Small Girl, Big Bite

I had a quart of yoghurt in the fridge that was about expire so I decided to try making frozen yoghurt. Into my Vitamix went the yoghurt (2% Fage), a bunch of frozen strawberries and a generous squeeze of honey. I used the tamper to help incorporate the strawberries and within seconds I had a soft frozen yoghurt consistency. Sure, it was a bit meltier than I wanted, but once I topped with my favorite dark chocolate chips from Whole Foods, it didn’t matter.

I put the rest in the freezer, so we’ll see how that turns out. Hoping that all the air that was incorporated by the mixer will result in a frozen yoghurt texture, but I very well may end up with a frozen block of strawberry-yoghurt! Will let you know.

So, I made ramp pesto the other night, using all the lovely ramps I got at the Union Sq Farmer’s Market. I had lovingly washed, cleaned and dried 2 bunches and promptly forgot about them in my crisper, but thanks to the Debbie Meyer Green Bags, they lasted a good 2 weeks! Seriously, those green bags really work.

Anyway, I wanted to use the ramps before I really ran out of luck and they rotted away. I decided to make a pesto, a lovely to preserve the pungent rampy flavor and make it last for many, many dishes.

Into the Vitamix went the ramps, olive oil, salt and pepper. In seconds, I had a lovely kelly green ramp pesto. It’s amazing how much the flavor intensifies! Super garlicky - use sparingly - but absolutely delicious.

I plan to use it on many upcoming meals. So far, I’ve used it to amp up my creamy tomato soup, but I think it would be lovely on top of pizza too. Stay tuned for how I use my ramp pesto.

I bought a 3lb bag of peeled Gilroy garlic from Costco. Why would I buy so much garlic you ask? Every few months, I like to roast massive amounts of garlic in olive oil, blend it and then have a deliciously sweet, mellow garlic puree to spread on bread, add to soups, stews, and spread on flatbreads.

I was excited to puree the garlic in my Vitamix, but apparently the mixture is so thick that it shorted my Vitamix! Oops. So I let it rest, added more olive oil and it was all good. It made a lot of garlic puree so expect to see it show up again somewhere. I put some in a little jar, cute right?

Apparently I was having so much fun that night that I also made some peanut butter in my Vitamix (and managed to not short my Vitamix that time). I think I prefer the flavor of almond butter better, but the peanut butter wasn’t bad. It was roasted unsalted peanuts, honey and salt. Not sure I’ll ever buy peanut butter again (unless I get lazy).

So I’ve been having a shake for breakfast every morning since I got my Vitamix (about a month and a half now). My morning shake consists of almond milk, pb (now my own homemade), a banana, and wheatgerm. My friend turned me onto adding spinach (yes, spinach!) to my shakes. I know it sounds kind of gross, but it doesn’t really change the taste, but it does turn the shake green. I add a cup of spinach now - an easy way to get more veggies in your diet! Sounds weird, but you should try it.