Recipes — Recipe
Easy Crockpot Yogurt
I absolutely love recipes like this that require very little actual work, and can just be doing their thing in the background of everyday life. Homemade yogurt is so easy and delicious, plus it is a fraction of the cost of store bought yogurt! But the number one reason that I chose to make it for my family is to avoid all of the sugars, artificial ingredients, gums and stablizers that are in store bought yogurt.
My family loves yogurt. In fact I think yogurt was one of the only sources of protein my son would eat until he was about 4 years old! I wish so bad that I had started our raw dairy journey when my kids were tiny for that reason! Everytime I make a new food out of the raw milk from our goats and check another product off of the shopping list forever, I do a little happy dance!
This recipe is highly customizable and basically makes itself. You essentially just use your slow cooker to scald the milk and then the heavy warm crock radiates heat all day (or night) long to help culture your new batch of yogurt. The hands-on time is about 5 minutes, though the waiting time is about 15 hours. I like to start this in the afternoon so that it's ready to sit for its long 8-12 hour warm resting period overnight. We then wake up to fresh yogurt and I'll serve it with fresh fruit and some homemade granola.
If you would like a thicker, greek style yogurt I recommend straining this yogurt through 3-4 layers of cheese cloth for a few hours too. To do this, simply set a large colander in a bowl, line it with cheese cloth, and then pour the yogurt in from the slow cooker. Cover it with a clean dish towel and let it sit for a few hours until it's the consistency that you like. Do note that the yogurt will also thicken some when refrigerated. Play around with it until you figure out how thick or how thin you prefer your yogurt and make notes. I personally like a thinner yogurt, and want to have as much yogurt as possible from each batch. If you strain the whey out, you will have less yogurt in the end.
- I'd highly recommend getting a little instant-read thermometer to make homemade yogurt - it's all about the temperature! I use this digital thermometer all the time.
- The goal is to scald the milk which takes place around 180 degrees. So you could check it with a thermometer the first time to see if the "warm" setting is warm enough or if maybe an hour and 45 minutes would work on low. Once you figure it out, I don’t think you would have to use the thermometer every time.
- After the milk is scalded, the waiting time is meant to bring the milk down to around 115-110 degrees so that it’s still warm but won’t kill your yogurt culture!
Homemade Yogurt
Homemade Vanilla Extract Recipe
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Making Goat Cheese (Chevre)
One of the ways we use our fresh goats milk from our adorable little Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats is for making cheese. Recipe BELOW
I use the half gallon mason jars to store our fresh milk, and when I have 2 full ones it’s time to make some cheese!
Making goat cheese (or Chèvre) is so much easier than it seems like it should be. It's a task that can really be happening in the background of life, as it sits to culture and drain. It seems like it should be a complicated process, but when I went to make it for the first time I was like “Really? That’s it?”
Growing up in a suburban area, in a culture of convenience and only getting food from the grocery store, I feel like I have had that feeling with so many things. When you are only exposed to the end product, you never really question how it got made. It’s all a mystery. Growing, raising, processing, and making my own food has been such a process of discovery for me!! I am now really enjoying demystifying it for others!
When you make cheese, you end up with 2 products in the end, the cheese and the left over liquid called whey. In fact, the majority of what you will get from your gallon of milk that you start with will be whey. There are many uses for whey in baking and cooking, or you can feed it to your chickens, pigs, or dogs as a great source of nutrients. I really really dislike pouring it down the drain. If nothing else, pour it in your garden soil!! This last year we raised pigs for pork, and their very favorite thing was my extra old curdled milk (I call it pig cheese now) or whey poured over their food. I actually miss having them around for that reason. Absolutely nothing went to waste!!!
The cheese you and up with can be put in a mold if you’d like it to be a certain shape, I have linked some cheese molds here. Or you can just put it in an air tight container in the refrigerator. My favorite is grabbing some fresh chives and garlic, chopping it up really small and mixing it in!! It’s delicious!! I also love plain chèvre with Joe’s smoked salmon when we have that.
Here is a link to some cheese making supplies and the cultures I love to use!
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Our little herd of dairy goats (4 ) has been such a huge addition to our homestead! They are easy and inexpensive to care for, and the output and reward is huge!!! We have 4 breedings planned for this spring, so if you are interested in adding babies from our farm to your family, you can find more info here and please contact me directly so I can put you on our list!!
I also have added a consultation service to my website, so you can book a session with me and I will help you through FaceTime figure out how to add goats or chickens to your property no matter how small or large!! More Info here
Ginger Bread Cookie Recipe
If you haven’t made gingerbread before, it is just like sugar cookie dough, where you have to mix the dough and then refrigerate it for a few hours so it is firm enough to be workable. My little trick to having it get cold faster is to split the dough into two or three portions, wrap individually in some food grade plastic or a ziplock bag, and flatten it out a bit so it’s thinner.
Breakfast Cookie Recipe
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Egg Nog Recipe
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Home made chili recipe from pivot farm. Comfort food at it's finest