Easy Homemade Yogurt-Homemade Basics 101

Why Make Homemade Yogurt?

Downloadable version of this post Here

I’ll bet a lot of people are apprehensive about making homemade yogurt for a variety of reasons:

1. too much time
2. too complicated
3. afraid it won’t work out
4. growing bacteria just sounds scary and dangerous

My job is to dispel all your fears and teach the no dishes, no fuss way to make homemade yogurt.  

Here’s your motivation:

At current prices of $4.99/gallon for milk(give or take) and $3-5 per 650ml. tub of plain yogurt, I save $18-20 every time I make a gallon of yogurt, which I do almost every month. That’s about $240 a year off my food budget. Yes, we eat it that often.

Nutritionally, I can be totally in charge of the ingredients. No high fructose corn syrup or fake foods for my family. Just the health benefits of yogurt, thank you!

If you compare to the little plastic presweetened cups, the savings are greater in every category.

For example, the last time I read the nutrition facts on a 6 oz. yogurt cup, it contained about 45 grams of sugar. One teaspoon of sugar has 4 grams, and an 8 oz cup of milk has 12. I don’t think I could add enough fruit to make 45, so I guarantee you can cut your sugar intake…significantly…by using plain yogurt!

How Much Time Does it Take to Make Homemade Yogurt?

Grand Total: 15 minutes active work, an hour and a half that you’ll need to be at home.

1. 5 minutes to pour milk into jars
2. a few minutes over the next 20 minutes to check on temperature
3. a few minutes to move the jars to cool them
4. wait an hour and a half or more
5. 5 minutes to stir in the starter and put them to incubate
6. a few minutes to get the jars in the freezer and then the fridge

How Complicated Is It?

The basic steps:

1. Heat to sterilize the milk. (185 degrees)
2. Cool milk to proper incubation temperature. (90-110 degrees)
3. Add starter yogurt.
4. Incubate at warm temperature 4-24 hours.

Easy Homemade Yogurt

Let’s get started.

There are a bunch of ways to do this, but here’s the easiest method, in my opinion. I realize this post looks very long, but it’s just because I want to hold your hand through every step to take the fear out of the process, which is really simple once you read through this and try it once.

Supplies necessary:

Glass jars (quart wide mouth canning jars or empty mayo or spaghetti sauce jars work great)

Milk (any, from skim to whole)

Candy thermometer, but I can show you how to do it without one too

Canning Pot (large enough to hold your glass jars)

2 TBSP of plain yogurt per 1/2 gal of milk (Buy the freshest yogurt possible at a store and make sure it has “live and active cultures”. I prefer Dannon. I know it has the three top cultures that I’m looking for to help the gut. The little cups are often on sale for 40-50 cents.)

picnic cooler

timer

Prep:

Sterilze your jars. Either boil or put them in the oven. (They should be totally dry before capping.) I let them air dry completely on top of my toaster oven. If you’re a real baby stepper, just put this step on your to-do list for this week, along with “print and read yogurt directions”. Then NEXT week you can tackle “make yogurt” on a day of your choosing! {As long as your jars have been thoroughly cleaned, absolutely completely dried out, and then capped, I wouldn’t worry too much about the bacteria…but don’t take my word on it.}

Get out picnic cooler and clean bath towel.

The very first time you make yogurt will take a little more attention, because you’ll have to check temperatures to figure out the timing. After that, it’s a piece of cake!

Put your sink washcloth in the bottom of the pot. This will prevent the jars from breaking if they start shaking when the water boils (especially if you forget about them).

Added bonus: You know how sometimes even after washing your dishrag, it still smells sour? This will knock the stink right out!

Pour milk into your jars to about an inch from the top.

Place jars into the potand fill pot with tap water around the jars.

Milk ready to boil in the pot. You can see two mayo jars, one canning jar, and a spaghetti sauce jar.

