R.O.D.-Greek Yogurt

Good morning Illinois! This recipe was requested last night at our meeting.  It is a much less expensive way to eat that wonderful, creamy, thick greek yogurt that many of us love.  I saw this recipe at recipezaar.com.  Their recipe calls for whole milk, this is how I make it. I prefer 2%, but you could use skim, 1% or whole milk, depending on your preference. Homemade Greek Yogurt

Ingredients:

 

 

1 gallon (16 cups) 2% milk

 

1 cup plain yogurt with LIVE CULTURES  (check label)

 

 

 

Instructions: 1. In a pan, bring the milk almost to boiling. 2. Pour into a non-metallic bowl. 3. Cover and allow to cool to between 110 and 120 degrees.  (Takes about ½ hour to 45 minutes) 4. Gently mix in the yogurt. 5. Cover bowl top and bottom with towels to retain warmth as the yogurt sets--8-12 hours, or overnight.  6. Do not disturb until the yogurt thickens. 7. Line a colander with cheesecloth, 2-3 layers. 8. Pour yogurt into lined colander and drain 4-5 hours in refrigerator for thick Greek-like consistency.  It will reduce by about half. 9.  Keeps in refrigerator for 5-7 days. Save one cup for your next batch.

 

**For yogurt cheese (substitute for cream cheese in any recipe, drain even longer, 6-8 hours in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Facts 

 

(I got these from “The Daily Plate” and I am not really sure if they are accurate, they seemed a little off to me.) Recipe makes 8 cups, per cup

 

 

Calories 196; Calories from Fat 94

 

Total Fat 8.5g; Saturated Fat  4.38g; Monounsaturated Fat  0.13g; Polyunsaturated Fat  0.01g; Trans Fat  0.1g; Cholesterol 30mg; Sodium 188.13mg; Potassium 71.63mg; Total Carbohydrate 19g; Dietary Fiber  0g; Sugars  19.5g; Protein 14.13g

Keeping with the Greek theme...

                                                  SPANOKOPITA (spinach pie) filling: 1/2 cup chopped onions 1 cup finely chpped parsley (4 Tblsp dried, my preference) 3 Tblsp dried dill 3 10 oz pkgs frozen chopped spinach, defrosted 3 large eggs, scrambled and chopped fine 4 cups or more to taste Feta cheese, crumbled black pepper to taste (no salt due to feta being salty) layered crust: 1 package Phyllo (Fillo)  (fnd in the frzen bread or desrt section) defrosted melted butter or olive oil and a basting brush large damp kitchen towel Saute onions in 4 Tblsp of olive oil until transparent.  Cook spinach on the stove top (I steam mine).  Press spinach against colander to remove all liquid possible, then chop fine.   Mix all filling ingredients together in a large bowl.  Take XLarge baking pan (11X9X2 inch) and brush with butter or oil.   Add 1 sheet of Phyllo then brush with butter or oil.  Once you remove a sheet of Phyllo from the package you have to cover it with a damp towel because it dries out really fast.  Add another sheet of Phyllo and brush again.  Repeat.   Now you should have 3 layers of Phyllo add some spinach to make a thin layer.   Then add 3 more sheets of Phyllo making sure to brush between each layer.   Continue until you are out of spinach or room in the pan, end with your 3 sheets of Phyllo on top.   Take a knife and cut at least half way thru, so that your scoring each piece.   Phyllo breaks very easily and you will break layers off trying to cut it afterwards.   Most people cut in a diaganal shape.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until lightly browned.  Cool in pan for 15 minutes then cut the rest of the way through.  Remove from pan and serve.   Opa!

I LOVE spinach pie, but always thought it was too hard to do myself.  That, and no one else in my house will eat it with me.  It wound wonderful though, maybe I will have to be brave.

Maybe you can bring this to the next get-together!

To be honest, its a pain to make.  If your not serving many I would just buy it already made in the frozen food section.  You get about 6 pieces for 5 bucks.  For special events and large crowds I make it homemade.

For some reason my posts aren't going into paragraph form.  I reported the problem and hopefully they can fix it.  For now, my apologies to everyone.

What is more special than one of our get togethers? Your posts are showing up in paragraph form, by the way......but I just noticed that the recipe is stretched WAY out!!!!

We make the Greek spinach thing in a cassarole without the phyllo for the family--saves a lot of fat and still tastes great!

Connie 

Good idea Connie.  Maybe I will keep some of the filling out just for me.

Thanks,

~Michelle