Sadness and yogurt

The boys are playing relatively quietly in Ben's room with legos and the sound machine. So I thought I'd take a hot minute and write a post about the most amazing thing to come out of my crockpot since cinnamin rolls..

home made yogurt!!

I actually have been making home made yogurt in my crockpot for years, but I stopped making a lot of things from scratch after we lost the baby back in October. I lack creativity in some areas of life when I'm sad. Which is totally okay. It's a GOOD thing to rest and be kind to yourself when you're grieiving! It's also a good thing to allow yourself the freedom to be sad. Surprised I'm still talking about the miscarriage? I think it's on my mind more and more as my due date in April approaches. But that's another blog post in itself.
This one is about yogurt :)

For crockcpot yogurt you need three things: A crockpot. 1/2 gallon organic or raw whole milk. 1/2 cup organic yogurt. And a lot of time at home. We are home all day every day so this isn't a big deal for us, but do this over a weekend if you work out of the home.

As usual, I want to give credit to the origignal recipe, and here is the link: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html


Here is my version:

1/2 gallon raw or organic milk. I used the Publix Greenwise brand for this.

1/2 cup organic yogurt. I used Stonyfield organic whole milk, french vanilla yogurt. I also used a little more than half a cup.

--thick bath towel


The Directions.


Turn your crockpot to low and add half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.


Turn off crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours. I'm really bad about remembering crockpot cooking times so I stuck a sticky note on the crockpot with a "I'm done at 4pm" kinda note, because I'm a space cadet like that.

When 3 hours, scoop out 2 cups of the milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup yogurt. Then pour the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.



Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.


I went to bed, but you could always just time it for 8 hours. Again, sticky notes help a lot if you're a nut like this girl.

In the morning when you wake up, prepare to have you mind blown. I'm not even kidding. Stick a long spoon in that wonderful-ness and it will be thick!!!!!!! I died a little the first time I did this.
Pour your yogurt into a half gallon mason jar if ya wanna get fancy, and allow it to chill all the way through. Then add some honey to sweeten, toss some granola on top..and yum!!
Should stay fresh in your fridge for about 10 days.