How to make yogurt

I remember my mom making yogurt when I was little, and I remember making it when I was in college, but I had a special yogurt maker and yogurt cups and yogurt starter and ... in short, it was a big, complicated deal to make.

However, since we've been trying to save money, I've discovered that it's actually really easy to make yogurt. You don't need a special yogurt maker, and the most specialized piece of equipment you need is a candy thermometer. Since I already have a thermometer I use for canning and to make candy, I didn't need anything special.

The supplies list may look long, but you very likely already have everything you need.

Supplies:

• large double boiler or two pans that fit inside one another (I use the two pan method)
• candy thermometer (thermometer that can attach to the side of your pan to measure the temperature of your milk)
• spoon for stirring milk
• tablespoon
• large bowl or measuring cup
• ladle
• containers to hold eight to nine cups of yogurt (I use four to five plastic one-cup containers, two one-pint glass canning jars, and one other container to hold the inevitable leftovers)
• plastic or glass containers to hold really hot water
• large cooler
• thermometer (optional)
• towel

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon milk (whole, 2%, skim, whatever)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk (optional)
• 6 tablespoons plain yogurt with active yogurt cultures

Short version:

• clean your containers
• heat up milk
• cool milk
  
• add yogurt to milk
• put in containers
• leave in warm environment for 6-8 hours
• yogurt!

Longer version:

First, clean all of your supplies really well. You don't have to sterilize stuff, but it does have to be really clean if it's going to come in contact with milk or the yogurt you're making.

Fill the bottom of the double boiler (or the bigger pot) up with some water. Put the top of the double boiler on or put the smaller pot in the bigger pot. Make sure the water won't slosh into the top part. Pour in the milk.

We love Snowville Creamery milk. Pastured cows, no antibiotics, non-homogenized. L-O-V-E. I usually use 2% milk, but skim was all they had this time. It really doesn't matter unless you care about the fat content. Use what you have and don't get too wound up about it.

Add in the nonfat dry milk if you're using it; it makes the yogurt thicker and higher in protein. Stir it well and put the thermometer on the pan that the milk's in. Make sure the thermometer doesn't touch the bottom of the pan. I suggest sticking your stirring spoon against the bottom of the pan and lowering the thermometer until it touches the spoon. That way, you know you aren't against the bottom.

Turn the heat to medium high and heat the milk to 180° F. This will take about five minutes. Stir a few times to keep the heat distribution even, but there's no need to obsess over it; the water in the other pot will keep it from scalding. You're heating up the milk to kill any nasty bacteria. Even if your milk is pasteurized, I don't suggest skipping this step. At minimum, your milk needs to get to a nice bacteria-friendly 120° F for the next step

While the milk is heating, fill your plastic or glass bottles with very hot tap water and put them in the cooler to warm it up. Make sure you close the cooler lid. Put the thermometer in there if you have one handy.

Once the milk hits 180° F, turn the heat off. It's OK if it gets hotter as long as it doesn't boil. If it gets lower than 180° F, turn the heat back on for a minute or two. You want to leave it at about 180° F for five to eight minutes.

After five to eight minutes, you'll want to cool the milk down to about 120° F. I fill the sink with an inch or two of cold water and leave it there for five minutes or so while the water slowly drains out of our leaky drainer. Keep the thermometer in.

While you wait, spoon six tablespoons of the plain yogurt into the measuring cup or bowl. You can use commercially-made yogurt as long as it has live bacteria in it, or after you've made your own, just use the last of the previous batch, if you remember to leave some.

When the milk hits 120° F, ladle out about a cup into the measuring cup with the yogurt in it. Stir it really well. There's no need to whisk it, but it should be really well-mixed. Then remove the rest of the milk from the water (if you do that), and stir the milk-yogurt mixture into the milk.

Fill your containers. I usually use five or six 1-cup containers that I fill about 7/8 full. That leaves enough room for dried fruit and such later. I also usually fill a few bigger containers so I can make yogurt cheese or frozen yogurt.

Put the filled containers in the cooler with the hot water bottles. Try not to let the dog help too much. If you have a thermometer, put it on top of the containers, then cover it with a towel. Then, close the lid and LEAVE IT ALONE.

OK, you can check it after three hours and make sure the temperature is between 120° F and 110° F. That should feel very warm when you stick your hand in if you don't have a thermometer. If it's a little cool, you can either leave it in for an extra hour or two or you can do what I do and refill the bottles with hot water.