  

Put candy thermometer on edge of pot. Heat on high until boiling (now your thermometer is sterilized). Sometimes I put a spoon in there too so I know it’s sterile for stirring the yogurt starter in.

Move thermometer into one of the jars; turn heat to medium-low or so, just enough to keep the water boiling.

When the milk is at about 180-185F (you can’t burn it with this method, so if you forget it for a while, it’s OK!) turn off the heat and put lids on the jars.

The no-thermometer method: When a “skin” appears on the top, you’re at temp. Just scoop the skin off and throw it in the sink.

Cool the jars of milk in an ice bath.  It works in about 20-30 minutes with water just halfway up the sides of the jars at my house. {In the winter, I put the jars in my cold garage}

Optional(but a good idea): Take starter yogurt out and let it sit on the counter. This ensures that it’s not too cold when you mix it into the warm milk.

Run you bath tub water until very hot.  Fill you cooler with hot water.

Your goal is to get the milk down to about 110 degrees. Incubation happens between 90-120 degrees, so you have decent wiggle room, but 100-112 is optimal. At my house it takes at least 90 minutes on the counter,  20 min in the sink. The first few times you make yogurt, you’ll figure out timing. Keep your thermometer sterile and check after about 45 minutes, or leave the thermometer in the jar for the first time only and check at intervals.

UPDATE: I’ve found that I prefer the thickness of the yogurt better at ~100 degrees.

No-thermometer method: You can learn what the jars feel like from the outside. I’ve found that I can’t hold onto the jars with bare hands for more than a few seconds, it’s still too hot. Give it 5-10 more minutes and check again. 118 degrees is the temp at which enzymes and yogurt bacteria die. It’s also the temp at which humans say “ouch!” God built in a way for us to know when our food is too hot for our health! Another way to check the temp of the milk is to use a clean spoon and drip a bit onto your wrist. You want it to feel warm, but not painful. Remember that your body temperature is about 98, and your goal is approximately 10 degrees higher. If you do have a thermometer, I would recommend the first few times to use it and your wrist so that you know what 110 feels like for future reference. *If you miss and it gets too cold, just heat it up again in the pot on the stove. It’s just milk at this point, so you’re not out anything!

Stir in 2-3 Tbs. plain yogurt for each 1/2 gal of milk. Stir gently; remember that you’re dealing with living organisms and you don’t want to knock them senseless! More is not better; too much starter can make bad yogurt. Again, these living organisms need room to reproduce. If you ask too many to live together, it’s like making tenements and living conditions aren’t as nice for your friendly bacteria!

Empty the cooler.

Get those lids on again and nestle your jars in the cooler. Fill the cooler up with Hot water just until the jars barely start to float. Then close the lid of the cooler to keep the heat in.

My yogurt jars happily nestled in the cooler, ready to incubate.

Keep the cooler still, more or less. Jiggling will affect the consistency of the yogurt. Don’t let the kiddos “cooler-race” in the kitchen! If you have no room in your bathtub, put the cooler in another room and leave yourself a note to remind you when to take the yogurt out.

You have to make a call on whether you check your yogurt temp every hour or so (you can add more Hot water to the cooler if the temp is getting too low, after emptying the cool water first) or just let it go and see what happens. Keep in mind that again, when you open your cooler, you’re affecting the temperature. I would recommend leaving it alone, and as long as your cooler is tough enough to keep the heat in the first time, you will never have to babysit your yogurt. This is NOT rocket science! ( I rarely open it cause I do it before bed and wake up to yogurt)

Incubate 4-24 hours. Shorter incubation makes sweeter yogurt, longer is more tart. Also lower incubation temperature makes sweeter yogurt and higher makes more tart. I’ve had good success between 4 and 8. I forgot it once when my goal was 4 hours and found I liked it better at 6. I forgot it once at 6 hours and found that 8 is fine, but I liked 6 better. More recently I read that after incubating a full 24 hours, almost all the lactose is eaten by the bacteria, making the yogurt extremely digestible. I tried leaving one jar for 24 hours, and it wasn’t too bad. I usually shoot for about 16 nowadays. Experiment to see what you prefer!

