PINK POPS

These were a great treat! A little homemade yogurt mixed with Cranberry-Grape Juice and a dash of cane sugar. Frozen for fun!

Easy Homemade Yogurt

Yesterday, I made my yogurt the lazy way.

I knew my kitchen would be fairly warm for a big portion of the day so I simply took my old, clean, applesauce jar and scooped in my remnant yogurt; about 1/2 cup, and some powdered milk-hmm- didn't measure but probably about 1/3 cup--and filled my jar the rest of the way up with milk. I started it early morning, left it on the stove, and by bedtime--YOGURT!

We used it today for blueberry-mango smoothies!

Homemade Yogurt- what fun!

HOW DO YOU MAKE YOGURT????...It's really a cinch! You heat 2 quarts of milk until it reaches 180 degrees. (To have thicker yogurt, add about 1/3 cup of powdered milk to liquid milk when heating.) Remove the milk from the stove. (The heating process kills the bad bacteria that you don't want to grow!) Let the milk cool, this may take an hour or more, until it reaches between 110 and 120. Once it has reached that temperature, preheat oven to 200; and stir in about 6 tablespoons of PLAIN yogurt and mix well. Pour into (2 quart size)mason jars, TURN OVEN OFF, place jars inside and leave overnight with the LIGHT ON. In the morning it should be ready. Easy!


Yogurt is used quite often around here. We use it in smoothies and in our frozen popsicles. Also, several bread and muffin recipes call for it. I like to use it as the base of many 'dips' for fruits and veggies too!

You can make buttermilk in a similar fashion, just pour about 2 T in a jar, cover with milk, shake, and then leave it in a warm place for approx 8 to 10 hours. (I usually leave if overnight..if I do it during the day it cultures faster around the warm stove!)

For more info on the benefits of live cultures in buttermilk and yogurt, here is a good link to read more: http://burganfamily.blogspot.com/2008/02/health-benefits-of-buttermilk.html