Monday Q&A | Homemade Greek Yogurt, plus Homeschool Schedules
Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you'd like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!
Do you have any idea whether your homemade yogurt would be considered the high protein version (Greek yogurt)?
I am reading a book saying store bought yogurt is sugar loaded and not as good for you as you might think. But the sugared up store bought version is pretty tasty. How do you think the taste of yours compares to the "vanilla pudding taste" laced with fruit( jam basically) taste?
Thank you for the advice and the continued inspiration you gives us out here in blog world.
-Sheila P.
Greek yogurt is actually made by draining some of the whey out of regular yogurt, so it's basically a more concentrated form of yogurt. The homemade yogurt is not Greek yogurt, but because it has no stabilizers, it's really easy to turn it into Greek yogurt.
To do this, you can just line a sieve with cheesecloth or a thin dishtowel or thin cloth napkin, place the sieve over a bowl, fill the sieve with yogurt, and let it sit in the fridge for several hours. The whey will drain out with no problems and you'll be left with thick Greek yogurt.
You can use the whey (which is quite nutritious) in smoothies, and I've also heard of people adding it to soups. I think the whey from vanilla yogurt would be weird in a soup, though!
(Incidentally, the popularity of Greek yogurt has created a huge disposal problem for yogurt companies, who cannot figure out how to dump their vast quantities of acidic whey. So, that's an argument for making it yourself at home and using the whey.)
As far as the taste of homemade yogurt goes, maybe try a batch of the vanilla variety (scroll down to the bottom of the page for vanilla directions) and see what you think.
It does call for about a cup of sugar per gallon (¼ cup per quart of yogurt), but I believe that's less sugar than you'd find in commercial yogurt, and the homemade yogurt has none of the odd, artificial ingredients some commercial yogurts have. Once you've tried the vanilla version, you can tinker around with the sugar amounts until you find your sweet spot (sorry, couldn't resist!)
I've found homemade yogurt to be milder than commercial yogurt, and it's really, really delicious in a bowl with fruit and granola.
I rather unexpectedly have made the decision to homeschool my three children next year. My son is 9 and will be in 4th grade. My daughters are just 3 and 4, so I'll be doing basics like ABCMouse.com and giving them lots of time to play and create.
I also work from home as a freelance writer and virtual assistant, and I'm trying to figure out how to arrange a schedule that allows for both homeschooling and working from home. I'm planning on hiring a babysitter for 8 to 10 hours a week so I can do my work uninterrupted. I'd love any scheduling suggestions you have! Also, how many hours a day does it take to homeschool a 4th grader? Thanks!
-Melissa
I think the babysitter sounds like a great idea. Having a focused period of time where you can get your paid work done will help to keep that work from creeping into other areas of your life.
As far as scheduling suggestions go, one thing that really helps us is to have a consistent routine. This doesn't work for every family (a lot depends on parental personality!), but for us, it's key. So, if it takes three hours a day to do school with your son, it will probably be easier to do it from 9:00-12:00 every day than to do it in the morning sometimes and the afternoon sometimes.
Now, I'm not necessarily sure that you need three straight hours to do school with your fourth grader. Presumably he can read directions and follow them, so he should be able to do some of his work on his own, once you guys get into the swing of things in the fall. You're definitely not going to need to spend a whole school day's worth of time with your son because homeschooling is pretty efficient.
Once you've been at this for several weeks, you'll know for sure how much time you need, but to start with, you might want to block out those three hours.
You know your family best, but it might be wise to start the day with some subjects that he needs help with. Then you can send him off to do some work on his own while you do some activities with your little girls (I highly recommend a lot of reading out loud to them at this age, not only because they learn from what you read, but also because they pick up a lot of vocabulary and English skills just from listening.) After that, you could finish up school with your son and check the work he did independently.
To encourage independence in my older children and also to reduce frustration for myself, I've generally had a rule that I'm unavailable for help when I'm working with the younger ones. So if the older ones get stuck during that time, they can move on to another subject or maybe re-read the directions and get themselves unstuck.
________________________
Do you all have any advice for Sheila and Melissa?
We love home made Greek yogurt! So easy to make, and so tasty! I make it in the crock pot before straining, and I've found that this method naturally makes a thicker yogurt, so there is less waste when straining. I blogged about making Greek yogurt a few weeks back: http://simplyburbs.blogspot.com/2013/05/crockpot-greek-yogurt.html
It really is great with granola or fruit; we also like to eat it as a sweet dip for fruit, adding just a touch of maple syrup. My Little Ones think it is a great treat to have a bowl of Greek yogurt with a dollop of jam! Yum!!
Gonna have to checkout your recipe!
Thanks, Becky. I took a "peek" at your article and it looks interesting. I'm wondering about the insulating properties of the crock-pot itself. What if you returned to crock to the base and wrapped the whole thing in a blanket, leaving it on the counter to incubate? I hate to think of putting a blanket into an oven, even if it is "off".
I think the blanket keeps the milk just warm enough, but not too warm, as the yogurt incubates. A friend of mine finds that leaving hers on the counter just wrapped in the blanket or towel is enough. I have *really* limited counter space, so I find that tucking it into the oven frees up space for meal prep, so for me it is a win-win!
If you try using the crock pot itself for incubation, let me know how it works ... I'm really curious now!
I make yogurt about once a week or so and I leave the sweetener out until I consume it. That way I can still use the unsweetened yogurt as a healthier sour cream substitute in baking or on a baked potato, etc. When I want to eat the yogurt sweetened I simply add a little local honey & some diced fruit and stir it in.
