I hope you had a fabulous weekend!
We had a lot of fun in the backyard this weekend with the cooler tempetures. It was so much fun to watch the kids catch fireflies outside in the woods in the backyard. Here are a couple of photos I took last week of the kids trying to catch them in jars:
My Instant Pot has a yogurt option that I had been wanting to try for a while. Since it is summer and we don’t have school to run to anymore, I thought it would be a good time to try and make our own yogurt. Plus, the kids like to eat it for breakfast and snack – which results in 2-3 tubs per week. That equals to about $10-12 in yogurt!
Instead, the Instant Pot will turn 6 cups of milk (less than half of a gallon or about $1.50) into 2 tubs of yogurt (instead of paying $6-8). The kids and I all loved the taste of this yogurt and would make it again.
Here is a photo of what we store our yogurt in. I throw these into the dishwasher when we are finished with them and use them for making different colors frosting, making yogurt and taking someone a meal so they don’t have to worry about returning the dishes.
No Instant Pot? That’s fine! If you do not have a Instant Pot, you can still make homemade yogurt. It will require a little more hands on, but nothing too bad.
I tried straining the yogurt with cheesecloth first and it ended up a large mess. The yogurt likes to cling to the cloth. Then, I tried my coffee filters! These worked great! The yogurt comes right off of them as well.
It’s summer and this doesn’t require the house getting hot. Plus the kids can learn about bacteria and you get to save money! It is a win-win 🙂
- 6 cups milk (2% or whole or raw milk)
- 2 Tb. plain yogurt (make sure it contains "active cultures" - most of them do)
- First, scald the milk. In the INSTANT POT , add the milk and hit "yogurt" then "more" so that it says "BOIL" on the front. It doesn't matter if you seal or vent. It will beep when the milk is ready. In the SLOW COOKER, pour the milk and cook on high for 2 hours - make sure the thermometer says 180 degrees. Turn the slow cooker off.
- Second, wait about 1 hour. For both devices, allow the milk to cool to 115 degrees. Once at 115 degrees, stir in the plain yogurt. You can speed this up by putting the container in a bath of ice water.
- Third, push the INSTANT POT button on Yogurt until it says "YOGT". Place the lid on and toggle to "seal". It will count up to 8 hours. After 8 hours the yogurt is finished and ready to cool in the fridge. In the SLOW COOKER, cover the cooker with a large towel with the lid on. The machine is off for 10-12 hours. You will have yogurt now.
- Fourth, put the yogurt in the fridge and eat! If you want thicker or Greek yogurt, Add a colander to a larger bowl. Into the colander, lay the coffee filter or cheesecloth. Fill with yogurt to the top. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge. 1-2 hours later you will have Greek yogurt.
