Making Yogurt for Jack

When Jack first started eating solid foods, we tried yogurt as one of his first foods. To say he loved it can't quite explain what a success it was! He got to the point where he would see the Yo Baby container and begin squealing with delight. As a matter of fact, he recognized the container so well that we were able to put new and unpopular foods in an empty Yo Baby container to get him to eat them.

A few months ago, I got tired of paying $6.49, or whatever the Walmart sale price was, for 6 4 oz. containers, and driving across town to the only non membership grocery store who sells Yo Baby. I'm not opposed to using whole milk plain yogurt in a big tub at our regular grocery store, but have you ever looked for that? EVERYTHING is non-fat or low fat, and Jack's growing brain needs the fat from whole milk. So, I decided that I would try to make yogurt from my pumped milk. I used freeze dried live cultures, but it didn't work. And I was very upset that I had wasted a quart of milk- that's a lot to pump!

Anyhow, I recently decided to try it again... with plain old whole milk, since that's what the Yo Baby is made from, and since the American Academy of Pediatrics recently doubled the amount of Vitamin D a child needs daily. This time it worked fabulously, Jack loves it, and I get to control what goes in it... no more sugar or preservatives for Jack!

So here's how you do it!

• Heat a quart of milk in a glass container in a pot full of water, kind of a make-shift double boiler. You want to heat fairly slowly so it doesn't scald. Heat to 185 degrees to kill all the bacteria.
• Place heated milk on a trivet in the fridge to cool the milk to about 110 degrees. This is the ideal incubating temperature.
• Next add 2 tbsp. yogurt starter. This can be plain store bought yogurt, yogurt from a previous batch, or freeze- dried yogurt cultures. The idea is to get the live cultures in there. You can also add 1/4 c of Nonfat Dry Milk .

• Put the glass jars in a crockpot filled with water, turned to warm. The temp should hover around 100 degrees. Put a towel over the jar(s) and let incubate for 6-10 hours. The longer it sits, the thicker it gets, but also the more tangy. I tend to take it out at the 6 hour mark, because it's sweeter that way, and I've taken care of the thickening with the dry milk.

It's that easy! Jack will eat it plain, but I usually make different fruit and veggie purees to mix in. This summer I made them from fresh, but right now I'm using frozen produce. Jack generally eats this for breakfast every morning. I mix about a tablespoon of baby oatmeal (already cooked so no need to heat), a tablespoon of puree, and three or four tablespoons of yogurt, and it makes a great meal. He's currently enjoying a rotation of the following purees: pears, peaches, mixed berries, pumpkin (his current favorite), and apples. Seriously, it looks so good sometimes I finish what he doesn't (which usually isn't much)!