How to HOMEMADE YOGURT

First off- thank you to our guest blogger for today, Jenna!

(our guest bloggers are awesome, yeah?!) 

I've know her since Mr. What's-His-Name's class for math in Jr. High.   I'm pretty sure I failed that class, (dang you MATH!) but we had a pretty great time writing notes and talking-tee-hee-hee!

I saw her post on FB and immediately knew I HAD to have her share her healthy yogurt makin' talent with you all!  

And for Healthy Food Week? PERFECT!

Without further ado...

Jenna!

Oh boy, Where to begin?

Ashlie had recently contacted me because she had read my facebook status about me making homemade yogurt. Why was I attempting such a thing? Well, there is few things I actually excel in in life. In fact for the most part I am horrible at way too many things. For example, I have tried over and over the be a pet owner and after a few miserable and traumatic failed attempts I began to realize that just wasn't for me. (Let just say if we have our pets in Heaven I'll have a 1000 fish a few dogs and even a crab that I just flushed down the toilet) But for all the millions of things I am horrible at in life I have a few good things I excel in, one being eating healthy. I grew up in a home where every meal was made from scratch and for the most part they were relatively pretty healthy. I learned my basic habits there, but I didn't put them into play until I had children. I had once read a study on cancer and it had said that 70% of cancer cases are due to you're diet! 70% People!!! This is huge! (Whether this is true or not, it lit the fire under my butt!)

Ok, back to the yogurt...I have a son who LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, yogurt and would eat it for Breakfast, brunch, snack, lunch, Snack, Linner, Dinner, Midnight snack...You get the point, he would base a diet around yogurt. However, it is a rare occurrence when we have yogurt in our house for two reasons:

1. It's doesn't fit in to my grocery budget. (It's way over priced if you ask me!)

2. It truly is unhealthy for you (GASP) I know "they" say it's healthy! Who really is "they" anyway?

If we understood what was contained in that tiny packaged container we would throw it all away. But because I'm the loving mom who can't stand to let her little boy down I figured I'd find another alternative for his yogurt fetish.

Oh and did I mention it's SUPER EASY and SUPER CHEAP? Well it is!

Ok here we go...You don't even need to write
this down, YEP it's that Easy!

Ingredients you will need: (you may have seen other varieties, but this is the way I like it)

--8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk--pasteurized and homogenized

is fine, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized. (The fattier the milk the thicker the yogurt will be. I use 2% for the kids and Husband, I use skim for me!)

--1/2 cup store-bought natural, live/active culture plain yogurt (you need to have a starter. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter) I actually have used vanilla and it works just great.

--frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring

--thick bath towel

The Directions.

This takes a while. Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor.
Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add and add the entire half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Unplug your crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.
When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt. Then dump the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.

Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.

Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.

In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

Chill in a plastic container(s) in the refrigerator. Your fresh yogurt will last 7-10 days. Save 1/2 cup as a starter to make a new batch.

Now here is the part that gets tricky and you can use your own judgment on what you care to do. You will want to add some sort of sweetener. I just add fruit and it's is sweet enough for our family. (I don't add sugar to anything, so my kids are use to that)

In my opinion adding Honey would be good or liquid stevia. But please, pretty pretty pretty please don't add sugar or splenda:)

My favorite thing to do with the yogurt is make a smoothy! I love cream based smoothies. I add a little yogurt, a little fruit oh heck and a little spinach and you've got a great healthy smoothy! (my kids love it too AND they know there is spinach in there! Wahoo)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! I was shaking with excitement when I made this, it may be the topic of conversation for me for the next month or so!

Breakfast On-The-Go!

I am not a morning person. {yawn}

I dislike having to get up early at all and go to work/school.

I also have been eating breakfast in my car for the last 7 *eek* almost 8 years. 

You hear that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it's often the most neglected. So instead of filling up your coffee hot chocolate mug full of Marshmallow Mateys or Cocoa Puffs, and hitting the road, we're gonna learn some recipes on how to be healthy- 

On The Go...

First we have a Fruit, Cheese and Walnut Cup. And it is just that:

 fruit (apples, grapes)

your favorite cheese³ 

(That's a little mathematical humor for cubed-ha!)

and walnuts-not candied-we're trying to be healthy here!

A great snack attack that fits perfectly in your mug. 

Next: A PB Waffle.

Need: Peanut Butter and

{preferably} a whole wheat waffle. 

