YO (we-love) GURT Recipe

Many of you know I like dirt under my nails, sweat on my forehead, and the power of making a meal 100% from scratch.  Maybe its the Montana in me? Whatever the reason, I have been so proud of our commitment to cutting processed foods out.  It has been a real transformation.  One that is healthier, cheaper, and satisfying. Did I mention cheaper? I have re-read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and have become re-inspired. We are almost living the made-from-scratch life I have dreamed of.  Part of me wants to abandon city living all together, get a couple cows, goats, and chickens, and say good-bye to our weekly trips to the grocery store. 

In any case, it feels good.  Our cooking has been more like research and science than cooking.  We spend hours researching recipes and the history of said recipes.  Why did ricotta come to being?  Why did we start curing meats? So many hows and whys.....I must be influenced by my dear child. I find myself wearing goggles, googling rennet, and using a variety of thermometers.  All for the sake of food.  Good food.

 Now that trains have entered our house

Kannon prefers to stay out of the kitchen

We get our produce from our CSA.  All organic, mostly local, and still has dirt on the roots.  We make our bread and jam.  We have even made pita, naan, and coming soon, tortillas. I have even rolled my own pasta.  Up until now, our grocery trip consisted of cheese, yogurt, milk, dried beans, various canned products, meat, and butter.  As of last week when I discovered the art of making yogurt, cheese, sour cream and more, I am happy to say this week my grocery bill was $16 for a family of 4. 

We bought 2- 32 oz containers of yogurt for $3.99 each week.  Yikes! $7.98 on yogurt a week? That's what we spend on a 7 pound chicken! I came across a post on pinterest about making yogurt.  I had my doubts but after a bit of research I realized it was not difficult.  In fact, it was one of the easiest things I have ever made. The result was creamy, delicious, yogurt.  Better yet, we used our yogurt to make greek yogurt, sour cream, and mock-cream cheese.  The best part?  Once you have your yogurt, you can make yogurt anytime.  No need to buy yogurt again! Yay!

Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients:
6 cups of whole milk (avoid ultra-pasteurized) (93 cents worth of milk)
1/2 cup of yogurt (start up cost was 49 cents, but will be almost free after your first batch)
Large Pot with HOT water
Canning Jars
Thermometer

1.) Heat 6 cups of yogurt to 180 degrees over medium heat. 
2.) Remove from heat and let milk cool to 115 degrees. 
3.) While your milk is cooling down, prepare your pot of hot water.  You can use a dutch over.  Some people even used a Crock-Pot (turned OFF!).  Add hot water half way up the pot.  Add your mason jars.

4.) Add your yogurt to your milk and stir to combine.  Fill each jar with the mixture. Leave the lids OFF. 
5.) Cover your pot with a lid.  Add some towels over the top to keep the pot warm.

6.) Let sit 8-12 hours.  The longer it sits the tangier and thicker the yogurt will be.
7.) Voila! Put your lids on and put in the fridge for consumption.

Total cost for 6 cups (48oz)  of yogurt:  $1.42
Total cost for store-bought 32 oz of yogurt: $3.99
Next batch of 6 cups (48oz) of yogurt: $.93

Some notes:
If you like thicker yogurt, strain through a coffee filter for 5 minutes.
If you like Greek Yogurt, strain through a coffee filter for a couple hours.
If you like sour cream, make greek yogurt and then add a few tablespoons of vinegar.
If you like cream cheese, strain you yogurt overnight at room temperature.
Save a 1/2 cup of yogurt to use to make more yogurt when you run out. 

Or you can just waste a whole batch on making delicious tzatziki.  

Minced cucumber. Crushed garlic. Lemon Juice, Parsley, Salt, and Pepper.  Yum.

It is seriously easy.  And delicious. Cheap too.  If I kept on my yogurt-buying path, I would have spent $414 this year.  This last batch lasted us the whole week, so we will probably spend about $48 making yogurt.  That's a lot of savings!

And more to come. We made mozzarella and ricotta as well.  Boy, is that a recipe to share.  In 30 minutes I made a pound of mozzarella.  I can't load the boys in the car and go to the store in less than 30 minutes.  But that story is coming later.

For now, we will keep on our made-from-scratch path and finding awesome recipes to use our homemade goodness in.  I think the boys will be eating hand-picked from our neighborhood blackberry crumble with greek yogurt for breakfast tomorrow.  Yum.

And special thanks to Kirsten for watching the boys for the our cooking production. They had fun playing in her car.