Friday, April 15, 2011

The beauty of plain yogurt

About a year ago, I started making plain yogurt a staple in my fridge. I was thinking just now about breakfast and realized how many different ways I use plain yogurt, and what a versatile ingredient it is. So here is a quick post with some ideas on using plain yogurt:

- Yogurt Parfait: An obvious sounding one, but often people are turned off from plain yogurt because of its tangy taste. I remedy this with a drizzle of honey and a mixture of fruit. I really love the taste of citrus and yogurt, as well as pomegranate.

- Smoothies: My favorite smoothies include yogurt, banana, frozen spinach, flax seed, almond milk, vanilla and blueberries.

- Salad Dressing: I mix a little yogurt with some lemon juice, a splash of olive oil and a mixture of herbs for a creamier dressing.

- Yogurt cheese: Plain yogurt takes on a creamy, thicker texture when you drain some of the water out of it by setting it in a strainer over a bowl for a few hours. Once it has reached desired thickness, chop up some fresh herbs and use as a spread or a dip.

- Baking substitute: A lot of recipes call for buttermilk or whole milk, which I don't keep on hand. So I make my own concoction by mixing half yogurt and half milk together, which seems to work well!

I'm sure I'll think of other uses and will update the list at that point!

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