Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Real, Whole Food~ Homemade Yogurt & Mayo!




We are on a 'real food' journey in our home. We are slowly moving toward eating only real, whole food that promotes health in our bodies. Moving completely away from processed foods. We have never been a 'junk food' family, so the changes are not drastic. However, we have decided to start making some of our regularly consumed foods from scratch, e.g., bread. My hubby started making our bread about 6 months ago. He has it down now...the consistency is amazing and it taste so yummy!! The health benefits of making your own bread our numerous...read HERE. It is hard for me to eat store bought bread now, even the 'healthy' kind. 

I have wanted to try homemade yogurt for a long time. I have fond childhood memories of my mom's delicious homemade yogurt! I'm sure I'm not alone here, didn't EVERY 70's kitchen have a  yogurt maker?   I think it came standard, like the avocado-green dishwasher. Ours looked like the one above (I know someone else is saying, "YES!"). Seeing this picture makes me feel fuzzy and warm inside...it's amazing how pictures can instantly trigger our memories!


Anyway, on my quest to find a good yogurt maker, I came across a recipe for 'crock-pot yogurt' and I got so excited that I squealed! Crock-pot?!...I can do that ~! I asked my hubby if his mom made yogurt and he quickly said yes [he, too, grew up in the 70s], but he thought it was disgusting. Perhaps his mom should have called my mom! ;)


I found the recipe HERE.  I was a little hesitate, perhaps skeptical, to try it because it seemed too easy...could it be good? But that's a silly reason to not try something, so one day this past week I decided to go for it!  And boy am I glad I did! It was to set for 8+ hours, so I made it late in the day and left it sitting out overnight. I woke early and could hardly wait to 'test taste' it. The results were perfectly amazing! My consistency was a little thinner than I wanted, so I drained out the whey [using a colander and coffee liner]. I ended up with wonderful, thick greek-style yogurt! And as a bonus...my hubby used the whey to make homemade mayonnaise! 




Turns out you can do a LOT with whey. It's very healthy...full of protein, vitamins, minerals, & enzymes! The Prairie Homestead, another blog I love, gives you 16 ways to use whey! And this is the homemade recipe for mayo:


Ingredients:
2-3 egg yolks (farm fresh are best!)
½ tsp. mustard
1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice 
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. celtic sea salt
¾ c. oil- hemp or grapeseed (I use grapeseed)
2 Tbl. whey


Directions:
1. Combine everything EXCEPT the oil into a container large enough for your stick blender to go into. *You will need a stick blender for this recipe (you can make it in a food processor, but it's a LOT harder and the results are not as good). It's a great kitchen tool that I put off buying for a long time, now I can hardly live without it and I wish I would have got it sooner! 
2. Use your stick blender to mix until creamy.
3. While blending, add the oil in small (teaspoon at a time) increments and mix until it’s homogenized. Pour oil with one hand and with the other lift the blender up and down as it’s blending- the quick up and down motion helps the mixture to homogenize, and it will thicken right up. That's it! 
Important: Leave out on the counter for 7 hours to make it lacto fermented (friendly bacteria)...the lactobacillus probiotics in the whey will multiply and change the mayo from a simple condiment into a probiotic!  After the 7 hours, store in the refrigerator.  It will last for several months with whey and about 2 weeks without.


Please note: my recipe does not include partially hydrogenated soybean oil and phosphoric acid! Thank goodness!! ;)

EnJOY! 



4 comments:

Anne Marie said...

I am going to follow right along behind you on the whole food way of life. We have been enjoying homemade yogurt smoothies with our organic strawberries for over a week and love it. I hope I never have to buy store bought yogurt again. Keep sharing tips and new ways to have a whole food lifestyle.

Unknown said...

Ooooh....thanks, Anne Marie! I totally forgot that I can put the yogurt in my strawberry smoothies!! Made some this morning & they were SO yummy!!! :) I will keep posting tips and we can do this ' journey' together! John's eggs sure are a huge blessing to us!

Mimi said...

Kris, Where did you get your starter to make your crock pot yogurt? I don't know if there's any at the grocery store or not & not really wanting to have to drive into Tyler. We have Greek yogurt that we bought at store but not sure it's good for a starter. Prob not.
Love, Mom

Mimi said...

Okay, I read that any that have the live & active cultures seal are good. Our Greek Gods has that but the only problem is that it has 280 calories per serving & we're supposed to look for 180 cal or less. Will see what I can find. I think this being Vanilla Honey is the problem so will look at the plain ones. Can always add a little stevia or honey later. :)