YOGURT MAKING SESSION

Today I invited two of my friends and walking buddies for breakfast since they are interested to see how i make my yogurt. 

Earlier on, Cheska, a friend and walking buddy as well who is a cooking aficionado gave us all a yogurt mother liquor.  That made me start making my own yogurt. 

​Oatmeal is my breakfast staple for more than 20 years now. I tried all possible options to make my oatmeal interesting and tasty. Some were not as healthy as I like them to be. I think that this latest concoction is the healthiest and the best so far. 

 I prepare this the night before to let the chia seeds absorb the milk even though the rolled oats and ground flax seeds are cooked ahead. 

MY RECIPE 

1 cup of cooked oatmeal with ground flax seeds

1 cup nonfat milk

1-2 drizzles of honey 

1 heaping tsp of chia seeds 

1 cup yogurt

The yogurt makes the difference, making it creamy especially when the chia seeds expand. 

I have to make my own yogurt since I learned that commercial ones have lots of sugar; and “lite”, version has more sugar to compensate for the lack of fat. 

PROCESS OF YOGURT MAKING 

In a sauce pan, I brought to a near boil a liter of milk to 185 degrees. 

My friend Juliet is holding the sauce pan steady on a water bath to speed up the cool down to 115-120 degrees but not lower. This has to be monitored closely since we don’t want the temperature to lower any farther. 

I added  a sachet of yogurt starter to a cup of the milk from the pan and mixed it well. 

I use this brand of yogurt starter but any brand will do. The box contains 16 sachets. 

I added that to the pan of milk and mixed it thoroughly. 

See Celine ladle the mixture to small containers 

At this point you can add some flavor, vanilla, lemon, honey or your favorite fruits. 

We need to put the containers in a warm place like the range, my oven toaster is big enough so I put them there for the organisms to grow. 

After 8-10 hours, they will solidify and they are ready to be covered and put in the refrigerator. They are best within a week or longer. 

I use one container-full of yogurt for my oatmeal mixture which is good for two servings. 

That’s my breakfast with a slice of papaya and one egg tomato-onion omelet, while I learned to ditch the toast. But if a walking buddy will invite me for breakfast after our walk, oh my goodness, I will need a lot of willpower to control my intake.