YOGURT!

As requested, crockpot yogurt: I have done this quite a few times now and love, love, love it!!

I have stopped buying yogurt because this is so easy and economical. Case in point:  A gallon of milk costs about $3.50;  I use half a cup of the previous batch of homemade yogurt as the culture, so other than a little sugar and vanilla, there's very little cost besides.  I use the whey that is drained out in place of buttermilk. That saves me money by not having to buy buttermilk at $1.75 a quart. So, my 8 or more cups of yogurt costs about $4 to make; minus $1.75 the whey saves me it's $3.25. I used to pay about $10 for that much Gogurt or Activia.

We like to add our own fruit or cinnamon-it's delicious plain too, and the kids use it to make smoothies. I like to make healthy popsicles and yocheese (similar to cream cheese but more tart) by continuing to stain until it's the right consistency.

INGREDIENTS & SUPPLIES
8 cups of milk
1/2 cup yogurt with live cultures
Crockpot
Bath towel
Cheesecloth
Strainer

DIRECTIONS

• Pour 8 cups of milk (or 16 cups which is 1 gallon if you're doubling the recipe) into a large crockpot. Set to LOW for 2 1/2 hours.
• Turn crockpot off and let sit with lid on for 3 hours.
• Add 1/2 cup yogurt (or 1 cup for a double recipe), place lid back on, and wrap a bath towel around the crockpot. You're goal is to make a dark, insulated environment for the live cultures to exponentially grow.
• Let crockpot sit covered (with lid and towel), not heating for 8-12 hours. I usually try to start the yogurt process by 3pm in the afternoon so this 8-12 hour step happens overnight.
• In the morning, your milk will look like the top photo above - YOGURT!
• Line a strainer with a cheesecloth and strain yogurt to desired consistency. Without straining your yogurt will be a drinkable consistency - perfect for smoothies. But, if you're wanting to spoon eat it or make it more like "normal" you'll want to strain it for 15-30 minutes. 

 http://www.thatmamagretchen.com/2012/05/crockpot-yogurt.html


The only thing I do different is that I use a blanket instead of a towel...oh, and I use a coffee filter in the bottom of my strainer instead of cheesecloth.  I find that I have to strain it for a few hours to get the consistency I like, and I do it in the fridge.  I'll have to try it on the counter next time before refrigerating to see if that half hour straining really works:)