Read the labels, Mark, read the labels!

[teamfat]

So next weekend we're planning a small dinner party, most likely I'll do a stuffed pork loin. One of the sides I was considering was some sort of creamed spinach. Not a groundbreaking endeavor in the culinary world, but I like it. Well, usually.

I was getting stuff for tonight's dinner, thought I'd try out making the creamed spinach with low fat lemon yogurt instead of actual cream, thinking that might provide a bit of a tart zing to the dish.

After I dumped the yogurt into the cooked spinach I took a quick taste. Not at ALL what I expected - no tart zing, more like massive sugar overload, with a hint of lemon. So then I looked at the label of the little container of store brand yogurt. First ingredient was cultured milk, as one might assume. Second one listed was sugar. And next in line was high fructose corn syrup. Gee, two of the three main ingredients are sweeteners - one real, one fake. Yuck.

Oh well, next time I'll check the labels more carefully BEFORE I buy stuff. Most likely I'll still do a creamed spinach for next weekend's dinner, but maybe some nice, unsweetend sour cream instead of yogurt flavored sugar syrup!

mjb.

[Montelago]

Try this.
When you wilt your spinach, add your cream and reduce so that it gets a little body, then stir in Mascarpone cheese, diced dried apricots and diced candied ginger. It gives you that zing you are looking for, and a touch of sweetness with great depth of flavor.

[pgr555]

Montelago - sounds Great!!!
Mark - the only yogurt I buy in the US anymore is PLAIN. Somehow we have moved from the healthy yogurt that found its way into the health food market 2 decades or so ago, to this sugared dessert stuff that people think they are being healthy when they eat it. I just had this conversation with my 17 yr old son who thought he was buying healthy stuff. I have taught him to read the labels on EVERYTHING and he usually does. He came home complaining he couldn't find any yogurt to buy! We got him plain and fruit & nuts to put in it!

[DC Sunshine]

Go the greek style yoghurt

[Montelago]

I completely agree. There are few things in this world scarier than reading the labels on supposedly healthy food. I have six children, so buying good products ischallenging for me. Healthy almost always equals more expensive. That is why I love Trader Joe's. I don't know if you guys have one near you, but it takes the guesswork out of shopping healthy. They simply don't carry the products that are loaded with the high fructose corn syrups and enriched flours. Look at the fiber content in so called whole grain or 12 grain bread at Wal Mart. It may have 2 grams of fiber. That same bread at Trader Joe's will have 5 to 6 grams. Same with cereals. And the best part is, that if you compare the prices, Trader Joe's will be the same or below Wal Mart prices on 80% of their items. Plus Trader Joe's is a community, employee and environmentally friendly company. And privately owned and operated, so no stockholders dictating what is best for the customer, then robbing you blind.

[lentil]

I absolutely love Greek yogurt! What a difference from ALL the usual kinds. I buy one called Fage with a little side of fruit. Rarely do I use all the fruit, but it adds a little sweetness to the tart yogurt. Worth the price!

[teamfat]

Boy, way back when, maybe 40, 45 pounds ago, I used to have yogurt on a daily basis. My first wife and I had one of those little Salton, I think it was, yogurt incubators, so what we had was always fresh and free of extra sweeteners and such. That thing got a regular workout for years.

I do sort of recall that one of my favorites was pouring a nice dose of maple syrup on it for breakfast - or was that my oatmeal? I don't eat yogurt much anymore, so getting a mouthful of dairy candy was a bit of a surprise.

As for the marscapone idea, that sounds good. I was thinking of an Italian bent to the stuffed pork loin as well as the stuffed mushroom appetizers, might as well keep the theme with the spinach. And it has been a while since I've been to Caputo's, one of the better Italian delis in Salt Lake. Where's those credit cards, I may need to stock up on a few things...

mjb.

[MikeLM]

Agree with Montelago about Trader Joe's: great stuff at highly reasonable prices. It really is a community, and I enjoy the staff there, who seem not only friendly and highly motivated, but quite knowledgable as well. Same as at the local Whole Foods.

Quite different from the staff at the neighbordhood Jewel (Albertson's) and Dominick's (Safeway) who frequently seem to be doing penal servitude, with an attitude you'ld expect from that condition.

TJ's Greek Style yogurt is quite good; the Fage is actually Greek, not Greek-style, so I guess that's why it costs more. I like both, but appreciate the lower cost of the TJ stuff. For even less expense, you can take a good domestic, plain yogurt, and drain it in a strainer lined with a paper towel overnight (in the fridge, though the Frugal Gourmet always advocated doing it on the kitchen counter) and you lose a substantial part of the whey so the yogurt is nearly as thick as the Greek stuff.

Makes a great base for Tzatsiki sauce.

Mike

[AndyG]

I like sweetened dessert-type yogurt once in a while by itself. It's not at all the same as plain. All flavored yogurt that I know of is sweetened.

My favorite brands of plain yogurt are Pavel's original Russian-style yogurt and Mountain High original plain. Those are both whole milk yogurts. I'm in Oregon and you might find the same brands there.

[Blueicus]

Also, if you're in a bind and want Greek yogurt when you only have plain put your yogurt in a double layer of cheesecloth over a strainer and let it drain overnight. The next day you're rewarded with nice thick yogurt with a great consistency.

Of course, never ever get non-fat or low fat yogurt... thickened with a lot of gums and starches and emulsifiers and has a horrible mouthfeel.