Yogurt | Living in Natures Love

by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP – Living in Natures Love Lifestyles @insideawareness.com

Cream Cheese, Salt & Whey

I am feeling inspired by making cream cheese from our home-made yogurt. It is rewarding as over the years I have not been able to justify spending so much money at the grocery store for these food items. The additional concerns are the additives that are in these products for preserving their shelf-life while they get to the store and then sit before being purchased and consumed.

The joy of beginning to make home-made cream cheese is the potential of pairing ad blending in edibles from the backyard for increased fresh goodness and taste.

Making cream cheese is simple. My only regret is not investigating this recipe sooner.

Equipment

Cheesecloth
Bowl
Funnel or strainer
Recycled Jar

Ingredients

Yogurt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt
herbs & spices for pairing

3 Simple Steps to making Cream Cheese

Yogurt & Whey

Whey, Salt & Filtered Yogurt

Cream Cheese

Place yogurt in cheesecloth inside strainer or large funnel that is set over bowl. Let sit for 3 to 4 hours to strain *whey as it separates from the yogurt. Let it drip into jar and save.
When firmer tie up the ends of the cheese cloth and hang it so the weight of the yogurt will filter and separate more liquid whey. Let sit for 3 to 4 hours or leave overnight.
Remove remaining ball from the cheesecloth and put into bowl. Mix with salt to taste and add any herbs, spices or edibles that you may enjoy flavouring your cream cheese.

Enjoy

Liquid Whey can be used in other recipes:
- culture for home-made yogurt
- fermentation of other foods
- add to soups & stews

Whey is considered a complete protein as it has all 9 essential amino acids and it is low in lactose content.

Whey has also become popular as a supplement to improve muscle protein synthesis and promote the growth of lean muscle mass.

5 reasons to make your own cream cheese

Inexpensive (Free Even)
- If you buy milk and make your own yogurt the only cost is for cheesecloth!
It’s Fresh & you control the ingredients
- I use home-made yogurt to create cream cheese so I choose the type of milk!
It connects you to the food you are eating and its source
- There is pleasure in eating food that you have created from scratch that is easy and beneficial to your health and the health of the planet. Once you begin to develop an interest you may go to the dairy farmers direct to get the freshest milk ingredients!
It’s delicious
A second healthy whole protein is obtained in the process without any additional expenses: Whey!

Cream Cheese – Yellow Food

Make your own Yogurt

Read more from Living In Natures Love on:

Colour Spectrum Diet – Eating for our Chakras
Living Foods: Fermented Salsa, Fermented Kimchi, Fermented Sauerkraut

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Copyright 2014 – 2019 Living in Nature’s Love by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP,

Feldenkrais® Practitioner since 2007, Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement since 2000

by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP–Living in Natures Love Lifestyles insideawareness.com

I was reminded of home-made yogurt when my neighbour served me with some of his this week. He has made yogurt for years and he mentioned he adds dry milk to thicken it into a Greek style. It had a nicer taste than any commercially sold yogurt and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

It was the inspiration to dust off the thermometer and gather up the milk and yogurt. Two ingredients! That all it takes to make yogurt. Milk and a few tablespoons of yogurt to use as a culture.

Ingredients

4 cups of milk
4 tablespoons of yogurt

Heat four cups of milk slowly to 185 degrees and then cool to 115 degrees. Once cool whisk in four tablespoons of yogurt evenly into the warm milk. The yogurt acts as a culture to create a custard like solid.

Once mixed together place somewhere warm to sit for 6 to 8 hours. This could be in a warm oven that has been turned off and oven light left on. If left in cooler space it will take longer for the liquid to become custard like. I have read up to 24 hours.

Kefir is the stage that is pre-custard like when the yogurt culture is active however before it has begun to solidify. This means you can’t spoil a batch. It simply means you have kefir!

Make Cream Cheese from Home-made Yogurt & end up with whey (a whole protein!)

Yogurt – Yellow Food

Yogurt is one of the milk products I enjoy and have continued with in my diet. It is a fermented food which means it is a natural probiotic. A good quality of yogurt can be beneficial for optimal gut health however many commercial yogurts contain sweeteners, artificial flavours and thickeners or pectin. The ingredients that do not lead to good gut health!

Another consideration is what are the cows are being fed that produce the milk the commercial yogurt is made with?

Curious baby cows check out grass labyrinth

Are they free range cows eating grass in the meadows over the summer and home-grown hay like the ones grazing at the Farm of our recent August retreat or are they eating a GMO diet (Genetically Modified)? This a huge consideration in my mind and one I seriously considered when I had my own babies.

A good quality yogurt is high in protein and has the same nutrients as milk; calcium, phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin and vitamin A. Yogurt also has a cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid.

When making your own yogurt you can choose a variety of milks or mild substitutes to experiment with such as *nut and rice milks. Being curious about creating your own can be an adventure and bring some fun back into the kitchen. Seasonal whole foods and sweeteners can be added to your yogurt like fresh or frozen berries, fruits, nuts, honey or molasses and yes even grains! I drizzle plant and flower infused honey I have created through Spring and Summer. Fall into a loving relationship with your food again or find out where to buy food that has been lovingly made!

In my opinion gut health is the building block to good health and could be one of the first considerations during any illness from colds and flues to more serious diagnosis.