After six to eight hours, take out your yogurt. The longer you leave it it sourer and thicker it will be. I usually leave it for seven hours. I've left it as long as ten hours when I was unexpectedly invaded by family members and the yogurt didn't kill me. But you probably shouldn't leave it much more than that or nasty things could happen.

Stick your yogurt in the fridge. Add flavorings to it when you're ready to eat it. I like honey and dried cranberries. Jeff likes to add vanilla and honey. Sometimes I add ground flax seed if I'm feeling really healthy.

Enjoy your yogurt. Try to remember to save some for the next batch. :)

I find I need to make yogurt every two weeks. This makes plenty for us for breakfast and for yogurt cheese in lieu of cream cheese. YMMV.

Enjoy.

So tired...

This weekend, I have:

• made birdie bread
• made Kaylee treats
  
• made rice
• made mini lentil burgers
• made gingerbread and whipped cream
• went grocery shopping
• read a book
  
• made steelcut oats for the week for breakfast
  
• made chocolate chip cookies filled with whipped cream and frozen
• made pizza dough
• watched two episodes of Primeval
  
• made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and froze (most) of the dough for later cooking
• made African tomato & peanut butter soup
  
• made chipotle mac & cheese for tomorrow's dinner
• walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes (finally finished watching BG Razor)
• cleaned out the pantry
• cleaned out the fridge
• cleaned out the freezer
• made new kitchen curtains
• made lunch for tomorrow
  
• cut veggies for snacks for the week
• hardboiled eggs
• did several loads of laundry
• helped fix a plumbing problem
• cleaned the house to help with the appraisal

And I still have yet to bathe Kaylee and make dinner tonight. I need another three-day weekend to recover!

Today I have made...

• steel cut oatmeal for the week
• yogurt
• yogurt cheese
• 2 loaves of bread
• 1 pound of butter
• 24 soft pretzels
• roasted veggie chowder (tonight's dinner)
• beans & rice (Monday's dinner)
• roasted veggie hand pies (Tuesday's dinner)
  

How we're saving money

Like I said yesterday, we're saving up for a farm. We've already cut a bunch of things from our budgets over the years, so we don't have a lot of excess bloat we're willing to cut. I'm sure there are still some places we can cut, and we'll do that, but so far, here are some things we're doing to reduce our spending:

• Making our own yogurt
• Making our own butter
• Making steel cut oats for breakfast (and subsequently not buying expensive breakfast cereals)
• Making our own bread (mix and rise in the bread machine and bake in oven)
• Making beans instead of buying canned
• Making my shampoo and using cider vinegar for conditioner
• Planning meals for the week and shopping accordingly (I spent $25 for this week's menu, though that is low even for me)
• Planning the tiki drink menu in advance (Jeff's idea)
• Joining the 2silos meat CSA (Jeff now has now bought all of his dead animal flesh for the rest of the year with a half share)
  

And some things we plan to start doing to save us more money*:

• Making our own cheese, especially mozzarella
• Making our own soap
• Making snacks and desserts instead of buying expensive processed stuff from the grocery store
• Using up my craft supplies before buying more
• Use up what we have in the pantry before buying more
• Planning the garden around what I canned most last year and what I most bought at the farmers' market
• Further insulating the house
• Refinance our mortgage
  

And to make some money:

• Restarting my Etsy store
• Cleaning out the basement and putting stuff on eBay or Cragislist

Anyone have any other ideas for us?

*Jeff's unwilling to dump cable, I'm unwilling to dump high-speed internet, we already don't have a landline phone, and we're on the cheapest cellphone plan we can be.

Happy new year! (several days late...)

Hi! A belated welcome to 2009! It's been an OK year thus far; I hope it stays that way. How's it been for you?

I have a new year's resolution this year. Those of you who know me well may know that years ago I made a resolution to not make resolutions and it's been the only resolution I've ever kept. Until now. This year, Jeff and I made a resolution to save money to pay off debts and buy a farm.

A what?

A farm.

In my defense, the farm is Jeff's idea, but I'm more than happy to go along with it. It would be a small, sustainable farm, raising chickens and meat goats to start with, along with food for us and the animals. Next would come a few pigs and perhaps dairy goats. Then the prawns.

So keep posted as we save money and look for 10-25 acres within 25-30 miles of Columbus. It should be interesting!