THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


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TIP OF THE DAY: Substituting Nonfat Greek Yogurt


Save many calories and fat grams:
Substitute yogurt for fats in baked goods,
and make a sweetened yogurt topping. Photo
courtesy Nordicware.
  We used to top our foods with sour cream, mascarpone and crème fraîche. One day, looking at ways to cut fat and calories from our diet (or at least, to counter our indulgences in the cheese and ice cream categories), we decided to substitute plain nonfat Greek yogurt.

Greek yogurt is triple strained, giving it the consistency of sour cream. It can be turned into savory dips or sweetened for dessert toppings.

Not only is Greek yogurt a great topping substitute; it also can be used in recipes for creamy soups, desserts, dressings, desserts and baked goods. Here are tips from Stonyfield Yogurt, makers of Stonyfield Greek Yogurt line:

SUBSTITUTE FAT FREE GREEK YOGURT FOR COOKING FATS

  • Butter: 1 cup butter = 1/2 cup Greek yogurt + 1/2 cup butter (reduces butter fat and calories)
  • Buttermilk: 1 cup buttermilk = 2/3 cup yogurt plus 1/3 cup milk
  • Heavy Cream: 1 cup heavy cream = 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • Mayonnaise: 1 cup mayonnaise = 1 cup yogurt
  • Sour Cream: 1 cup sour cream = 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • Vegetable Oil: 1 cup oil = 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
  •  
    SAVE CALORIES & FAT

    The caloric differences* of making the switch can be stunning:

    Butter Vs. 0% Plain Nonfat Yogurt/Lowfat Yogurt

    Calories/Cup: 162 vs. 130; Fat(g); 184 vs. 0/2

    Buttermilk Vs. 2% Plain Lowfat Yogurt
    Calories/Cup: 152 VS. 120; Fat(g): 8 vs. 2

    Heavy Cream Vs. 0% Plain Greek Yogurt
    Calories/Cup: 821 vs. 130; Fat(g): 88 vs. 0

    Mayonnaise Vs. 0% Plain Nonfat Yogurt/2% Lowfat Yogurt
    Calories/Cup: 1496 vs. 120; Fat(g): 165 vs. 0/2

    Sour Cream Lowfat and/or Nonfat or Plain Greek Yogurt (with fat) Vs. 0% Plain Yogurt/2% Lowfat Yogurt
    Calories/Cup: 444 vs. 130; Fat(g): 45 vs. 0/2

    Vegetable Oil Vs. 0% Plain Greek Yogurt
    Calories/Cup: 1927 vs. 130; Fat(g): 218 vs. 0

     

    COOKING TIPS

  • Stir & Fold: When adding yogurt, stir or fold it in gently to maintain a thick and creamy texture.
  • Add Gradually: When adding yogurt to a hot mixture, stir a few tablespoons of the hot food into the yogurt to warm it gradually. Then stir the warmed yogurt mixture back into the hot food. This will help keep the yogurt from separating.
  • Thickening: To thicken up a yogurt-based salad dressing or dip, just chill it for an hour.
  •  
    How does cooking affect the beneficial cultures in yogurt?

  • While heating yogurt above 120° will destroy them, the yogurt will still provide valuable nutrients like calcium and protein.
  •  
    Use nonfat Greek yogurt instead of butter in mashed potatoes. Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
  • Freezing yogurt has little effect on its beneficial cultures.
  •  

    *Nutrient values are based upon a 1:1 cup ratio. Data from USDA.

      

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    PRODUCT: Game Of Thrones Beer


    Blonde Ale is the first in the new Game Of
    Thrones beer line. Photo courtesy Brewery
    Ommegang.
     

    For Game Of Thrones fans, there’s an answer to the question of what Joffrey Baratheon might have drunk as he sat on the Iron Throne—or at the dinner table.

    Brewery Ommegang and HBO, producer of the hit series, are partnering on a series of beers inspired by the drama. After much collaboration, they launched the first Iron Throne beer, a blonde ale, in tandem with the third season.

