Fat-Free Greek Yogurt

So the other day I saw this amazing blog post with a recipe for how to make your own greek yogurt. In case you don't know, greek yogurt is like REALLY expensive at the grocery store so I have only ever tried it once. Anyway, this yogurt is SOOOOO good. With some honey and granola on top, I might even choose it over ice cream. It's THAT good. If you have extra time, you should really read that blog post. It's pretty informative. She even has yogurt troubleshooting to help you figure out what went wrong if you fail (which I totally did the first time).

What you need

8 c. skim milk

1/4-1/2 c. nonfat dry milk (I used 1/2 c.)

1-2 tsp. yogurt as a starter (I used 2 tsp. of plain greek yogurt, you can use any type of plain yogurt you want, just as long as it has live cultures in it.)

What you do
First, put the 8 c of milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until little bubbles appear around the outside and the temperature reaches 175-180F (it takes me 17 minutes on high). Stir it once or twice during microwaving so that a skin doesn't form on top.

Wait until the milk's temperature falls to 110-120F (this will take 30-45 minutes). THIS IS IMPORTANT. It it's hotter than 120F it'll kill the bacteria. Seriously, let it cool down to 110-120. Preheat the oven (the temperature doesn't really matter) FOR ONLY ONE MINUTE then turn the oven off and the oven light on. Cover the bowl with a towel and place in the oven with the light still on. Shut the oven door. It now needs to incubate for 6-10 hours at between 100-110F. In 6-10 hours (mine is best at about 8 hours) you will have yogurt. WOOHOO!!

It will be set, but still have a pretty thin layer of whey (yogurt-y liquid) on top. (See below picture.)

Spoon the mixture into a thin sieve lined with cheesecloth or paper towels over a bowl.

Drain until it's the consistency you like. The longer you drain it, the less whey there will be be and the thicker it will be. This makes it more like greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt. Once its drained the way you like it, spoon it into a large bowl or tupperware and whip with a good whisk until smooth, thick, and not clumpy at all. And there you go, yogurt. Thick, delicious greek yogurt for a fraction of the price you would buy it for at the store.

Oat and Honey Granola

I'm a big granola fan. It's relatively nutritious, and DEFINITELY delicious, but when you want to buy a box or bag of good quality granola at the grocery store, you often have to fork over $4 or more. I don't know if you know me or not, but I'm not down with that. If I can make it myself, I want to. Much cheaper, I can control what goes into it, and so super easy!

What you need

3 c. oats

1/3 c. chopped pecans*

2/3 c. sunflower seeds

1/4 c. packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp. honey

2 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. oil

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

*Note: you need 1 c. of dry ingredients in addition to the oats. You could use any type of seeds or nuts you like!

What you do

Preheat oven to 275. Spread the oats, chopped pecans and sunflower seeds evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes just to lightly toast them.

While it's toasting, combine the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly until all the brown sugar is dissolved and the mixture just begins to bubble.

Remove oat mixture from oven and put into a large bowl. Turn the oven up to 325F, cover the cookie sheet with foil and grease the foil. Pour the mixture from the saucepan over the oats and stir to combine. Pour the mixture onto the greased foil. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until browned but not BURNED.

Remove from the oven and let cool. After about 10 minutes, lift up one end of the foil to loosen the granola. See below.

Crumble it into pieces the size that you want and store in a ziplock bag until ready to use! By the way, it goes GREAT with

Hot Cocoa Mix and Homemade Marshmallows

Christmas is over and it seems like everyone is getting sick of the cold weather. You know, pre-Christmas snow=fun and beautiful. Post-New Years snow=a pain in the butt, can't get to work, ice, blah blah blah. 


One of the only things that seems to put people in the mood for cold weather is curling up with a steaming mug of hot cocoa. I for one, love it, but am fed up with hot cocoa mixes containing hydrogenated oils, cellulose gum, artificial flavors, etc. Enter homemade hot coca mix. Easiest thing EVER. Got some sugar, cocoa, and milk on hand? Bingo! And these homemade marshmallows are delicious too. I've got recipes for two kind. Conventional marshmallows (like the ones you buy in the store but more delicious and fluffy) and Maple marshmallows (which I made when we were snowed in and I wanted some but didn't have any corn syrup in the pantry). Enjoy!


What you need
Hot Cocoa Mix
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened baking cocoa


What you do
Stir together the sugar and cocoa in a ziplock bag or tupperware container and store in the pantry. Whenever you want hot cocoa, use 2 or 2 1/2 Tbsp. of mix per 1 c. milk. I think it's easiest to heat the milk in a saucepan and then whisk in the milk until it's combined. You could totally do it with water instead of milk, but you may need more mix to make it taste as good. Feel free to add a splash of peppermint extract or a little cinnamon and chili powder.

