Your Own Yogurt

For those of who who saw me on Breakfast Television this morning, and want the recipe for home-made yogurt, I'll save you the trouble of scrolling down and reprint it here.It's super easy.Take about 1/4 cup of store-bought plain yogurt with active culture from the fridge and bring it up to room temp. You need this as a starter. Pour about 4 cups of milk (I use 2 per cent) into a pan and heat it to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. (You can also  use powered milk.)  Let the milk cool to between 108 and 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir in the yogurt, and then pour the mix into a wide-mouthed thermos that's been pre-warmed with hot water. Let it sit for between four and eight hours. For a sweet treat, I like to add a heaping dollop  of  sweetened condensed milk and a teaspoon of real vanilla extract.(Instead of using store-bought yogurt as a starter, you can also buy live active culture from a health food store such Noah’s Natural Foods. You'll spend about $4 for 30-gram package that makes about six litres of yogurt, and follow the directions on the package.)  Either way, it's economical and too yummy!

I got the basics for this recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (my FAV new cookbook) available at Chapters and at independent booksellers such as the Cookbook Store for about $29. For more great ideas, come and see my seminars tomorrow at 2:30 and 7 p.m. at the International Home and Garden Show.  Heads up - I've got some great giveaways!