How to Make Homemade Yogurt

Photo by hollygon21

My kids and I eat homemade yogurt on almost a daily basis, and I am still here to tell you about it!
Homemade yogurt might seem overwhelming, or a little scary - you are culturing bacteria after all, but it really couldn't be easier.  Plus it's good for your wallet, it will definitely save you money, especially over buying the individual fruit flavored cups, and good for the earth because it saves on the processing and packaging of conventional yogurt.

I made my first batch of homemade yogurt just about a year ago, and I think I can count on one hand the number of times that I have bought yogurt since then.  Over the past year of making yogurt, I have come up with a few tips and tricks that help me to make the the best yogurt (in my humble opinion).

I'm sorry that I don't have any of my own pictures.  I don't usually think about taking pictures when I'm making, or eating for that matter, my homemade yogurt.

Easy Homemade Yogurt in the Crockpot

*Plug in a crockpot and turn on low.  It's very important to do this first so you don't forget, and so the crockpot is the right temperature when you're ready to pour the milk in - can you tell I know this from experience?  

*Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it reaches 190 degrees. (I use a candy thermometer I got at Meijer for $10). You can use whatever amount of milk you want - I usually do either 4 cups or 8 cups. You want to be careful not to let the milk burn on the bottom of the pan, and make sure it doesn't boil over - so stir often and keep an eye on it.

Also, I have stopped checking the temperature during this step.  It's just one less thing to have to do.  When the milk starts getting bubbly and frothy (or it boils over onto your stovetop) you know it's done.

*Once milk reaches 190 (bubbling) remove from burner and run a sink half full of cold water.  Cover the pan and place into water in sink.  (This is kind of obvious, but make sure the water doesn't go over the top of the pan, just part way up the sides.) You can add ice to the water as well, but I've found that it doesn't really cool the milk down any faster, and that's again one less thing to do.  Can you tell I'm all about simplifying steps here?!

*Let milk cool down, stirring occasionally.  Once milk has reached between 90 and 110 degrees (I've read different temps here, I usually do about 100 degrees), remove pan from water. 

*Put yogurt starter into a bowl (I use glass) and pour about a cup of the warm milk over it and stir together. Use 2 Tbsp of yogurt starter per 4 cups of milk. Meanwhile pour remaining milk into heated crockpot.  Pour milk and yogurt from bowl into the crockpot and stir it all together. 

*Put the lid on, turn off and unplug the crockpot and wrap a heavy towel around it.  Let sit for 6-10 hours. (I usually do around 8 hours).

*Place crockpot bowl in fridge to cool yogurt - this step is really important because it helps the yogurt to set better.  Since I started doing this my yogurt has been nice and thick and creamy.  If you don't have room for your crockpot in your fridge, you can carefully ladle yogurt into containers and cool in the fridge.  Don't stir too much, it needs to be disrupted as little as possible in order to set well. 

*Set aside about a 1/2 cup of yogurt to be used as yogurt starter for your next batch. 

A few more tips:
Your yogurt starter should be plain yogurt that specifically says "Live and Active Cultures" on the package.  I use Dannon, and have had success with both the regular (full fat) yogurt and the fat-free plain yogurt (that is all they sell in the small cups at my grocery store).

I use whole milk to make yogurt because we have switched to using all full fat dairy products.  But, I know that my sister uses 2% milk with good results, although she says it's not as thick as when you use whole milk.

If you are having trouble with your milk burning on the bottom of the pan, turn your heat down.  It might take longer for the milk to heat up, but you should have less trouble with it burning.

It definitely depends on the price of your milk, but last year, I figured out that it cost me $1 to make 64 oz (8 cups) of yogurt, more than a $3 savings off Dannon plain yogurt on sale, and even greater savings compared to buying the individual fruit cups.

Our favorite ways to eat homemade yogurt are with a little raw honey and frozen fruit, usually blueberries, or topped with homemade granola.  Here is a great way to make your own fruit yogurt to-go cups, instead of buying the individual ones: just mix the frozen fruit and honey into the yogurt in a container with a lid, and the fruit will help to keep it cold but will have thawed out by the time you are ready to eat it.  Yum!

Have you considered making your own yogurt at home?  Do you have any questions about it?  


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This post is linked to:
Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
Recipe Swap at Grocery Cart Challenge
Food on Fridays at Ann Kroeker

Cooking from Scratch

Photo by nc_hiker

I have been cooking more and more from scratch at home then ever before.  Partly I'm trying to be frugal and save money by buying basic baking and cooking supplies in bulk and then using them to make stuff at home.

