Homemade Yummy Treats

I've found a whole new world of homemade yummy treats this past week. We've started making our own yogurt, granola, and granola bars. All of them are super easy to make and taste SO much better than store-bought, not to mention being cheaper too. I also reached a whole new level of excitement with my baking this week. So many recipes claim that "you probably already have the ingredients in your pantry." Until lately I've always had to go buy most of them as I planned my menu for the week. When we decided to make granola, lo and behold, we had everything already here!

Here are the recipes I've been using:

Yogurt
1/2 cup of yogurt with active cultures (room temperature)
1/3 cup dry milk
4 cups of 2% milk

• Heat milk to 180 degrees (or until beginning to froth)
• Allow milk to cool to 110 degrees and add starter
• Mix and put in oven overnight (I usually turn oven on for just a moment to warm it and keep oven light on overnight to help keep temp between 90-110 degrees.)
• The next morning, put in freezer for a couple of hours and then transfer to fridge and enjoy! You can strain it with a piece of cheesecloth if you like the Greek style, super thick yogurt.

Granola bars - I've put chocolate chips or craisins in them instead of raisins. Experiment a little!

Granola - I'm allergic to nuts and not a big dried fruit fan, so I just leave all that out and just make plain granola. Again, this recipe is super easy to modify to fit your needs.

I'm off to decide if I want to conquer some homemade bread without the bread maker today or not....