Never Fail - Slow Cooker - Overnight Oven Yogurt

About a year ago I tried making yogurt in the slow cooker and then wrapping it in towels on  the counter overnight.  After two failed attempts I gave up.  Recently, I found another recipe using the oven as the incubator so I gave it a shot.  It worked!  It is such an amazing feeling to check on what was simply warm milk the night before and find yogurt in the morning!  I have had success five times in a row with this homemade, slow cooker yogurt, so I figured it was time to share.  I can make plain or greek yogurt, skim milk or full fat and it's worked every time.  I've even had success making it without a thermometer, just by learning how long it would take to heat and cool the milk.  Making this yogurt at home is so simple and half the cost of store bought!  You can flavour it yourself (a drizzle of honey is my favourite), and avoid all the crazy amount of added sugar and additives in the store bought varieties.  Plus, making it from home has a longer fermentation process, and eating fermented foods is good for you!  (Try reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.)

I usually eat this yogurt with my Quinoa Applesauce Granola for breakfast, use it in smoothies, or make dressings  and sauces.  It's a great sour cream substitute.  My husband is slowly adjusting to it's tart taste, but the kids' palates haven't adjusted yet.  I will keep buying their favourite store bought flavours (Yami Vanilla and Yami Orange Cream) and do a gradual mixing of the two.

Thanks so much to Mindy, from Creating Naturally for posting the recipe that finally worked for me.
I've copied her recipe onto here, because she did such a great job making it so simple!

P.S.  If you want to make greek yogurt, simply strain it with a cheesecloth (or paper towel) lined colander.  Strain it over a bowl and save the whey to use as a liquid substitute in bread, other baking, or in your smoothies.  More whey uses here!

Homemade Slow Cooker Yogurt

Yield: 1 gallon of yogurt

Check out the notes at the bottom of the recipe for extra tips and tricks.

Ingredients

• 1 gallon whole milk
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (full fat)

Instructions

1. Pour the gallon of milk in a 6 qt. slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker on low.
2. Allow the milk to heat up to 180 degrees F. In my slow cooker this takes about 5 hrs. Every slow cooker is different though, so use a candy thermometer to check the temperature of your milk until it hits 180.
3. Turn the slow cooker off and allow the milk to cool to 110 degrees F. Again, use a candy thermometer to determine when it has hit the correct temperature.  (Lynn's Note:  If you are in a hurry, take out your slow cooker insert and cool it in a sink filled with ice water.  Stir gently, occasionally.)
4. Once the milk has cooled off to 110 degrees, preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. Remove some of the warm milk into a small glass bowl. Gently whisk the 1/2 cup plain yogurt into the warm milk in the small bowl until there are no lumps left. Gently whisk the yogurt/milk mixture back into the rest of the warm milk.
5. Pour the warm yogurt/milk into sterilized glass jars. (Lynn's Note:  I  just place the entire crock pot insert in the oven and then store it into containers later.) A funnel helps with this. Put lids on the jars and place them in the oven. Turn the oven off and allow the jars to sit in there for 8-12 hours (or overnight). This is the incubation phase when the yogurt cultures the rest of the milk and turns all of it into yogurt. If your oven has a light in it, leave it on while the jars are in there. This will help to keep the oven the right temperature.
6. After the jars have set in the oven for 8-12 hours, remove them and place them in the refrigerator to chill completely before using.

Notes:

