Coconut lemon truffles

We picked our first ripe lemon of the season from one of our lemon trees this week.  I have missed having so many lemons within easy reach.  It'll take a few weeks for us to get into full crop - but the first just had such a lovely smell and really made me salivate.

So what to make with it that would celebrate its lovely flavor....?

Lemon truffles!

And not sweet, so you can really enjoy the acidity of the lemon juice.

So here is the recipe: (makes 25 truffles)

Ingredients

1 cup almonds
Zest of one lemon (preferable just picked off your own tree!)
Juice of one lemon
1 1/2 cups of unsweetened organic desiccated shredded coconut (plus extra for dusting the truffles)
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp sweet freedom or coconut nectar (if you want more sweetness, you can add an extra tablespoon)
1 tsp vanilla extract.

Blend all the ingredients together (except the extra coconut for dusting) in a food processor until it starts to bind together to form a dough (1-2 minutes).

Take approx 1/2 tablespoon of dough, roll it into a small ball and then roll it in the extra coconut.  Continue with the rest of the dough to make approximately 25 little truffles.  Place in the fridge, if you can resist them, for half an hour.

Can be kept at room temperature or in the fridge.

They make a lovely gift for a friend.  Take her a couple of lemons, a box of truffles and the recipe to make her own.

Bliss

Photo by Roselien Raimond

I saw this photo seen on Twisted Sifter  last week.  It just shouts "bliss" to me.

I can just feel that bit of sunshine warming his face through the clouds on a chilly autumnal morning.  That moment of peace and tranquility.  You want everything to stay exactly the same for a couple more seconds..... Don't let anything move....

Will you take time today to feel blissful?  What will create that feeling in you?  Will you be in too much of a rush and just miss a potential blissful moment?

Make sure you stop today and find some bliss.

A bowl of connection

When I made jewelry a few years ago, I sold exclusively online.  I had tried selling in galleries and stores but didn't like that I had no connection with the customers.  When I focused on online selling, you'd think I'd have been even more removed but it was quite the opposite.

I made some wonderful connections from customers, blog readers, Facebook readers, etc.  So frequently my customers would tell me their stories and how it related to the piece of jewelry I had made.  I had one guy tell me he was plucking up courage to propose to the girl her loved - even though he was really scared and hadn't told anyone else.  I had people tell me sad stories and how something I made helped them focus on the positive.  It was stunning and a real privilege to get to know people that way.

Since doing my health coaching, I've had less e-connections. Some from my blog, but not as many.   But one of them I do enjoy is with Mary Lou.  She found my facebook page and got in touch.  Now we are keen readers of each other posts.

A week or so ago she posted a lovely sounding recipe called The original Yumm Bowl from Cafe Yumm in Eugene, Oregon.  I thought it looked like a great lunch dish.  It is a Buddha Bowl - if you know what that is. Basically a bowl that starts with a grain like brown rice or quinoa and on top you add different veggies like avocado, black beans, garbanzos, tomato, leafy sprouts etc and then it all comes together by the addition of a yummy sauce.

So I changed the recipe a little - took out the oil and changed the dried herbs and beans to what I had in the cupboard - and delish!

I call it my "bowl of connection" as it was a lovely way to connect with Mary Lou and also because the sauce in the dish connects all the other ingredients together - binding it to create a whole, rather than separate ingredients.

Let me know if you give it a go.  If you do, I know you'll enjoy it. And of course, you can make it yours by adding what veggies and grains you like. I made a to-go version, used brown rice with lentils, quinoa and brown rice, pomegranate seeds, ....whatever was on hand.  A nice flexible lunch.

Hope you enjoy the connection.
For the "Connection" Sauce:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup ground almonds/almond meal
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup garbanzo beans
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (I used Madras)
2 teaspoons of dried Italian herb seasoning

For the "Connection" Bowl:
Brown rice and/or other grain
Black beans and/or garbanzos
Diced fresh tomato
Sliced avocado
Arugula sprouts or other leafy sprouts or cilantro

For the connection sauce: In a blender, process the almond meal, nutritional yeast, garbanzo beans, garlic, curry and italian herbs together until blended.

Scrape down the side of the blender and then, with the machine running, add the lemon juice and water in a steady stream.  Scrape down the bowl again and blend for 1 minute until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Add more water if you want a runnier sauce.