Note: If you incubate longer than 8 hours, I would recommend setting a teapot to boil and pouring the contents into your cooler. For 24-hour-yogurt, I add boiling water before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning. I’ve never “checked” on the temp of my yogurt – I prefer to leave it alone – and I’ve had no problems.

When the time is up, put the jars into the freezer for about an hour. This improves the texture. No room in the freezer? (I did have a broken jar once when I put it directly into the ice.) Just go right in the fridge. If you forget the yogurt in the freezer, it’s fine. Yogurt can freeze! Just thaw in your fridge.

Note: Don’t get too interested in what it looks like until the yogurt is cold. I have a feeling stirring, and definitely shaking, the jars at this point hurts the process.

That’s it! You have created yogurt!

  

What Does it Look Like?

Most of the time, the finished product will have a yellowish “whey” around the thicker yogurt. This is normal! You can pour it off (into your soup, preferably – there’s protein in that whey!) or stir it in, depending on what consistency you want.

 

See the whey? Looks gross, but it's just what you want!

8-hour yogurt on the left, 16-hour on the right. The 16-hour yogurt is a bit thicker, but not appreciably so.

When your yogurt is cooled and ready to eat, take out a few Tablespoons for a starter for your next batch. Store it in a clean container and date it (I use a glass baby food jar that has been through the dishwasher). Best practice is to take your starter out first so that it’s the least contaminated by folks dipping out yogurt throughout the week.

I’ve found that I can make a batch every one to two weeks or so and the starter is still plenty strong. I might buy a new starter at the store every 2-3 months. If my yogurt starts getting runny, especially twice in a row, I can solve it by buying a new starter.

Serving Suggestions

Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks…We like the plain yogurt at our house with a bit of sugar (about a tsp per serving) or honey and frozen fruit. Yum-O! When I sweeten a whole quart, I use about ¼ c. sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. Remember to stir gently – if you whip up your yogurt too hard, it will remain runny.

Sour Cream Sub…Plain Yogurt can substitute in any recipe that calls for sour cream.

Smoothies…Add milk, fresh or frozen fruit, maybe a few ice cubes, and blend. A snack or a dessert! Green smoothies are all the rage right now. I use half yogurt and half milk with the fruit, and my boys think a frozen banana really makes it great!

Bake with it…you can use yogurt instead of milk in biscuits, cornbread, and pancakes. I also just read that you can replace some of the butter or oil in muffin or brownie recipes and all of the fat in cake mixes.

Dips and dressings…Add chopped cucumber and dill weed to plain yogurt and eat as a salad or with grilled meat. I’ll share some more recipes later in the week.

Here is how thick my yogurt turns out. It can get a bit smoother after stirring well, but gently.

  

Yogurt definitely keeps well for two weeks, probably longer, but it does get more tart with age.

Troubleshooting

Yogurt too runny?

Yogurt got too cool while incubating (bacteria inactive) I’m pretty sure this is not a big deal as long as the yogurt is at the proper temp for at least the first four hours.

Milk too hot when starter stirred in (bacteria dies) This one is a deal breaker!

Stirred too hard when introducing starter

Weak starter – buy new yogurt at the store

What to do with failure? There’s nothing wrong with runny yogurt. Stir in some unflavored gelatin and use it anyway or be creative with runny half-milk, half-yogurt. Smoothies, anyone? Use it in baking like you would milk, or make cream of vegetable soup. If your yogurt incubated WAY too hot, it’s pretty much just milk. Make hot chocolate and try again tomorrow!

Cottage-cheese-like consistency?

This is my most common problem. I really believe the freezer step helps guarantee a creamier consistency. I also think the precise temperature when you stir in the starter may make a difference here, but I haven’t pinpointed exactly how to make perfect yogurt every time. Also make sure you’re not overdoing the amount of starter. Just 2 Tbs! Sometimes just stirring gently will help out with this problem.

