Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Slow Cooker Greek Yoghurt

I had another successful attempt with making Greek yoghurt. Tuesday has become Make Yoghurt Day, so this morning I can jar up my new supply and enjoy it for one week.

While trying to sell our agaves on Saturday, I did a little shopping. I found a small slow cooker (crock pot) that looked brand new and had a removable pot for $3. After cleaning it up ( not dirty, just dusty) and testing it out, I used it yesterday to make my yoghurt. The little white ceramic pot holds 8 cups of liquid, so that is perfect for the half gallon of milk.

After 2 hours on low and up to 180 degrees F, the milk was at the correct temp. I cooled it down to 110 and added my live yoghurt culture from last week's yoghurt and put the entire thing to bed in three big towels in the warm pantry for 8 hours. Last night before going to bed myself, I put the covered pot in the fridge to cool completely. That was much easier, since the pot could be removed from the machine.

This morning I saved a small jelly jar of yoghurt for next week's culture and began the straining process in a strainer with coffee filters. I will probably need to empty out the drained whey a couple of times, but basically my Greek yoghurt is just about ready to jar up and enjoy this next week.

Now for some real food from Just Plain Cooking:

Dirty Rice (Memaw's)

3 tablespoons cooking oil
2 medium onions
4 toes garlic
2 ribs celery
3 shallots
2 tablespoons parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound chopped chicken livers
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 beef bouillon cube (dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water) or 1/2 cup beef bouillon soup
3 cups cooked rice

Chop onions, celery, and shallots. To heated cooking oil, add onions, celery, and shallots. Sauté until soft, at least 10 minutes.

Add chopped livers, ground beef, parsley, and garlic. After browning meat thoroughly, add liquids. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Add to rice and mix well.

Good with beef or fowl. Great with barbecue.


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