Refrigerate the sauce as it will be enough for a few dishes.

To assemble the Bowl of Connection:
Put a scoop of rice/grain in the bottom of an individual bowl. Top with the other ingredients around the bowl and then pour the sauce in the center.  Enjoy!

Everything is tickety-boo

Here's this week's list of things that made me realize that everything is tickety-boo:

- Enjoying an evening out listening to Jon Batiste and Stay Human  - and bumping into friends there
- Wonderful evening of art and music at Grace Cathedral - Seeing the Voice: State of Grace, by artist Anne Patterson, composer Paul Haas and the men and boys choir.  A beautiful evening for the senses.
- While on my walk, watching a white kite hover over its prey, then dive and successfully catch it
- Seeing 9 white pelicans on a small pond, busy fishing
- Having a meeting with a beautiful person
- Catching up with family on FaceTime
- Two good classes this week
- Getting a new book and loving it: Farmacology, by Daphne Miller
- Enjoying a new easy lunch recipe - a few times this week. I'll post it here this week
- Getting excited about our trip back to the UK in a few weeks


Hoping you are feeling tickety-boo.  If not - trying writing down good things about your week - however small.  Once you start, you'll think of lots!

Forgive quickly

Someone has hurt you.  You feel wronged. You feel sad.  Maybe it was just something little, or maybe it was something big.  There are countless ways that people can hurt us.  None of us are immune to it and its only natural that it affects us.

But sometimes we hold onto that feeling and don't let it go.  Every time we think about the wrong done against us, even that memory activates our sympathetic nervous system and puts us in fight-or-flight mode - a state of stress.  Now you heart races, your respiration rate goes up, and the parasympathetic nervous system is switched off.  It is only when we are under the control of the parasympathetic nervous system that we can heal our bodies. It is our self-repair mechanism.  The longer we are controlled by our sympathetic nervous system, the less time our body has to heal.


So holding on to hurt or grudges, and not forgiving others puts us a greater risk of chronic illnesses.

But its more than that.  Forgiveness is also part of our happiness.  Negative thoughts just encourage more negative thoughts - "you get more of what you focus on".

Not forgiving or being slow to forgive is really only detrimental to us.  We are the ones that suffer the most.

So think about those who have hurt you, that you haven't been able to forgive.  What negative payoff are you getting for holding onto that hurt?  What would it feel like if you just let go of it?  What might you do to forgive that person?  How much time have you wasted by not forgiving quickly?

And as we think of forgiveness and how people have hurt us - we also need to consider forgiving ourselves.  Looking back, we can all think

• "gosh, did I really say that?", 
• "Did I really do that?", 
• "how could I have been so insensitive when I love them?", 
• "I wish I'd kept my mouth shut".

And we occasionally get the feeling that we should just shut ourselves away  somewhere, so we can't do anything to upset people.  

We can learn from these experiences, but we can also forgive ourselves quickly too.  We are all flawed. None of us are perfect.  If we take stock of those times when we do hurt others and learn from them, we can forgive ourselves.  We can go easy on ourselves and try to be a less flawed person.

So lets not waste anymore time.  Let's forgive others quickly - and then forgive ourselves quickly too.

Magnesium Deficiency

Magnesium is an abundant mineral in our bodies that is vital to our health.  Yet many of us are deficient in it.  60% of the magnesium in our bodies is stored in our bones, 38 - 39% is stored in cells, and the remaining 1 - 2% is in the blood, where it is crucial for maintaining a regular heart beat.

So what else does magnesium do for us? It has roles in:

• muscle and nerve function
• immune function
• blood pressure control
• energy production
• blood sugar regulation

In the standard American diet with processed and refined foods, much of the magnesium is lost in our diet through that processing. This is especially the case with refined wheat flour to white flour and brown rice to white rice.  Also, alcohol and caffeine deplete magnesium in our bodies - as does chronic stress.  Thus a significant proportion of the American population is deficient in magnesium.

Some of the signs of magnesium deficiency include:

• abnormal heart rhythm
• anxiety
• depression
• fatigue
• high blood pressure
• irritability
• loss of appetite
• muscle spasms or twitching
• poor sleep/insomnia
• poor nail growth
• tremor

All of these symptoms have more than one cause however, so if you think low magnesium may be an issue for you, discuss it with your health care practitioner.  It can be easily remedied and can make a big difference in how you feel.