Tastes sour?

Too much starter

Incubated too hot or for too long for your taste

Strong, yucky smell?

Introduced bad bacteria into yogurt, then let it multiply. Throw away this batch and be more careful next time!

Best of luck to all of you! I’m convinced that everyone should make homemade yogurt, if you eat it at all. I used to think you had to be an at-home-mom or have time on the weekends, but now that I’ve successfully cultured 24-hour-yogurt, I really think anyone could do it, even if you work all day long. Just start the yogurt while you’re making dinner, add boiling water before bed and in the morning during breakfast, and remove the yogurt after work the next day. You could also just incubate overnight and put in the freezer in the morning. I have accidentally left yogurt in the freezer overnight with no negative repercussions. You can do this! It’s NOT rocket science, it’s just a little food science that anyone who can make chocolate chip cookies can handle.

Check back this week for more recipes using your freshly made, nutritious easy homemade yogurt!

Italian Bread

Italian Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons crisco or tenderflake
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons salt

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1 Mix together shortening, sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 cup flour. Add warm water and beat by hand until manageable, or 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Add remaining flour, scraping bowl often, and mix all together until smooth.
2 Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until doubled in volume.
3 Stir dough down gently, and spoon into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan (the batter should be sticky). Pat down with floured hands to help shape. Cover again, and let rise for about 30 minutes.
4 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5 Bake for about 45 minutes. Place on a cooling rack, and brush top with melted butter.

There is no such thing as too much Pumpkin!

If you are looking at your pumpkin thinking; 'this thing is huge and now what do I do to it to make pumpkin puree'  Go to this blog post on Simple Bites.  It is a great tutorial on how to make the puree from scratch.

Now once you have it what can you do with it?

Well, let me give you some ideas I have done in the past.

Pumpkin Spiced Hot Chocolate (Kitchen Simplicity)
Pumpkin Spice Smoothie (Healthful Pursuit)
Pumpkin Biscotti (Dessert for Two)
Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies (Dessert for Two)
Stir it in to Oatmeal with Cinnamon and brown sugar.
Chicken Enchiladas with Pumpkin Cream Sauce (Cheeky Kitchen)
Pumpkin Pancakes (Pennies on a Platter)

And now a couple recipes that are from me :)

Cindy's Pumpkin Supper

Feeds a crowd but you can cut it down to what you need (you will just have a whole lot of pumpkin to use)

1 pumpkin, cleaned of guts, peeled and chunked up
3 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
3 onions, roughly chopped
3 26 oz Cans Diced Tomatoes ( or equivalant)
6 TBSP Cumin
1 TBSP Sea Salt
1/2 TBSP ground pepper
3 cups grated cheddar

Meatballs:
Mix together Meat, eggs and 4 TBSP (YES TBSP's) Cumin and form in to meatballs. Brown.

In a very large Roaster, put 1/2 the pumpkin and sprinkle with 1 TBSP cumin. Salt and pepper
Then onions and the rest of the pumpkin and cumin, salt, and pepper
Bake at 300F for 3 hours.
Then add Meatballs, and Dump tomatoes on top and season again.

Finish with cheese and put in oven until pumpkin is cooked and meat is cooked through. about 1 hour.

Serve with rice and a salad!

Pumpkin Bread










INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups (210g) flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (1/4 L) pumpkin purée*
1/2 cup (1 dL) olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup (1 dL) chopped walnuts
* To make pumpkin purée, cut a pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a foil or Silpat lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use. Or, if you are working with pumpkin pieces, roast or boil them until tender, then remove and discard the skin.
METHOD
1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.
3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.
Makes one loaf. Can easily double the recipe.

