fun with food: grain-free/gluten-free crepes

crepes are a hot item in our house.  every member in our family loves crepes.  my kids pretty much just inhale them.  for real. no joke.

we've been making crepes since emma was a wee baby.  before we started on our traditional/WAPF diet, we would make them with regular white flour.  then i started doing sourdough crepes (made with spelt flour), although i think aaron is still partial to the white flour variety.  the kids and i like the sourdough crepes, and they're super quick and easy to whip up, as long as you have enough sourdough starter around.  since our kids gobble them up like no other, i often have to double the recipe, which means i have to feed the starter enough flour so that i can actually double the recipe.  i'm usually pretty good at planning ahead for that, but i do have days where i'm totally not prepared (okay, i may have those days a lot more than usual).

so, these grain-free crepes are totally yummy and awesome when i don't have sourdough starter around.  seriously, we've made them three times in the past week and a half.  maybe we need a crepe intervention.  they're easy to make and actually don't taste much different than the regular white flour crepes.

why bother with grain-free crepes when you could just make it with white flour?  well, white flour isn't exactly healthy for you, since they're a pretty refined product (even though nothing beats using white flour in chocolate chip cookies or crusty french bread...cheat days keep our family sane).  and whole grains are kind of a funny thing for your tummy. they are difficult to digest, so if you do use a whole wheat type of flour then you need to either soak, sprout or ferment (sourdough) it to make it easier for your body to digest.  i'm not going to go into the details of that in this post, but if you want to know more about how and why to properly prepare grains i recommend checking out the weston a. price foundation website or the healthy home economist for more information.

okay. let's bring it back to these crepes, guys! i'm officially making this my go-to crepe recipe when i'm not making sourdough crepes (or when aaron's not making crepes, because you know he'll just use the white flour...haha).  i found the recipe here, but made some small changes. this is a very flexible recipe that can also easily be dairy-free, if you or a family member has a dairy allergy. i've tried making them using coconut oil, butter, regular milk, and yogurt (though you have to add a little extra water to thin out the batter a bit). i haven't tried using coconut milk yet, but i'm pretty sure it will taste just as good.

you should give it a try. and suddenly, everyday will be crepe day.

:: grain-free/gluten-free crepes ::

adapted from healthnutnation.com

yields: approx. 24 6 inch crepes

3/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
4 eggs
2 Tbs. coconut oil (or ghee or butter) and some extra for cooking
1 tsp. honey (optional)

1. Mix ingredients together until well blended.
2. Heat your pan at medium heat, and add a small amount of oil or butter and swirl around. You may have to only do this once, but if you find that you're crepes are sticking to the pan, then you may have to add a bit of oil before each crepe is made.
3. If you're using a small, 6 inch pan (like an omelette pan), pour about 2-3 Tbs. of the batter onto the pan and gently swirl it until batter covers the bottom of the pan.
4. Once the batter is set, flip the crepe over and cook on the other side (about 2-3 seconds).
5. Take cooked crepe off the pan and put on a plate.  I usually just cook and stack them on one plate, or you can serve it directly.
6. Fill crepes with your preferred fillings...sweet, salty, what have you!

**If you double this recipe you can keep some extra in the fridge to eat for another time.  You can also make these ahead of time, although nothing beats freshly made crepes.

a taste of the farm life

last week, my sister asked me if we wanted to take a tour of a friend's farm with her and her family. how could i resist? a tour of a local farm?  heck yeah!

i get excited when we can learn more about local businesses and how we can support them.  especially when it comes to food.  whenever we can, and when our budget allows, we love supporting local farmers by sourcing as much of our produce locally through a CSA, the farmer's market or local grocery co-op.  i have learned a lot about food from participating in CSAs, and have become better aware of what foods are in season and which ones are not (i'm far from being a pro at this, but it's getting easier every year).  our whole family is also exposed to produce that may not make it on my grocery list if we hadn't joined a CSA (think fennel, fava beans and raddichio).

so, an opportunity to tour a local farm is exciting for me, because i get a chance to see where some of the fabulous local produce is coming from.  as it turns out, our farm tour was part of a bigger event put together by sno-valley tilth, an organization that connects local farmers in the snoqualmie valley to the surrounding communities and metropolitan areas.  sno-valley tilth was organizing farm tours of many of the farmers in the snoqualmie valley along with an amazing sounding farm faire and pig roast (aaah!) in the evening. coincidentally, the farm where we have our CSA share was also participating in the farm tour, so bonus for us!  this would be an opportunity to really see where some of our food actually came from.