An easy way to increase your magnesium levels is through the diet.  Eating a whole foods plant based diet is recommended - with no or minimal processed foods.  Add to that, some of the the following foods, which are good sources of magnesium:

• pumpkin seeds
• sesame seeds
• sunflower seeds
• almonds
• cashews
• black beans
• soy beans
• spinach
• swiss chard
• quinoa
• millet
• buckwheat
• brown rice
• salmon
• halibut
• dark chocolate

I don't recommend you try a supplement, unless under the guidance of a health professional.  

I made some pumpkin seed milk this week, to give it a try. Here's the recipe:

1 cup pumpkin seeds (soaked 6 - 8 hours in water)

3 cups water

Discard the soak water from the seeds and place them in a high powered blender, like a Vitamix.  Add the water and blend on high until smooth.

Refrigerate and enjoy.  You can strain the milk if you prefer but you get all the goodness of the seeds if you don't strain it but just shake it before use.  A lovely creamy milk.

It doesn't taste like dairy milk so if you are making it and expecting it to have the same taste - it won't.  But it tastes nice. I had it on my cereal - but you can also use it for cooking and have it in smoothies etc as a great source of magnesium (and also zinc).

So if you have trouble sleeping at night, with restless legs, try a handful of pumpkin seeds in the evening or a square of dark chocolate (75% or more cocoa content).  Or start your day with a green smoothie made with pumpkin seeds and spinach.

Everything is tickety-boo

Here is a list of the good things in my week, that make me realize that everything is tickety-boo:

 -  I saw and heard Bryn Terfel last Sunday at the Green Music Center.      He sang so beautifully, it made me cry.
-  Back singing evensong at Grace cathedral, San Francisco this afternoon (that's where the stained glass window photo is from)
-  The lovely fall weather
-  Seeing a pileated woodpecker a few days in a row near our home
-  Getting back into my walking routine
-  Getting a new pedometer to accompany the above
-  Two good nutrition and cooking classes
-  Creating a new recipe and loving it
-  Good discussion at book club
-  Enjoying blue sweet potatoes!
-  Saw Macbeth from the National Theater live with Kenneth Branagh
-  Loved "Captain Philips" with Tom Hanks - very gripping, but I just wanted to give him a hug.

Hope you had a good one too.

Through the porthole - Orange Hibiscus tea

Here is this week's infusion, made using my porthole.

In it is a Orange Hibiscus tea.  I used hibiscus flowers, rose hips, lemongrass, dried oranges, mint, rose petals and three whole stevia leaves.

Its a lovely combination and the whole stevia leaves didn't make it taste really sweet. I actually only put them in as I wanted a large green leaf so looked on my herb patch - and there was my stevia!

The tea is a lovely peachy color - a good blend of the red from the hibiscus and the orange.

I set it on the table yesterday ready for when a class sat to ate their cooking, and they were most intrigued by it and thought how pretty it looked with the sun shining on it.

Any suggestions of what I should try next to infuse in it next week?

Flowered grainless granola

One of my most popular recipes is my no added sugar or oil, gluten free granola.  There are numerous variations you can made to it with different add-ins etc, so it is nice and versatile, depending on your own taste.  I still make the recipe regularly for myself - often keeping it plain and simple with 3 ingredients - oats, puffed brown rice, and unsweetened apple sauce. Then I just add whatever fruit is in season in our garden and some homemade soy yogurt - and I'm a happy girl!

However, eating grains can sometimes cause issues for people and lead to bloating, gas, pain and other symptoms.  Eliminating grains, refined sugar and dairy can sometimes help in this situation.

The reason behind this is that these food items contain fermentable carbohydrates that can promote overgrowth of bacteria and other microorganisms in the gut.

A plant based diet without grains, dairy and sugar can lead to favorable changes in the quality and quantity of intestinal microflora.  You should talk to your health care provider for more information on this so they can monitor your changes.

So while many of us eat cereal for breakfast,  if you are grain free - it gets tricky!  So today I decided to come up with my own recipe for a grain-free granola.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out. Its made with seeds, nuts and fruit - and dried flowers to make it look pretty and special.  Gluten free, no added sugar or oil. It is also suitable for those on a Paleo diet.  I love the addition of the flowers.  It gives the message that this isn't a hardship granola and you are missing out on grains. It gives something extra - a bonus of pretty flowers so there is no feeling of deprivation.