TIP:Here at my house we don't eat a ton of waffles and when we do it's a Saturday, but I will usually make extra and FREEZE them for later.  

Fact:*Rhonda {our mom} makes the best whole wheat waffles in the whole weerld!  And she always makes them when us kids come home. Yum-o!

Dress your waffle up with PB; adding dried fruit or nuts if you're feeling a little wild and Enjoy!

Banana Shakn' Berries

Nesicito: Un Banana

Berries of your choice: Blue, Marion, Rasp, Straw, ect.

Yougurt: A berry, lemón, or vanilla style

Leche or Milk- for all you non-spanish speaking peeps
A **beso (kiss) of honey.

Mix it all up in your blenda and make a splenda breakfast for you and your Glenda...

{Lucky for you if you really know a Glenda, I didn't know what else rhymed with splenda and blenda.}

**Please excuse all my spanish.  I'll feeling a little rusty since my two semesters at BSU.  I'm pretty much fluent, but I just didn't want to overwhelm you with my awesome spanish-ness...Don't be surprised if I slip a word aquí and there, I'm practicing to be a professional ;)

Bear with me. We've got two more Ü

Mornings. Ugg.  Pizza. Yum!

Morning+Pizza = A great day ahead of you.

Have some old french bread? (not moldy-that'd be gross.  Just some left over from spaghetti night) 

Or some plain ol' crusty bread will do

Ricotta

Tomatoes

EVOO (as Rachel Ray terms it)

S&P
(salt and pepper)

Throw it all on a small cookie sheet WITH aluminum foil-for easy clean up

Broil.

  *I always forget I'm broiling and always burn my stuff.  So be sure to keep an eye on it.  It should only take a couple mins.

**You can also make this an afternooner snack-just add some spinach- yeah?!

Last one-phew!

I only picked this one as my favorite because it is and sounds so {trulie} DELISH!

Get this: a Cereal Parfait.

You will need: 
Cereal

Yogurt

Berries

The possibilities are endless.

No more boring ugg breakfast on your way to school/work or whenever!

I'm so happy! Now I can feel good about waking up a couple minutes earlier and making something good AND healthy!

How do you eat on the go? Got any more tips? Give us a holla!
And don't forget to enter our giveaway ending this Saturday!

WHEW!

Did everyone survive Exercise week??
We both Survived {barely} our first week of Jillian and P90X! We still got your back ladies!

(did everyone have a great mothers day?)

I hope you were as motivated by our guest bloggers as we were. Aren't they amazing? 

That's why we love blogging so much. 

There are so many people out there who can relate to what you are going through. 

{WE LOVE YOU BLOGGY FRIENDS!}

We're so grateful for the opportunity we have to share our experiences with you all and get Great feedback in return. We LOVE knowing we're not the only ones going through these {life} situations. It's such a joy and comfort to both of us.

OK (sorry for the mushy mushy, we are just so grateful for you all) 

ANYWAYS, Let's review. 

Week 1-curve your sugar cravings: Check

Week 2- curve sugar cravings AND start exercising: check

Week 3- HEALTHY EATING! eating healthy, choosing healthy foods, foods that are healthy..

(alrighty, let's be honest here...since we both grew up at our grandma's candy shop, this is one of our harder topics to grasp. Maybe if we say healthy eating enough times it will click in our brains. hmm )  It's just, when we see that plate of french fries or that delicious piece of strawberry pie, or that ice cream covered cookie with Carmel and whip cream and chocolate syrup on top (ok we're getting a little carried away here) 

That GB* is lookin' pretty darn good compared to a plate of salad.

Am I right? Or am I right?

*(a little review if you haven't been keeping up;

GB: ghetto booty: big and round tushie-not the same as pirate booty...)

Well, ALL THIS IS GONNA CHANGE!
This week, we've got a few recipes and tips to share that will hopefully make
eating healthier not seem like such a chore. 

(if you have any healthy recipes you'd like to share, please do! Either on here, or e-mail we'd love to try them).

We also have a HUGE MOTIVATOR for you to get eating healthy, along with curving those sugar cravings and keep up with the exercise.... wanna know what it is??

.................

it's

...............

a

.......... 

GIVEAWAY!!

.....................

We'll be posting it later today!

Here's a little glimpse into the goodies You could win...

..

You've only got THIS WEEK to enter!

Good luck to you all and keep checking back for some yummy recipes and fun healthy eating tips!

{much love bloggy friends}