Yogurt

Don't worry, we did not eat yogurt for dinner. I pretty much want to use this blog to keep track of recipes since I can never remember what we've eaten or how to make it or where the recipe came from, and this is one of those recipes that I used to know and then forgot. I used to make my own yogurt when my husband was in grad school because it is cheaper. Someone with a yogurt maker taught me how to make it, but since I don't have a yogurt maker I didn't bother trying. Then I read a recipe in a book that didn't use a yogurt maker, and I tried it a couple times but mostly ended up scalding the milk so it tasted burnt. It also had specific temperatures and procedures that were kind of annoying. Then our neighbor from India taught me how she makes it, with practically no equipment or special anything and it is so easy. That was a few years ago, so then I forgot. But now I have a blog, so I figured it out again and now I'm writing it down so I'll never forget again!

4 cups milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt

(It is best to use all natural yogurt, steer away from kinds with gelatin because it doesn't work quite as well.)

Heat the milk in the microwave until it bubbles a little and has a skin on the top. (It can't scald in the microwave. Hooray!) It does not need to boil. (For my microwave it was about 10 minutes.) Let it cool so it doesn't kill the cultures in the yogurt, about 20-30 minutes. Whisk in the yogurt, cover and wrap in a towel, and put it someplace where it can be warmish and undisturbed. (I just put it in a cupboard. Inside the oven turned off or on top of the fridge tends to be a couple degrees warmer than the room also.) After six hours, tip the bowl slightly to see if it is yogurt. If not, leave it six more hours. Once it is yogurt, refrigerate. (Homemade yogurt tends to be runnier than store bought, especially if you use skim milk.)

I think most store bought yogurt is overly sweet, so it is nice to be able to control how much sweetener I add. I added about 1/2 cup sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla since that is my kids' favorite. I'd be interested in trying (real) maple syrup or honey since they are less refined than sugar. I love molasses, but I'm not sure how that would taste in yogurt. I've also tried mixing a spoonful of jam into individual servings. (Just don't use jam with high fructose corn syrup please. Sorry, just my opinion.) If you are going to want to make another batch sometime soon, be sure to reserve 1/2 cup plain before you mix other stuff in!

Coming soon: I also have about 8 other recipes that I need to post. I start to write them and never finish, so they may start popping up randomly if I ever get to them!