Healthy breakfast

Homemade Yogurt

To make your own yogurt, all you have to do is boil the milk, cool it, stir in some real yogurt (which acts as a starter), keep it warm for a few hours and voila - fresh, satiny yogurt. Swirl in some fresh berries mashed with honey and the store bought kind will never do it for you again.

Making your own yogurt is much like making your own sourdough... once you have the starter going, you can make your next batch using a bit of the last, and so on. But to begin, you'll need a small container of the best plain yogurt you can find, making sure it contains active cultures. I use Vital Green Farms or Bles-Wold, both great locally-produced yogurts that contain only milk and bacterial cultures (no additives, stabilizers etc).

Start with 2 ½ cups of milk. I haven't experimented with soy milk, but regular milk (whole, 2% or 1%) and goat's milk work very well. Bring it to a full boil in a saucepan, then turn down the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour the scalded milk into a bowl, through a strainer or cheesecloth if you have acquired any brown bits around the edge, and cool until you can hold your finger in the milk and count to 10.

The ratio of milk to yogurt is 2 ½ cups to 1 tablespoon. Place the yogurt in a small dish and add some of the milk to it to warm it up, then whisk it back into the milk. Pour into a glass jar (glass holds heat well), wrap in a towel or sweater and put in a warm place for about 6 hours or overnight. In the morning put the jar in the fridge to chill and you should end up with a lovely jar of fresh yogurt.

Homemade Granola
add some flax oil (replace half the canola oil) to boost omega 3s.

4-5 cups old-fashioned (large flake) oats
1 cup sliced or slivered almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts or a combination
1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey, Roger's Golden Syrup or maple syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla or coconut extract
1/2 cup green pumpkin seeds
1/2-1 cup dried cranberries, raisins, slivered apricots or other dried fruit

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat.

In a large bowl, mix the oats, nuts, coconut, seeds, cinnamon and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the oil, brown sugar, honey/Roger's Golden Syrup/maple syrup and vanilla. Pour over the oat mixture and stir until well coated.

Spread out onto one or two baking sheets, making clumps by squeezing some of it together if you like. Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring two or three times, until golden. Remove from the oven and stir in the pumpkin seeds and cranberries. Cool completely, then package in jars or sealed bags.