EASY Homemade Yogurt

This is probably the coolest thing I have ever done with my slow cooker! Yes, that is right, I made yogurt in my slow cooker. I am so excited to tell everyone about this!

I found the recipe at A Year of Slow Cooking. It is a blog documenting a woman's challenge to use her slow cooker everyday for a year. I think this is the coolest thing ever, since we are all so busy and rarely ever have time to cook good family meals. Plus, the slow cooker is much cheaper to run than an over - it only costs about 2 cents per hour!

Now, on the yogurt, The recipe is for whole milk (AKA vitamin D milk, which by the way has no more vitamin D in it than regular milk) but anyone who knows me knows that I would probably never even consider of purchasing whole milk. At the end of the recipe, Stephanie (the author of the blog mentioned above) mentions you can use unflavored gelatin with a lower fat milk. She also mentions you can strain runny yogurt with a cheesecloth or coffee filters. We had skim milk in the house (of course) so despite all of the warnings on her website about using whole milk for your first time, I decided I try the recipe with skim milk and unflavored gelatin.

The result was a little runny, so I let it sit overnight in a colander lined with coffee filters that I put into a big bowl. If you do this you want to make sure that the colander is not touching the bottom of the bowl - if it is, the liquid won't be able to go anywhere! If the colander is too big for the bowl, your yogurt may strain into your refrigerator; you could place the colander on a smaller bowl and then place all of this into a larger bowl to catch any extra liquid.

I did loose about 1-2 cups of liquid, so the skim milk version does not make all 8 cups. If you really wanted to stick to skim milk, you could add some powdered milk and/or more gelatin to the recipe. This should help thicken the liquid up.Regardless, this is WAY cheaper than purchasing yogurt at the store. We buy 32oz plain yogurt tubs at Aldi's for $1.60, which is an amazing deal (it would be $3 or so at Jewel Osco). We buy 1 gallon of milk for $1.89 at Aldis and the gelatin was about 25 cents a packet. Basically, we got about 2 tubs of yogurt for $1.15. I am going to try this with 2% milk next time; I think it will get a much higher yield.

Ingredients

• 4-6 qt crock pot
• 8 cups (half-gallon) of milk
• 1 packet unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 bath towels

 Directions

1. Turn your crockpot on low and add the milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
2. Unplug the crockpot after the 2 1/2 hours and let sit for 3 hours.
3. Remove 2 cups of milk from the crockpot and replace the lid. Pour the milk into a bowl and add 1 packet of unflavored gelatin (if using low-fat milk) and 1/2 cup yogurt. Whisk well and pour back into crock pot. Whisk everything in the crockpot well and replace the lid.
4. Cover the crockpot with towels. Let stand 8-9 hours.
5. If the yogurt is runny, line a colander with coffee filters or a cheesecloth. Place this into a bowl or pot so that the calendar is not touching the bottom. Scoop the yogurt onto the filters. Let stand in the refrigerator until it reaches the desired consistency. The yogurt closest to the filters will be thicker than the yogurt on top, so you can mix it together for an intermediate consistency.
6. Scoop into containers and store in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. Reserve 1/4 cup for your next batch.

Another Lasagna Idea!

A few weeks ago I posted on the super easy lasagna recipe I made in the slow cooker. That recipe was a little meaty for me, so I wanted to try a little variation. I added vegetables and cut back on the cheese a little too (this recipe yields more, so while the cheese looks about the same in the recipe, it is spread out over more servings). The results – perfect! Jason said it was just as good as the other one…and there were no strings attached on his answer, I promise! The icing on the cake for this recipe is that you do not have to get one pan dirty in the process…that’s right, no stove needed!

