Yogurt Smoothie

I've been eating a lot due to being pregnant and this is one of my favorite healthy snacks.

Ingredients:

2 large scoops of plain yogurt

2 large scoops of flavored yogurt (raspberry is my favorite)

1/2 cup of milk or grape juice

1/4 cup frozen blueberries 

1/4 cup frozen strawberries 

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and a little frothy. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Yields: 1 serving

Garlic Yogurt Breadsticks

1 Tbls yeast
2 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2-4 cups whole white wheat flour (I used 1/2 cup of oat flour in place of some of the wheat flour)

Topping:
1/4 cup butter or margarine (softened)
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 tsp garlic salt (or 1-2 cloves minced garlic + 1/4 tsp salt)
Grated Parmesan and dried parsley to sprinkle on top

Dissolve yeast in sugar water for 10 minutes. Add flour until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, but is still a little sticky. Knead dough for 4 minutes, let rest for 10 minutes. Mix the first three topping ingredients together until smooth. Coat cookie sheet pan with nonstick spray, and spread the dough out to cover the pan, then spread the topping over the dough and sprinkle with parmesan and parsley. Cut dough into strips. Let raise for 30 minutes, and bake 20-25 minutes at 350.

My friend Robyn had us over for lunch and served these yummy breadsticks. I'd been looking for a good recipe for breadsticks for a while and couldn't find one I loved until I had these. Thanks Robyn!

Homemade Yogurt

My last post on making yogurt was long and probably a bit intimidating. So here are some pictures and a few words.
Step 1) Pour milk into your slow cooker and turn it on high. Let it heat until it reaches 180 degrees F. I put in about 2/3 a gallon.

Step 2) Take the pot out of the heating pot and let it get to a degree between 112 and 120 degrees. It gets there more quickly if you stir it.

Step 3) Pour about 1/3 cup of plain yogurt into a bowl.

Step 4) Whisk in a cup or so of the warm milk.

Step 5)When it's well combined pour it back into the slow cooker pot. Put the lid on.

Step 5) Wrap the pot in a bath towel.

Step 6) Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Once it reaches that temperature. Turn off the oven and turn the light on.

Step 7) Put the wrapped pot in the warm oven. Let it incubate for 8-12 hours.

When you take the lid off there will be a little layer of liquid on top of the yogurt. This is whey and contains the minerals and vitamins from the milk that has separated. Place a big bowl in the sink w/ a strainer on top. Put cheesecloth or a very thin cloth inside the strainer. Dump the yogurt into the strainer. Let it strain for as long as you want--15 minutes to 2 hours. The longer it strains the thicker the yogurt will get. You now have yogurt! I like to blend mine for a few seconds to make it completely smooth. Just don't blend it too long as it will liquefy.

Step 8) You can flavor it now or in segments later. I usually leave mine plain and flavor a bit at a time since I use it as a substitute for sour cream. Enjoy!

Granola

I use this recipe as a guide, but ratios and ingredients are incredibly flexible with granola.  Basically, I just dump whatever oats and nuts I have into a bowl and toss some honey and olive oil over the top and bake them. I love the fact that it is healthy, delicious, and my whole family loves it. I originally got this recipe from allrecipes.com (“Megan’s Granola”), but have tweaked it according to our family's preferences.  If you are looking to boost the nutrients in your granola, try adding 1 ½ cups each of wheat germ, flax seed, and oat bran. For a cheaper granola, cut back on the nuts and increase the oats. Pumpkin seeds are also an inexpensive, nutrient-boosting addition.  I find that when I make this size batch, our family of four goes through it in about the same time it takes us to eat one gallon of home-made yogurt (this easy crockpot recipe, doubled).

Home-made Crockpot Yogurt that we
enjoy with our granola

Prep time:  20 minutes

Cook time:  20 minutes

Servings: 30

Ingredients

8 cups rolled oats

1 cup sunflower seeds 

1-2 cups sliced almonds

1-2 cups chopped walnuts

1-2 cups sweetened coconut

1 ½ teaspoons salt

According to my cost-analysis, making
home-made yogurt is about 1/3 the price of
buying yogurt in quart size containers.

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ cup honey

½ cup olive or vegetable oil

½ cup applesauce

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

2 cups raisins or sweetened dried cranberries

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.

2.  Combine the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, and coconut in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, honey or agave, oil, applesauce, cinnamon, and vanilla in a separate bowl.  Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat.  Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets. 

3.  Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes.  Stir once halfway through.  Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.

Homemade Yogurt

I'm not too adventurous when it comes to making new things, like yogurt, for example. My husband had the idea and decided to try it. It turned out awesome, so now that I have the bug I think yogurt-making may become a regular activity around here. I'll just give you the link to the site that we followed.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/01/diy-homemade-yogurt.html




Okay, so here are three tidbits for you with your homemade plain yogurt.

1) Remember Michelle's post on Creamy Vanilla Frozen Yogurt that she posted in January? It calls for plain Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is just a thicker yogurt than regular. If you want to make thicker yogurt to make Michelle's frozen yogurt, let the whey strain for longer. We actually strained our yogurt overnight (put a lid on the strainer if you do this) and in the morning we had lots of whey and very thick yogurt. We added some whey back in and stirred it up well to get a good consistency. But that's how you can make the thick yogurt.


2) Use your homemade plain yogurt as a substitute for sour cream. It's a great healthy substitute that still adds creaminess to your recipes.

3) Make your whey useful instead of discarding it like Mel mentions in her instructions. Whey is the liquid part strained out from the yogurt in the last step. It is actually very healthy and useful. It contains all the water-soluble vitamins and minerals from the milk. There are lots of things you can use it for. I put some in my oatmeal this morning, and I've found a list of other things you can do with it. I'll share some of those with you so that good healthy whey won't go to waste.


USES FOR WHEY
1) Substitute it for any recipe that calls for water (or milk). I'm going to try it in my bread recipe next time.

2) Freeze it for later use. I ended up getting a lot of whey, so I'm planning to freeze half of it and use it in recipes later.

3) Use the whey to cook rice, pasta, or beans.

4) Use it as a substitute for broth or stock in soup and stew recipes.

5) Use it when you make fruit smoothies or milkshakes.

6) Use it as a marinade by adding spices to it to soak your meats in.

7) Dilute it a lot with water in a separate container and water your plants with it. Straight whey could "burn" your plants.



Anyway, the sky is the limit on uses for whey. I just googled different ideas and shared my favorites with you. Enjoy your homemade yogurt and whey!