Homemade yogurt-- seriously!

"Why would you do that?"

That was my friend Lindsey's response when I told her what I had planned yesterday. We meet a few days a week at the local college campus and run (um, okay sometimes we walk). She asked what I was going to do on my day off and I told her I was going to make yogurt. Like make it from scratch. At home.

So in reply to Lindsey's question I explained that it was my idea of fun. Which it is... I'm sick, I know. But it's also cost-effective considering I eat it almost every morning for breakfast and make fruit smoothies for Tage when he wants a healthy snack that doesn't consist of chocolate.

I found A Year of Slow Cooking through The Larson Lingo and happened across this post on how to make yogurt in your slow cooker. It sounded easy. A little weird, but easy. So I tried it!

You start out with a half-gallon of milk (8 cups) and put it in the slow cooker on low for 2 1/2 hours. (This is an all-day process, or I guess you could do it over night.) I used non-fat organic milk and you have to be sure NOT to get "ultra pasteurized". Don't ask me why. I just follow directions.

After 2 1/2 hours you unplug the slow cooker and let it sit for another 3 hours. Go to the park. When you come home and the 3 hours have passed, you remove about 2 cups of the warm milk from the slow cooker and mix in 1/2 a cup of yogurt with active cultures (I used TJ's organic vanilla). Whisk the yogurt and milk together and pour back into the slow cooker. I also added a package of pectin at this point because I was using non-fat milk as opposed to full-fat and I wanted to make sure it thickened up. (I have to admit it was an accident. I would have used full-fat but I was so consumed with finding non ultra-pasteurized that I wasn't really paying attention to much else.)

Replace the lid on the slow cooker and insulate the whole thing with a towel. Let it sit there getting all cultured-up for 8 full hours. That's it! There was actual yogurt in there at 8:30PM last night. I had also added a teaspoon of vanilla extract when I added the yogurt base but I don't think it was enough to make a difference in the flavor. It tastes like plain yogurt.

I would suggest enjoying it with fresh fruit or honey but it's a little on the watery side so I think if you tried to blend the fruit into the yogurt it would just end up being a smoothie instead of having any kind of yogurt consistency. I eat mine each morning with granola, ground flaxseed meal, and fruit.

Next time I think I'm going to halve the recipe and try it with whole milk so I have a batch for Mason. Speaking of the little peanut...

This was Mason's first experience with the swings at the park. He was content just to chill out there and let the breeze sway him back and forth. Of course my favorite part was pushing him back and forth and getting to smack him with a kiss every time he swung my way.Not too sure about those rocking toys yet, but happy sitting there checking everything out. Another first yesterday: chicken. Linds and I picked up some organic chicken wings at the farmers market a few Sundays ago and I cooked them, minced some of the meat up and mixed it with potatoes. This was after the second bite...

The cell phone picture doesn't do it justice but I had it readily available and wanted to capture the moment rather than run around trying to find my camera. I don't think it helped that I was laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes. Doesn't that look just say it all?