Cream cheese heaven!

I love cream cheese.  I use it in dips, cheesecake, smeared on bagels, mixed with ranch dressing on veggie pizzas.  I use it in hundreds of recipes.  So much so that I normally spend about $5 a week just on cream cheese! However, I will never buy storebought cream cheese again.  Now that I've learned a new trick.

I've been making lots of smoothies - partly because I'm trying very hard to lose weight, partly because I like them, and partly because I broke a molar and for several days that was about all I could handle.  One of my favorites smoothies is a handful of frozen strawberries, a banana, a large spoonful of greek yogurt, a scoop of protein powder, and some milk.  Since I generally make 2 or more a day (Mariah likes them too) I buy the yogurt in the large containers.  I was at Kroger the other day and they had Mountain High plain yogurt for 99 cents for the large container.  Since they only had 3 left I bought them all thinking I could freeze them until I used them.  Then I was cruising on Pinterest.  Addictive, fun, interesting Pinterest.  I find all kinds of useful things on there.  This particular day, I found a pin on making your own yogurt cheese.  Now, I buy yogurt cheese in the grocery store.  It's a semi-firm cheese, almost like a fresh mozzarella and very expensive.  Normally I pay about $5 for a small ball of it.  So, I checked out the recipe.  It sounded very easy.  I decided to try it.  My result was not what I would normally buy in the store, but it was much better in my opinion - cream cheese!

To make this yummy dish, you take a colander or strainer and place it over a bowl.  Line it with cheese cloth or coffee filters.  Scoop 1 container of greek yogurt into the cheese cloth or filter. 

If you use cheese cloth, gather it up and twist the top so that it forms a ball of yogurt. Place the entire thing (strainer & bowl) into the refrigerator and let it sit for at least 8 hours so that all the liquid drains out.  I fixed mine up in the afternoonand let it sit until the next morning. 

When I checked on it the next day, I had a creamy, thick substance that tasted exactly like cream cheese! 

Next I took a small portion of it and mixed in a couple of spoonfuls of strawberry preserves.  Yum!!  This went on to the top of a bagel and was eaten for breakfast!!  I now have a healthier, cheaper version of my favorite spread. 

And what have YOU made lately?