Really Easy Homemade Yogurt

I am a huge fan of plain yogurt. I have it on my granola almost every morning. Several years ago I got tired of all the quart yogurt containers piling up ad nauseum in my recycling bin. I thought, I really should make my own yogurt again. Many times in the past I've made my own yogurt and it was sometimes successful, sometimes a not so funny, runny disaster relegated to the trash. So I gave up. 

Years ago there was a recipe for homemade yogurt in Sunset Magazine with detailed, explicit instructions. I figured, what the heck, I'd give it a whirl. The recipe makes one quart of full fat yogurt and took constant watching, calculating and measuring. I did it because I wanted to see if I could make decent yogurt. Any of you who know me and how I cook know that eventually this was not going to cut it for me.

 Here is an old post on that very subject:  http://susansmagicfeather.blogspot.com/2012/04/why-im-not-allowed-to-write-cookbook.html 

I figured out a way to do this very good recipe in a more expeditious manner. I use our elderly microwave and know it well, but it is old** so I urge you to check your results when heating the milk frequently at first so you know the temperature of the milk and it doesn't over heat. Please read the recipe through so you know the steps to take and when to take them.

Using the microwave to heat the milk was a major modification of the recipe. Now it doesn't require constant tending. Here goes.

Yogurt, one quart you will need:

4 cup Pyrex measuring cup in which you put:
3 1/2  cups of milk,  [can be all whole milk, I do 2 cups of whole and 1 1/2 of non fat] whisk in:

2 tbsp. instant nonfat dry milk  I use Bob's Red Mill and sometimes use more like 3 tbsp because I don't carefully measure.

You want to have : 3 tbsp. plain whole-milk yogurt with active live cultures, at room temperature in a bowl nearby. Important! Do not add this 3 tbsp. plain whole-milk yogurt until after the milk has cooled [after cooking to 195] down to 115! 

1 Quart mason jar that you are going to fill with hot water to warm

Food Thermometer [important to test the temp of the heated milk] 

1. In a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup put 3 1/2 cups milk and then  whisk the 2- 3 Tbs. nonfat dry milk powder. Microwave for 11 minutes [remember as I stated my microwave is ancient] check your milk after 6 minutes or so and see what the temperature is. The goal is to eventually get to 195 degrees.
2. While the milk is heating, put hot water in the mason jar so that it's nice and warm.
3. Also while the milk is heating in the micro, have a medium sized bowl partially filled with ice and some water. I then put the Pyrex measuring cup filled with the 190-195 temp milk, into the ice water. Clip a food thermometer on the side of the Pyrex to record the temperature. It needs to go down to 115 degrees. Watch it. This can happen fairly quickly [8 to 10 minutes...] for the milk to cool to the desired temp of 115 degrees. 

 4.After the yogurt is 115 degrees, moving rather briskly, dump the warm water from the glass jar and then whisk about a cup of the 115 degree milk into the 3 tbsp whole milk yogurt in a bowl.  [The reason it must not be over 118 degrees is it will kill the yogurt bacteria, runny mess will ensue.]

5. In the drained quart mason jar and put all milk, both mixtures in it. Seal the canning jar with a proper lid. Then wrap the jar in old towels, I secure these kitchen towels with rubber bands. Put the wrapped jar into a slightly warmed oven 100 degree or less. Make sure the oven is turned off and leave the yogurt in the oven for no less than 4 hours. Eight hours in the turned off but warm oven is fine. Unwrap and refrigerate before eating.

I think this is a brilliant way to achieve excellent yogurt that sells for $7 in our little food co-op. Go for it and end your dependence on plastic containers.
You will be pleased and so will any pals who help you eat the results.

**When our sons were in high school they wanted to be able to make burritos as a quick before dinner snack and so they bought us this very micro in 1987. Thing still runs perfectly, thank you Z and J and thank you Consumer Reports.

susansmagicfeather 2017 copyright Susan R. Grout all rights reserved

What Exactly Is the Cost of Giving?

Love the scene outside our window. Mama Robin at work

Kindness doesn't cost a cent.                                         Susan R.Grout 1985

Unto whomsoever much is given, of them shall much be required.                  Luke 12:48

Teach us to give and not to count the costs.            Ignatious Loyola 

 The list is long indeed for the benefits of generosity and kindness. Science can back up that statement, studies consistently show lower heart rate, better overall health and impressive good feelings you get from a donation to a good cause. It's almost as if you are rewarded more that the receipent. I strongly advocate being generous and loving for not only your mental health but physical health also. Another benefit from being generous is those people tend to live longer when they do acts of kindness and are generous.

Note also if the one who is generous has an ulterior motive ["what's in it for me?" says the donor who really only wants their name in the paper] the benefits are not so grand. 

I have learned kindness from the unkind and tolerance from the intolerant.                 St Augustine

I, on occasion, have verbally sledgehammered people who have shirked paying their taxes. One fact I got wrong: I said that $11 Billion has been stolen from our country by tax cheaters, hiding the  money in off shore accounts. Then I learned the figure is closer to $110 Billion. Of course this means that there is plenty of money to help anyone in need in this country with change left over. Think of the programs we could have: the college educations at low to no cost, the children that could be fed, the roads repaired, the people employed to fix those bridges and roads and on and on. 

What besides churlishness is stopping the Congress and the members of our Government from collecting those taxes? Do they need to rewrite a couple of laws requiring that off shore accounts be scrutinized and inspected for fraud and duplicity? Is there any justification for the people to hide their money in off shore accounts, thereby avoiding taxes? If there is a good reason, I'm open to hearing it. 

The new T government claims they want a balanced budget and a strong infrastructure, yet their answer is to gut the programs that help women and children; gut the EPA threatening our air and water; ramsack the ACA and then boost the already bloated pockets of the wealthy. Make sense of this for me.

Even the birds and animals know how important it is to feed the babies. Call it instinct but they appear to have more sense than some members of Congress. The money is there, use it for kindness and caring. We need to insure that our future is secure. 

susansmagicfeather 2017 copyright all rights reserved Susan R. Grout