Here's the recipes:
1/2 cup raw organic almonds - roughly chopped
1/2 cup raw organic walnuts - roughly chopped
1/4 cup raw organic hazelnuts - roughly chopped
1/2 cup raw organic sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
one small pot (4oz) unsweetened, organic applesauce
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 dried edible flowers

1. Heat the oven to 375 F
2. Combine the nuts and seeds together and stir in the cinnamon.
3. Add the applesauce and stir thoroughly until well combined.
4. Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and stir well, bringing the edges into the center so they don't burn.
6. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes  - keeping an eye on it so the edges don't burn.
7. If crispy and dry - remove from the oven.  If still a bit damp, give it another couple of minutes.
8. Let cool.
9. Add the raisins and edible flowers and mix.

This makes a delightful trail mix as well as a granola.

Obviously the recipe is very versatile. You can choose your own combination of seeds and nuts and fruits.  Omit the flowers or use the flowers.  Basically you need one small pot of applesauce for 1 3/4 - 2 cups of nuts/seeds.  If you use more, you'll have to add more applesauce.

If you don't have dried edible flowers, you can use a flower tea blend. There are some lovely ones out there.  So take a look and add some pretty to your breakfast!

But do bear in mind that this recipe is mainly nuts and seeds. While there is no added fat, the nuts and seeds are high in fat.  If you are trying to lose weight, this should be a consideration.  Nuts and seeds are good to having in our diet - but not too many.

It's funny how I used to have granola with milk or yogurt as the add-on.  Since making my own soy yogurt and loving it so much, I now have yogurt with granola as the add-on, that is the yogurt is the predominant factor.  This new flowery granola may switch things back - or maybe it'll even things out now - so I have equal amounts of granola and homemade yogurt!

What your favorite way to eat granola?

Are you ready to fly?

During our lives, we may never feel completely ready to "fly"  - or try something new.  And yes, we do need to evaluate our preparedness.  But its important to look not only at the positive things that may help - ie have your feathers come in! - but also, look if you have extra baggage.  Maybe its time to get rid of the things that weigh you down. What things in your life no longer serve you on your journey?  Can you lighten your load and then be able to just take a leap.

Lynmar Winery

We took a visit to Lynmar winery the other day - for a Sunday picnic.

Our friends had recommended it to us and then we had seen an article in a magazine about their wonderful edible gardens.  I was excited to see all the plantings - but the picnic sounded good too!

The picnic was excellent.  It was eaten near the tasting room- on a table, not a picnic rug and they adapted my menu to suit a gluten free vegan.  There were two big surprises over lunch.  Firstly they brought out some "organic popcorn sprinkled with estate elephant heart plum salt".  Well, I hate popcorn - but I actually enjoyed this.  It was so unlike popcorn that I've tried before.  Normally we have to move seats in a movie theater so I don't have to smell the popcorn of the person sat next to me!  I know that is the butter rather than the popcorn - but that smell just makes me ill if I have to sit with it!But this popcorn tasted pretty good.

The second surprise was the Chardonnay wine that they served with it. Again, I'm not a big fan of most chardonnay.  Likewise my husband doesn't like them either. But this one was delicious.  No hint of butter and tropical suntan oil (!) and all those other tastes I don't like.  It was something pleasurable to drink.

The gardens were lovely - so colorful - and this was just their autumn/winter garden.  We can't wait to go back from the spring/summer garden.  They are designed by Kate Frey.


Here are some of the plantings they have used in the edible gardens:

• redbor and red peacock kale
• red rock mammoth cabbage
• flax
• calendula
• flamingo pink and rhubarb swiss chard
• arugula
• japanese spinach
• purple sprouting broccoli
• red, purple and green bok choy
• osaka red and ruby frills mustard
• magenta spreen
• mizuna
• tot soi

Everything is tickety-boo

It's been a while since I wrote an "everything is tickety-boo" post - long overdue!  So I thought this weekend warranted one.

For those of you who don't know what "tickety-boo" means - its all about looking at the positive side of things.  It is a state of mind where not everything has to be perfect, but things are going long just fine.  And the more you look for the good things that are happening, the happier you are as you begin to see more and more good things in your life.