I'm Linking up here

If you have a favorite Pumpkin Recipe, I would love a link to it!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake {Summer Recipes}

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake Recipe

For the Cake:
3 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. soda
2 T butter/margarine, softened
In large bowl, sift dry ingredients together. Add margarine, cut to fine crumbs.
In a separate bowl, mix together:
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 t. vanilla

Beat liquids together and add to dry ingredients. Spread 1/2 batter in greased 9 x 13″ pan or dish. Add filling then spoon remaining batter in small mounds atop filling.

For the Filling:

In saucepan combine 3 cups fresh or 1 – 13 oz. pkg. frozen unsweetened rhubarb (cut in 1/2 pieces, and 1 – 16 oz frozen sliced strawberries thawed, or 2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced.
On low heat, cook fruit covered about 5 min. Add 2 T lemon juice. Combine 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup cornstarch. Add to rhubarb mixture. Cook and stir 4 – 5 min. until thickened and bubbly. Cool before spreading on batter.

Spread cooled rhubarb filling over the bottom batter in pan.

For the Topping:

3/4 c. sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup margarine.
Combine sugar, flour; cut in margarine as before, to fine crumbs over batter in pan.
Sprinkle sugar crumbs topping over batter in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Cool slightly. Serve with scoop of vanilla ice cream and devour!

Rhubarb Chutney at Scratch: This is a British condiment that I love!  Used on meats and with cheese.  

Make Ahead Monday - Peach Muffins

Peach Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups white sugar
2 cups peeled, pitted, and chopped peaches

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease 16 muffin cups (I did 18 muffins. I also lined the pan with muffin liners. If you use muffin liners I suggest spraying the liners with non-stick cooking spray, these muffins are sticky!) 
In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, eggs, and sugar. Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture just until moist. Fold in the peaches. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups. 
Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Oven Roasted Potatoes (aka the back up plan)

"Potatoes coated with olive oil and your favorite herbs, and roasted to perfection."

3 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
3 TBSP Italian seasoning (your favorite)
1/2 tsp salt
2 pinches of sea salt 
4 large potatoes, cut into wedges


Preheat oven to 450 F


In a large bowl, combine everything but the sea salt. Toss to coat.  Place potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (saves on scraping the pan)


Roast for 30- 40 min, flipping potatoes once.

Ez is the newest spoon licker!

Ez has discovered the joys of being a big boy!

Rice Krispie Treats

8 cups rice krispies

1 small bag mini marshmallows

1/4 cup butter ( or margarine)

1 tsp vanilla

grease very well a 9x13 pan

Melt butter add marshmallows.

Stir constantly until melted.

stir in vanilla and then the cereal

Stir well until all the cereal is coated.

Dump into prepared pan and spread with a greased cup.

Hide them so they can cool without little (or big ones) fingergouges

A great Recipe for Rice Krispie treats made with Mars Bars! Here

Chocolate-Caramel Cookie Bars

All I have to say is holy freaking crap these are amazing.  That is if you like chocolate, caramel, and shortbread.  If you don't then get off my blog immediately and go repent!


Ingredients

Makes 16.

• FOR THE CRUST
• 4 1/2 ounces (9 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for parchment ( If you use Margarine I will not take any responsibility for the outcome!)
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• FOR THE CHOCOLATE CARAMEL
• 10 1/2 ounces good quality milk chocolate, chopped (2 cups)  (Please don't use crappy chocolate!  It just is wrong!)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 tablespoon sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Make the crust: Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides; butter parchment(DON'T SKIP THIS STEP!!!!), excluding overhang. Beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour and table salt, and beat until just combined.

Press dough evenly into pan, and bake until lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

Make the chocolate caramel: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, washing sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming, until amber, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter, cream, and table salt. Bring to a boil, stirring until smooth. Pour over chocolate. Let stand for 2 minutes. Stir to combine, and let stand until cool, about 10 minutes.