~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Wolfe City, Texas
If you keep draining the yogurt overnight or even a bit longer, and then mix in salt and fresh herbs, you end up with labneh ("yogurt cheese") which is really really good spread on bread.
You can also use the whey in bread and other baked goods. It's acidic, so you have to adjust the leavening in muffins and quickbreads (using less baking powder and replacing it with baking soda) but it's a good way to use it up.
Wow, that is crazy about the acid whey. I personally do not care for Greek yogurt. I think mostly it is because most Greek yogurt's fat content is 0 or 1% and it makes the mouth feel really weird to me. I prefer full fat milk products. Just eat less! 🙂
Greek yogurt made with full-fat milk is simply divine. If you've never tried it, do! I like to use it instead of sour cream on chili, nachoes, etc., for a little extra protein kick, and it makes a wonderfully silky snack/dessert when sweetened with some sugar and topped with chocolate chips.
I'm guessing the low-/no-fat versions you've tried have thickeners like pectin or guar gum in them. Those thickeners definitely affect flavor, so I avoid them completely. The one brand of fat-free Greek yogurt I'm willing to spend/waste money on is Oikos. Their plain 0% fat version has a single ingredient - fat free milk. As for why I eat that instead of full-fat Greek yogurt - protein. 1 cup of plain Oikos has 22g of protein. I add it to everything from smoothies to potato salad to increase the protein, since I generally aim for 30%fat/30%protein/40%carb in my cooking.
I used to make yogurt all the time and I never added any sugar at all. If I was going to eat it as a dessert, I would add some honey or maple syrup, but mostly the taste was just yum 🙂
However, I had a few bad batches and got discouraged and out of the habit of making it. I think I should start doing it again 🙂
I bought two fine plastic mesh coffee filters which work great as reusable yogurt strainers. I cover the loaded filters and the bowl with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge to drain. I add flavoring to the yogurt AFTER draining, so the whey stays unadulterated.
Use the whey in bread baking in place of the liquid. It does a nice job "conditioning" the dough while boosting the nutritional value.
Since I can't eat yogurt and don't have kids at home, no.
But I do want to echo Sheila's last line. Thanks so much, Kristen.
I love making yogurt. The kids use it in their cereal in the morning instead of milk. I found it prevents the little ones from spilling the milk when they try to drink whats left in the bottom of the bowl. Sometimes I strain it to make yogurt cheese and use the whey in other dishes. Other times I add a little dry milk powder during the process to make it thicker instead of draining out the whey.
I don't have any advice, but I do have a question for all the yogurt makers out there. I got really into making yogurt a few years ago, but I gave it up mostly because the ONLY kind of milk I could make it work with was whole milk that was not ultra-pasteurized - and the only place I could find such milk was at Whole Foods - and I try to stay out of there because it requires great restraint not to walk out with a few bags of groceries and an enormous bill!
I tried using milk from the regular store, but it's all ultra-pasteurized and it always just turned out like a runny mess. Even the low fat version of the stuff from Whole Foods wouldn't set up properly.
So my question is this - am I just crazy or has anybody else had this problem? And if so, what do you do about it?
I use whole milk from Aldi and it works great. I get really thick yogurt by keeping it warm in the oven. I put it on it's lowest setting (for me 170) but I don't let it warm up all that way. It says it needs 4 minuts so I let it heat up for 2 minutes. I do that every hour or so for around 3-4 hours.
I made a batch this weekend using regular whole milk from Shopper's Food Warehouse and using a cup of Fage Total full fat yogurt for the culture. I follow Kristin's directions (since those are how I learned to make yogurt!), but I do leave the jars in the cooler for up to 8 hours sometimes, and that makes it come out thick. The only time I had a batch not work out was when the water I added to the cooler was a little hot, which I think killed a lot of the cultures.
Hmmm... we don't have either of those grocery chains here in Denver - do you happen to know if the milk is ultra-pasteurized or not?
Maybe the whole milk part is the key as opposed to the pasteurization method?
I use 2% pasteurized milk from Mac's Milk, since it comes in a returnable plastic jug. Instead of using warm water and a cooler to set the yogurt, I use the oven. Just warm it up a little (70°F), turn it off but leave the oven light on. Set in the jars and leave overnight. Now that my oven has two lights, I found my yogurt extra thick, too. Guess it was warmer! And I forgot to add any sugar or vanilla, but it's great with granola and fruit.
It might be the "ultra" part of the pasteurization that is the problem. Check out this link I just found: http://newhomeeconomics.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/buyer-beware-ultra-pasteurized-milk/
My understanding of ultra-pasteurization is that it destroys proteins in the milk that are the 'food' for the yogurt cultures. This means that the yogurt will probably not set up properly. I make kefir, which is a cousin of yogurt, and you have to use milk that is NOT ultra-pasteurized. Regular pasteurized milk can be difficult to find. I can find it at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and other health food stores. Safeway in our area (Seattle) sells a local brand of milk that is not ultra-pasteurized.
(I personally use raw milk that I source from a reputable supplier to make kefir and yogurt, but that's an entirely different discussion).
Yeah, I've heard from a number of people that ultra-pasteurized milk doesn't make good yogurt.
I'm with you about whey in soup, if I used the whey in soup it would be in a cream soup.
Yogurt gets tarter the longer it incubates. I leave mine in the cooler for 8 hours (or longer when I forget)it has a nice TANG to it.
I use the whey from yogurt-making in place of water when I make bread. It gives the bread a sourdough flavor without the use of any sourdough starters, barms, etc.