One of my favorite breakfasts is yogurt and granola. It’s up there with oatmeal with pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Or with fried eggs on toast. It’s simple, but so delicious.
Unfortunately, HFCS has invaded many mainstream brands. Even in brands that don’t use it in vanilla yogurt, it shows up in fruity flavors. Other problems for people with animal cruelty concerns are the source of the milk and that much yogurt contains gelatin. What’s a health-conscious vegetarian girl to do?
One day I wondered, “Could I make yogurt in a crockpot?” I did a google search and found the. best. website. ever. Maybe not ever, but it’s awesosme. It’s got step-by-step yogurt-in-your-crockpot instructions, as well as a ton of gluten-free crockpot recipes.
LR tried making yogurt using the instructions on this website before I did. I bought my milk before she did, but I let it expire in my refrigerator. She inspired me to get serious about trying it.
The awesome thing about this yogurt? I did it wrong, and it still came out as yummy yogurt. Instead of cooking the milk in my crockpot for 2.5 hours on low, I cooked mine on high for 1.5 hours and on low for 2 hours. (I have a problem where I read directions, but not very well.) It came out fine, with only a few bits of milk skin that didn’t stir back into the milk. This is incredibly easy to do. The hardest part for me was to find a time when I’d be home at the key points, since the process takes so long.
I sweetened the batch with honey (lightly whisked it in so the yogurt wouldn’t get too runny) and ate it with granola every day. I will make this again and again. Next time I make it, I’m going to do the math and figure out how much it costs per 6 ounce serving.
The Crock Pot Lady suggested starting out with whole milk until you get the hang of it because lower fat milks may produce runnier yogurt. She suggested adding gelatin to thicken it up. In her post about making jam, she used pectin (plant-based) as a thickener. I plan to experiment to see if this helps runny yogurt.
I haven’t tried making granola yet. Does anyone know if it really ends up being cheaper than buying? Nuts and dried fruit can be expensive, so I’m wary. Also, the other day, Walmart had some Cascadian Farms granola with “$1 off if you buy 2” coupons stuck to them. Also, the banana and date flavors of Sunbelt’s granola cereals are PHO and HFCS free. (These sell for $2.50/box at Walmart and a little more at HyVee). Their other two granola flavors are polluted. I was so mad when I read the nutrition facts, I’m thinking about writing a letter.
6 comments:
I think it depends on what type of granola you want to make. We don't mind it plain when we eat it with yogurt. That being the case, I just bought a 3 cup bag of rolled oats at New Pi for .83 cents. Not too shabby. I'll mix it up with some honey, cook it in the oven and have "sweet" granola for our yogurt. As for dried fruits, I'm tempted to learn how to do it on my own, but haven't even started the research process yet.... so, I just rarely buy dried fruits.
Just found this: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Dried-Fruit
Seems simple enough, so I'm gonna try it today! I'll let you know how it goes.
Write lots and lots of letters! But you need to write good and bad letters...you can get good coupons too for those products that you like.
way to go on the yogurt! i'm gonna make another batch today! i start mine at about 2:30 in the afternoon (probably have to be on a weekend for you) and then let it sit all night long (it ended up being about 11 hours for the "sitting" process the second time, but it worked just fine!) we've taken to "drinking" our yogurt since the texture is more on the runny side and it is working great! i didn't have great luck with homemade granola... it turned out, but it was way to expesive... at least the recipe that i used. i found all natural granola at aldi in the past few months and have been getting that...
~L
hey kelsey! you're a brave soul with the yogurt experiment. i would never have guessed it would be so simple...
anyway, how are you & dexter? and, by the way, WHERE are you & dexter? haha, i feel like it's been forever since we've seen you guys! i'm glad you like my meager blog. i'm fairly new to the blogging world and am still in humbled awe of some of the great blog giants out there.
Sarah-Thanks for the tip about "plain" granola. I've never made granola and didn't even think of doing it so simply. I'll definitely try it!
Leah-I'm glad to know it can sit longer than 8 hours. The whole letting milk sit out for a long time kind of creeped me out, so I took care of it right at 8 hours. I won't stress over it so much next time!
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