    While Joffrey is a teen, everyone, including young children, drank beer until modern times. Before reliable municipal water supplies, water from available sources—wells, lakes and rivers—harbored disease-causing microbes. Because the water is boiled during brewing, the microbes were destroyed, making beer the safe choice.

    We haven’t been able track down a bottle of Game Of Thrones beer: The store locator on the website only tells you what retailers carry any beers from Brewery Ommegang. Your best bet may be to email or call the brewery: info@ommegang.com, 800.544.1809.

     
    DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ALE AND A LAGER?

    Brush up on the different types of beers in our Beer Glossary.
     
     
    *The line is not distributed in Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,West Virginia and Wyoming.

      

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    Stoli Hot & Infused Jalapeño Vodka & A Recipe To Make Your Own

    Thinking ahead to Cinco de Mayo? Bring something hot to the party—a bottle of Stoli Hot vodka, with jalapeño flavor and a hint of chipotle smoke. You can also make your own (recipe below).

    Introduced last year as a new flavor, Stoli Hot is a reformulated version of the 1962 flavor, Pepper (Pertsovka). Another 1962 flavor, Honey and Herb (Okhotnichya), is now called Stoli Sticki. They were the brand’s first flavored vodkas, and the freshening up of the concepts was a 50th-anniversary celebration.

    Stoli Hot mixes well with lime juice, mango nectar, orange juice, and pineapple juice. We loved it in a frozen mango Margarita, the flavors echoing our favorite flavor of paleta (Mexican ice pop), mango chili lime.

    The distiller has developed Stoli Hot cocktail recipes, including, among others:

  • Stoli Hot & Sour: 1 part Stoli Hot, 1 part Rose’s Lime Juice
  • Stoli Bubbly Hot: 2 parts each Stoli Hot and tonic water
  • Stoli Hot Bloody Shot: 2 parts Stoli Hot, 2 parts tomato juice, 1/2 parts fresh lemon juice, pinch prepared horseradish, dash Worcestershire sauce
  • Stoli Hot Shot: 1 shot Stoli Hot with a jalapeño garnish (we used a pickled jalapeño slice)
  • Stoli Hot Screw: 2 parts Stoli Hot, 1 part orange juice
  • Stoli Red Hot: 2 parts Stoli Hot, 1 part cranberry juice
  •  
    There are plenty of ways to have a hot time on Cinco de Mayo!

     
    Some like it hot. They should enjoy drinking shots of Stoli Hot (photo © Stolichnaya Vodka).
     
     
    RECIPE: MAKE YOUR OWN INFUSED JALAPEÑO VODKA

    You can infuse your own vodka with jalapeños, and can also play around with a touch of chipotle or liquid smoke flavor. Home-infused vodka will have a different flavor from Stolichnaya’s since commercial vodkas are flavored with extracts instead of infused with fresh fruit.

    Just because you’ll be infusing jalapeños doesn’t mean you can buy the cheapest vodka on the shelf: The impurities will still be apparent. Of course, you don’t have to infuse the most expensive vodka, either, unless you want to.

    Ingredients

  • 1 750ml bottle quality vodka
  • 4 large jalapeno chiles, washed and patted dry
  •  
    Preparation

    1. REMOVE stems from jalapeños and cut into quarters lengthwise. Add to the vodka bottle.

    2. STEEP in a cool, dark place for one week; then taste. If you’d like a hotter flavor, continue steeping and check weekly.

    3. REMOVE the jalapeños. You can keep them in the bottle for a picturesque touch, and they will continue to add flavor for a few months until their flavors are thoroughly incorporated.

    TIP: It’s not easy to remove the fruit from the bottle. Instead, keep an empty vodka bottle around for making infused vodka. Transfer the vodka you’re infusing into that bottle and add the fruit. Then, when your infusion is complete, decant the flavored vodka into the original bottle.
     
     
    > Find more of our favorite spirits and cocktails using the pull-down menu in the right column.
     
     

    CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

     
     

      

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