a bowl that's deeper than the strainer. Then I fill the strainer with the yogurt, fold the paper towel over the top, put a small plate on top and weigh it down with a jar of something. Leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours, and all this liquid comes out of it, which you just throw down the sink.
just like greek! i throw my yogurt through those particular ropes when i make tzatziki..
Yes! I finished up a great Greek meal at Molyvos with the richest, thickest yogurt I've ever had, topped with a very flavorful honey and some kind of nuts. My table companions thought yogurt was an odd dessert choice, but it was heaven.
Never made tzatziki, though (Todd has a thing with cucumbers). Sounds great.
Have you ever had Total yogurt? It's an extremely creamy greek yogurt that is strained. The lowfat version tastes almost like creme fraiche.
total is almost sinful, really. a happy day it was when it came onto dutch grocerystore shelves..
you could do a raita to avoid the cucumber thing, there are loads of variations. madhur jaffrey is my heroine as far as indian cooking goes; she has an apple and ginger raita that sounds delicious, though i've never made it myself...
I do not have any qualms about eating the meat of an animal slaughtered at a young age, I am a carnivore, should I wait untill the calf writes its first novel? Graduates from secondary school? I love cats and cats don't go in much for veggies , so I'm just staying in touch with my inner cat.
Maybe it's the name- "veal" sounds nothing like an animal, young or old, while "suckling pig" is a little too descriptive for comfort. If veal was instead called "young nursing cow", it might lose some of it's marketability.
Todd kind of said the same thing you are, Laika. Lamenting the foreshortened life of an animal that's being raised as food anyway is just a matter of degrees. If you carry the argument out you could conclude we shouldn't eat any animals at all (which is what a lot of people do decide).
Ted, should the idea that we might have to be fooled by a semantics game in order to eat certain foods disturb us?
The menu Saturday night called it "suckling pig," but when Todd ordered he called it "piglet," which made the waiter laugh and say he'd have to remember that one.
Piglet - that's even worse.
I confess I like to stay as far from the source of my food as I possibly can, and I'm pretty sure this is NOT a good thing. I think when God legitimized the eating of dead flesh, He wanted us to be quite aware of where it was coming from & the sacrifice it takes to fill our bellies, of the fact that we live in a fallen world, pointing ultimately to the The Sacrifice that will one day, among other things, put an end to a practice that was (I believe) not originally intended. I think the ritual of eating has always been of a sacramental nature (we take our hands, our minds, and the stuff of earth that God has given to create something new and life-giving for ourselves and our communities); the insertion of animal "sacrifice" into that cycle is pretty grave & significant, and should be remembered for what it stands for- but now I believe I'm rambling.
Having said all that, the sight of blood & the smell of (live or dead) animals make me rather sick to my stomach, and I've purposefully avoided having to practice what I believe...
Humans are omnivores by nature. And, veal is deeee-licious. That being said, meat is not exactly having its best moments lately. Contaminated cows and chickens...fish with too much mercury, problems with farm-raised salmon...pork trying to say it's "the other white meat" (see i'm using the quotation marks for you, kim), and even atkins folks recently acknowledging that maybe eating pork chops and hamburgers for breakfast everyday isn't too bright. Perhaps the vegetarians are actually onto something. But, oh, I love sauteeing veal in butter and lemon and then wrapping it around sage leaves, mozzarella and prosciutto (use a toothpick to hold it all together)-mmm, that is the stuff.