What you need
Conventional Marshmallows
adapted from Alton Brown's recipe
3 (1/4 oz.) packets of unflavored gelatin
1/2 c. cold water
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
1/2 c. cold water
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar


Maple Marshmallows
3 Tbsp. unflavored gelatin
3/4 c. cold water
1 1/4 c. maple syrup
3/4 c. honey
1/4 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar


What you do
Stir cold water and gelatin in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer if you're using one). In saucepan heat the syrup, water and salt (for conventional marshmallows) or syrup, honey, cornstarch, and salt (for maple marshmallows) the stirring continually. When blended together (when the sugar is dissolved in the conventional marshmallow recipe), turn heat up to high or med-high and continue cooking until it reaches 240-250F. I don't have a thermometer that goes that high, so I just cooked it about 5 more minutes or until it's been foamy and bubbly for about a minute.

If you're using a stand mixer, add the syrup mixture to the gelatin mixture in the bowl with the mixer running on low. If you're using a handheld mixer and don't think you're coordinated enough to pour with one hand while mixing with the other (or you don't have a wonderful husband like mine who will help you cook when you need a couple extra hands), you can pour the syrup mixture into the bowl and then pick up the mixer and mix it right away. As soon as the two mixtures are combined, turn the mixer up to the high setting and beat for about 5 minutes or until it's fluffy and done expanding. Beat in vanilla extract.

Dust the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with powdered sugar and then pour the marshmallow mixture into the pan and spread evenly.

Dust the top with some more powdered sugar (and cinnamon if you want it) and let sit for a 4 hours or overnight until it dries out some. 

Turn it out onto a cutting board and cut into squares. Roll the sides in powdered sugar so they won't stick together and store in an airtight container.

With cinnamon!

Flax-a-roni and Cheese

There's something about comfort food that's so, well, comforting! One of my favorites is baked macaroni and cheese. It's so delicious, but don't dare consider the pounds and pounds of cheese or cups upon cups of heavy cream. You might gain 10 pounds just thinking about it. NEVER FEAR! Here you go, a recipe for baked macaroni and cheese, the healthy way but no less delish. Scout's honor!

The flax seeds are optional but they add a whole lot of fiber, and you really can't even taste them. Confession, I pretty much put them in because Austin came up with the cute "flax-a-roni and cheese" name.

What you need

For the macaroni
About 2-2 1/2 c. dry elbow noodles (I made more than I needed and then kept the rest for next-day leftovers)
3 Tbsp butter (I used low-fat butter spread)
2 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. parsley flakes

2 Tbsp. oil
5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. skim milk, let it  sit out for a few minutes so it gets closer to room temperature
1 c. cheese shredded or finely diced (I used a combination of cheddar and colby jack but use whatever you like)
1 Tbsp. milled flax seeds
3/4 c. sour cream


For the topping
3 or 4 slices of wheat bread (yields 2 1/4 c. breadcrumbs)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper


What you do
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add in the elbow noodles. Cook according to package directions. Once the noodles are done, drain and rinse them and put them in a bowl.


Preheat oven to 350F. Melt the butter and oil together in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley and sautee for only a couple of minutes so you don't burn the garlic. Whisk in the flour. It gets gloppy. Like the picture below.

Once it achieves said gloppy consistency, whisk in the milk, 3/4 c. of the cheese and flax seeds and continue whisking for about 3-4 minutes or until it thickens to look like the picture below.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Pour over noodles in bowl, add remaining cheese, and stir to coat. Grease a 9x13 pan and pour in the mixture. Toast the bread slices in a toaster, cut off crusts and pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Stir in the salt and pepper and feel free to toss in some shredded cheese just for good measure. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture over macaroni and put pan in oven.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until bread crumbs are slightly browned and macaroni is set. Try to limit yourself to 2 servings. Trust me, this is not the easy part.

Millet with Mushroom Cream Sauce

One of my favorite restaurants, if not my very favorite, is Macaroni Grill. (Keep this in mind if you ever feel the need to give me a restaurant gift card.) Anyway, whenever I go, I usually get the same thing: bowtie pasta in this amazing creamy mushroom sauce. Yep. It's my fave. Which is kind of funny cause I don't really like mushrooms. Let me correct myself. Mushroom flavor=yummy. Mushroom texture=weird. Because the texture throws me off so much, I usually shy away from making mushroom dishes. 


But the other day I had a crazy craving for my Macaroni Grill favorite that I just couldn't kick. So I decided to try my hand at making it myself. I had some millet in the pantry that I wanted to try. It's really super good for you (check this out if you're interested in millet's nutritional properties). I just toasted it in a pan with about 1 Tbsp. of olive oil for about 5 minutes and then prepared it according to the package directions (which basically meant boiling it like rice).

Millet post-toasting. (Note nice tan color).

The sauce turned out really, really yummy. Use it on millet, pasta rice, chicken, really it's good on whatever. Happy eating.

What you need

For the sauce

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion

8 oz Mushrooms (I used baby bella)

2 large cloves garlic

1 Tbsp. butter spread

2 or 3 Tbsp. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. parsley

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. sage

1 1/2 c. milk

3 Tbsp. parmesan cheese


What you do
Heat the oil in a pan, add onion and cook for about 3-4 minutes before adding the chopped mushroom. Cook until onions are translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook only a minute or two. Add butter spread. When just melted, whisk in the flour and seasonings. It will be clumpy and gloppy. THAT IS OK! Quickly whisk in the milk, half and half.

Cut mushrooms