• If a whole gallon of yogurt seems like a lot to you, you can cut the recipe in half.  This will affect the heating and cooling times, but the yogurt will still need to incubate for 8-12 hours no matter how much you make.
• I definitely recommend using whole milk for this recipe.  It makes the yogurt very thick and creamy.  I usually use raw milk, because that’s what we have on hand.  Any whole milk will work great though.
• If the milk goes a little past 180 degrees F when you are heating it, that is fine.  However, it must get to at least 180 degrees F.
• You can speed the cooling process along by cracking the lid on the slow cooker and/or by removing the ceramic part of the slow cooker from the part that generates the heat.  I usually don’t do this, but if you’re wanting it to be done faster it won’t hurt anything to speed it along.
• Don’t worry if your oven doesn’t have a light in it.  Mine does not, and it still always turns out great.
• If for some reason your oven is not available, there are other options for incubating your yogurt.  You can put the jars in a closed and sealed cooler with a pot of boiling/very hot water.  Or if you have a dehydrator with removable trays you can set the jars in the dehydrator with it set on about 115 degrees F.  No matter what you choose incubate your yogurt in, it needs to stay in the warm environment for 8-12 hours.
• If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can still make this.  Just heat the milk up to 180 degrees F in a pan on the stove instead of in the slow cooker.  Then proceed as directed above.
• I do not add any sweetener or flavor to my yogurt when I am making it.  If you want to sweeten it and/or flavor it, add honey, maple syrup, or jam (to taste) to the milk/yogurt mixture before putting it in the jars.  You could also add any extracts that you would like to use.
• The reason I don’t sweeten my yogurt is because we use it in baking and eating as a buttermilk and sour cream substitute.  We also enjoy eating it plain with applesauce or frozen blueberries.  It also makes an almost daily appearance in our smoothies, which are sweetened by the fruit that we put in them.
• This yogurt will last for several weeks in the refrigerator.
• Make sure you save 1/2 cup of your homemade yogurt to make your next batch!

Quinoa Applesauce Granola....aka "Mommy's Birdseed"

We've been traveling so much this summer that I've almost forgotten how to cook!  We've had some incredible trips - Sydney, Australia (our youngest daughter was granted a wish from the Children's Wish Foundation....that's a whole other amazing story in itself!), camping, CreationFest Music festival in Washington State, we ministered at a Kid's Camp in the Cypress Hills of Alberta, traveled to Yellowstone National Park, then across Idaho & Oregon states, and finally ended at Mount St Helen's in Washington.  What incredible sights we've seen!  However, I learned in Australia that eating out three times a day is actually quite tiresome, and "canned something or the other" while we're camping might be the easiest way to go, but it's not the healthiest!

I decided to get my "Mom Starting From Scratch" groove started again by making my favourite breakfast, "Quinoa Applesauce Granola", which the kids call, "Mommy's Birdseed".  There's no oil and no sugar added and it's amazing!  I thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the back deck with my beloved early this morning enjoying a bowl with Greek yogurt and blueberries.

 I adapted my recipe from a blog called Food and Whine (thank you!), but skipped on adding any sugar, honey or sweeteners.  In my opinion, it really doesn't need it!

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tsp cinnamon
1 & 1/2  cups no sugar added applesauce

This recipe is just a guide!  You can add whatever nuts, seeds, or grains you like. You can also toss in dried fruit like cranberries, apricots or raisins after it has cooked and cooled.

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 250F.
2.  Combine ingredients and spread onto 2 baking sheets.  You can line with parchment paper if you
     wish.
3.  Bake for 45 minutes, stirring granola every 10 minutes until it is golden brown. (Don't walk away
    from the kitchen and get busy doing something else!)
4.  Remove from oven and let cool on sheets. It will become more crispy as it cools.  Add dried fruit
     if you wish.
5.  Store in sealed container in cupboard.

This granola is so satisfying with some plain Greek yogurt.  Start your day with this and you won't find yourself craving a sugary mid morning snack.  It's also good cold with milk or even warmed slightly in the microwave.  Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Applesauce Cinnamon Quinoa Pancakes

It's really hard to believe after a couple years of making pancakes from scratch, that I used to always buy the mix.  Plain, old, white pancake mix.  Buttermilk if I was feeling fancy.  Heaven forbid I wouldn't have any mix on hand on a Saturday morning...no pancakes for us!

But now, every Saturday I make my favorite  "Fluffy, Filling, Whole Wheat Pancakes"
My kids love them with syrup or warm sliced strawberries or bananas, and I enjoy them with apricot jam.  Lately though, I've been trying to experiment with Quinoa, other than as a side dish or as a salad. I did a Google search for "Quinoa Pancakes" and I found this "Whole Wheat Banana Quinoa Pancakes" recipe by Monique of Ambitious Kitchen.

