Orange Drinkable Yogurt

Orange Drinkable Yogurt

A wonderfully refreshing summer drink

Official Post № 6:

This recipe is a follow up recipe for our Yogurty Orange Julius that we posted a few weeks ago.

Back in 2006 and 2007 I was a missionary serving in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a wonderful country full of fantastic people, beautiful scenery, a grand history, and delicious yogurt. One treat that I miss the most is what they call "кисело мляко за пиене" (kiselo mlyako za piene), directly translated as "sour milk for drinking", or, drinkable yogurt.

Strawberry, raspberry, and apricot were the standard three flavors of drinkable yogurt while I was there. Even though orange was not one of the standard flavors, it was too good, and too simple, to pass up.

But, who knew that it was going to be so simple to replicate? Just mix together some orange juice, plain yogurt, and a little sugar!

It turns out to be nice and thick and yogurty. This is what you'll need:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 cup orange juice
• Sugar to taste (we used a couple spoonfuls)

Directions: Blend or whisk all ingredients.

A simple whisking worked well enough to not have to break out the blender. Or, one of those cool blender bottles also works well. Using Greek yogurt? Try a little more orange juice to yogurt ratio if it turns out too thick. Like it better with fresh orange instead of orange juice? Go for it! Tell us why and how in the comments.

Depending on how sweet you like your yogurts, you may not even need to add any to the yogurt and orange juice mixture. 

Plus, it's Mami approved!

Don't worry, we haven't gotten off of the orange juice & yogurt kick yet! In addition to our previous Yogurty Orange Julius post, we're working on an Orange-Banana Yogurt Slushy Smoothie, as well as Orange Frozen Yogurt/Sherbet - both have been tested by friends and proven to be delicious. All are fantastic and easy, and we will post the recipes here in the near future.

Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out!

~Jeff & Mami


Did you miss the fantastic Yogurt Lover Mixed Berry Pancakes recipe from a couple weeks ago?
Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!

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!

Follow our blog with Bloglovin

How to Make Yogurt - The Basics

Blackberry yogurt

Welcome to Yogurt Yogurt Yogurt! As you guessed, most posts are going to be centered on, well, yogurt!


The point of this blog is two-fold:

• Show how easy it is to make your own yogurt, because most instructions out on the web make it sound tough!
• Show off awesome ways to use yogurt in daily recipes. Using yogurt in cooking means tasty, healthy, and inexpensive!

Official Post № 1:

Yogurt Making Basics

• Boil milk.
• Add yogurt start.
• Incubate.
• Done!

That's it! OK, there are some specific temperatures, a need for a live bacteria, and certain durations. But, I try to keep it pretty simple so that I don't have to worry about all of that science-y stuff :)

You will need:

• 2% Milk (I use 7 1/2 cups, but this will depend on how much you will make)
• Other fat contents work as well. We'll talk about that at a different time.
• Yogurt start
• Plain yogurt with live bacteria. If you want a recommendation for a good start, I like Dannon Oikos plain Greek yogurt. It costs a little more than $1 for a small cup. Lets talk about different kinds of yogurt starts at another time.
• About 30 minutes
• Yes, I have it down to an art - milk boiled, cooled, start added, and dishes washed in under 30 minutes. I'm kind of proud of that one! :)

Kitchen items:

• Yogurt maker (optional)
• The yogurt maker helps, but all it does is keep a constant temperature. This can be done without one by wrapping a pot that contains your milk mixture with a blanket or two, then put it in the oven (don't turn it on!). Since ovens are insulated, this will keep its temperature fairly constant. A thermos will also work well because it is so well-insulated.
• Pot for boiling
• Tightly woven strainer
• Plastic fork or whisk
• Another small bowl

Instructions:

Boil milk: This gets rid of unwanted bacteria that can interfere with the good yogurt bacteria during the incubation process. It only needs to reach boiling (or close to it), and does not need to stay at that temperature.
Tips:

• Scalded milk makes the yogurt taste scalded. Ewwww!
• To avoid scalding my milk, I start warming it up in the microwave (10 minutes or so total), then I finish boiling on the stove.
• While your milk is warming up, place a scoop of yogurt in a separate bowl. I use about 1 1/2 tablespoons. This lets the yogurt start warming up to about the same temperature that you will cool the milk to. 
• If you have a yogurt machine, turn it on now to let it warm up.

7 1/2 cups of 2% milk

Our *awesome* stove, complete with "blender" buttons!

Cool milk: Cool the milk down to roughly room temperature.
Tips:

• Prepare a cold water bath to cool your milk quickly. Fill your sink with cold tap water and float the pot with milk in it. This takes roughly 10 minutes, depending on how cold the water bath is.
• Do the pinkie test - stick your pinkie in the milk once it is getting close to room temperature and count to 10. If you can count to 10, this means it is cool enough. Too hot of milk will kill the good yogurt bacteria that you are going to add. Too cold of milk will take a little longer to warm up and is not the end of the world.
• Strain milk through (preferably plastic) strainer to get rid of any inconsistencies.

Add yogurt start: Boiling the milk killed unwanted bacteria. Now it's time to add good bacteria. There are different kinds, and all make good yogurt.
Tips:

• I use about 1 1/2 tablespoons. Slowly whisk your cooled milk into the yogurt start until you have added a cup or so (a plastic fork works great - they say that metal isn't very good for the yogurt bacteria). Pour this mixture into the rest of your cooled milk and gently stir.

That's about a tablespoon and a half of yogurt start

Incubate: An actual yogurt maker keeps this part nice and simple. All this does is keep your to-be yogurt at a constant temperature
Tips:

• For the last couple years we have been incubating our yogurt for 8 hours and 15 minutes. This is something that can be changed depending on how thick or tart you want your yogurt.

Our magic number: 8 hours, 15 minutes.

Refrigerate: I'm not a big fan of warm yogurt. I found this out the first time I made my own yogurt - I was way too excited to wait until it was cool! Cool your brand new yogurt until it's, well, cold, then eat it!

Before you eat all of it...
Make sure to save a spoonful of this yogurt for your next batch. Yogurt cultures can last a long time. Some sources say to get a new start every few cycles, but it's not necessary. I have been using my current start for the past 6 months!

But what now?
So what do I do with plain yogurt? This, my friend, is the main question that we will try and answer in as many ways as possible through this blog. My first recommendation is to toss in some fresh fruit, a little sugar, and a little vanilla. A spoonful of jam and a little vanilla also make a very easy sweet yogurt.

The following is a list of future posts. We will add links here as we post recipes.

• Simple flavorings - Yogurt 'n fruit
• Yogurty Orange Julius
• Frozen yogurt
• Cheese balls
• Yogurt substitutes
• Super healthy (and more importantly, tasty!) yogurt ranch dressing
• Smoothies!
• Greek yogurt
• Lassi
• Baking with yogurt
• Muffins w/ yogurt
• Strawberry banana yogurt cake
• Pancakes
• Soup
• etc.
• etc.
• etc.

That's all folks! Please let me know what does and doesn't make sense. Also, feel free to send in ideas for future topics. Thanks!