the drive to the "country" was surprisingly short.  it took us only 45 minutes, which was only 15 minutes longer than if we were to drive to the zoo (and that's in the city). our first stop was oxbow farm, which is where we have our CSA subscription.  oxbow farm not only provides weekly veggie shares through their CSA program, but they sell their produce through a couple of farmer's markets, some area independent grocers, and supply produce to quite a few Seattle area restaurants.  they also provide educational programs for kids and put on seasonal events.

we missed the guided tour, but we were free to explore on our own.  they have a special kids' farm area where you can "guess the veg" in the children's garden, or run through a "living" tunnel made from gourd plants growing right over your head.  our kids were in heaven, and this is where we spent most of our time at oxbow.

they climbed and jumped off tree stumps, and snacked on crunchy apples and sweet strawberries they picked themselves.

there was a little picnic area placed underneath an awning of grape vines, with grapes you can pick off and eat. it felt magical to be standing right underneath it.

and there was a huge teepee like structure with some sort of bean plant growing around the poles, providing shade and made you feel as if you were really inside a tent.

there was so much imaginative play going on, and it felt good just being able to let the kids do some natural exploration on their own.

our next stop was local roots farm where we met up with my sister and family, and had the opportunity to meet the owners/farmers, siri and jason. they're a smaller farm than oxbow, but still provide amazing, quality produce through their CSA subscription, farmer's markets and to many Seattle area restaurants.
  

the kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins and new friend, siri and jason's sweet little boy, and i gained a greater appreciation for the work that these farmers do to provide food for us to eat. it was a privilege to get a small glimpse of what life is like for them, and thankful that they are willing to share what they do with us.

it was a saturday well spent.  full of learning, fun, and new discoveries.

get cultured: homemade fermented salsa

i have so many thoughts in my head that i long to post on here and share, but i haven't had much time or energy lately to just sit and commit.  do you know what i mean?

so, i'm going to write about homemade salsa.

and this is not just any old salsa, friends.  this is living salsa.  it's ALIVE.  full of beneficial bacteria for your little gut with each bite.

before i go on, you may wonder why i'm making such a big deal about salsa.  and what's up with this whole beneficial bacteria thing?

well, just recently (like maybe 2-3 years now) we began on an eating journey more in line with a traditional diet.  this alone deserves a separate blog post, so i'm not going to go into much detail on how we got to where we're at today in our eating adventures, but i will say i have been learning a lot.

one thing i have been learning more about is fermented foods, and i have been fascinated with the science and research cropping up about the gut health and its relation to fermented food consumption. this post has a lot of great information and provides an excellent explanation of gut health (with links to research studies if you are a geek like me and like to read them).  and now over here, at this post,  you can read more on the history and benefits of consuming fermented foods (beyond just cultured yogurt).

and thanks to those articles, i now can skip having to explain why i'm making such a fuss over this salsa and share with you my experience.

i admit the fermented salsa has not been my first adventure in fermenting food.  the very first cultured food prodcut i ever made was homemade yogurt. that was fun, but the process is a bit more complicated than lacto-fermenting veggies.  so i branched out and tried my hand at making lacto-fermented cucumbers.  those were yummy, and the kids totally ate it up.  and then there was the lacto-fermented cabbage (a.k.a. sauerkraut).  it didn't taste like what i thought it would be...it was surprisingly good, and i'm not a cabbage fan at all.

ok, back to the salsa.  it's super easy, and a great first-timer recipe, especially if you're not quite used to eating many fermented foods.  this recipe is based on a combination of two.  the first is my husbands, and the second is one from the nourishing traditions cookbook.

adapted from the Nourishing Tradtions cookbook

4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 small onions (i used 1 medium), finely chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped (you can use less, but we LOVE garlic)
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
juice of 1 lime
4 teaspoons of coarse, unrefined sea salt
*optional spice* 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and sliced

Mix all ingredients in a glass bowl. Spoon into a 1 quart wide-mouthed mason jar. Press down lightly with a wooden meat mallet.  I don't own a wooden meat mallet so I used a wooden cocktail muddler, kind of like this one. Keep gently pressing down the veggies until the liquid covers all the veggies.  Be sure to leave 1 inch of room from the top of the jar, you don't want to fill it up to the top. Cover tightly and let the jar sit at room temperature for 2 days before moving it into the fridge.
 