I didn't have bananas on hand, since I have a houseful of monkeys that go through a bunch in about a day.  So, I tweaked Monique's recipe a bit and this is what I came up with.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Cinnamon Quinoa Pancakes
1 cup cooked quinoa
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup applesauce

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together quinoa, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, applesauce, melted butter, and honey until smooth. Add wet mixture to flour mixture and combine.  If batter is too thick simply add a bit more milk; if it's too thin add more flour.
2. Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter or cooking spray and heat over medium. Drop batter by 1/4 cup onto skillet. I use an ice cream scoop!  Cook until bubbles appear on top, about 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter.

Makes about 10 pancakes.

You can see the quinoa texture to these pancakes - but they still hold together like a fluffy wheat flour pancake.

We had these for supper the other night and I made it a treat for my girls with whipping cream, sliced strawberries, and chocolate sauce.  A bit of a splurge to balance out all that healthiness!  I really enjoyed mine with some plain yogurt & sliced strawberries.  So good!  The girls weren't fooled by the quinoa...you can definitely taste it and the texture is slightly different but nothing shocking.  Just like cornmeal pancakes have a different texture as well.  My eldest said they tasted "nutty" and my middle said they tasted "healthy".  My youngest didn't say much, but she didn't eat all of hers either.  However, they are VERY filling!  Before I started making whole wheat pancakes my kids would go through four.  Now they usually eat two.  They were full after only one quinoa pancake.  I'm sure the mountain of whipped cream had a lot to do with that though.

I'm hungry thinking about this now...good thing I have a few saved in the fridge...I think I'm going to have a snack!

I Tried It! - I Liked It! Community Harvest Box

This month I tried out our community Harvest Box.  It is a volunteer supported program that enables people to buy local, high quality, produce at bulk prices.  I simply sign up (call or email) for a box that month, and on the designated pick up day, they give me a call to let me knowI can pick it up at the drop off centre.  You can order a $15 bag that will be all local & mostly organic, or an $8 bag for non-local produce.  You don't know what will be in the bag from month to month; it will depend on what is in season of course!

The things I like about this program:
1.  It supports local farmers.
2.  Most of the food is organic.
3.  There are no plastic bags involved.  Everything was just placed in a big, brown, paper bag with handles.
4.  It gets me out of a food rut.  I didn't know how much I liked beets till now!
5.  It saves me time at the grocery store hemming and hawing over what variety of apple to buy, what kind of onions are cheaper... I can now spend that time learning to cook new recipes with fresh food.

I'm quickly learning that if I want to change my eating & lifestyle habits, I simply have to change my shopping habits.

To find out if there is a program in your community, google something like "Community Harvest Box" or "Community Produce Program".  I'm definitely doing this again next month!

I Tried It! I Didn't Like It! - Sunflower Seed Butter

I'm trying out some new foods, recipes, and products in my home.  Buying habit ruts are pretty easy to slip in to!  So to help me experiement with new stuff, I'm starting a new series on Mom Starting From Scratch called, "I Tried It!".   As always,  I'll be honest in my reviews from a regular, suburban, mini-van driving mom standpoint.

My daughter's school is "nut-free" as most are, but my 12 year old loooooves peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  So we found a great alternative called, "Pea-Butter".  A really close alternative!  It's kinda freaky, actually.  If you didn't tell someone it was made of peas, I'm sure they'd just think it was peanut butter.

But it can be hard to find, and the last time I was grocery shopping, Superstore didn't stock it.  No worries, there was another peanut buttery looking spread, called Sunbutter Spread.

I brought it home, opened the jar, gave it a taste, and whoa.

I didn't like it.

It tasted like Sunflower Seeds.  But instead of the flavour you get from eating sunflower seeds one at a time, it tasted like MILLIONS of sunflower seeds at once.  Who knew sunflower seeds had such a strong, acrid flavour?

My 12 yr old didn't like it either, and putting it on bread and hiding it with jam didn't help.

That's okay - I decided to use up some Special K cereal and turn them into Sunbutter Cereal Balls.  I added honey, cranberries,and coconut.  Sounds pretty yummy!

They're still sitting in the fridge.  Reminding me that when you pack that many sunflower seeds together to make a spread, there's just no fooling anybody.

