Yogurt a Go-Go

As promised - the summary of my yogurt making adventure: Well - really the adventure was to get the milk, the yogurt making process itself is pretty boring - but pretty easy!

The Ingredients:

1. Half-gallon whole milk (8 cups)

2. 1/2 cup store-bought plain live/active culture yogurt (This is the starter. Once you have your own, that will serve as your starter)

The Process:

Note: while it is easy, it does take time. I recommend the weekend or another time when you will be home all day.

1. Dump the milk into a 4 qt. crockpot and turn to low. Cover and cook for 2 1/2 hrs.

2. Unplug crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let sit for 3 hours.

3. After 3 hrs., scoop out 2 cups of the warm milk and put in bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup of store-bought yogurt. Dump this mixture back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.

4. Place lid back on crockpot. Wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around for insulation.

5. Let sit for a minimum of 8 hrs. (I found 8 hrs. was not enough - mine sat for 8 hrs., and then overnight as well)

6. The yogurt will have thickened to the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

7. Stir in fruit, add toppings, enjoy!

Store in clean, leftover yogurt containers. Your homemade yogurt will last 7-10 days. Don't eat it all - you need to save 1/2 cup for the next batch!

We ate our first batch of homemade yogurt for breakfast today. We added fresh strawberries and my homemade yogurt topping. My husband even added some to his strawberry flavored store-bought yogurt!