Yogurt!

I did something different last night - I made yogurt! I always thought this was a difficult process, but thanks to A Year of Crockpotting, I made it in my slow cooker and it turned out wonderful. The boys are used to that sugar stuff and are adding sugar to my yogurt today, but hopefully they'll wean themselves off the sweet stuff soon.

This recipe made a half-gallon of fresh, healthy yogurt and it was super easy to do. I was skeptical last night when it looked and smelled more like warm milk than anything else, but was thrilled this morning when it had thickened and smelled just like plain yogurt from the store. It was creamier though.

I think two of the best reasons to make your own yogurt are: It's cheaper to make (I spent a little over $2.00.) When I make it again next week it'll only be $2.00 because I won't have to get yogurt to start a culture. It's also a very healthy treat. I used to buy the Wal-Mart brand of yogurt until I realized that it didn't contain live active cultures. It has bacteria in it, but the killed ones. When you make your own, (using live active cultured yogurt to "start" it) you keep that live bacteria in it which is very important to digestive health.

If you have a slow cooker, give this method a try and you won't have to buy yogurt again!