The Well Fed Kids love yogurt. I wish I did. I’m not talking about the fruity sugar-laden stuff being passed off as “healthy”. I’m talking about plain yogurt.
They haven’t always loved it!
I started feeding it to the kids when they first started eating real food. I don’t remember either of them loving it at first. But as I kept trying it with them (one of a number of tips in our eBook, What to Cook for Dinner for Picky Eaters), they both have either grown to like it or change their minds about it.
So they do have yogurt regularly, and occasionally, I allow them to have the fruity, sugary kind, too. I love that they are getting the good bacteria that is so important for a healthy gut, especially after taking antibiotics for infections.
Secret Recipe Club Reveal #1
This recipe post is a parallel post to another one for my Secret Recipe Club assignment for April. I had to make the labneh for a recipe for a “healthier” cheesecake. I was surprised that the labneh was so easy to make.
I’ll be making it again in the future for my son, who cannot hardly ever have most cheeses, due to his food sensitivities. He loves cheese and we normally buy the dairy-free, soy-free kind, but there are times when he would rather have the regular cheese. He can have fresh cheeses, too, but they are pretty expensive and if we aren’t intentional about using it before it goes bad we end up wasting a lot of it. Not cool.
But this … this will give us another option for dips or just for him to eat for a snack, since he loves yogurt so much. It will be a nice variation for him.
I had never even heard of labneh until I found it in this recipe. You have to use a cheesecloth, which I found on the very small fabric/craft aisle at our Walmart:
*You can also order cheesecloth from Amazon
.*
Basically, making labneh involves draining the excess liquid out of Greek yogurt.
This process gives the yogurt a much thicker consistency, as cheese. The recipe says to drain for three to five hours. Mine ended up needing the full five hours and this was the amount of liquid that drained out:
Please note that this recipe was made to create enough labneh for the cheesecake. The original recipe from the Chef in Disguise blog, makes double this amount of labneh.
- Approximately 17.5 ounces Greek yogurt
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Unroll cheesecloth over colander and cut off enough for it to lay over the edges of colander. Repeat with a second piece, crossed over the first. Place colander in a deep bowl.
- In a mixing bowl, stir the salt into the yogurt. Spoon yogurt into the center of the pieces of cheesecloth, where they overlap.
- Allow to drain for 3 to 5 hours. (If weather is hot place in refrigerator while it drains.) It will be the consistency of cottage cheese when well drained.
- Remove labneh from the cloth and store covered in refrigerator until needed.
My labneh was thick enough after the five hours. If yours is still too thin, see the notes at Chef in Disguise for making it thicker here. You will also find instructions there for making Yogurt Cheese Balls, serving ideas for labneh and some information about what to do with the whey from making labneh.
Enjoy!
About the Author
Adopted at age 2, grew up in the Charlotte, NC area. Obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University. Loves being a Mom of two and taste-testing Chef John's culinary creations and sharing them with readers.
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