it's delicious, and hard to believe that it's been fermented.  even my husband will eat this, and he's still quite shy about eating all of my fermented veggie experiments.

fun with food : quinoa balls

so, this one time, while we were still doing the whole seattle-spokane thing, aaron and i decided to spend a date night at manito tap house.  our eyes came across an appetizer involving cheese, frying food, and quinoa.  surely it would be delicious!

now, the handful of times i've ever had quinoa was when it was served plain, and only when i was out at a restaurant.  i always enjoyed it, and made a mental note in my head to someday try making some at home.

the server brought out 4 walnut-sized, fried balls on a bed of greens and a side of Thai aioli and stout aioli.  i probably could have eaten all 4 to myself.  i was secretly hoping that aaron wouldn't like it (since he had indicated to me in the past that he was not interested in quinoa), but to my dismay he happily ate his share.  we both enjoyed the dish so much that we both began throwing around ideas of how we could make it at home, and some changes we would make to make the dish even more to our liking (a.k.a. more cheese).
 
so 2-ish months later i bought myself my first bag of quinoa, and experiment with my own version of manito tap house's "quinoa balls." [okay, they really need to re-do the name, because my immaturity shows its face every time i read that!]

it's not exactly the same, but they were just as good.  i promise i'm not just saying that because i made it.  haha.  the whole family LOVED it, and there were no left overs.  not even a crumb.

now usually, when i do up my own "thing" with food, i never have the foresight to write down the measurements of all the ingredients i use.  this means, when i try to make it again, it doesn't taste exactly the same as the last time. but this time i must have had some extra coffee or something, because i remembered to write down the amounts of all the ingredients i used so that if it turned out crappy this time around i can refer to the recipe and change things as needed.

and this also means i have something concrete that i can share with you! a real recipe, with measurements and everything, so that you can try it at home.  enjoy!

:: fried quinoa balls ::
inspired by manito tap house's quinoa balls

Yields: 24-26 balls


3 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup bread crumbs
1-1.5 cups mozzarella cheese
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried rosemary (or you can use fresh)
1-2 tsp garlic powder (or mince some fresh garlic which would be super yummy)
2 eggs

Combine all the ingredients listed and mix together.  You can mix it with a spoon, but I found using my hands did the job much better.  Take some of the quinoa mixture and begin rolling into walnut-size balls, maybe a little smaller.  Place the quinoa balls on a cookie sheet or a piece of wax paper. Heat a skillet to medium heat and fill with about 1/4 inch of oil. If you have a deep-frier then I would fry these babies in there until golden brown.  I have a deep-frier, but I was too lazy to dig mine out so I used the cast-iron skillet instead. Place a few of the balls in the skillet (I could fit about 8 in mine) and cook until golden brown. Be sure to rotate the balls so that all sides are equally browned and crispy.  Place the cooked quinoa balls on a plate lined with a paper towel (or cloth) to absorb some of the excess oil.  Serve on a bed of spring greens and honey mustard dressing for dipping. 

:: honey mustard dressing :: 

dijon mustard or some other fancy-pants mustard 
mayonnaise
honey
   
Sadly, I did not write down the measurements for the ingredients in this recipe, but I'm sure you can figure it out!

a success story about buns

we have been in the process of transitioning our food preparation and consumption into more of a traditional diet for the past year (i will have to save that for another post), and one of the things i'm learning is how to work with soaked grains for baking.

side note: i have learned that it's not enough to switch from refined carbohydrates and sugars.  if it's not prepared properly, consuming whole grains doesn't really do your body any good (don't ask about breakfast cereal).  even though whole grains have all the good for you nutrients, it also contains phytic acid (so do legumes, by the way) and other anti-nutrients.  if not neutralized, phytic acid actually blocks the absorption of those vital nutrients found in whole grains.  unprepared whole grains are also more difficult for your body to digest.  soaking will also break down the complex starches and difficult to digest protein (like gluten) so that your body can digest it better.  soaking is just one way to neutralize phytic acid in grains and make them more digestible.   you can also ferment (sourdough) or sprout but i haven't gotten that far yet.

ok, back to the success story.

i made homemade buns last week using a recipe i've used many times before.  except i decided to soak the flour first.  well...it was a major FAIL.  i was so sad to have to toss it all.