The little video below of Danny Kaye singing "everything is tickety-boo" is a fine example. It's war time, but Danny happily whistles and sings along his way, with the sky so "blinky blue" on a "dreamy, peaches and creamy day"!


So here is my everything is tickety-boo list for this week:

• my brother in law is staying with us. Its so great that he has been able to come over from England this year. He missed a couple of years of visits because of ill health - so its lovely he's here, enjoying fall in Northern California.  
• my cousin Caroline and Jamie had a little baby this week :-D  Yeah.  Welcome Little Keegan. C and J got married at our home/vineyard a few years ago, so we feel like we were instrumental in a little way in bringing Keegan into the world.  Congratulations!
• it's Thanksgiving in Canada - to happy Thanksgiving to all my relatives and friends who live there.
• we had new friends come for lunch yesterday and had such a good afternoon with them.  Everything was so easy and natural. We all really enjoyed it.
• dinner out with other friends last night - lovely to catch up and spend some time with them
• the grape vine leaves are finally beginning to change color.  Ours are at the golden stage right now.
• the fruit harvest continues with figs everyday and we are working through the apples and pears.
• my nephew has had a good first week at Cambridge Uni this week
• the flowers - especially our dahlias continue to fill the garden and house with beauty
• a little black cat came to visit yesterday - "prowling" around the vineyard - then came to say hello
• Chrunchamame  - my new food of the week. Crunchamame  is a freeze dried nonGMO edamame/soy bean crunchy snack.   They are really tasty. I now keep a little bag in my car for those times when I need a snack to keep me going.  Give them a try.

So are you feeling tickety-boo? What has been going on with your week? Take a little time to think of the good things then you'll surely feel that everything is tickety-boo - and can sing along with Danny Kaye :-D

Through the Porthole

I got a new "toy" this week.  A porthole.

Its an infusing "vessel" - to be used for cocktails, oils, vinegars, soft drinks, dressing, or purely decorative.  I heard about them on kickstarter and thought it looked stunning.  I'd forgotten about it actually, until  mine arrived, out of the blue, this week.

So I tried it for the first time today - ready for some guests coming around this evening.

Tonight "through the porthole", is an elderflower and elderberry concoction.  I'm a big fan of elderflower and so some dried flowers are in there, a long with some elderflower syrup.  Then, as I planted an elder bush this year, and had forgotten to check for berries, I went to search and found some sun-dried berries, waiting to be picked!

I'd checked on the plant at elderflower time and they had a few bunches of flowers but as it was only a new and small plant, I didn't want to deprive it of its first harvest.  But once they had turned to berries, and dried -  I thought it was OK.

As soon as I added liquid, they started giving off a lovely red color.

I had seen a star fruit in Whole Foods last week too - and it had been ages since I had one, so it went to a good use in the porthole.

So it'll be an alternative for any of us not drinking this evening.  A little elder porthole with some sparkling water.

Doesn't it look beautiful?  What would you put in a porthole? I have lots of ideas.  Have you ever seen one before?

Hot, hot, hot!

We planted a padron pepper plant this year and really enjoyed the small green peppers.  So tasty and with a nice little kick.

Then one day I made a risotto when a friend was visiting for the weekend and selected just one - bit larger than normal - padron pepper each which I blistered and served on top of the risotto to add a nice little crunch and kick.

Wow! We couldn't believe the difference in just the change of size compared to the heat of the pepper. Even the tiniest piece was incredibly hot!  None of us could eat it - so I was glad I only served the pepper whole and not cut up in anything!

Just another inch in length and they were so incredibly hot.

So we left the larger peppers on the plant and it now looks so pretty - with beautiful red peppers hanging on the all but dead plant.

I have decided to dry the red peppers and then grind them up to make them crushed red peppers, like you buy in the spice jars.  First taste of one I dried showed that it was, thankfully, milder than its green large form.

But in the meantime, I think they look so pretty  hanging on the plant.  I'm hoping they will sun dry but if there is a chance of rain, I'll bring them in and dehydrate them.

Have you ever tried padrons red? Should I be wary? Was the one I tried just an oddity?

Oh yes, and that is our wonderful arugula in the background of the photos.  Again that is super peppery - love it like that. Maybe that raised bed is destined to be hot stuff!