Also, I really like being able to control the ingredients and what goes into the food we eat.  After reading Real Food and watching Food, Inc. (more to come on that soon), I'm convinced that there's a lot of "food" out there that isn't really food, and that we shouldn't be putting in our bodies.  I'm also becoming more convinced that there is a lot of stuff that looks and sounds good for us, but when I turn the package over and read the ingredients I am unpleasantly surprised by what I find.

Another thing that's great about cooking from scratch is that I can make at home what I may have previously had to run out the store and buy to be able to make dinner.  Last night I was making Mexican Rice for our small group and realized I didn't have any taco seasoning, so I looked up a recipe on allrecipes.com and viola, homemade taco seasoning and yummy homemade Mexican Rice.  Or tonight we're having quesadillas and I don't have any tortillas.  No worries, I now have tortilla dough resting on the counter waiting to be rolled out and cooked and then I can use them to make our quesadillas.  With basic ingredients always on hand you know you'll be able to throw together just about anything you might need to complete a homemade meal for your family. 

I was recently reading an interview with the author Michael Pollan.  He wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.  (I haven't read either, but hope to within this year.)  I thought it was really interesting, because in this interview, Mr. Pollan talks about cooking at home as an important step, maybe the most important step to take, in beginning to change our eating habits and changing the food industry. He says that when we let a big company or corporation cook for us, they use less than ideal ingredients because they are cheap and we think they taste good.  They use way too much fat, salt and sugar, more than we would ever use if we were cooking for ourselves.  Companies are not in the food business to provide us with the healthiest, best food for our bodies. They don't have our best interest at heart.  I had never thought about it in that way before, and it's just one more reason for me to try to cook as much at home as I can.

Cooking from scratch doesn't have to be all or nothing.  Start by thinking of one or two things that you buy at the store that you could probably make pretty easily at home.  Take baby steps, make small changes and before you know it, you'll be making all kinds of things from scratch.

Here's a quick list of things I used to buy, but now make at home:
Yogurt
Granola
Tortillas
Dried beans (instead of canned beans)
Dinner Rolls
Vanilla Coffee Creamer
Brownies
Bread (I still buy bread for sandwiches, trying to find a good homemade sandwich bread recipe)
Hummus
Granola bars
Lemonade
Chicken Stock
Taco seasoning
Chicken Nuggets
Peanut Butter (I still buy natural peanut butter, but I do make it at home sometimes too)
*There may be more, but that's about all I can think of right now. 

And Things I still want to try making myself:
Pita bread - tried this once and it was a disaster - let's just say I set off the fire alarm!
Vanilla extract
Mayo and Salad Dressings
Sandwich bread
*There's lots more on this list too, but I have to keep it manageable and doable to not get overwhelmed.  Baby steps, right! 

Cooking from scratch at home gives us the opportunity to feed our families healthy, nourishing food that has not been processed beyond recognition, and not to trust our food to a company who cares more about their bottom line than about our waistline.  I encourage you to try cooking one new thing from scratch at home this week!

Baking Day Bonanza!

So, I started my first attempt at baking/freezer cooking days yesterday.  Things went pretty well.  Not as great as I had planned, but I was trying not to set my expectations too high since this was my first time attempting something like this.

The one picture I managed to take yesterday - yummy pumpkin muffins!

A few thoughts from the day:

• It is WAY easier to have one child then two, why did I ever think that having one child was so hard?  Grammie came and picked up Kaelyn for the day yesterday, so I just had Bren and it made things much easier for me.  We even went to the grocery store in the middle of the snow with bad roads, something I would NEVER do with two kids in tow! 
• Going to the grocery store in the middle of your baking day will cause you to not get as much stuff done. Duh! I really wanted to make meatballs and on my shopping trip last week realized that it was too early to get ground beef to use this week without freezing it in between, and I didn't get to the store earlier this week, so I chose to go yesterday when I only had to bring one child.  But, that obviously affected how much cooking I could get done. 
• Babies NEVER take naps when you want/need them too.  Yesterday B slept for a total of 1 1/2 hours during the day. 45 min. in the morning and 45 min. in the afternoon, not really enough time to get anything significant done.  He actually woke up from his afternoon nap just as I was plunging my hands into the meatball mixture.  I had to let him cry for a few minutes because my hands were all gross. 
• Most of the recipes I planned to make, I have never made before.  This makes things a little harder too, because there is always a learning curve with new recipes.  So, some things took me a little extra time because I didn't exactly know what I was doing.  That's all part of the process though - learning new things! 