that was my first attempt at soaking flour for use in bread.

yesterday we had burgers on the grill and i decided to try again at making homemade buns using soaked flour.  this time i got smart and googled for a recipe to try since i'm still quite a novice when it comes to working with soaked flour.

of course i found one within minutes!  this recipe was simple to follow and prepare...very good for beginner soakers like me.  the down side is that it still calls for white flour and uses instant yeast (i'm not sure yet how using instant yeast affects the integrity of the soaked flour/nutritional value...must do more research on it), but it served its purpose until i'm ready to experiment with something more.

homemade soaked hamburger buns from heavenly homesteading  
yields 8 hamburger buns

soaking/the day before baking

ingredients:

1 cup water
1 Tbs. of water kefir, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (i used raw apple cider vinegar)
1/4 cup or 4 Tbs. of coconut oil (mine was in liquid form since i made this on a hot day, but the site says you can cut the oil into the flour before adding the water and acidic medium.)
2 cups whole wheat flour

combine the 4 ingredients until all the flour is moistened in a ceramic or glass bowl.  cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and place in a warm place and let sit 12-24 hours.

baking day

ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup unbleached white flour (preferably organic)
3/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. whole cane sugar (i used rapadura, but i'm sure honey would be good too)
3 tsp. SAF instant yeast (i didn't have any of that so i used the active dry yeast i had on hand)
your pre-soaked flour mixture

add the ingredients to the pre-soaked flour mixture and knead until all ingredients are incorporated and dough is smooth.  i ended up having to add a bit more than 1 cup of white flour since the dough was still quite sticky.  the dough should be smooth and elastic (tacky but not sticky) once you're done kneading.

lightly dust with flour a rectangular pizza/baking stone (if you don't have a pizza stone, i think a baking sheet covered with parchment paper should work too).  place dough on floured surface or counter top and divide into 8 equal pieces. i left the divided dough in the bowl, working with 1 half piece at a time, because i'm lazy and didn't want to clean up a flour covered counter.  roll each piece in a ball and flatten a bit.  place the pieces on the baking stone.  lightly dust top with flour and cover with a towel.  place in a warm place until it doubles in size (about 2 hours).

preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.  bake buns for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  once done, cool buns on rack.  you can brush a little melted butter on top of each bun.  slice horizontally and stick a burger in between 'em.

these buns turned out so well that i don't think i'll go back to my stand-by recipe until i've figured out how to adjust the ingredients for soaking.  they are quite soft, though more dense compared to grocery store hamburger buns.  they didn't turn out so crumbly like the buns i used to make, and they were still soft the next day (usually my homemade bread and hamburger buns get stale much faster since there's no preservatives or dough conditioners).  i am very happy with the results!

paczki, paczki!

after living in cleveland for 6 years, i just recently discovered (and by recent i mean 2 weeks ago) this yummy little treat: paczki.

what the heck is a paczki?  well, some might say it's a jelly doughnut.  but i say it's MORE than just a jelly doughnut!

paczki (pronounced "punch-key" or "poonch-key" depending on where you find your information or who you talk to) is a traditional polish pastry.  they are pieces of dough, shaped into a flattened sphere, deep fried, filled with some sort of fruit or cream filling then sprinkled with powdered sugar.  traditionally, paczki was made in order to use up all the lard, sugar, dairy, eggs and all that sweet, rich stuff in the house, because they were not allowed to consume those things during lent.  paczki day in cleveland (and other large polish communities in the united states) celebrate paczki day on fat tuesday, since it is the day before lent.

now, if you've seen my picture (or met me in person) you know i am not polish.  at all.  BUT, i married into the culture, thanks to my handsome husband.  last week, i had everything planned out to make homemade paczki.  after all, i can make a pretty mean pierogi so surely, paczki wouldn't be too far out of my league.  well, i woke up this morning feeling very behind on things.  and making paczki would just back log all the other stuff i want to do.  so i sent my polish-ish man (he's kind of a mixed breed...though that's not such a bad thing!) along with the kiddos to pick some up at rudy's strudel and bakery.

and did they get the hook up thanks to the generosity of our sweet neighbor, lydia (who also happens to be the baker there).  a dozen paczki and an amazingly delicious looking lady finger.

oh man, was it good.

happy paczki day!

get up, stand up...

