Lunchtime planning session: $14.29
Money spent on cookies and candy Groceries: $19.28
Quality control and internal consumption: 43.25 recorded incidents
Time spent playing instead of packing: 5 hours
Remedial session in the gym to counteract sugar consumption: 1 hr
Having a date with an incredible 8 -year-old? Priceless.
Sometimes, I do weird things. Alright, it’s more like often but really, who’s counting (please don’t raise your hands). Whether its going to heroic lengths to save a $0.59 bunch of cilantro or buying 2 kg of plain yogurt just because I lose all of my rational decision making ability when in Costco, I am sometimes left with more than I can chew…literally. As a result, amongst my other impulse purchases I’ve had 1.5 tubs of plain yogurt staring pathetically at me every single time I open up my fridge for the past few weeks. I can only have so many smoothies before getting completely bored, and besides, I am always on the lookout to try something new.
Which brings me to…yogurt cheese! I was going to make a cake with the yogurt, but then I quickly remembered that I need a cake like I need more shoes. Wait – I DO need more shoes so I guess that was a bad analogy. Whatever – you get the point. I’ve known about yogurt cheese for years, but have never actually made it so I figured now was as good of a time as any to give it a whirl.
It’s super easy – here’s what you do:
Put a strainer over a bowl, and line it with cheesecloth:
Dump the yogurt into the bowl:
Cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours, or until the whey has all drained from the yogurt.
Are you ready for the big reveal?
Once mixed up a bit:
Hmmm…interesting. Would you like my thoughts on this? Here they are, in no particular order:
- Yogurt cheese is supposed to have the consistency of spreadable cream cheese; mine was more like sour cream after 24 hrs of draining. Fine for a dip, but not for putting on a bagel. False advertising?
- I was surprised at how tart it was – likely because I used fat-free yogurt. I mixed some salt in and that helped some, but I will have to doctor it up more before its edible.
- This was easy but for the real estate it took up in the fridge, I would probably just buy Greek yogurt or sour cream to make a dip in the future.
Oh well! Twas a fun experiment while it lasted 
What shall we try next?
Alright, I have a confession to make – not everything I ever make (or try to make) works out perfectly. Some of you have asked me (both via email and in person) about the little experiment I blogged about a few days ago. I was TRYING to make sour cream, but sadly it didn’t work. When I checked on it 24-hours later, it hadn’t thickened properly. I put it in the fridge in hopes that it would help it set, but apparently my homemade sour cream was not made to be. Unfortunately, I cannot call this “rustic” and get away with it as I normally would if something doesn’t turn out perfectly.
My hypothesis is that it’s because I used heavy cream, milk, and vinegar instead of heavy cream and buttermilk. Oh well! Twas an interesting experiment and one that I will be trying in the future when I have a surplus of dairy products in my fridge.
So, now that that’s out of the way, what shall we try next?