You can either Pour mixture over crust. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight. Run a knife around edges; lift parchment to remove whole bar from pan. Sprinkle with sea salt. Trim edges, and cut into 16 bars. OR Cut bars and dip in chocolate caramel sauce and sprinkle with sea salt.  I prefer to dip.

Bars can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.  (as if they will actually last that long!)

Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

Best served the day it is baked.

Makes: One 9 1⁄2- or 10-inch tart

Prepare in a 91⁄2- or 10-inch two-piece tart pan.

Pat-in-the-Pan Shortbread Dough, below

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bring to a simmer in a small saucepan:
1 cup heavy cream
Remove from the heat and add:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
Whisk gently until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth, then whisk in:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Pour the chocolate mixture into the tart shell. Bake until the center seems set but still quivers, like gelatin, when the pan is nudged, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool on a rack.
Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with:
Whipped Cream
Store in refrigerator.

PAT-IN-THE-PAN SHORTBREAD DOUGH
One 9 1⁄2- or 10-inch tart shell
When baked, this rich, sweet dough resembles a shortbread cookie. Use it for a cream pie, a lemon tart, a fresh fruit tart with pastry cream, or any other pie or tart with a creamy or buttery filling.
Whisk together in a bowl or process in a food processor for 10 seconds:
1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄3 cup sugar
(1 teaspoon grated lemon zest)
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
Add:
1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, softened if working by hand
Mash with the back of a fork or process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add:
1 large egg yolk
Mix with a spatula or process just until the dough comes together in a ball. If the dough is too soft and sticky to work with, wrap it and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 days). Grease or butter the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan or 9 1⁄2- or 10-inch two-piece tart pan or eight 3 1⁄2-inch tartlet pans. Dust the pans with flour, and tap out the excess. Pat the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. Thoroughly prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes.

Coleslaw-Ranch style with Bacon

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 pkg. (16 oz.) coleslaw blend

4 slices Bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled

1/2 cup Ranch Dressing

Directions

TOSS coleslaw blend and bacon in large bowl.

ADD dressing; toss to coat.

Eat and enjoy!

My Big Fat Greek Chicken Salad

Serves 4

Replacing mayonaise or bottled dressings with yogurt made a big difference in my own battle of the bulge. And I love using fresh herbs such as oregano to give my meals a big flavor boost.

The Groceries

The Dressing

1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt

1 1/3 TBSP lemon juice

2/3 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar

1/3 TBSP oregano, finely chopped

1 1/3 small cloves garlic, minced

salt and ground black pepper

Salad

2/3 bag (5 ounces) salad greens

1 1/3 cooked rotisserie chicken breasts, skinned and cut into chunks

2/3 pint grape tomatoes, halved

2 kirby cucumbers, peeled and sliced

2/3 cups kalamata olives, sliced

1/3 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cups feta cheese, crumbled

2 2/3 whole wheat pitas (8" each)

Directions

To make the dressing: In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

To make the salad: In a large bowl, combine the salad greens, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onion, and feta. Add the dressing and toss gently to combine.

Wrap the pitas in a paper towel, warm them in a microwave for 15 to 20 seconds, and serve with the salad.

Peanut Butter Bars

I adore the marriage between chocolate and peanut butter. I am unaware of the length of their relationship but I do not see divorce in the near future. The salty nuttiness of peanuts joined with the rich sweetness of chocolate definitely supports the old adage; opposites attract. When I hear that peanut butter bars are being served at a picnic or potluck, I usually cower, mostly because past experiences with peanut butter bars have proven, how should I say it, yucky. Too gooey, too dry, too sweet, too rich, too, too, – too, well yucky. I happened upon this recipe, submitted by Nancy, on allrecipes.com which was completely serendipitous considering I needed a dish to bring to a potluck today. No bake, even better so I took a chance. Ah-ha! Place these on your next sweet treats to make list, you won’t be disappointed because I think you will agree that they taste suspiciously like a Reese's® Peanut Butter Cup.


