Saturday, April 14, 2012

It's Greek to Me

I realize that I am way behind the band wagon on this one, but I finally tried Greek yogurt. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long, but I think the main reason was that I did not want to admit that my current favorite yogurt (that I ate almost daily) was not that healthy. Anyway, I finally decided to go Greek :)
I first bought the Oikos plain greek yogurt to try. I wanted to know what plain greek yogurt tastes like without any added sugars or flavors. Let's just say it's not my favorite and was a little hard to eat even with fresh strawberries and granola. On the back of the large container there is a list of recipe exchange ideas. They suggest using greek yogurt in recipes that call for sour cream, cream cheese, or mayonnaise. That sounded like a better idea to me than just eating it plain.

I first tried swapping greek yogurt for sour cream in a corn casserole dish. I love baked corn casserole, but can you really call it a vegetable it all you do is cover corn with sour cream and butter? Swapping greek yogurt for the 2 cups of sour cream that the recipe called for saves about 250 grams of fat and adds protein. When it was all said and done, you couldn't even tell a difference. I also tried greek yogurt in banana bread and mashed potatoes = success. I'm convinced that using greek yogurt is a good alternative to sour cream in recipes.

I still wanted to be able to eat greek yogurt plain so I bought it sweetened with strawberries. And although it is about twice the price of my regular yogurt, it is very good and I could see myself switching over - I'll have to watch for some coupons and sales :)

Have you gone greek yet? What kinds of greek yogurt have you tired? Have you used it in any recipes? Anyone brave enough to try Creamy Yogurt "Cheese" Cake found HERE and can you really call it "Cheese Cake" if you don't use any cream cheese?

Monday, April 9, 2012

Blake's Room

We've come a long way in Blake's room and it is (almost) done! Here is where we started: a very small room that was over crowded with a ton of stuff. For the last few years this became the room to throw things in that didn't have anywhere else to go. Messy!
 This room is really too small for the large crib, dresser, and rocking chair. So I thought putting the dresser in the closet would help. The dresser is 4 foot across and closet opening is also 4 feet so it was a TIGHT fit, but it worked!
So to set up the room the walls went from blue to green to go with the baby bedding my mom made when Rebecca was born. The dresser went in the closet which got new shelves and a hanger rod. And finally, all the stuff that didn't belong in Blake's room found a new home in the basement.



Sadly there is no other place to put those totes except next to the crib - oh, well. I don't think Blake will mind.  I love how the closet turned out with the extra shelves for storage. The only thing I want to add is something above the crib. I am thinking of a framed picture of Blake and a large wooden B. Some day I will get on that :)