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!

Bone Broth Twice Over...and over, and over...

About a year ago, I finally began making soup stock from scratch.  I was motivated by the fact that most store bought soups and broths are really high in sodium, and as my youngest daughter has chronic kidney disease, I'm always looking for ways to cut down on salt.  I was also inspired by old fashioned cooking - cooking that is frugal, simple, and resourceful.  Homemade soup is all of the above.

I normally make my soup in the crock pot overnight, strain it and then toss the bones.  Till I stumbled across this awesome article from The Nourishing Gourmet  on reusing your bones again and again for stock.  I decided to make some chicken broth using this method.  Normally, I buy chicken whole and roast two at a time in my big roasting pan.  We usually have roast chicken for supper that night (YUM!), and then I take the leftover meat and shred it or dice it and freeze it on cookie sheets before putting into freezer bags.  The frozen chicken is great to grab for casseroles, soups, salads or whatever other chicken-y dish your heart desires. 

Anyway, back to the stock.  I tossed the carcass in the crock pot, add some onion, celery, and carrots, herbs and put it on low in the crock pot overnight.  The next morning, I strained out the broth, took out the veggies, and then did the whole process over again.  While I didn't keep making repeated stocks till the bones dissolved into nothingness, I did make two batches of flavourful broth.  Who knew?  Most likely my grandmother and great grandmother....and it's the sort of things that I need to relearn.  Thanks, Kimi, for the great tips!

White Bean, Cabbage, Carrot & Potato Soup

It's been a rainy weekend, so there was lots of opportunity to put my apron on and make a big batch of soup for my weekly "Sunday Stew Special".  I had a few potatoes left that were starting to go soft so I figured I'd better use them up.  This soup is a great budget friendly, good ol' classic recipe.  I've also been cooking with dried beans and lentils more and more and cutting back on our dependence upon meat for protein.  Plus, they're cheap, fill you up, have tons of fibre, and are SO GOOD for you!  I cooked up a big crockpot full of white beans earlier this week, so I had some ready to go for this soup.  I've learned it's better to cook the beans ahead of time, store them in the fridge or freezer, and then toss them into recipes as needed.

Anyway, here is what was on today's menu!

White Bean, Cabbage, Carrot and Potato Soup

2 T olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 head medium cabbage, cored and shredded
5 medium potatoes peeled and diced
1 1/2 cups slow cooked (or 1 14 ounce can) cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed
6 cups veggie or chicken stock (you can learn how to make them from scratch here and here.)
3/4 t. thyme
salt and pepper to taste
20 fennel seeds

Saute the onions, carrot and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until softened -  about 5 minutes.

Toss all the veggies into the slow cooker except for the beans.
Pour the stock over all.
Season with salt and pepper, mix in the fennel seeds, cover and cook on low for 8 -10 hours.
Add beans and stir.
Serve with thick slices of whole grain bread.  This is a great bread dipping soup!

The fennel seeds are apparently supposed to help with the gassiness that can come with high fibre foods such as beans and cabbage.  I'll let you know how it goes.....

Results from the Brownlee Test Kitchen

10 year old - (when she came into the kitchen)  Mmmmm....something smells delicious!  (That was a positive sign!)  It's very potatoey.  I'd say it's a keeper.
13 year old - Does this have cabbage?  (When she was convinced by her 10 yr old sister that you couldn't even taste the cabbage she gave it a try).  It's not bad.  It's a typical potato soup.  Eh.  I guess it's a keeper.  (I was just happy to get some cabbage into my cabbage despising daughter.)
4 year old - More carrots please!  (Soup is one of the few foods I can get her eat more than a couple spoonfuls.)  I managed to convince her to try the white beans too.  She only ate a couple before stating,  I don't like those beans!  I'm accepting this one as a thumbs up from her though.
The Cook - This is tasty, filling, simple soup.  Good thing I enjoy it...I made so much that I've got a ton stored in the freezer.

As with all soups...use what you have!  Be creative with your herbs and spices.  Make a big batch, store it in small freezer containers and pull it out when you need a quick, healthy lunch or supper.  It's better than a box of instant Mac & Cheese!

Sunday Stew Special #3 - Pineapple Chicken over Rice

Don't you love it when chicken meat just falls off the bones after 6 hours in a slow cooker?  I had some chicken drumsticks, (one of the most affordable chicken cuts generally), in the freezer so I decided to make use of those for our Sunday Stew Special.

Pineapple Chicken over Rice
2 lbs chicken legs, skin removed
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, cut into coins
2 celery sticks, cut into 1/2 inch diagonally slices
1 can pineapple tidbits, reserve the juice
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp grounder ginger
1/4 tsp salt

Place drumsticks on bottom of crockpot.
Add sliced veggies & pineapple tidbits.
Mix in remaining ingredients in small saucepan with reserved pineapple juice.  Heat on medium and stir till well blended and hot.  Pour into crockpot.  Cook on low 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.

I thickened the sauce when I returned home by straining out the liquid into the saucepan & thickening with some flour.

I cooked the brown rice before leaving for church in the morning.  I didn't need to reheat the rice, since pouring the saucy stew over top made it nice & hot.

I didn't have red peppers in mine, but that would be a nice addition.

Here's what the Brownlee Test Kitchen had to say!
4 yr old - still sick with no appetite.  Laid on couch & watched Tinkerbell.
10 yr old - I don't think pineapples go good with stew.  She was also sick and had very little appetite.
12 yr old - It's great!  The chicken is so good and tender.  Could use more flavour though.
Husband - I'm enjoying this stew.  I'm going to have some more.  Darling.  (Now he knows that I will write down what he says, he's trying to sound like the perfect husband!)  It could use more soya sauce.
Homestay Student - It's okay. When pressed for more details she added,  Maybe some spice would help?  I like you, just not your stew.  I assured her I wouldn't take it personally.
The Cook - I'm glad the pineapples aren't overpoweringly sweet like some pineapple sauce.  It is a little too bland though.  Next time I would add chicken stock to flavour it up.

Votes:  3 Thumbs up (with more flavour added), 2 Thumbs Down, One Littlest Thumb playing on Daddy's iPhone.