I Made Dinner With EasiYo's Homemade Yogurt Every Night This Week — Here's How It Went

Spoiler alert — there wasn't a lick of leftover food OR yogurt.

As someone who's always on the lookout for new ways to make meals at home more fun and delicious, I've been intrigued by the DIY-yogurt phenomenon for quite some time.

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Making my own yogurt always sounded like something I should totally be on board with — if for no other reason than that my little people smash through so much of the stuff. Grown-ups too, actually — I mean, it's pretty impressive!

But, to be honest, it did strike me as a bit of a fantasy. Like baking your own bread or making your own granola — great in theory, but in reality, way too time-consuming and fiddly.

So, I just carried on in my normal way, buying yogurt from the shop, wincing at the price (and plastic packaging) and hoping I'd up my game eventually and take some action.

Then, I heard about EasiYo's amazing yogurt-maker, which has been getting a lot of buzz for its genius simplicity.

EasiYo / Via EasiYo.com

The yogurt-maker itself is beautifully sleek and minimalist and the process involves doing — honestly — next to nothing(!), so of course I had to try it.

I ordered one online and by the time it arrived, excitement levels were off the scale.

I had no idea making your own Greek Style yogurt could be so simple!

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Inside the box was the yogurt-maker and a jar. I'd also ordered some sachets (I'd gone for Greek Style Unsweetened), which luckily arrived the same day. 

The powder sachets come in all kinds of flavours, from Vanilla and Forest Fruits, to Banana and Passionfruit, plus there are plant-based, high-protein and reduced-sugar* options. 

The plain Greek Style is obviously most versatile and featured in most of the EasiYo recipes I planned to make throughout the week, so it felt like the perfect flavour to kick things off.  

* 40% less sugar than equivalent EasiYo Everyday flavour.

I was beyond happy (and relieved) to find there were only three steps to the process. It really was as simple as it looked. The first step was to mix a sachet of yogurt powder with room-temperature drinking water (15-20°C) in the EasiYo jar — by giving it a good shake.

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Checking thoroughly the lid is properly screwed on, obvs!

Then I had to add boiling water to the yogurt-maker and place the jar inside. After that, it was just a case of leaving it to do its thing and set for 8-12 hours, before placing it in the fridge to chill.

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There's really not a lot to it!

And...ta-da! There you have it: Thick and creamy Greek Style yogurt. As if by magic.

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Let me tell you — it was a special moment. I'd finally made yogurt at home, after all this time! And it felt effortless. This was cause for celebration.

Not only that, it tasted AMAZING. Similar to the Greek yogurt I buy from the supermarket — only nicer. 

What also struck me was the volume of yogurt I'd got from just one sachet.

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From a single 170g sachet I'd made 1kg of yogurt. Plus, it's obviously as fresh as it comes. No small matter — when it means millions of live cultures (these can otherwise reduce in number throughout the supply chain process) and lack of artificial additives or preservatives. Clearly, there's a lot of pros to this. 

What have I been doing all this time?!

I was desperate to make several dinners involving my home-made yogurt (mostly so I could revel in the deliciousness of what I'd made). And after browsing the EasiYo recipes, one thing became clear: Yogurt is ridiculously versatile. You can use it in so many meals — both sweet and savoury.

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So I picked a few that I knew my kids would demolish. And then got to making.

1. On Monday, it was all about crispy chicken burgers — with a tasty and incredibly easy coleslaw to go with.

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This recipe was so simple — and actually made two meals: Dinner and the following day's lunch. It involved marinating chicken pieces in EasiYo Greek Style yogurt, before coating them in a yummy herb and spice flour mix featuring cayenne, smoked paprika and fresh oregano.

A crunchy coleslaw (also made using Greek Style yogurt) complemented the burgers beau-tifully. It all felt satisfyingly healthy, too.

The whole family tucked straight in and devoured every mouthful.

Here's the recipe!

2. This creamy mushroom fettuccini — with the most delicious cheesy sauce — was a Tuesday night triumph.

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This simple dish of fettuccini pasta (my fave type) was fun and quick. While the pasta was cooking, I fried up the garlic, mushroom and red onion in butter. Then after draining the pasta, tossed it all in together with a 3/4 cup of Greek Style Unsweetened yogurt and some parmesan and lemon juice. Then I served it up on a bed of rocket.

I'd say it was a hit, given my daughter couldn't get in into her mouth fast enough.

Here's the recipe

3. This easy banana smoothie worked great for a quick and nutritious dessert on Wednesday.

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If smoothies are your thing, this is a must. I whizzed it up as a quick dessert and it lasted all of 30 seconds. Which is fine, as it only took about a minute to make.

The recipe uses EasiYo Vanilla yogurt with banana, rolled oats, milk and a touch of turmeric — a powerful anti-inflammatory. You could, of course, improvise and substitute any one of the fruity yogurt flavours in place of vanilla, like Strawberry or Passionfruit, for example!

Here's the recipe.

4. No store-bought pizza bases for me — this home-made version made Thursday's mid-week dinner too easy.

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When I found out that I could use my EasiYo Greek Style yogurt to make my own pizza bases, I kinda did a little dance. I've been making pizzas at home for a while, but in the cheaty way, by adding toppings to shop-bought bases. Now I can make them 100% from scratch. Which is exciting.

To make a pizza base, you combine a cup of home-made EasiYo Greek Style yogurt with a cup of self-raising flour until it forms a dough ball. (I added a touch of salt to the dough, too.)

You have to keep adding extra flour to get the right consistency, so it's best to have another cup's worth handy in a bowl (then you won't have to keep reaching for the flour packet with sticky hands).

I kneaded it for a few minutes, before rolling to a circular shape...ish.

Add sauce and toppings of course, whatever you like or have lying around! And couple with a salad for a guaranteed winner.

Here's the recipe.

5. Vanilla pancakes — with honey and berries — took our Friday ~brinner~ supper to the next level.

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These got served up as a little 'treat supper' to close off the week. And hands down were the easiest pancakes I've ever made.

Preparing the batter was a cinch, I just mixed together flour and eggs and my home-made Greek Style yogurt. The recipe used EasiYo Reduced Sugar* Vanilla yogurt, but you could use different flavours and have a bit of fun with it. Banana, Coconut, Greek Style Mānuka Honey — I'm thinking all of these variations would be incredible.

Safe to say, the little ones couldn't believe their luck — and didn't know what they'd done to deserve it. (Neither did I, to be fair.)

Here's the recipe.

* 40% less sugar than the equivalent EasiYo Everyday flavour.

Beyond these simple recipes, you can use yogurt in so many salads and dips, cookies and tarts, and various types of home-made bread like focaccia, garlic and herb knots, or this zucchini bread, which I'm 100% making next...

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The possibilities are endless.

It's worth noting too, you have less pressure around use-by dates, which can sometimes be an issue if you buy yogurt from a store. The sachets have a shelf-life of 18 months — so they can sit in your cupboard until you need to bring them out for a particular recipe. 

Who doesn't love a bit more freedom in the kitchen!? Which reminds me...did I mention the yogurt-maker requires no electronic parts or power, so you can keep it anywhere on your bench-top and move it around freely? Another bonus!

EasiYo

No one needs more kitchen appliances to plug in, let's face it.

Give it a try for yourself (don't waste time, like I did). If you like things kept super simple and easy, head over to EasiYo and learn more about making delicious, fresh yogurt at home — it's definitely got the feel-good factor.