Peanut Butter Bars
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 sticks butter, melted
1 cup all natural peanut butter, I used Smucker’s
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
4 T. more peanut butter

In a food processor pulse graham crackers until super fine. I used 16 whole Nabisco Grahams Original® crackers. But be sure that you have exactly 2 cups of whatever brand you use. To the fine crumbs add the melted butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. Pulse until mixture is blended and smooth. Press the peanut butter mixture into an ungreased 9 x 13 baking pan. Melt the chocolate chips and 4 T. peanut butter in the microwave in 25 second increments until melted and smooth. Pour over peanut butter batter and spread evenly. Chill for 30 minutes or until set. Remove to room temperature for at least 15 minutes then slice into bars.

Note: Here is where some of the allrecipes.com reviewers had trouble. Some tried to cut the bars right from the refrigerator and found the chocolate separated from the base or they crumbled and cracked. So be sure to leave them out of the fridge for 15 or more minutes before cutting with a very sharp knife, hot water on the knife is unnecessary. Mine sliced beautifully and held their shape. I think the natural peanut butter is much creamier giving a fudgier texture. Because I used a food processor I did not experience a grainy texture as some of the other reviewers reported.

Is it a Peach or a Cupcake?!

Now seriously! I wish I had seen these 7 years ago, when in May I was wanting peaches on top and around my wedding cake. I had marzipan :( I really do hate Marzipan! Sorry to anyone who likes it.

The genius who made me smile today is at Big Red Kitchen. I love this blog and I only found it today! (pathetic that I can fall in love so fast I know)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I had a craving for Chicken Cordon Bleu...so I made this cause I don't like stuffing chicken.

Serves 12
INGREDIENTS
1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls (8 rolls)
2 tablespoons Salted Butter
1 tablespoon 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 box (13.25 oz) frozen baked honey-battered chicken tenders, thawed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, or 1 deli rotisserie chicken (2 to 2 1/2 lb), shredded
16 slices (1 oz each) Mozza or Provolone cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon horseradish sauce or cream-style prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 lb shaved cooked brown-sugar or maple-glazed ham (from deli)

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 375ºF. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with No-Stick Cooking Spray. Unroll crescent rolls in baking dish; press perforations to seal. Bake 10 to 13 minutes or until light golden brown.
Meanwhile, in 10-inch skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened. Remove from heat; stir in cut-up chicken tenders.
Place 8 slices of the Mozzarella cheese over baked crust. In small bowl, stir Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, honey, horseradish sauce and thyme until well blended. Spoon half of the mayonnaise mixture evenly over cheese on crust.
Spoon chicken mixture evenly over mayonnaise mixture on crust. Spoon remaining mayonnaise mixture evenly over chicken. Cover chicken evenly with ham. Top with remaining 8 slices Muenster cheese.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and filling is thoroughly heated.

Pasta Salad with Chicken and Spinach

This chicken, spinach, and pasta salad is tossed with a flavorful mayonnaise and lemon juice dressing. This is a great main dish salad for hot summer days. Use cooked leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken for this tasty salad recipe.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces fusilli or rotini pasta
• 1 cup coarsely chopped spinach
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1 medium clove garlic, finely minced
• 2 to 3 cups coarsely chopped chicken
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon or a favorite gourmet mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil
• salt, to taste

Preparation:

Cook pasta following package directions; drain and rinse well.

Toss cooled pasta with the spinach, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, and chicken.

Combine 1 cup of the mayonnaise with wine vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, pepper, and basil. Toss with the pasta mixture. Add more mayonnaise, if needed. Taste and add salt, if desired. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving time for best flavor.
Serves 4 to 6.

Mushroom Bacon Breakfast Strata

Picture by Ree Drummond aka Pioneer Woman

Recipe is adapted from this Pioneer Woman Recipe.

