A few weeks ago I attempted making yoghurt. I've always been a huge yoghurt fan but with a lot of my dietary changes, I've been finding that a lot of the yoghurt I used to buy from the store I can't eat any more. Many of them contain high fructose corn syrup (which I've decided is an item I no longer want in my diet) and even more of them contain gluten or potential gluten ingredients. The one brand that I really love is an active culture yoghurt and very expensive (especially if you eat yoghurt a lot - which I do). So, I decided to bite the bullet and try my hand at the art of yoghurt making.
I did lots of research, bought everything needed (not much!), and earlish one Saturday, started the attempt.
And failed. It turned our runny and gross looking and tasting and just was not a success.
Undaunted, I attempted it again. This time, I had a little more luck. It was edible but not very tart or tasty and not very creamy. Much runnier than I like my yoghurt. I ate my way through the batch, but knew that I was going to have to find some solutions because of the amount of work it took to make the yoghurt (the constant checking of temperatures, etc), it really wasn't worth it for me, despite the lower cost.
And then I found an interesting concept. There is a blog that I ran across the other day: A Year of CrockPotting. This lady made it her goal to use her crockpot every day for a year. And so she has a year's worth of crock pot recipes...some good, some bad, all reviewed by her. And one of them was how to make yoghurt in your crockpot.
Intrigued, I read the directions. Super easy! I was skeptical, but hey, if it worked and made yoghurt that came out better at all than what I had come up with previously, it might just be worth it. So I tried it. And let me tell you, it was amazing. Super easy and it came out creamy and tasty and tart and just as yoghurt should be!
I've written the recipe out on a seperate post (I found her instructions a little overwhelming), but enjoy!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Crockpot Yoghurt (plain)
- 8 cups milk (whole seems to come out best for thickness but you can use lower fat...isn't quite as creamy).
- 1/2 cup natural, live, active culture plain yoghurt (I highly recommend Dannon - Activia). Once you've made yoghurt once, you can just save 1/2 cup from your current batch and use it in the next batch (although I've read that it's a good idea to start fresh every few batches).
- 1 packet of plain gelatine (optional but seems to help with the thickening; I've also heard to try powder milk as well, particularly if you use a lower fat milk to start).
- thick bath towel
- crock pot
Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add the 8 cups of milk, cover, and cook on low for 2.5 hours.
Unplug the crockpot and leave it for 3 hours.
After 3 hours, scoop out 2 cups of the milk and put in a bowl. Add the yoghurt and gelatine (if you wish) and whisk it together (try to get the gelatine and yoghurt as dissintegrated as possible).
Dump the contents of the bowl back into the crockpot. Wrap the crockpot in a heavy towel for insulation and let it sit for 8 hours.
After eight hours, you should have a nice, thick yoghurt!
Chill in a container in the fridge. The yoghurt will last for 7 to 10 days.
Don't forget to save some starter for another batch!
Easy, easy, easy! Just make sure you start so that you can go to bed or whatever while it's sitting for the eight hours!
- 1/2 cup natural, live, active culture plain yoghurt (I highly recommend Dannon - Activia). Once you've made yoghurt once, you can just save 1/2 cup from your current batch and use it in the next batch (although I've read that it's a good idea to start fresh every few batches).
- 1 packet of plain gelatine (optional but seems to help with the thickening; I've also heard to try powder milk as well, particularly if you use a lower fat milk to start).
- thick bath towel
- crock pot
Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add the 8 cups of milk, cover, and cook on low for 2.5 hours.
Unplug the crockpot and leave it for 3 hours.
After 3 hours, scoop out 2 cups of the milk and put in a bowl. Add the yoghurt and gelatine (if you wish) and whisk it together (try to get the gelatine and yoghurt as dissintegrated as possible).
Dump the contents of the bowl back into the crockpot. Wrap the crockpot in a heavy towel for insulation and let it sit for 8 hours.
After eight hours, you should have a nice, thick yoghurt!
Chill in a container in the fridge. The yoghurt will last for 7 to 10 days.
Don't forget to save some starter for another batch!
Easy, easy, easy! Just make sure you start so that you can go to bed or whatever while it's sitting for the eight hours!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Apple Pork Chops
Last week I shared my menu for the week. And here at last is that Apple Pork Chops recipe I promised to post!
Sprinkle pork chops with salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Dice the onion. Sauttee in butter.
Add pork chops and brown on both sides.
Add juice and apples.
Turn heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes (stir frequently) or until done.
Enjoy!
- 4 pork chops
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp sage
- 1/4 tsp rosemary
- 1 large onion
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 large apples (sliced)
- 1 cup apple/orange/ juice (I actually use grapefruit juice as the acidity of orange juice really bothers my stomach - turns out amazingly!).
- 1/4 tsp thyme
Sprinkle pork chops with salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Dice the onion. Sauttee in butter.
Add pork chops and brown on both sides.
Add juice and apples.
Turn heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes (stir frequently) or until done.
Enjoy!
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