Day 72 of our Green Year: Making Yogurt

Hey all.
Well, we are both pretty sore from our arduous hike up Mount Roberts yesterday, but Our Green Year waits for no one. Therefore, we decided to make something yummy for our 72nd day, and that is yogurt.

Yogurt is something that tastes great, is healthy and can make great smoothies. However, yogurt is also very expensive. Pushing $3.99 for one container where we are. Therefore, to limit our use of packaging, to re-use containers we have and to be even more self-sufficient, we are going to be making our own yogurt from now on.

Amazingly, it is a really easy process.

You will need one quart of milk, two tablespoons of yogurt.

• First you sterilize the milk by pouring it into a pot and bring it to the point where it is nearly bowling, with small bubbles forming along the edges and with steam rising. Check the temperature of the milk and ensure it is between 82 and 85 Celsius. Do this heating process slowly, while stirring constantly.
• Cool the milk to room temperature while stirring on a regular basis. Check the temperature and do not move forward in the steps until the temperature is below 49 Celsius and above 32 Celsius.
• Let the yogurt sit at room temperature while the milk is cooling.
• Put the yogurt to the milk and then mix them together in containers by pouring the milk into a clean container. Cover each container tightly with a lid.
• Put the containers in the oven (with only pilot light on) or outside so that the temperature gets to about 41 to 49 Celsius. When the yogurt is thick like pudding, it is ready to take out. Do not stir yogurt. The entire incubation process can take eight to 14 hours.
• When ready, place yogurt in the fridge for about one to two weeks. Add flavoring if you want, like blueberries.

It is a long process but it can be worth it when you have some great, homemade yogurt available to you. Thanks to Eryn Wiedner who told us about making our own yogurt.

Day 67 of our Green Year: Reusing Yogurt Containers

In our house, we enjoy organic yogurt with our lunch. It is healthy, tastes great and you can also make some great smoothies out of it. However, this then presents the problem of many yogurt containers beginning to appear around our home. We can't throw them out, we could recycle them, but the rule we have here is "Re-use, then Recycle", so we have found some uses for yogurt containers that will keep us from buying other items.

1. Seed Starters: Yogurt containers make great seed starters because they are small and lightweight, plus easy to grow things in. You can start growing your plants for the spring and summer inside, and have green throughout your home, which then makes the air that much better.
2. Plant Protectors: On that same note, you can cut the bottom of the yogurt container out and use it to protect the plants when they are outside by putting the yogurt container over the plant.
3. Containers For Butter: Layla and I make our own butter, so we need something to put that butter in, and a washed out yogurt container works great for this.
4. Craft Supplies: Layla is big on making crafts, and there seems to be few better things to hold beads and such than a small yogurt container.
5. Leftovers: Store food in the containers when you don't finish your meal.
6. Cookie Dough: You can also store unused cookie dough in here to keep it fresh and free of crusting over.
7. Toothbrush Holder: They are a great toothbrush holder and you can even decorate it for the bathroom.

There are plenty of things that can be done with yogurt containers. Do you know of any? Leave us a comment and let us know what we may have missed!
Have you made something out of a yogurt container? Why not send a photo of it to us so we can put it on our blog. Crwbaird@gmail.com