elimination diet | Butterscotch Sundae

Years ago my mother-in-law gave me a 1974 Salton Yogurt Maker. I used it a few times to make yogurt, but after making a few batches and having them all rejected by ToddlerPoppy the yogurt maker went into the basement for a years-long slumber.

I didn’t eat much yogurt before we did the elimination diet because it always gave me a stomachache, but of course once the elimination diet was over and I decided to stop eating dairy? I wanted a bowl of yogurt, granola and berries every morning. I didn’t care for the soy yogurts I tried, but the So Delicious coconut yogurt was perfectly acceptable. It isn’t quite as thick as dairy yogurt, but it works. It’s expensive, though, and when I ran into the ’74 Salton the other day it occurred to me that making coconut yogurt at home might be a possibility.

A bit of googling lead me to believe that DIY coconut yogurt definitely is a possibility. I’ve had great luck with recipes from The Kitchn before, so I gave their dairy-free coconut yogurt recipe a try.

After a scavenger hunt though the fancy healthy grocery store for some tapioca starch, I went home and heated two cans of coconut milk. I whisked the tapioca starch into a little bit of the heated coconut milk before stirring it back in. I added the yogurt starter when the specially marked 1974 Salton spoon-thermometer told me to do so and stirred in some honey, and then I poured the mixture into the yogurt cups and stepped away for 10 hours to let the gentle heat do its thing. The “yogurt” was very liquidy at the end of those 10 hours, but I figured it might set up in the fridge overnight.

I was wrong.

My DIY dairy-free coconut yogurt had a nice flavor, but it was not thick and creamy at all. It was more like a very luxurious coconut milk beverage, which meant I my breakfast was a bowl of granola and cherries with something akin to coconut half-and-half in it. That’s definitely not a bad thing, but it wasn’t what I was looking to make.

The Kitchn also suggested using agar agar as a thickener, which I may try once my supercharged coconut beverage is gone. Their other suggestion was using just the coconut cream to make the yogurt. I think that would end up making it even more expensive than the grocery store version and would thus defeat the purpose. Other recommendations I found included pectin (Epicurious and Oh Lady Cakes) and blending it up using a fresh coconut (Oh She Glows), which is a thing that I almost certainly will never do.

But then, I never figured I’d give up cheese and sour cream either, so I could be cracking coconuts before you know it.

Hey Nichole, where’ve you been?
Mostly in the car. These kids with their activities, you know?

But why haven’t you been writing anything?
I think I lost my mojo a month or so ago, and I still haven’t found it. But Poppy tells me I should write something, so here we are.

What’s new?
I’ve spent a good amount of time recently trying to figure out what Pete and I can and can’t eat. We’ve both been having some stomach issues, and I’ve been having headaches and dry, itchy spots on my limbs. So we’re doing an elimination diet to try to figure out if my favorite foods — bread and cheese — are doing us wrong. It seems to be working. I haven’t had as many headaches, both of us have had fewer stomachaches, and I had a pretty bad Day 11 after eating some bread and cheese on Day 10. (I know 10 days isn’t long enough, but we had a special occasion.)

We’re trying to eliminate wheat/gluten and most dairy. I say “most” because I’m still cooking with butter. I’ve only struggled with it a couple of times, mostly when confronted with pizza or naan. I can’t figure out which item I’d prefer to be causing the problem, but I’m very much hoping it isn’t both of them.

Monday: Soy-Scallion Flank Steak: I didn’t use gluten-free soy sauce in this marinade. Hopefully that doesn’t do us in.

Tuesday: Balsamic chicken: I’ve been making this for awhile, since my father-in-law changed his diet for health reasons. It’s delicious.

Wednesday: Barbacoa tacos: We’re going to serve this with corn tortillas, and I already know I’m going to miss the sour cream and cheese. I’m hoping copious amounts of avocado will help.