The past four Wednesdays (sans last week due to Thanksgiving) have been oriented towards helping you fight the flu (or cold) naturally. Each Wednesday we (Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy, The Humbled Homemaker, The Purposed Heart, Christian Mommy Blogger, and Day 2 Day Joys) have been revealing a different food that is purported to support your immune system in the fight against the cold and flu viruses that run rampant this time of year.
So far we have talked about the immune boosting benefits of pumpkin, the importance of eating breakfast, green tea, and 7 Ways to Eat Raw Garlic. I have thoroughly enjoyed perusing all the amazing recipes and tips that have been linked up.
Before I jump into our final immune boosting food, I want to highlight some of my favorite recipes shared from last week’s link up on our flu fighting food – garlic!
Fast and Yummy Bean Dip by Whole New Mom – Love this idea. I’m planning on making a big batch of beans this week. I have this on my list to try.
Cumin Garlic Hummus – Umm…yes, please! This looks so yummy. I am going to put garbanzo beans on my grocery list for next week. We love hummus, and I’m always on the look out for a delicious new recipe to try!
Now for this week’s flu fighting food – yogurt.
Yogurt is by far one of my favorite foods ever. Not to mention, it’s so cheap, especially if you make it yourself, and it is available year round.
Yogurt is a fermented dairy product made by adding bacterial cultures to milk, which causes the transformation of the milk’s sugar, lactose, into lactic acid. – Source
Yogurt has been said to stimulate cell activity,which is your first line of defense against sickness. One serving a day of probiotic-rich yogurt helps your body fight off infections, such as the cold or flu virus.
Now, I have to be sure to state that I’m not talking about the conventional stuff people call yogurt these days. I’m talking about good, quality yogurt. The kind without high fructose corn syrup, sugar, natural flavorings, or whatever it is they put in that stuff.
Side note: sugar (yes, HFCS included) suppresses your immune system. So, whatever reasons you have for eating yogurt are null and void if it’s chock full of sugar.
My friend, Stacy, at Stacy Makes Cents, has a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful tutorial on how to make your own yogurt (in a crock pot). I have personally followed the instructions, and we have been enjoying our own yogurt for a couple of weeks now. It was so easy to make, and I will never buy store bought yogurt again. Well, unless of course I dump my starter culture down the drain. I have a reputation, don’t I?
Check out Fix and Forget Friday – Crock Pot Yogurt for a complete tutorial on how to make easy, peasy yogurt. The only difference between me and Stacy is that I use raw milk, and I don’t flavor mine. Unlike her, I killed my kefir grains … again…for the second time. So I need my plain yogurt.
Some of our favorite ways to enjoy yogurt:
- We cover Samuel’s morning fruit in yogurt. He loves it.
- Over top granola.
- In our smoothies.
But our absolute favorite way to use yogurt? As a substitute for sour cream! We use it on our baked potatoes, in our soups, on our tacos, wherever something calls for sour cream, we just substitute yogurt.
I was really surprised that we liked this substitution. We are sour cream addicts. However, we were always running out. Who knew yogurt (plain, of course) would work so wonderfully?! You should try it, especially now that you know that yogurt is a flu fighting food! 😉
Be sure to check out some of the other ladies’ sites to get more information and tips on yogurt as a flu fighting food.
Yogurt Pudding: A Flu Fighting Food @ Quick and Easy, Cheap and Healthy
Apple Pie Smoothie: A Probiotic Flu Fighter @ The Purposed Heart
5 Holiday Uses for Yogurt: A Flu Fighting Food @ The Humbled Homemaker
Probiotics 101 @ Day 2 Day Joys
@ Christian Mommy Blogger
Your turn! Link up your delicious yogurt recipes below. There are only two guidelines for participation:
- Your recipe must include YOGURT as an ingredient. Any entry submitted that does not include yogurt will be deleted.
- Please link your posts back to one of the hosting blogs. This way your readers can have access to all of the other great yogurt recipes as well!
Don’t have a blog? No worries, we’d love to hear from you in the comments. What are some of your favorite ways to eat yogurt?
Lori @ Laurel of Leaves
November 30, 2011 at 8:38 amThanks for featuring my Cumin Garlic Hummus! Hope you enjoy it. It’s definitely a staple in my house 🙂 This week I’ve shared a tutorial for easy homemade yogurt–it really is so easy it’s scary!
Leigh Ann
November 30, 2011 at 11:56 amThanks, Lori! I will have to check it out.
Rachel @ day2dayjoys
November 30, 2011 at 2:28 pmI’ll have to try yogurt on baked potatoes and tacos… might take a while to get used to! Great tips!
Leigh Ann
December 2, 2011 at 9:53 pmWe didn’t really notice the difference. Just not as thick, I guess, as sour cream is. The texture is a bit different coming out of the tub, but once put on hot food, you can’t even tell. You’ll have to let me know what you think!
Stacy Makes Cents
November 30, 2011 at 2:28 pm🙂 I don’t have access to raw milk….but I sure wish I did! Thanks for linking me. 🙂 I don’t use the crock pot method much anymore, but instead make it on the stove and I’ve also switched to leaving it unsweetened…..so I can use raw honey instead. 🙂 I love you LeighAnn!
http://www.stacymakescents.com/homemade-yogurt
Nikki
December 1, 2011 at 1:23 amShelby LOVES yogurt too. I have only made it once and it seemed like too much work. Are you telling me it isn’t? I will have to hop on over to SMC and find out!
Leigh Ann
December 2, 2011 at 9:52 pmIt is not a lot of work. It’s easy!