I made homemade yogurt, last night, having been given Mother’s family-sized Salton yogurt maker. Ingredients: 1 quart Cass-Clay whole milk with 1.5 Tbsp Our Home plain, live-culture yogurt as my starter. I brought the whole milk just to a boil and then let it cool until the temperature reached approximately 118F degrees. Meanwhile, I’d let the starter warm to room temperature in one of the yogurt jars. I added small amounts of the cooled milk to the yogurt jar containing the starter and stirred until it was thoroughly mixed.

I added the contents of the jar to the warm milk in the sauce pan and stirred it well before dividing the milk among three of the yogurt jars and putting the lids on them. (The family-sized yogurt maker jars hold 2 cups each, but I didn’t want to make enough first time out to fill all 5 jars to the brim.) I filled the two empty yogurt jars with tepid water, covered them, and placed them in the yogurt incubator in between the three jars containing yogurt starter and milk.

Ten hours later, I removed the jars from the yogurt maker and put them in the refrigerator, emptied and dried out the other 2 jars.

This morning I enjoyed homemade yogurt for breakfast. It wasn’t as thick or solid as I expected, but the taste was just as I wished. I’m not sure if I will mess around with it…unless I decide to add some powdered milk while the milk is heating in the sauce pan. I remember being not happy with the texture achieved by adding gelatin.

A bit of trouble with allergies, this morning, and so I took an antihistamine and a couple of puffs of albuterol. I find that when my allergies are troubling me, what I eat changes.

Breakfast: Corn chips and strong coffee

Lunch: Fresh-cut fruit that we got from the grocery the previous evening and what was left of the chicken breast (rotisserie) .

Supper: Pork tenderloin slices on gluten-free wholegrain bread

Snacks: Potato chips with onion & chive sour cream; a bowl of Corn Chex with milk and lots of blackberries, no sugar added

I never did get around to cooking rather than assembling. Tomorrow, assuming I don’t have to get up and do anything, I may go back to bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then have chili and the last can of refried beans. And then a Subway salad for supper.

In a large cup, mix together dry ingredients

• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 4 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Add one egg and mix thoroughly. Stir in the rest of the ingredients one at a time and continue stirring until batter is smooth.

• 3 Tbsp milk
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Put the cup into the microwave and heat on High power for 3 minutes. Remove the cup promptly and turn out the cake onto a plate.

Variation 1: Using brownie mix that calls for added oil and milk, in place of the sugar and cocoa powder add equivalent amounts of flour. [If you add coconut flour in place of sugar, cocoa, or both, add an extra Tbsp of milk (or water) for each Tbsp of coconut flour.]

Variation 2: If you have problems with gluten, you should know that I always use gluten-free flour (or brownie mix) for my own cake in a cup. When my baking shelf is fully stocked, I use 1 Tbsp each of white rice, brown rice, tapioca, and coconut flours.

Yes, I really did delete everything and start over. All is saved in my archives, but the weight of the posts rested too heavily upon my shoulders.