Here's what I accomplished yesterday: 

-make meatballs (made 48 meatballs and a small meatloaf)
-make chicken nuggets (cut out breasts from the whole chicken, cut up and ready to go)
-bake pumpkin muffins (made a double batch and froze 25 muffins)
-make tortillas (dough is in the fridge, ready to be made today)
-cook whole chicken and make chicken stock (made 11 cups of stock and got 3 cups of shredded chicken meat for chimis)
-make chimichangas (waiting on making the tortillas)
-bake crispy cheese crackers (These are pretty good, but kind of a lot of work - especially if you don't know what you're doing)
-roast butternut squash (need to puree and freeze for baby food)
-bake apple squares

So, today I need to bake apple squares, roll out and fry up tortillas, make chimis, and make chicken nuggets.  Really not too bad.

The worst part of all this is that I basically did nothing else around my house yesterday, and the kitchen is still pretty messy.  I did clean up some last night, but I was pretty tired and there were A LOT of dishes, so I didn't get them all done.  Somehow I have the feeling that I'm not going to get them all done today either - we'll see. And meanwhile the laundry is piling up, the kitchen table is covered with stuff, The house is just kind of in disarray. :(  So, that's not fun to know that I have that to take care of on top of the rest of the cooking.  At least it's Friday, and I know I have lots of yummy food to show for my hard work!

Also, I tweeted a bit yesterday throughout the day as I cooked and baked.  Yes, I am on twitter now. :)  You can follow along with me (@liverenewed), and others bloggers who are baking and cooking over the weekend with the hash tag #oamc.  You can also follow along at Life as Mom and Money Saving Mom for their February Freezer Cooking Days.

Mexican Chicken Pasta Skillet

I was already planning to make this meal and post the recipe this week, and then Katie announced that she was hosting a skillet recipe "The Meals that Hamburger Helper was Trying to Imitate" carnival and I knew that this fit in perfectly. I really like that this recipe has a Mexican twist on what is traditionally an Italian type meal.  

Mexican Chicken Pasta Skillet
2 cups penne or rotini pasta (we use whole wheat)
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into bite size chunks (I just use one large breast and it is enough)
1-2 Tbsp. butter or olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 cups salsa
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 c chopped green pepper
1/2 c chopped colored peppers (optional)
1 can kidney or black beans (or use 1 2/3 cups cooked dried beans)
onion salt, garlic powder and paprika to taste (about 1/8 tsp. each) 
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

While pasta is cooking, melt 1-2 Tbsp. butter or olive oil in a skillet. Add chicken and cook and stir for 2 minutes, until outside of chicken is mostly cooked.  Add the rest of the ingredients, except for cheese, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cover, simmering for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally.

Drain pasta, return to pan and add chicken mixture.  Stir to combine and top with 1/2 cup of the cheese. Cover and allow cheese to melt.  Stir and serve topped with remainder of cheese sprinkled on top.


A few notes:

• Obviously, this is not quite a one dish meal.  If you had a super large skillet you could probably add the pasta and some extra water to the skillet and cook it that way too.
• I sometimes add colored peppers and sometimes not, depending what I have on hand, this time I used some red pepper I had in the freezer along with the green pepper.
• Use cooked dried beans, it's MUCH cheaper!! 
• A little pre-prep work makes this a snap to throw together at dinner time, just pull everything out of the freezer to thaw - chicken cut into bite-sized chunks, diced pepper, cooked dried beans, corn - and you're ready to go!  
• You could also use real onion and garlic instead of powder.  We don't handle much onion in our house, but as I was writing this I thought, Why didn't I put fresh garlic in there instead of powder? 
• My hubby said, "This is really good."  I have a great husband, but he is not a big encourager in the cooking/food department.  He usually just eats what's in front of him without a lot of comment, good or bad.  So, the fact that he made a positive comment about this means something, at least to me. :)
• As this is a pretty complete meal-in-one, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to serve with it.  It looks so lonely on the plate all by itself.  Any ideas for me? 

