Why Bother? 2012 - Yogurt

The dairy section of my local grocery store contains at least a hundred different varieties of yogurt.  I'm thinking that this is not unique to my corner of the world.  I'll bet that your local store has a similarly large selection of yogurts.  From fat free to full fat, organic and chemical-rich, flavors varying from strawberry to chocolate to key lime.  With this endless sampling of yogurts it was a big question to answer this week, why make your own yogurt?  I can give you not one, but three reasons.

1. It's so cheap!  That's right, making your own yogurt with save you money.  This is especially true if you want organic yogurt.  Let's do the breakdown.  (All prices are taken from my local Peapod site, prices will vary by region)

1/2 gallon of organic milk - $3.69
1 single serve plain organic yogurt - $0.99
1 single serve plain organic Greek yogurt - $1.99

From my experience, a half gallon of milk will yield approximately six servings of Greek yogurt and 8 servings of regular yogurt.  If you decide to make the entire half gallon of milk into Greek yogurt, you save $8.25! 

If you decide to go the non-organic route...

1 gallon 2% milk - $3.69
1 serving plain yogurt - $0.50 (on sale this week!)
1 serving plain Greek yogurt - $1.25

Servings from 1 gallon of milk - 16 regular yogurts & 12 Greek yogurts
Savings - $4.31 (regular), $11.31 (Greek)

Put that money in your piggy bank!

2. It's so easy!  If you have a food thermometer, this is a breeze to do.  If you are without thermometer, do not worry.  You can still do this.  The hands on time for preparing this yogurt was so minimal, I was able to do several other things at the same time.  If you can put milk in a pot, the transfer it to a jar, you can make yogurt. 

If you own any of the following - an oven, a towel & a pot, a yogurt maker or a heating pad - you can make yogurt.

If you have a container of yogurt in your fridge, you can start making yogurt right now.

3. It's so delicious!  I was a little skeptical at first, thinking that my yogurt would come out all funky and I would be wasting my time.  However, once I popped open the jar of my freshly made yogurt, I was a skeptic no more.  I dipped my spoon in and tasted the fresh yogurt and active cultures and was pleased at the yogurty flavor.  More intense than most store-bought varieties, you can't get fresher than this.

The flavors options are only as limited as your imagination.  Keep it simple and drizzle on honey, sprinkle with walnuts and cinnamon.  Make it fresh and puree seasonal fruit for a topping.  Take it over the top and blend it with a little sugar and cream cheese. 

There we are, three wonderful reasons to start making your own yogurt!  I have been enjoying fresh Greek yogurt all week with my breakfast and I couldn't be happier.  Would I do it again?  I already have. 

Blackberry Crostata

I really enjoyed this months Daring Baker's Challenge.  So much so that I decided to make it the theme for this week.  I've also been really busy, and crostatas are super easy to make!  For todays installment of the crostata, I decided to bring back summer.  How am I going to do this you ask? 

I'm going to pull out some of my freezer jam.  Blackberry-lemon jam that I canned and put in the freezer back at the peak of blackberry season.  The weather around here is starting to turn cold and I needed a little warming up.  The best part about making summertime jam is enjoying it in these darks days of the fall and winter.  After tasting this crostata, a friend remarked on how bright it was.  A strange, yet appropriate, description of this dessert.

If you didn't preserve any berries this summer don't worry.  Store-bought jam will still fill this crostata perfectly.  I only made minor modifications to the first pasta frolla recipe, omitting the lemon zest.  The blackberry-lemon jam was lemony enough and didn't need back-up in the crust.  If you use plain blackberry jam then you should definitely include the tsp of lemon zest, you'll get a great tang.

So no recipe for today, just refer yourself back to the Pasta Frolla and the Blackberry-lemon jam!  Instead of a lattice top I decided to decorate with cut-out stars, because it was fun!  This one only took 30 minutes in the oven until it was golden.  You can see how it pulled away from the pan, this is what you want.  Eat up and don't forget to vote for your favorite holiday cookie!

Blackberry Jam

If you have never been to Madison, Wisconsin, plan a trip. It might sound like a strange place to visit, but there is so much more so be seen than you can imagine. Originally, I was concerned that I was moving to the middle of nowhere. Cowtown, Wisconsin. Would I find things to do? Were there places to go, things to see? What about food? Are there good restaurants in the Midwest?

The answer to all of these questions is yes. While Madison is technically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded on all sides by miles and miles of fields, it is not nowhere. The city breathes life. If you can’t find something to do in Madison, then you aren’t trying hard enough. I had my own personal favorites while living in the Mad-city (it is a city, second largest one in the state of Wisconsin!) and you should plan your trip around what you want to do.

In the springtime head to the Olbrich botanical gardens to see the flowers. Wander the acres, stop in the herb garden to smell the smells, take a moment at the Thai pavilion or warm up in the conservatory. If you come during the summer, be sure to hit the Art Fair on the Square or the Taste of Madison for a late summer trip. Fall is an excellent time to take a bike ride through the fall leaves, on the miles of bike path that criss cross the city. Don’t come in winter, it’s just too cold. No, really, stay away. Go to Florida.

If you find yourself there anytime between April and November, then head to the Capitol. Saturdays from 6am to 2pm you will find the Dane County Farmers Market. It is a mecca for all things fresh and delicious. You can get fresh fruits and vegetables (organic or not), breads, pastries, honey, cheese and so much more. One of my favorite stalls is (was?) located on Main street. A little white tent filled with jewel-colored jars of jam, jelly and preserves. Sparkling in the sun, these jams are all tantalizing, I longed to fill my pantry with all of them.

I don’t live in Madison anymore, but I still have a farmers market. While not nearly as fantastic as the DCFM, I did manage to find some tasty-looking blackberries this past weekend. More berries than I could possibly eat in one week, but just enough to preserve for the whole year. These berries would be jam and my bright summer days would last me through the dark days of the winter.