How to Make Labenah (Yogurt Cheese)

How to make Labenah (Yogurt Cheese)

We love to make homemade yogurt around here out of raw milk . I decided to make some Labenah and thought I’d share the steps with you. It’s a really simple recipe…anyone can do this cheese!  Not only is it really easy to prepare, but it’s so yummy!  My husband likes it instead of sour cream and cream cheese, especially on Mexican style food.  He often spreads some on a tortilla before filling with the meat and toppings.  It’s also really good to use to make jalapeno pepper poppers.  Just fill the hollowed out jalapeno with the labenah and then wrap with a piece of bacon.  YUM!   I use the Labenah in place of sour cream or cream cheese in recipes. It tastes so good and it’s also makes a yummy dip for vegetables, just add your favorite seasonings.  Even my kids like this yogurt cheese, over sour cream especially.  It’s become a staple in our house.

If you don’t make your own yogurt, you can easily make Labenah using yogurt you purchase from the store.  I would recommend any good, organic, whole-milk yogurt.  You can also use any style of yogurt.  Greek yogurt will make a thicker Labenah–more like cream cheese.  Also, the thickness really depends on how long you let it drip out the whey.  It’s really very versatile!

So how do you make it?  Follow the simple directions below!

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 Linking with: Encourage One Another, Healthy 2day, Homemaking Link-Up, Wellness Wednesday, Wise Woman Link-Up

Homemade Flavored Yogurt

The other day in my recipe for Breakfast Fruit Salad, I promised to write a post about how to make your own homemade flavored yogurt. No, not make yogurt from scratch, I’ll save that for another post, but how to flavor plain yogurt. My boys really do love yogurt. But I refuse to buy the little cartons of Dannon and the like because they are so full of unnatural ingredients and high fructose corn syrup. So, we often make our own using grass-fed milk, because it’s so much cheaper and when we don’t make our own, we buy big tubs of organic yogurt for the same reason. We all like it flavored though and I’m not going back to the high-fructose corn syrup laden store bought kind. So, we’ve found all sorts of way to flavor it ourselves for pennies!

I also want to invite you join us today  for our blog hop, Get Real Frugal Friday!  Get Real Frugal Friday is a great to share and find  money saving tips, ideas, and recipes for Real Food, Allergy Conscious Diets, Natural Living, Home Remedies and cures, Self-sufficient Living and Homesteading, Homemaking and Menu Planning, and Stretching Your Hard Earned $$!

Isn’t It Sweet!

We all like sweetened yogurt around here. None of us are real fans of the tart taste of yogurt. It doesn’t have to be overly sweet, but just enough to combat the tartness. I avoid white sugar with my boys because it tends to make them hyper, especially with my youngest. We often use stevia as a sweetener. I also like maple syrup, honey and occasionally organic cane juice. Each of these sweeteners give the yogurt a different taste.

Fruity Goodness

We also really like fruit in our yogurt. We use to buy the kind already with fruit in it, but they contain too much high fructose corn syrup. So we started adding our own. I often use my homemade, no sugar added jelly and jam to add the fruit. This is simple, easy and yummy. I also like to use frozen and fresh fruit. Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, bananas, peaches and apples are yummy additions.

Gimme Some Flavor

We also like to sometimes add some flavoring to our plain yogurt. Vanilla is probably the most popular. But there are a bunch of other flavors that make yummy yogurt. Lemon juice is another favorite, but don’t be afraid to try lime,orange, chocolate (YUMM!!), or even almond. You can make the most yummy lemon pie flavored yogurt by adding just lemon juice and a sweetener. Cinnamon is also really yummy, as is ginger,

Top It Off

There are all sorts of ways to add toppings to your yogurt. Some of our favorites are granola and chopped nuts. Another way my kids love it is with crushed graham crackers over the top.  I really like to make the lemon pie flavored yogurt and topping it with crushed graham crackers!

These are just some of the ways my family doctors up their yogurt, saves money and eats healthier.