Ingredients

• ½ bag frozen spinach, thawed
• Roasted Red Peppers, 2 large halves, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2/3 cups frozen peas, thawed
• 8-10 whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken to fit the crock pot
• 1 jar spaghetti
• 1 cup of water
• Garlic, per your preference
• ¾-1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Mix the spaghetti sauce, water, and garlic together in a bowl. Scoop 1 cup of sauce mixture into the 4 qt crock pot. Top with a layer of noodles. 
2. Top the noodles with sauce, vegetables, and cheese. Add more noodles and repeat with sauce, vegetables, and Parmesan cheese until it is as high as you'd like (reserve the rest of the mozzarella cheese for the top). Be sure to end with sauce and cheese on top. 
3. Cook on low 4-5 hours*.

*I (accidently) left it for about 6 hours and the top cheese was starting to brown. Be sure to take it out before that happens!

Quick Whole Wheat Lasagna - is it possible??

I definitely doubted it. How could lasagna ever be quick; especially the kind made with whole wheat noodles? Normally a pan of lasagna takes me at least 45 minutes to prep. When you boil whole wheat noodles, I usually do 3 at a time and each pot takes 8 minutes or to get just soft enough. If there is meat in the lasagna, it needs to be browned. To maximize flavor, I usually saute the vegetables first as well. Needless to say it is a wonderful afternoon in the kitchen if I am in the mood to cook, but is a hassle when I'm crunched for time...until now.

I was reading my monthly Food and Family when I saw a recipe for slow cooker lasagna. I had heard of it before, but had never tried it. Life has been busier than ever lately, so I figured, why not? The results - amazing!! It tastes like something from a restaurant and took a total of 15 minutes to prep the night before! I don't know if I will ever go back to the traditional method!

Slow Cooker Lasagna
From Kraft Food and Family

Ingredients

• 20 ounces ground turkey
• 1 small onion, diced
• 6-8 whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken to fit the crock pot
• 1 jar spaghetti
• 1 cup of water
• Garlic, per your preference
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Any vegetables you like!

Directions

1. Brown the ground turkey with the diced onion. Remove from heat.
2. Add the spaghetti sauce, garlic, and one cup of water to the pan (I put the water into the spaghetti jar so that I could get all of the sauce out). Mix well. 
3. Scoop 1 cup of sauce mixture into the 4 qt crock pot. Top with a layer of noodles.
4. Top the noodles with sauce and cheese. Add more noodles and repeat until it is as high as you'd like. Be sure to end with sauce and cheese on top.
5. Refrigerate overnight*. Cook on low 4-6 hours.

*I refrigerated it, but it isn't necessary. The original recipe calls for plain white noodles, so it is possible that if you don't refrigerate it you will need to cook it for longer than you would if you had let it soak overnight.

Vegetable and Bean Soup

I have never met someone who loves soup more than Jason. The year before we were married and he was living with some friend in Oshkosh, WI, he would bring soup for lunch every single day. While I enjoy soup, I usually only like to have one bowl a week. Since we have been married, we have stopped buy canned soup (unless it is the low-sodium version and is on sale for $1 per can). Instead, once the first chill of fall comes I start up the crock pot and begin making batch after batch of soup and chili. One crock pot usually makes 4 large yogurt containers worth of soup (we eat a lot of yogurt, so we save the containers). I will keep two in the refrigerator and two in the freezer for later. Soup is fool-proof and works well with pretty much any items we have on hand. I try to always use fresh ingredients, but this is not always possible, so I usually keep extra cans of diced tomatoes, beans, and frozen vegetables on hand. If you use dry beans, be sure to soak them overnight before using them. This well help get some of the gas out and prepare them for cooking. Since the weather finally seems to be turning around (55F and sunny today!) I decided it was a good day for one last batch of soup. Soup can really be anything you want, so if you don't have or like some of these ingredients, feel free to substitute something else.

Vegetable and Bean Soup

Makes about 1 gallon of soup

Ingredients

• 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes (I used an onion and green pepper seasoning and garlic, oregano and basil seasoning)
• 2 cans of water (use the tomato cans)
• 4 stalks of celery
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn
• 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas
• 1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed well 
• 1 can of great northern beans, drained and rinsed well 
• 2 tsp garlic
• 1/2 tsp pepper
•  1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin

Directions

Place all of the ingredients in a 4-5 quart crock pot. Stir well. Cover and cook on the LOW setting for 5 hours. If you use dry beans, you may need to cook it longer. 

