Yogurt Lover Mixed Berry Pancakes

 Yogurt Lover Mixed Berry Pancakes

No butter, no oil!

Official Post № 5:

Over the past year or so, Mami and I have tried a number of pancake recipes that include yogurt. Most were decent. Some were, well, meh. But, just the other day we found a recipe that has made our top list! They turned out so well, that we've eaten them for four days in a row!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt*
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar*
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 cup or so fresh or frozen berries**

*You don't have to use plain yogurt for this recipe - you can add your favorite fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt instead. Depending on the sweetness of the yogurt you use, alter the amount of sugar in the recipe.
**We recommend blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries. The last couple times we used a combination of blueberries and raspberries.

Directions: Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the yogurt, egg, vanilla, and milk. Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients. Right before frying gently fold in the berries. Fry like you would any other pancake. Eat. Enjoy! Be happy! Makes about 14-16 pancakes.

Expert tip: Add white chocolate chips! :)

Your batter should turn out about the consistency of the following picture. We used some really thick yogurt our first time around, and it turned out too thick. So, we added a couple tablespoons of milk at a time until the batter reached the desired consistency.

If you are using berries (they're also great berry-less!), add them right before you fry your pancakes, and only gently fold them into the batter. As with our recipe for our Blueberry Yogurt Muffin-top Cookies (check 'em out, they're super good!), we microwaved our frozen berries for a few seconds to allow the juices to seep out, which then color the batter. If you don't like it that way, just mix them in still frozen, or use fresh berries!

Gently fold in berries. Most of the purple streaks disappear as the pancakes are fried, but some coloration remains.

While visiting Mami's family in Japan last summer, we picked up a handful of these heart shaped silicon molds from a Japanese dollar store (well, actually a 100 yen store). They're meant for eggs, but work great for pancakes!

And, they turned out great!

The recipe posted above is a modified (and better!) version of a recipe from the Chobani website. Thanks to them for the idea!


Enjoy! Let us know how they turned out! Did you try anything different?

Thanks for checking it out!

~Jeff & Mami

Did you miss the fantastic Yogurty Orange Julius recipe from a couple weeks ago?
Still curious how to make yogurt? It's easy!

Blueberry Yogurt Muffin-top Cookies!

 Blueberry Yogurt Muffin-top Cookies

No butter, no oil!

Official Post № 4:

As we all know, the best part of any muffin is the top. If I had the choice and if I had enough muffin tops, that's all I would eat. So, why make the rest of the muffin if it is just going to be a waste?

Apart from these muffin-top cookies being wonderful, this is a good first example of yogurt as a substitute in baking. Check out the recipe ingredients below, and notice that there is no oil or butter. But how can cookies taste good without butter you ask? Try this recipe and you'll find out!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions: Combine dry ingredients. Beat the eggs, then add all wet ingredients (except blueberries). If using frozen blueberries, microwave for a few seconds (20 would be plenty) to let the juices seep out. Gently stir in blueberries. Bake for roughly 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

You can find the original recipe here that was used as a basis for this recipe.


The batter turns out to be a little thicker than a cake batter, but not as thick as cookies. The only variable here is the thickness of the yogurt you use.

Of course fresh blueberries would be best. But, using frozen berries turns out very well. In fact, that's what we used. If you use frozen, zap them for a few seconds in the microwave (20 seconds or so). This lets out all of those beautifully rich purple juices to color the batter.

We used a baking sheet, but a greased pan would have worked just fine.

They do expand a little while baking, and some of the purple disappears :(

And they turn out oh so good! I was so excited to have Mami try them (she works on Saturdays when I'm home) that I hopped on my bike and rode to her work to have her try them. She was so surprised!

One of the cookies didn't make it long enough for the next picture :) It turns out they're good warm and cool!

Enjoy! Let us know how they turned out! Did you try anything different? Maybe some lemon juice or zest?

Thanks for checking it out!

~Jeff & Mami

Did you miss the fantastic Yogurty Orange Julius recipe from last week?
Still curious how to make your own yogurt?

Yogurty Orange Julius!

 Yogurty Orange Julius:

A wonderfully refreshing summer drink

Official Post № 3:

My spell checker says that yogurty isn't a word. Right click, "Add to dictionary." Now it is!

This idea came from the love of two things: A good ol' Orange Julius, and those drinkable yogurts that you can find at the grocery store. We have experimented with both ideas and both turned out a success. These turned into a wonderfully refreshing drink for the hot summer that has already started here in Bloomington!

This post we will focus on the Yogurty Orange Julius. Check back in a week or so for the drinkable yogurt rendition - we can't decide which one is our favorite.

Yogurty Orange Julius

Recently, Mami and I have been enjoying making Orange Julius as a part of our dinner or simply as a snack. I offered to make one for a friend the other day who is partially lactose intolerant. Many people who are lactose intolerant can eat yogurt, since the bacteria in yogurt breaks down the lactose in milk in the yogurtizing (nope, not a word) process. So why not make a Yogurty Orange Julius? Sure enough, it turned out to be delicious! To us, it tastes like an Orange Creamsicle!

Give it a try and let us know how it worked. Combine the following in a blender of your choice:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 12 or so ice cubes

Directions: Blend it up and enjoy!

So that's it for our first post about yogurt recipes. How did it turn out?

Curious how to make your own yogurt? Check out our directions at this link - it's easy, healthy, inexpensive, and most importantly, it's tasty!

Basic Flavoring

Fresh blackberries

Fresh strawberries

Official Post № 2:

"Holy cow, I just made a half gallon of yogurt, now what?!?"

I'm sure this is the situation that many of you currently face. :) Rest assured, this is the best part! We will offer some suggestions below, but post us a comment with your favorite too!

Fresh Fruit

By far, this is our favorite way to eat our yogurt. Slice up your favorite fresh fruit, add a little sweetener (honey or sugar), add a few drops of vanilla, stir it up, and eat it!

The tried and true:

• Strawberries (our favorite!)
• Raspberries
• Banana (easy and cheap)
• Blackberries
• Kiwi (this one was surprisingly fantastic!)
• Apple (we will add a special recipe for this one later on)
• Pear
• Peach
• Grapes
• Pineapple (not our favorite...)
• Blueberries

Frozen Fruit

When fresh fruit isn't handy, frozen fruit is a good substitute. Just thaw it out a little (zap it in the microwave for a few seconds or run it under hot water), add a little sugar and vanilla to taste.

Jam

No fresh or frozen fruit? Too lazy? Stir in a spoonful or so of jam, and add a couple drops of vanilla. Quick. Easy. Done.

Our homemade strawberry jam. Thanks for the recipe Mom!

Canned Fruit

Canned pears and peaches are our favorites of the canned varieties.

Our personal favorites

Out of all of the above, we do have a few favorites:

• Fresh strawberries
• Strawberry jam
• Canned pear

 Sweetening

This part depends on how sweet you like your yogurt. Some like it unsweetened, just with fruit added. Others like it sweetened. Others like it really sweet. We like it slightly sweet.

Honey is probably the best sweetener, but we often go with just a little bit of sugar.

Vanilla is key

Don't forget the vanilla! Add a drop or two or three when you mix in your fruit. Viola! Delectable yogurt!

Future posts for simple flavorings:

Mock apple pie yogurt

Granola

Future blog posts (include, but not limited to):

Smoothies!

Strawberry yogurt pancakes

Strawberry yogurt banana bread

Lemon poppy seed yogurt muffins (the yogurt makes these so soft and moist!)

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

Thanks! Please share with us some of your favorite flavorings - I'm sure we've been missing out on some!

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