The Best Homemade Soy Yogurt

My life has been transformed since I successfully started making organic soy, unsweetened yoghurt!  It makes me so happy. I want to get out of bed in the mornings, just so I can eat some yogurt!  It is so creamy and delicious and only has four ingredients:

• organic soybeans
• water
• organic raw cashews
• probiotics

The "active" part of making the recipe also takes only about 5 minutes.  Then it sits and ferments for 8 hours, then goes in the fridge - and is then ready to be gobbled up!

So here is the recipe for you to give it a try.  Let me know if it changes your life too!!

Ingredients
3/4 cup raw organic cashews, soaked in water for at least 1 hour, then drained
32 oz carton of WestSoy organic, unsweetened plain soy milk
3 probiotic capsules or 1 scoop probiotic powder. I use Custom probiotics CP1 or their 6 strain powder

1. Put approx. 1 cup of soy milk and the soaked cashews into a blender and process until smooth and creamy.


2. Transfer to a medium saucepan and add the remaining 3 cups of milk.  Whisk to combine.

3. Warm over a low heat, whisking occasionally until the mixture reaches a temperature of 110 degrees F (43 degrees C) or if you don't have a thermometer, until a few drops on your wrist feels slightly warm.  Remove from the heat. Don't let it go above this temperature.

4. Open the probiotic capsules and add the contents into the milk - or add the powder and whisk to thoroughly combine.

5. Pour into a yogurt maker and switch on, for 8 hours. If you don't have a yogurt maker,  leave the mixture to rest in covered jar/pot in a warm place in the kitchen, for 8 hours.  Taste to check the desired degree of tartness in flavor.  If it isn't as tart as you like it, leave it another hour or two.  Then refrigerate - it will thicken more as it cools.

6. Store covered in the refrigerator for upto 2 weeks.

Notes on the recipe:
a) Most non dairy recipes are typically not very thick. Adding the cashews thickens this one nicely, without having to add any other thickeners.

b) I use an infrared thermometer (~$15) to measure the temperature of the milk.  I bought mine a few months ago and love it.  Basically nothing has to touch the food - it just shoots an infrared beam and measures the temperature from that.  No washing up!  It's also fun to play with around the house and check room temperatures, each other, draughts, etc etc!  You can of course use a regular thermometer or do the wrist heat test - but its not as much fun!


c) I haven't tried this with other milks or changed the cashew nuts for another nut.  That's because I love it as it is and if it ain't broke, don't fix it!  If you give it a try with something else, do report back and let me know how it goes.

d) The yogurt machine holds the yogurt at a constant 108F.  If you don't have one, try leaving it in a switched off electric oven with only the inside light switched on. This should give it enough warmth to ferment.  Or just put it in a warm place in the kitchen.  I've tried it both ways and even when I did it side by side, there was no difference.  If the temperature where you leave it is not that warm, you may need to give it 10 - 12 hours to ferment instead of just 8 hours.

e) The probiotic capsules work perfectly.  The company, customprobiotics sells a yogurt starter, but I've never tried it, as I had the probiotics and they work just fine. If your yogurt doesn't ferment, its probably because you have used a different probiotic that isn't "live"!

f) I have only used WestSoy milk for this recipe as it is made from only whole organic, non-GMO soybeans and water. No other ingredients.  It has a high protein level and reasonable fat content.  Don't try fat free as you need the fat to make the yoghurt thicken.

g) Once you've made your first batch, instead of re-inoculating subsequent batches with fresh probiotic every time, you can just keep approx. 1/4 cup of the previous batch of yogurt and add that to the milk and cashews. The bugs will still be alive.  I tend to do this for a few batches, but then start afresh with fresh probiotics every 6 or so times.

h) Sometimes some liquid separates slightly from the yoghurt. You can pour this off or just stir it in.  Your choice, depending on how thick you want the yoghurt.  You can also strain the yogurt and make soft cheese from it too.

i) If it doesn't set or get sour, its probably because your probiotics are no longer active. This should be a spoonable yogurt.

I start my day with my yogurt with added fruit grown in our garden - like pears and figs right now -- and then also use it at other times through the day - add it with some turmeric to steamed cauliflower, make a salad dressing with it. How will you use yours?