Moms Meet: Stonyfield Organic Yogurt {recipes}

I can't believe it is already October, I need to start posting my wordless Wednesdays again, fall is such a great time of year for pictures.  Plus, my son has his camera so there are some great 2-year old pictures! It is already seems that it will be a busy month.  We are booked every weekend, between bocce and parties, plus I need to start thinking more about my son's 3rd birthday that will be here before I know it.  But the real reason for this post...

We ended the month with a Moms Meet, I say we because a fellow Mom Ambassador and I joined together this time.  We sampled Stonyfield Organic Yogurts, and my cohort handed out Ecover samples for everyone to take home and try. (Which so far, I really like! It left my clothes soft and for an unscented detergent, left my clothes smelling clean and fresh!) But I am here to talk about yogurt... 

A little about Stonyfield...Stonyfield is based in New Hampshire and started off making yogurt just to support their farming school. It has since expanded and now is sold in most large grocery chain stores. Stonyfield now also buys there milk from family farms, supporting the local farms. (How that came about is kind of interesting, I would suggest checking out their website.) The yogurts are all organic. Here is their mission statement: "We’re committed to healthy food, healthy people, a healthy planet and healthy business."

We sampled all the types of yogurt that our local grocery store carries, I am sure the check out girl thought I was crazy buying so much yogurt!  The ones we tried; YoBaby, YoToddler, YoKids, Greek, Smoothies, Squeezer, and just regular fruit on the bottom.  Everyone really enjoyed them, we were all really happy that they weren't as sweet as some of the other kids yogurts out there and they weren't full of artificial colors (no neon pinks and purples here!) It took everything I had to keep my son from drinking all the smoothies before the sampling.  He loves his yogurt!  I know I will buy these from now on for him.  You can tell they don't have crazy stuff added, and that makes them really good.  They do have a Kids Greek also, but of course our local store didn't carry that.  It also didn't carry as many flavors as there are actually available which is also a bummer. 

The YoBaby, YoToddler and YoKids are made with your child's needs in mind. The baby and toddler are made with whole milk while the kids is low-fat.  All three have less sugar than the other brands.  The toddler also has added DHA.  I have nothing bad to say about them.

And of course, you can cook with yogurt so I made two different things using the yogurt. 


Lasagna Primavera
(adapted from Stonyfields recipe Lasagna Primavera)

2 c carrots, shredded
1 c finely chopped kale
2 c chopped mushrooms
1 q Stonyfield Organic Low Fat Plain Yogurt (to make 1 cup yogurt cheese)
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs
2 1/2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, shredded
12 lasagna noodles (I used no boil noodles)*
32 oz pasta sauce


1. For Yogurt Cheese: Using layered cheese cloth, strain the whey from 1 quart of yogurt overnight in the refrigerator. This should yield 1 cup of yogurt cheese. (I used a pitcher and a chop stick, put the yogurt in the cheese cloth and tie, like a hobo sack. Stick a chop stick or pencil throw the gathered cloth, not the yogurt part. The stick will keep it from falling in the drained whey.)

2.Preheat oven to 375°.

3.Using a large mixing bowl, fold the vegetables, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, herbs, salt, pepper and eggs into the yogurt cheese. In a 9"x13" pan place a couple of tablespoons of sauce on bottom, spreading evenly.

4.Place a layer of noodles in the pan, top with half of the vegetable filling, then half of the sauce, then some cheese. Repeat for the second layer. Finish with the remaining noodles and cheese. