Homemade Vanilla Yogurt

A few years ago we discovered Homemade Yogurt.  It is actually easier than you might think, and my whole family loves it.  My pickiest son even asks when I will be making it again because he prefers it to store bought.

I follow the recipe from The Frugal Girl, it takes a gallon of Whole milk, one cup of plain yogurt and 1/2-1 cup of sugar and 2 Tablespoons of vanilla and it lasts for a month in the fridge.
You start out by boiling the milk to 185-195 degrees Fahrenheit.

 Then you let it cool for a bit to 120 degrees Fahrenheit add the sugar, vanilla, and yogurt.  Then pour it into some canning jars (make sure that you boil the canning jars for ten minutes in an inch of water before you pour the yogurt - it sterilizes the jars and makes it so there isn't a huge temperature difference when you pour the still quite warm yogurt mixture in).  I stick my yogurt in my dehydrator at 115 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 hours.

When I first learned about using a dehydrator for making yogurt I just did not understand how those quart and pint jars would fit in one of those round dehydrators with trays and then I learned about square dehydrators that have removable trays that allow you to make yogurt and do things like raise bread dough and sprout things if you want to eat whole foods.  If you lack a dehydrator just stick it in the cooler like The Frugal Girl does and make sure that you check her directions for the how-to.

Then you stick the yogurt in the fridge and you have delicious homemade yogurt to enjoy.

Also in case any of you out there want a great laugh my 1st grader read the caption on one of my photos and asked "Mom why is your blog Chef Dumb Stick?"