I’ve been on heavy duty industrial strength antibiotics for some weeks now. Now, these drugs have been kicking the ass of my staph infection, but they’ve ALSO killed off my useful bacteria. In short, I need to re-establish my beneficial bugs. Both doctors and all the nurses who have attended me have recommended that I eat active culture yogurt.
Problem is, I loathe yogurt, except for the sugarladen frozen variety. I’ve tried several kinds…I do NOT want a sweet yogurt recipe, but if I can use the sourness of yogurt, I think that I could maybe eat enough of it to do me some good.
I’ve tried yogurt and fruit. It does NOT taste good to me. I’m thinking that I might be able to stomach yogurt mixed in with lime gelatin, I’m going to try that tonight.
Right now I’ve got a couple of low fat plain yogurt containers in the fridge, waiting for inspiration.
Please help! If you don’t give me good recipes, I will be forced to post about my GI tract problems, and my yeast infections!
Yikes Lynn! I wish I could help you–unfortunately for you, I love plain yogurt. In fact, I prefer plain to the fruited variety; if I want fruit, I mix it in with the yogurt. You could try mixing cereal in with the yogurt–like a granola or something similar (I eat it that way too :)). I also use plain yogurt on baked potatoes–instead of sour cream; tastes pretty good! You can mix it in with rice or with pasta; use it like you would sour cream. You could also make a lassi-type drink with mango or papaya, or any other fruit that you like, for that matter–just use the yogurt instead of juice, blend it in the blender with some ice. Fresh peaches would be good; I’ve discovered that I love peach-mango, it’s a great flavor (IMHO).
Hope these suggestions help you some in getting some yogurt in ya! Good luck.
Can you use the unflavored (e.g., Dannon Plain) as a substitue for mayonnaise in a dish that is already flavored with something else? (For example, a tuna/pasta salad that includes (some or all) lemon juice, celery, peas, and pepper?)
What I do is buy the plain unsweetened kind and just add some sort of artificial sweetener. It doesn’t taste that bad to me.
Have you tried making kebabs and putting the yogurt on top of them and eating with a pita. It might just be my weird culinary habit, but I swear that it tastes pretty good.
Since you’re not too fond of sweet yogurt, my first thought was perhaps you might try some raita. It’s a typical condiment used in Indian cuisine, but I love to eat it straight. I’ve also used plain yogurt instead of mayo in chicken salads, and just make sure you season it well.
If you have a chance, try to get your hands on some Greek yogurt. I’ve found it at Trader Joe’s, and it’s richer than the regular plain yogurt you’ll find at your average shop.
Oh, and if you’d like to use yogurt as a substitute for sour cream, line a sieve with cheesecloth and set over a bowl, filling the sieve with the yogurt. Let sit in the fridge overnight so some of the excess water drains off. You’ll have something closer to the thickness of sour cream at that point.
Hope you’ll feel better soon, Lynn.
As a biologist I am pretty sure freezing it wouldn’t kill ALL the culture, but what percentage I don’t know. If you can’t get the stuff down any other way you might want to try this as a last resort.
Why not just take the tablets or a freeze dried powder version? They deliver many times more bacilli than yoghurt does. From my ex wife’s experience I know they work fine.
meI second javamaven’s raita recommedation. It can be a simple as yogurt + cucumber, or you can throw in the kitchen sink. You could also try using yoghurt as a base for salad dressing, in place of mayonaisse. Mix in a few spices, maybe some onion or garlic, and toss it with some lettuce and stuff.
I was flipping through epicurious.com for some more possibilities with yogurt, and came across this tzatziki recipe that can be eaten with veggies or pita chips (easily made by cutting pita bread into wedges, toss with a little olive oil & salt, and toast in the oven).
Ha! I didn’t know that they made tablets out of the culture!
I’m going to try the raita and the tzatziki recipes, too. I think that both my daughter and I will enjoy them. I will also try yogurt with tuna salad, as the tuna flavor is pretty strong.
I just want to extend my sympathies: I absolutely loathe yogurt. I’ve had stomach bugs before that prompted my friends to recommend it to help me keep food down, but honestly I’d rather be sick than eat yogurt.
Here’s hoping you can get over it soon. And of the above suggestions, trying it with cucumber sounds to me like the least miserable of ways to eat yogurt.
Not a big yoghurt eater but I find the greek-style stuff, very thick and almost gelatinous, to be wonderful when simply laced with generous amounts of honey.
Really, really, scrummy - and I can’t stand the taste of the yoghurt on it’s own.
This one should be better for you as it also contains Bifidobacteria.
Freezing the yoghurt is likely to knock-off a lot of the bugs in it. Youghurt is an acidic environment, and the bugs need to be buffered if they are to be viable after being thawed and ingested.
Have you considered sprinkling muesli over a bowl of yoghurt? The dried fruit will add a little sweetness to the yoghurt, plus the extra fibre from the cereal can’t do any harm.
I like vanilla-flavoured yoghurt. You could try adding a little vanilla essence to plain yoghurt to see whether that suits your tastes.
Incidentally, do Americans pronounce the word with an elongated “yo” – as in “yo-yo” – or with a short “yoh” sound?
I forgot all about the Greek recipes that use yogurt! And the raita is a good idea too–it’s just cucumbers and yogurt, but it’s delicious (IMO). I don’t know if you like curries, but yogurt is almost always a great accompaniment to them–helps to cool off the spiciness. That’s yogurt in the sauce in those Gyros, btw.
hope you’re getting enough ideas to help with getting the yogurt down. I’ve heard that the tablets work just as well, though. Good luck!
In fact, I prefer plain to the fruited variety; if I want fruit, I mix it in with the yogurt. You could try mixing cereal in with the yogurt–like a granola or something similar (I eat it that way too :)). I also use plain yogurt on baked potatoes–instead of sour cream; tastes pretty good! You can mix it in with rice or with pasta; use it like you would sour cream. You could also make a lassi-type drink with mango or papaya, or any other fruit that you like, for that matter–just use the yogurt instead of juice, blend it in the blender with some ice. Fresh peaches would be good; I’ve discovered that I love peach-mango, it’s a great flavor (IMHO).
That’s yogurt in the sauce in those Gyros, btw.