And Baking Day.  I told you on Monday that I was planning baking/food prep days for today and tomorrow.  Well, I did a lot of baking and cooking today, it didn't go exactly as planned, but that's okay.  I accomplished about half the things on my list, but also had to make a grocery run in the middle of the day.  So, I'm pretty happy with myself and plan to finish stuff up tomorrow, although it may be a little tougher with a certain 2 year old around.  I'm planning to post more about my kitchen adventures tomorrow, so be sure to check back!

Please visit Kitchen Stewardship for more One Skillet Recipes that are husband-approved.
And Recipe Swap at Grocery Cart Challenge

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Last week for lunch I made Kaelyn and myself some Homemade Macaroni and Cheese. I was desperate for something to eat for lunch, having not been to the grocery in almost 2 weeks. I kind of just made it up, but also know that it's something so simple and basic as far as cooking goes that it's probably the way that macaroni and cheese used to be made before the boxed neon fake cheese stuff took over.

It was really good, much better than the box, creamy and rich, and Kaelyn ate it up! It wasn't quite as easy as the boxed kind, but I think the more I make it, the easier it will get for me. I also think it shows how with all of the convenience, boxed foods available, that we have gotten away from the fine art of basic cooking. I want to work on learning these basic cooking skills as much as I can to continue eliminating convenience foods from our diet.


So here's my Homemade Macaroni and Cheese. The recipe for the sauce is from my Southern Living Cookbook and is just a basic white sauce with cheese added.

Use about a cup and a half to 2 cups of elbow macaroni, boil according to package directions.

While pasta is boiling, make cheese sauce:

2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
salt and white pepper
1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar and monterey jack)
1/4 tsp. dry mustard

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly add milk while continuing to stir constantly and cook until thick and bubbling. Add salt, pepper, cheese and dry mustard and stir until cheese is melted.

Pour cheese sauce over cooked macaroni and serve. Yum!

I also think this would be a great place to sneak some hidden veggies in! Some pureed sweet potatoes, squash or pumpkin could be a great thing to add to the sauce when you stir in the cheese.

No more neon orange macaroni and cheese for us!

Check out Works for me Wednesday for more great tips!

Homemade Fruit Snack Bars

As I said in my meal plan post this week, I am on a quest to find frugal homemade alternatives to convenience food items. And, one of the results of my garbage inventory was that I want to try to reduce our waste from food packaging.

Snack bars, like granola bars or Nutrigrain bars, are so convenient to pack as snacks or to take for lunches. But, they are full of high fructose corn syrup, enriched (white) flour, white sugar, and lots of other things that really aren't good for you. Also, because they are individually wrapped, they create a lot of packaging waste, and are pricey for an individual serving.

My wonderful hubby saw an article in the paper with a recipe for homemade fruit snack bars, and cut it out for me, and I was so excited to make these. We used fresh peaches that we picked ourselves, and frozen store bought raspberries. I'm really bad at calculating the cost of making things from scratch (I need my math genius sister's help with that!), but I'm pretty sure that these would be cheaper per serving than a Nutrigrain bar.

Oatmeal, Raspberry and Peach Snack Bars
1/3 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp., plus 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh peaches
1 1/2 cups quick rolled oats
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. baking soda
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In a medium saucepan whisk together the orange juice, cornstarch, and 2 Tbsps. of the brown sugar. Add the raspberries and peaches and stir over medium high heat until the mixture is simmering and thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350. Add the oats, flour, remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar, butter and baking soda to a large mixing bowl and mix together with a fork until the dough is crumbly but beginning to stick together. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture.

Mix the egg into the remaining dough. Transfer the dough with the egg to a greased 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish and press it evenly over the bottom.

Spread the fruit filling on top, then sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over it.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until lightly browned and bubbling. Place dish on a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into 16 bars.

These did turned out pretty well. The fruit filling is really good. The bars were a little dry on the bottom and not as firm on the top as I thought they would be. They need to be refrigerated if not eaten right away (learned that the hard way!). All in all, I think they were a good alternative to nutrigrain type bars. They are really not anything like a granola bar, so I'll still have to work on finding a recipe for homemade granola bars. I will definitely be making them again - maybe cooking for a little less time to keep them from getting to dry on the bottom. Also, I'm thinking it would be fun to try them with different fruit combinations - maybe blueberry/raspberry or strawberry/blueberry. Yum!

Do you have any good recipes for homemade snack bars or granola bars? Please leave a comment with a link or your recipe!

Visit Grocery Chart Challenge for more great recipes and Life as Mom for more great frugal tips!