Sunday Stew Special #1 - MoROCKcan Butternut Squash Stew

Sunday is Stew Day around here.  We don't get home from church till usually around 1:30 PM and by then we are all starving.  To avoid the trap of, "We'll just stop at McRaunchy's" on the way home, I make a stew in the slow cooker on Saturday evening, and then plug it in Sunday morning before we head out the door.  It becomes our main meal of the day and keeps me from having to prepare another meal a few hours later.  We usually have popcorn for supper Sunday nights.  Mom's should get a day of rest from the kitchen too, right?

But I've been making pretty much the same version of a beef stew every week, and as much as my family appreciates it, the time has come to branch out.  So to give me a little nudge out of my stew rut, I decided I'll be trying out a different recipe every week and posting the new Sunday Stew recipe here, along with the my family's reactions. 

Of course, I didn't think this all through ahead of time, so at 9:30 PM Saturday night when I thought, "Oh, I need to make the stew!"; I looked in the fridge and saw that I had a Butternut Squash.  A quick google search bought up this one from Epicurious.  I had to make a few changes, especially since I used dried chick peas instead of canned, so here's what I ended up with.

 MoROCKcan Slow Cooker Butternut Squash and Carrot Stew

1 spray(s) cooking spray
half a small onion, chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 medium butternut squash peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch cubes*
1 cup sliced carrot coins
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup chickpeas, soaked in 4 cups water overnight, drained & rinsed.

Preparation

Coat a small skillet with cooking spray.
Add onion and garlic; sauté for 5 minutes.
Place squash in a 3-quart or larger slow cooker (crockpot).
Add sauteed onion and garlic, carrots, broth, cinnamon, cumin and red pepper flakes.
Cover and turn on low heat 6-8 hours.
Serve with cooked Couscous

Scroll down for the family's reviews!

Not my MoROCKcan Stew, but isn't that a lovely plate?

 Brownlee Test Kitchen Reviews:
4 yr old daughter - I don't like the crust on the bread.  (She never gave any opinion on the stew - the bread was her main concern.)
10 yr old daughter - It's too spicy.
12 yr old daughter - It's too plain.
Husband - It MoROCKS!
Homestay Student - It could use more veggies, like peppers or something.
The Cook - The chick peas aren't quite as tender as I'd like.  I've got to learn how to cook with dried beans.

Overall, we gave it 3 thumbs up (from the adults) and 2 thumbs down (from the big kids - the four yr old just ate more bread.)  Let me know if you tried it and how you like it.  Or if you've got some great recipes to suggest for the Sunday Stew Special, please pass them along to the Brownlee Test Kitchen!

P.S.  Turned the leftovers into a soup for Monday's lunch:  Added some onion soup mix, water, pureed with a hand blender, heated, and served with pepper & parmesan cheese on top.  Thumbs up!

Home Made Protein/Energy Bars

Last night I made a super, easy "from scratch" recipe.  A friend recommended Tone It Up's Homemade Protein Bars to me, so I thought in my quest for "box-less" shopping I'd give it a go!

Chewy & delicious - but not low-cal!

I had my 4 yr old & 10 yr old help me and it was quick and simple.  You do have to use a saucepan on the stove, so make sure little fingers don't get too close!  Everyone in the family likes them, but I do find them a little heavy on the honey.  I don't have the same sweet tooth that my kids do though!  I doubled the recipe and I also substituted protein powder (didn't have any on hand) with just some powdered milk.

Here's the recipe I ended up with my changes!

High Protein Peanut Butter Apricot Energy Bars

2 cups Creamy Peanut Butter

2 cups Honey (next time I'd try 1 & 1/4)

2 cups Old Fashioned Oatmeal

2 cups Diced Apricots

2 cups Sliced Almonds

1 & 1/2 cups Powdered Milk

Directions:

1) In medium size pot, heat Honey & Peanut Butter on stove on medium heat until texture is runny.

2) Mix in Apricots, Nuts, Oatmeal, & Protein Powder

3) Stir until all ingredients are well coated

4) Grease a 9×13 pan with fat free non-stick spray.

5) Press in ingredients evenly

6) Cool in fridge for at least 45 minutes

7) Slice & wrap individual bars in plastic wrap.

8) Enjoy!