Frozen Yogurt

I haven't done any Creative Sunday posts for a while because I am very much a creature of habit. I figure out what I like and I just make the same thing over and over and over again. That doesn't really lend itself to making creative posts.

However, recently I was looking at a thermos that I purchased to keep my lunch warm or possibly cook rice. A simple USB powered thermos. It was a great idea and it was supposed to heat to 65C which would just be able to get food into the same zone. However, it only uses 12W of power which just wasn't enough to heat up food fast enough to be useful.

That was kind of sad because it seemed useful but wasn't. Then I did some thinking. In order to make Yogurt you need an incubator that can reliably stay at 45C. Well, a couple of degrees lower would probably be better but 45C is within the range. That got me thinking..how about I use the failed cooking thermos as an incubation chamber for yogurt.

Quick answer? It worked very well. Unfortunately plain yogurt just isn't that interesting. But strawberry frozen yogurt? Tasty

A cheap USB Thermos

Now the thermos itself isn't that expensive and is powered from USB.
I've gotten post rewards better than the cost of this thermos for a single post so it really isn't an expensive piece of technology. As for energy usage? Uses as much electricity as charging your cellphone so again not very expensive.

But how do you make the frozen yogurt?

Add milk

Now you have two options. Either add milk and then add some yogurt from either store bought yogurt or a previous batch you have prepared. In my case I made yogurt yesterday so I just emptied out most of the yogurt I made. I left some in the container and then filled it up with more milk.

Residue from yesterday's batch of yogurt

Add milk to the container

Put on the cap and turn the incubator on

It takes some time to heat up to 45C but it gets there within 45 minutes. Fast enough that the milk stays safe.

Wait

Making the yogurt takes time. 8-12 hours of time. So. Just leave it plugged in and come back at the end of the day. Easy.

Open up and there is the yogurt.

Yogurt complete. Next steps

Honestly? It is very simple. 1/2 cup of sugar. 250g of frozen strawberries. 500ml of Yogurt. Add to blender and mix until well blended.

As easy as :

ONE

TWO

BLEND

Freeze It

Now I have an ice cream maker. It is actually very simple. Put the bowl in the freezer to make it cold. Once cold, remove from freezer, pour in liquid, turn on. Wait.

Frozen Bowl and Blended Mix

Add mix to bowl

Turn power on to mix

Come back in 20 minutes

Enjoy

Okay it is probably too simple to talk about

Honestly it is probably too simple to even bother telling people about. Then again I see so many people paying way too much money for frozen treats. Honestly it is so easy perhaps it would be better to make at home and enjoy..

• Preservative free
• With sugar levels you control
• and no additives.

Honestly it was just Milk (plus culture), Strawberries and Sugar. Next time I'll likely use Stevia to see how a low calorie version tastes.

But Alan was quite pleased with it and wondered how much he was allowed to eat. Assuming how cheap and easy it is to make? I'm tempted to let him eat the whole batch.

Then again I'm hoping to have some myself :)