An Open Water Swim and Banana and Fresh Blueberry Yogurt Cake

What gloomy day for a swim, but Ted did it:  his FIRST 1 mile Open Water Swim.

The warm up:

The excitement:

The finish:

Such Sweet Success! One mile in open water. He had his doubts.  I didn’t. 

While Ted was swimming the cool waters of Oneida Shores, Shane, Zoey and I were exploring the rest of the park:

We weren’t done yet! 

After the swim, the four of us drove over to Dave’s camp and put the docks into the water.

It was busy day.  We were up at 5 am and got home at 2 pm.  It was absolutely exhausting for some of us.

and now we need ….CAKE!

If you’re like us, you always have yogurt on hand.  Is it an ideal food? Not all the time.  It can be made with rich, high fat milk which would negate some nutritional benefits. But if you get in the habit of eating reduced or non fat plain yogurt, you can add your own flavors and fruit to get the benefits of a low fat, high vitamin, protein, calcium and riboflavin snack. 

Yogurt is made from pasteurized milk that has been introduced to certain bacteria.  During an incubation period, the bacteria feed on the milk sugars (lactose) to produce lactic acid which give yogurt it’s sour taste. 

A recipe for homemade yogurt:

Makes 4 cups

• 4 cups non fat milk
• 2 tbsp. non fat dry milk powder
• 3 tbsp. non fat yogurt(this is your starter)
• 1 tsp agar(optional thickener)

Combine milk and milk powder in a medium saucepan over high heat. Stir and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and pour into clean glass jars.  Combine the yogurt starter with the agar (if using) and about 1/2 cup of the boiled milk.  Stir to combine. Carefully stir THAT mixture into the rest of the remaining milk and cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free place to rest undisturbed for 8 hours. *If the yogurt is too thin, the area wasn’t warm enough, if too sour, it was too hot. Remove from the “warm spot”, stir to blend, cover and refrigerate. 

Cooking/Baking with Yogurt

1. Use fresh to get the best results
2. Never add cold yogurt to a hot mixture it will curdle. *Always bring to room temperature.
3. Never boil a mixture after adding the yogurt, it will curdle and kill the healthy bacteria.
4. Yogurt blends best when slowly, gently blended in.

Banana Fresh Blueberry Yogurt Cake

Makes 1 9 x 13 sheet cake

• Use your food processor or blender
• 2 cups non fat yogurt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large, mashed over ripe bananas
• 2 large eggs
• 4 TBS canola oil
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon (maybe you’d prefer orange or lemon zest?)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 well rounded TBS of quality cocoa powder
• 1 cup frozen wild blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 F and grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

Place yogurt, vanilla, bananas, eggs, oil, and cinnamon in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa powder.  Pour in the yogurt mixture and just stir to combine.  Add the blueberries and just stir to combine, being careful not to mash the berries. *Make sure the frozen blueberries are separated before adding and not in icy clumps.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 – 45 minutes, until a knife comes out clean – do not over bake!

Remove and allow to cool before removing from pan.

Delicious as a snack or dessert. Fresh and LOADS of flavor, especially the day after baking.

Do you have a yogurt recipe to share?