Crockpot Craziness

I've been on a crockpot kick lately. And I haven't been making the usual run of the mill stuff in it. Yesterday I made yogurt! In the crockpot! And it was easy and it tastes really good, better than the stuff you buy in the store and it's cheaper! Yeah, so I'm pretty excited about the yogurt, so is Ryan since he eats a lot of it.

I made the Holiday Punch for the cookie exchange. It was so easy and we all loved it. It was perfect for warming up from the -20 wind chill outside.

We eat a lot of beans and I usually buy canned. Dried beans are cheaper and it was so easy to cook up a pound this way so I don't have any excuses to not make dried beans now.

Crockpot Yogurt

Ingredients
8 cups milk (half-gallon)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 pkg unflavored gelatin (for a thicker yogurt)

Directions
1. Pour the milk into the crockpot, cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
2. Unplug the crockpot and let it sit for 3 hours.
3. After the 3 hours, take out 2 cups of the milk and whisk in the 1/2 cup of plain yogurt.
4. Dump the yogurt/milk mixture back into the crockpot and whisk in the packet of gelatin.
5. Put the lid back on the crockpot, wrap the crockpot with a heavy bath towel for insulation and let it sit for 8 hours.
6. After the 8 hours you're all done! Store it in plastic containers in the fridge. You can blend in your favorite fruit or jam when you're ready to eat.

Holiday Punch

Ingredients
4 cups cranberry juice
4 cups pineapple juice
2 cinnamon sticks

Directions
1. Place the juices and cinnamon sticks in the crockpot, cover, and cook on high for 2 hours.

Beans

Ingredients
1 lb dried beans

Directions
1. Sort the beans and place in the crock. Rinse and then cover with water. Soak overnight.
2. In the morning, dump the water and rinse the beans again.
3. Cover the beans with water, 2 inches over the top of the beans.
4. Cook on low for 8 hours.
5. Drain the beans and place in bags. 1 2/3 cup beans equals one can of beans. They can be frozen for 6 months.