Yogurt making

NEWS FLASH - MONEY IS TIGHT

Okay, no 'news' in that news, is there? One of the distributors of our (home business) product has been slow in paying us at the same time we've been doing more 'prep for future' than 'immediately paying work'. We knew that our choices would reduce income for a while, so it's okay.

But it means that I'm doing even more cooking from scratch, at the same time that my husband wants to buy more goodies at the local Farmers Market. We're compromising - he gets to buy 1 loaf of artesian bread (UpTown Bakers rock!) but we have to make cookies/muffins/etc at home, as well as the rest of our bread.

Today I'm baking a lovely loaf of bread and some blackberry muffins. But I don't have all the ingredients that the muffin recipe calls for!

FLEXIBILITY & SUBSTITUTION

Actually, the husband and spawn want blueberry muffins, but I have blackberries, not blueberries, in the freezer to use up. So that's substitution #1.

Substitution # 2 is for some of the 1 1/2 cups of plain yogurt that the recipe calls for. I don't have that much. If I had planned ahead (as I SHOULD have) I'd have made more yogurt by now. Instead, I've got some sour cream in the freezer left over from something or other, and I'll use that - no need to worry about it separating in baked goods.

Of course, I'm still going to have to make some more yogurt, since I like the stuff and use it for all manners of things.

YOGURT MAKING - YOU KNEW I'D GET TO THAT EVENTUALLY.....

Making yogurt is incredibly easy. Heat milk to about 115 degrees. Add starter yogurt - some left from your previous batch, or half of cup of plain yogurt from whatever brand you usually buy (so long as it brags about live cultures). Keep the mix warm for a few hours. Poof! It's yogurt!

I'm going to rotate my dry milk for this. Since I mix the powder with hot water (it dissolves better that way) it will heat the milk in the same step. About 1 quart of warm milk, 1/2 cup of starter, tuck it into the hay box cooker, and ignore it till later today.

I'm VERY good at ignoring things.


Enjoy!