YOGURT

Frugal is a word that is sometimes applied to my spending habits. I like to think of myself as innovative. Novel. Prudent. Bill would sometimes like to say 'cheap' but I don't hardly allow that.

Anywhohow! I make my own yogurt. I have it for breakfast every day. I do the kind with the "unique probiotic strain of bifidobacteria" as found in Dannon's Activia. The website says it plays a role in my intestinal ecosystem. I didn't know my intestines had an ecosystem. I do know that yogurt is good for the digestive system. And I do know that it is expensive. And most yogurts contain a lot of stuff unnecessary for my health. When I make my own, I know what's in it. Almost. I haven't as yet just ordered some plain garbage free starter. I use one container of Light vanilla Activia to a half gallon of fat free milk. And the fat free milk is Hood's Simply Special, but I assume that any fat free milk will do.

I put a half gallon of milk on low heat and bring it to 170 degrees F. Then I take if off the heat and let it cool to 110. While the cooling process is happening, three quart mason jars are half filled with water and heated in the microwave for seven minutes on high. Then I dump this very warm water into a cooler that is just the size to hold the three mason jars.

When the milk mixture has almost reached 110, I stir in one cup of dry non fat milk granules, one third cup Splenda, and a dribble of vanilla extract. This combination works for me. A container of Activia yogurt is dumped into a two cup Pyrex measuring cup and some of the milk is poured in, stirred to mix and then poured back into the milk and stirred slowly, just enough to mix it all together. Distribute into the three mason jars, screw on the caps, place in the cooler -- which is now a 'warmer' -- and close.

Leave the warmer someplace where is will not be disturbed. I put it on a stuffed chair in the sitting room and cover it with a comforter. (My house is cold. 67 degrees.) Forget about it. Well, forget about it for several hours anyway. I have actually forgotten about it and finally retrieved it after thirteen hours. But it was still perfect. Six to eight hours is good. Then it goes into the frig.

When I have used the fourth of the Activia containers of yogurt, I save half a cup from the top of the third container of yogurt to be the 'starter' for the next batch. I think you can do this three or four times before it peters out. A batch of yogurt lasts me about ten days, maybe a little more. The process is time consuming only in the fact that you have to be around and watch the temperatures. There are a cazillion combinations of this process, I just put together what I had and what I could do. Works for me!

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