Creamy Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

These are the creamiest, easiest, and tastiest mashed potatoes I think I have ever had! I was watching food network one day while I was at the gym (since we don't have cable here) and the host was talking about how he loves creamy mashed potatoes and people often ask him if he lightens them ever. He said, "No, never. This is how I like my mashed potatoes and I would rather have them they way I like them and maybe have a little less instead of needing to eat three pound of 'light' potatoes just to feel satisfied." I think this is so true! If you have troubles stopping with just a serving, try putting the serving of potatoes on your plate and then putting the rest in the refrigerator. This little trick could help a lot, because if you really aren't hungry, you probably won't go through the hassle of warming up more potatoes. For me, if the tasty food is sitting on the table in case someone wants seconds, I will pick at it even if I am full...if it is in the refrigerator, I usually never go for seconds. Just a thought :)



Ingredients
-2 pound of red potatoes, halved, NOT peeled
-1 cup of fat free sour cream
-1 tbsp Dijon mustard
-2 tsp garlic
-pinch of salt and pepper


Directions
Toss the potatoes in the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to a 3-4 serving crock pot and cook on low for 4-5 hours, or until the potatoes are soft enough to mash. Mash with a potato masher and enjoy!

Vegetable Soup

Soup is another crock pot favorite. It is one of the easiest things to make, so I rarely ever buy canned soup.


Ingredients
It is really whatever you want and can fit in your crock pot! Here is what I used:
-1 24-oz can of diced tomatoes
-1 15oz can of black bean
-1 15oz can of white beans
-1 yellow onion, diced
-3 large carrots, chopped
-1 large zucchini
-1 cup of frozen green beans, unthawed
-4 tsp vegetable bouillon cub powder
-1 cup of water (plus more if you think it needs it)


Directions
Place all of the ingredients, except the last two, in a 5-6 serving crock pot. Mix the bouillon cube powder with the water until the clumps are gone. Pour over the ingredients in the crock pot. Cook on low for 5-8 hours.

Beef Roast

My crock pot is my lifesaver. Yesterday it took me a whole 10 minutes to make Jason's dinner for the next few nights. Beef Roast was on sale on Monday for $2.99/pound, so I figured I would make one of Jason's favorite meals. Here is how easy it really is:


Ingredients

-2 pounds beef roast, your choice of cut (crock pots cook slow, so a less tender cut could still be okay)
-1/4 cup water
-1 package of marinade of your choice...I used Grill Mates Tomato, Basil, and Garlic
-2-3 pound of red potatoes, washed, NOT peeled, and cut in half
-1 yellow onion, cut in 1/2 and then chopped into strips
-4 large carrots, diced into wheels

Directions:
In a 3-4 serving. crock pot, place the beef roast in the center. Put halves of potatoes in the space around the beef roast. Add water and marinade and top with the remaining vegetables. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Crock Pot Pork Chops

Cooking with a crock-pot is probably the easiest thing I have ever done. The whole hands-on process takes about 15 minutes and you need to try pretty hard to mess it up. We like to cook crock-pot meals on days when I work during the day and Jason works at night and needs to take a lunch.

Most of my crock-pot meals are just thrown together and don't follow a recipe; I usually use whatever we have lying around.



Ingredients
-2 pounds red potatoes, halved
-4 whole carrots, chunked
-1 large white onion, diced
-2 large zucchinis, cut into discs
-3 pork chops (a little more than 1 pound)
-1 tsp ground cloves
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1 tsp oregano
-water

Directions

1. Add about 1/2 the vegetables to the crockpot; add the pork chops in a layer and cover with seasonings. Top with the remaining vegetables. Add about 1/2 cup of water. You can add more if you would like, or you can add some later on.
   
2. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. I usually check on it 1/2 way though to see how it is looking. As long as the pork reads 165F (which is will FOR SURE after 7 hours!) it is done. The longer you cook it the more the flavors blend together.