French Woman Don't

Years ago I read the book French Women Don't get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, former President and CEO of Clicquot Inc. (Yes THE Clicquot as in Veuve, the champagne). While the book had a great way of looking at food and toward the end does not restrict anything, I found a bit of it to be a bit tiresome. Particularly the part where she mentions she only pretend to drink her second glass of champagne at dinner. Who does that? I couldn't pretend to sip Veuve any more than I could stop breathing. That my friend is the true definition of self-control in my book. Which I guess is why I am not the president or CEO of any Champagne or wine label.

Back to the book, moderation really is what the key take away for me is from this book, well that and the glorious homemade yogurt. There is a recipe that is included in the book for  homemade yogurt (with or without a yogurt maker, but for $25 bucks you can pick up the machine, which is basically a temperature controlled box) and I immediately became addicted and made yogurt all the time. Then I packed up my maker, moved to SoCal and forgot about my yogurt maker. Then while cleaning out the garage I came across my maker and was immediately inspired to make some yogurt and oh it is truly wonderful and the best part is that you know exactly what goes into it. In the past I have normally just made the plain type from the book and then add fruit, honey or granola just prior to eating, but this time I wanted to give it a little flavor of vanilla and honey. I looked all around on the internet for a recipe, but didn't find one I liked so I simply made the plain yogurt recipe from the book, with one additional step adding in a little vanilla and honey, perfect!

Give it a try, you may be surprised at how much you like it! Here is the recipe with a yogurt maker and here it is without. As soon as you have the milk cooled and have added in the starter, add 2 tablespoons of honey (can add more or less depending on your taste) and 1 tablespoon of vanilla (I used mexican vanilla in case you were wondering) or the seeds of one vanilla bean if you are feeling fancy. Oh it is soooo good.

You first heat and then bring down the temp
of your milk. The alien salt and pepper
are supervising in the background.

As you add in your starter you can
add in the vanilla and honey as well.

I like my yogurt a little firmer so I leave it in the
incubator longer.

This is my favorite way to start the day with food!