Homemade Yogurt

We love yogurt in our house, so I was very excited when my dear friend Michelle told me that she makes her own in her crock pot. We've attempted to make our own yogurt several times in our oven, but we've found it to be hit-or-miss, and I hate having to throw away perfectly good milk. On the other hand, we've made this crock pot yogurt two times, and both times it's worked beautifully... we usually take a couple minutes to get it started in the afternoon, and we have a half-gallon of delicious homemade whole milk yogurt ready by breakfast the next morning.

Our favorite way to serve it is with a dollop of strawberry jam, but it's also great with honey, fruit, or granola. One batch is plenty for our family for a week, with extra to give away. And then you can just use some of your existing yogurt to start a new batch the next week. If your kids are hooked on pre-packed yogurt (I would know nothing of this, of course), you can even sneakily place some of your own yogurt with some fruit in a cup (or a baby food jar is cute), and they won't even notice. And you can use organic milk, raw milk, or whatever else you please for a fraction of the cost of equivalent yogurt.