You might think the “yogurt” revolution is new to the scene but that is far from true. This lovely book, Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Cookbook, was written in 1991. By then Stonyfield had an array of followers around the country. Those happy customers fashioned recipes using yogurt for every moment of the day. There are chapters here for
- Breakfast and Brunches
- Smoothies
- Breads
- Fresh Fruit
- Dips, Spreads, Sauces and Dressing
- Soups
- Salad and Side Dishes
- Main Dishes: Poultry, Red Meat, Seafood, and Vegetarian
- Desserts: Cakes and Cookies, Frozen Desserts, Pies and Puddings
Yogurt is an ingredient as universal as salt. You can always find a use for yogurt. This book has 300 contributed recipes from across the United States and Canada. Some of the recipes are simple but welcome in our kitchen. There is a Citrus Yogurt Sauce made with yogurt, orange zest, brown sugar and vanilla. You can use this sauce with fruit or even heap it on your Sunday waffle.
More substantial is this Mandarin Chicken Salad:
Here the salad is composed of cubed chicken, celery, Mandarin oranges, scallions, and bell pepper. The impact comes from the dressing: ginger, garlic, parsley, soy sauce, tahini, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, coriander and of course the yogurt. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow, which gives you time to buy some chicken and yogurt tonight.
The smoothies in this book — remember it was published in 1991 — seem more vibrant than the ones I see on the streets today. There are terrific ideas here like:
Mango Banana
Mango Pineapple and Coconut
Peach and Mint
Blueberry and Banana in Grape Juice
Peaches and Peach Jam and Rum
Ah, that last one: peaches and rum. Now, doesn’t that seem like the perfect way to start a weekend morning? I mean, if you must go out and shovel snow or rake leaves — those fall leaves that you’ve left all winter — or bend over and weed early spring intruders, well, a little fruit and rum combo seems a grand idea for nagging back.
This substantive book is full of those surprises. The smoothies, the muffins, and those puddings — mocha pudding — will all be welcome in your kitchen. Oh, the Key Lime Pie made with yogurt is an idea to try, too: fast and obviously sour!