And to Go with Barb's Granola Gold? Homemade Greek Yogurt

In the vein of homemade is best-made, I decided to give Greek yogurt a shot--I wanted it to go with my homemade granola. Recipes abound on the internet, and no you do not need a yogurt maker (just another gadget). It is hands--off prep (almost)--but I did set a timer to remind me when the 7 hours of magic were up, or I probably would have gone to sleep and forgotten about the yogurt, which was busy fermenting in the oven.

You need:
Large cooking pot
Food thermometer
2 tablespoons prepared Greek yogurt with active cultures

Glass bowl or crock with lid (lots of people use slow-cooker crock)
cooling rack
strainer
cheesecloth (or, if you are like me, good paper towel instead)
Large bowl
Make sure all containers, pots, utensils are super clean

Yogurt with the marks of the cheesecloth (paper towel!) left on it

Homemade Greek Yogurt

1/2 gallon milk (buy good milk--use skim, 2% or whole--I used 2%)
2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt

1. Pour milk into cooking pot and place over medium heat. Measure 2 tablespoons of the milk into a small bowl. Mix those 2 tablespoons milk with 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt. Set aside.
2. Let milk come to 180°F (use candy thermometer or instant read), stirring often as temperature rises to keep milk from sticking to pot.
3. When milk reaches 180°F, pour into glass container and set container on cooling rack. Let temperature fall to 110°F.
4. Turn oven on to 150°F or Warm setting.
5. Stir up the reserved milk/yogurt mixture and add to milk in glass container. Stir to combine well.
6. Place lid on container (I used a bowl and covered the bowl with a plate). Wrap container in large dishtowel (use 2 if you have to--you want to have it completely covered, top and bottom) and place wrapped container into 150° oven. Turn oven OFF and turn oven light ON. Make sure it stays on until you remove yogurt from oven.
7. Set timer for 7 hours. At the seven hour mark, remove container, unwrap. You will have regular yogurt at this point. Place container in fridge for at least 1 hour to cool.
8. Place cheesecloth-lined strainer over large bowl. Gently scrape/pour yogurt into lined strainer. Return this to fridge and let sit about1 to 2 hours. Check yogurt after 1 hour--you can decide how thickened you want the yogurt (mine sat 2 hours in the strainer)...To store, place in sealed container and store up to 1 week. (After straining, I had about 5 cups yogurt)...

Note--I think I can make a second batch using 2 tablespoons of THIS batch--will update here when I've checked that out. My goal is to not buy ANY Greek yogurt any longer, not even as starter.