...stand up for your right.  get up, stand up.  don't give up the fight (if you didn't get the reference check out this link).

yesterday, my sister-in-law and a friend of mine took part in a movement.  a movement to educate.  a movement to change public perception.  a movement to normalize nursing (especially nursing in public).

this is not the first time i've written about breastfeeding in public.  the last time was a short little post 5 years ago about a magazine cover showing a babe nursing.  my views about breastfeeding since then haven't changed.

if you haven't already heard about it in the media, there was a national nurse-in yesterday at hundreds of targets across the nation (and canada too).  the nurse-in was in response to one woman's experience while at a target breastfeeding her baby about a month ago (details found here).  based on what i've read, it was not the first time target employees had given nursing mothers a hard time at their store (2006 incident here and 2009 incident here).  while target policy apparently supports breastfeeding mothers, i think the consistency in training their employees about this policy is obviously lacking.

so why the big hub-bub about a national nurse-in?  why not just have a nurse-in at that one particular target where the mother was harassed?  honestly, i don't think a local nurse-in would be as effective.  i think the purpose of the national nurse-in is really to change public perception on public nursing.  to make it normal.  not sexual or offensive or disgusting.  how is it disgusting and sexual to provide your baby with nourishment?  i think that part of the problem, when people view breastfeeding as offensive or disgusting, is attributed to the oversexualization of the female body.  i loathe going by the victoria's secret where you see blown up models clothed in merely a bra and panties.  or how about a mall?  or some of the men's magazines we have around (maxim, sports illustrated swimsuit edition to name a few).  i have an impressionable 14 year old son for pete's sake!  how is he supposed to respect a woman's body, when the majority of imagery of women that he sees is about sex, sex and more sex??  i also have a beautiful, sensitive little girl.  when she is exposed to a lot of the same imagery, what does that tell her about herself and her body?  i was that girl.  i remember feeling insecure about my self-image and seeing those magazines and catalogs only fueled my insecurities.  thankfully, i have my sweet jesus who gives me security in who i am and how i look like (and also my husband...who pursues me daily like i'm one hot potato!).

but i digress.  the national nurse-in...important?  yes.

why?  we want mothers to breastfeed their babies, because it's the perfect food for them.  according to the world health organization, breastfeeding is recommended up to 2 years of age and beyond.  we want mothers to be encouraged when nursing their babes, especially first time mothers.  but when things like this target incident (or how about the victoria's secret one and the whole foods one) happen, it provides a barrier to breastfeeding mamas everywhere.  if you are made to feel unwelcome each time you try to feed your hungry baby, then how much more will you continue to nurse your child?  it isn't always convenient to pump (and for me personally, i had difficulty pumping for all my kids so if i had given up nursing i would have turned to formula early on).  it takes time, and if you have more than 1 child finding time to sit and pump becomes even more difficult.  so the national nurse-in is more about re-educating the public about breastfeeding and normalizing nursing. 

our own personal nurse-in experience yesterday went quite well.  we were a small group of 3 mamas (and 1 supportive friend), but it was great to be able to hang out and support one another.  choosing to breastfeed in public is not always easy.  as a first time mom, i was quite gun-shy about it at first.  and if i hadn't had positive experiences and supportive family during those first few months i probably would have given up nursing after the "recommended" 6 months.

there was no negativity experienced by us in our target store.  the employees were friendly, and though they were made aware (like all the other target stores nationwide) about the nurse-in i'm not sure if they knew that the 3 of us were the "protestors."  and that's totally fine.  the point of the nurse-in is to normalize breastfeeding.  so if no one noticed or thought it was a big deal, then that's fantastic.  because it shouldn't be a big deal.  we had a couple of customers who chatted with us, but made no reference about the nurse-in.  most of their comments were about our kids and how cute they were.  but i know that this experience was not the same at all the targets.  there were some who endured some negative comments, and even reading the comments on some of the media websites after the nurse-in coverage can be disheartening and hurtful.  but again, that was the whole reason for the nurse-in.  there's definitely so much more i can add to this post, but then it would turn into a post too long for anyone to want to read.  plus, my children are calling me.  

i don't know if we'll make the history books, per se, but it was an awesome experience to be a part of.  i am thankful that where we are at, i can be a part of a supportive community that doesn't bash on women who choose to nurse their babes (privately or publicly). 

it isn't about us.  it's about our babies and their right to eat.

get cultured: our homemade yogurt

after a year or so of thinking about making yogurt myself and researching the methods of safely making it at home, i decided to finally do it.

