Skip to main content

Yogurt

Captain's Log, Supplemental

I apologize in advance if this is TMI.

(But you know, if you don’t like TMI stuff, just stop reading.)

So anyway, I’m reading a book called French Women Don’t Get Fat, which is really fascinating to me because I know next to nothing about the French culture.

The book is mostly about the French culture and French mindset, and how that enables French women to control their eating.

(By the way, there are some really yummy looking recipes on the Amazon page that aren’t in the book.)

I especially like how she doesn’t tell people to eliminate things from their diet, but to learn to eventually control your body’s cravings and tendency to overeat with your strength of mind. She calls it “fooling your body” or something like that.

Another thing I like is that, like French women, I don’t care much for exercise. She supports walking 20-30 minutes a day (which I already do) in addition to portion control (which, she says, you learn gradually over a period of time). Both of those things seem rather tantalizing to me.

Really, a lot of it is common sense, but the way she presents it is fun and positive with that French culture flair to make it interesting. I’ve never been to France, but I love French food and would love to go to Paris one day.

Anyway, the point of the blog post is this—she supports eating yogurt twice a day. I have no problem with that, because I direly need the probiotics to keep my intestines happy, if you know what I mean. I’ve been trying to eat yogurt once a day for just that purpose.

I already raved/blogged about the Trader Joe’s French Village Cream Line yogurt, which is just divine. But in the book, she suggests you make your own.

Whoa! Make my own? Sounds very chemistry-set-ish, don’t you think? She gives two recipes, one using a yogurt making machine (which sounds a bit like an incubator like the ones we used in biology research) and another recipe where you leave the milk and yogurt in an oven with a bowl of hot water for several hours.

Now, maybe I’m just paranoid, but even though the milk is incubating yogurt cultures, isn’t it kind of dangerous to leave milk non-refrigerated for any length of time? I am woefully uneducated in the art of making homemade yogurt.

Has anyone done it before? Can you explain/give tips?

Comments

Grateful Gramma said…
I've never tried this and it does sound a little unsettling. I certainly do need to lose some weight though. I'll be following this one with interest.
Ausjenny said…
After leaving a stove element on all night and really cooking a poacher and melting the plastic. (dont know how it happened but it was one for about 15 hours! I dont think i would trust me to try making yogurt.
Melissa said…
You can probably find a very inexpensive yogurt maker if you're wary of doing it another way. I got one at the health food store for under $20, but I've heard of people finding them at Goodwill for $5 or so.

I have made yogurt tons of times, but my family eats so much yogurt that it just isn't cost effective for me to make anymore. It takes a half gallon of milk and a bit of plain yogurt, and that's it, so it isn't complicated at all.

I've just started buying half gallons of Nancy's (not sure if this is a national brand or just NW) plain yogurt and adding my own fruit or honey or whatever. It's fabulous. We eat it for breakfast and snacks daily.
Camy Tang said…
Thanks, Melissa! We go to GoodWill all the time so I'll keep my eye open for one.
Camy
Fedora said…
I haven't tried this but am totally curious how it turns out for you! I'm incredibly lazy, and we've been buying our yogurt in bulk from Costco...

Popular Posts

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Excerpt - A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS by Nicole Seitz

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.05.2009 Update: Sorry, this giveaway is closed. A Hundred Years of Happiness by Nicole Seitz A beautiful young woman. An American soldier. A war-torn country. Nearly forty years of silence. Now, two daughters search for the truth they hope will set them free and the elusive peace their parents have never found. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, a young mother named Katherine Ann is struggling to help her tempestuous father, by plunging into a world of secrets he never talks about. A fry cook named Lisa is trying desperately to reach her grieving Vietnamese mother, who has never fully adjusted to life in the States. And somewhere far away, a lost soul named Ernest is drifting, treading water, searching for what he lost on a long-ago mountain. They're all longing for connection. For the war that touched them to finally end. For their hundred years of happiness at long last to begin. From the beloved author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass...

Brainstorm - character occupation

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.23.2009 Hey guys, I could use some help. In my current manuscript, The Year of the Dog , which is a humorous contemporary romance, I have a minor character, Eddie. He’s my heroine’s ex-boyfriend, and they’re on good terms with each other. He’s a bit irresponsible, but not so much so that he’s a complete loser. He’s got a very easy going attitude, he forgets to pay his bills sometimes, he’s friendly and charming. He’s adventurous and fun to be around, but he’s a little forgetful sometimes, and he tends to spend a little outside his income. I need an occupation for him. What would a charming, easy going, slightly irresponsible guy do for a living? He’s not too irresponsible, because otherwise readers will wonder what in the world my heroine saw in him to date him in the first place. She was attracted to his charm, his easy going attitude (her family’s uptight, and he was a nice contrast), and his adventurousness. But his forgetfulness and irresponsibility ...