Homemade Yogurt

Did you know you can make yogurt at home in the CrockPot? I learned this from one of my favorite food blog sites, http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html. It's so easy and cheap, I make a batch nearly every week. It costs under $4 to make a half gallon of yogurt with this recipe!!! Those little 6-ounce containers you buy at the store can be 99 cents a piece! Beyond the cost savings, I think it really does taste better. So fresh and creamy. Below is the recipe from the blog site, and I've added some tips and ideas that I have come up with in the years I've been making it.

Homemade Yogurt Ingredients
-8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk--pasteurized and homogenized is fine, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized. (Debbie recommends starting with whole milk until you get the hang of yogurt-making)

--1/2 cup store-bought natural, live/active culture plain yogurt (you need to have a starter. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter)

--frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring

--thick bath towel

Directions
This takes a while. Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor.

Plug in your CrockPot and turn to low. Add an entire half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Unplug your CrockPot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.

When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt. Then dump the bowl contents back into the CrockPot. Stir to combine.

Put the lid back on your CrockPot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.

Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.

In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

Blend in batches with your favorite fruit. I did mango, strawberry, and blueberry. When you blend in the fruit, bubbles will form and might bother you. They aren't a big deal, and will settle eventually.

Chill in a plastic container(s) in the refrigerator. Your fresh yogurt will last 7-10 days. Save 1/2 cup as a starter to make a new batch.

My Tips

• Follow the times exactly (set the timer!). One time I cut 30 minutes off the resting time and it didn't turn out. The milk has to be at a certain temperature for the bacteria to form. Also, be sure that the CrockPot is well-insulated in the towels, especially if your kitchen is cold.
  
• Stoneyfield Farms plain low-fat yogurt is the brand I find to be most consistent for the starter yogurt.
• Use whole milk until you get the hang of yogurt making, then try 2% if you want a lower fat content. To thicken yogurt made with 2% milk, add a few tablespoons of powdered milk when you whisk in the starter yogurt. I've also noticed that the longer the yogurt rests in the towel phase, the thicker it gets.
• Flavorings - the possibilities are endless! I like to add jam (any flavor, but I really like raspberry, blueberry, and apricot), maple syrup, honey, fresh fruit, chocolate chips. Sometimes I put a vanilla bean in the milk when it's cooking for vanilla yogurt. Mmmmm...
• I found these perfect little containers at Safeway and I take a serving of yogurt to work with me everyday. It's a great healthy breakfast or afternoon snack.

Slow Cooker Thai Noodle Soup

I recently spent a long weekend in Charleston, SC with some of my best girlfriends from college. It was so great hanging out my old friends, who I miss dearly. I just haven't made friendships after college quite like the friendships I have with those girls. Anyways, I promised my friend Terri I would put this recipe up for her. She and I spent a lot of the weekend talking about food and cooking, and we have a mutual obsession with Thai food. This is an easy Thai soup to throw together in the slow cooker and it has all those wonderful Thai flavors, like ginger, lime, chili, and coconut. Terri, I hope you and Doug enjoy this recipe and I can't wait for our girls trip next year!

Slow Cooker Thai Noodle Soup

1 onion, chopped
2 bell peppers (any colors - I used a red and a green), chopped
4 ounces mushrooms (I got a variety pack of baby bella, shitake, and crimini)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tsp chili paste (see note #1)
13.5 ounce can coconut milk (see note #2)
4 cups chicken broth
3 limes, juiced
1 tsp lime zest
4 ounces rice noodles

Put everything except the noodles in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours, until veggies are softened. You can also cook it on the stove top by sauteeing the onion, pepper, mushrooms, ginger, and garlic for about 10 minutes, then adding the remainder of the ingredients except the noodles and simmering on low heat for about 30 minutes. Before serving, add the rice noodles and allow them to soak until they are soft (the package should say how long this will take - mine took about 5 minutes).

Note #1: the chili paste is deceptively spicy. You can add more than 1/2 tsp if you like it spicy, but be careful, this stuff is potent! Add a tiny bit at a time and be sure to taste it.

Note #2: you can use regular coconut milk, or low fat if you are watching your fat intake. The regular stuff has a better flavor. The coconut flavor gets a little lost if you use the low fat.