there is plenty of information out on the web about making homemade yogurt that it can seem a little daunting.  especially the whole incubating process.  leaving milk in a warm place for 12 hours doesn't sound very safe to me.  but i've tried our yogurt a few times since making it, and i'm still here so the process must be safe, right?

i ended up using a 4 different tutorials as the basis of my yogurt making, just to make sure that i didn't mess things up.  the first three are from soule mama, granola mom for god and blooming glen farm, which offer pretty much the same instructions.  it made me feel better to see that the basic process was the same, and that small variations were okay and didn't mess up the final product.  the fourth site is pretty awesome because it was compiled by a biology and chemistry professor and titled, yogurt making illustrated.  reading about the scientific aspects of yogurt making was very helpful, because it gave me peace of mind that i'm not going to become deathly ill from trying to make my own yogurt.  plus it gave me a better understanding of the purpose behind each step, and how flexible i can be at each point in the yogurt making process.

though i'll share how i ended up making mine, i won't go into too much detail since the above links have already provided much of the information needed about yogurt making.  so, here we go...

• i used 1 quart commercial (rbst free) milk for our yogurt.  1 quart of milk will make 1 quart of yogurt.  i ended up making a 2nd batch of yogurt the next day because 1 quart didn't look like it was going to last us very long.  i just poured the milk into the jar i was going to use for the yogurt to measure the correct amount. 

• pour it in a pot and heat to 180 degrees F, stirring occasionally.  note: do not go and feed your baby thinking that it will be plenty of time before the milk gets to the correct temperature.  i did that on the first attempt and heated the milk way too hot (which apparently can affect how the yogurt comes together).

• while the milk is being heated, rinse out the jar you used to measure out the milk.  put the jar and the lid in a large pot of water and boil for 10 minutes to sanitize and kill any potential bad bacteria.  after boiling for 10 minutes, turn off heat and leave in the pot.

• after it reaches 180, let the milk cool to 110ish degrees F.  i cooled mine to 115, but some of the sites above mention 110 or even 120.  it's important to note, though, that if the milk is not cooled enough (above 120) it can kill the live cultures that you're going to add into your milk.

• while your milk is cooling you can take out the sanitized jar and lid from the pot and let it dry on a super clean drying rack.  the other option is to have the jar(s) super clean ahead of time.  whichever ends up being easier.  the most important thing is to make sure they're clean.  also use this time to heat up some water (i just reheated the water used for sanitizing the jar) to about 115-120 degrees.

• once your milk is cooled between 110-120 degrees, pour it into your jar(s).  put about 4 Tbs of plain yogurt (with live cultures) in the jar, or you can save some of your previously made yogurt, and mix.  the yogurt illustrated site calls this point inoculation.  he, he.  so scientific, eh?  the measured amount doesn't have to be exact.  i just used a regular table spoon instead of an actual measuring spoon.  some of the sites above tell you to inoculate (ooOOhh) while the milk is in the pot.  either way it doesn't matter, just as long as you mix in some of the live cultures.  after inoculation, cover jar with lid.

• pour your preheated 115-120 degree water into a cooler.  place the jar in the cooler.  i had my water level at about half way up the jar.  close up the cooler and place in a spot where it won't get moved.  you can cover the cooler with additional blankets or towels to keep it warm, but i don't know that it's absolutely necessary.  you can try out other methods to incubate your yogurt, but the cooler one works best for us.

• incubate for 8-12 hours.  i left both of mine for 10 hours.  the flavor and smell was pretty much the same as the tub of plain yogurt i used to buy at trader joe's.  if you leave the yogurt in the fridge for a couple of hours after incubation, it will thicken it up a bit.  the longer you incubate, the more tart the flavor (and i think it thickens up a bit more too, though i'm no sure...guess you'll have to try it out).  i think next time, i'll let it go for 12 hours.  i like my plain yogurt a little more on the tart side so that i can use it as a substitute for sour cream.

if you decide to give it a go, i recommend reading through the yogurt illustrated site.  it was such a light bulb moment for me, and kept me from worrying about the possibility of accidentally growing bad bacteria.  and even though the process seemed complicated, it was actually much simpler than i anticipated.

so now i am totally sold on making homemade yogurt, and can't believe i've waited so long to try!  i don't think i'll go back to spending my usual $3.50 on 2lbs. of plain yogurt ever again.  well, maybe when convenience and saving time trumps over saving money.