What you buy:

12 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 pieces
12 white mushrooms, sliced
8 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup half & half or whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
6 ounces cream cheese
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 Pitas, cut into 2 inch squares and toasted lightly

What you do:

Fry bacon pieces in a large skillet until done but not overly crispy. Drain on a paper towel, pour grease from skillet.
Add mushrooms to skillet (don’t clean skillet first) and cook until done.
Mix eggs, half & half, salt, and pepper.
Arrange pita chips in an 8 x 11-inch baking dish. Slightly press to flatten.
Tear pieces of cream cheese and evenly distribute over the top.
Distribute mushrooms and bacon over the top, followed by the cheddar cheese.
Pour egg mixture evenly over all ingredients.

Place into the fridge for several hours of overnight (makes a handy breakfast casserole!), then bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until eggs are set.

Cut into squares and serve immediately.

(Repost) Chocolate Caramel Crackers (so very addicting!)

Adapted from recipe on Smitten Kitchen that was adapted from David Lebovitz, who adapted it from Marcy Goldman who is the genius that first applied this to matzo

approximately 40 Saltine crackers or crackers of your choice (original recipe-4 to 6 sheets matzo)
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into a few large pieces
1 cup packed light brown sugar
A big pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (or semisweet chocolate if you don't like dark chocolate)
1 cup toasted chopped almonds, pecans, walnuts or a nut of your choice (optional)
Extra sea salt for sprinkling (if using Matzo)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet completely with foil, and then line the base of the foil with parchment paper, cut to fit. (don't skip this step or your clean up will be torture)

Line the bottom of the baking sheet with crackers, covering all parts. (If using matzo, you'll need to break pieces to fit any extra spaces, which will be annoying because despite being perforated, it does not actually break in straight lines. There has been some luck pressing a serrated knife straight down along a section between perforations, if that makes sense.)

In a medium heavy-duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and stir it over medium heat until it begins to boil. Once it has begun boiling, let it bubble for three more minutes, stirring it well. It will thicken a bit as it cooks. Remove from the heat and add the salt and vanilla, and then quickly pour it over the crackers. You’ll want to spread it quickly, as it will begin to set as soon as it is poured.

Bake the caramel-covered crackers for 15 minutes, watching carefully as it will bubble and the corners might darken too quickly and/or burn. You can reduce the heat if you see this happening.

Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips. Let stand five minutes, they will start to melt and then spread them evenly across the caramel. An offset spatula works great here. If you’re using them, sprinkle the chocolate with toasted chopped nuts and/or sea salt. (The sea salt is great on matzo. On Saltines, it’s really not necessary.)

Once completely cool — I sometimes speed this process up in the fridge, impatient as should be expected in the face of caramel crackers :) — break it into pieces ( nibble on some) and store it in a container out of the reach of any children. (somehow it always goes missing if not hidden) It should keep for a week but it won't last that long

Mud Pies = Smiley Girl

Lately it has been raining and pouring (no snoring) quite a bit at my house.  Bex has never been happier!  After a recent "I'm bored", I taught her how to make mudpies! I think she might have thought I was a bit crazy at first but then she got right in there with both hands...and feet.

   

She left it outside overnight to 'Bake' and she is still in her jammies cause she had to go check on it first thing in the morning!

NOW FOR A MUDPIE THAT MOMMY LOVES!

Mud Pie

Prep Time:

50 min

Total Time:

3 hr 50 min

Makes:

8 servings (6 if you my family)

What You Need!

22 NILLA Wafers, crushed (about 3/4 cup crumbs)

1/2 cup  finely chopped Pecans

2 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 pkg.  (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1-1/2 cups  thawed COOL WHIP, divided

1-3/4 cups cold milk

1 pkg.  (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

Make It!

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Mix wafer crumbs, pecans and butter; press firmly onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 min.; cool.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping; spread over crust. Pour milk into medium bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Spoon over cream cheese layer.

REFRIGERATE several hours or until set. Top with remaining 1/2 cup whipped topping just before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator.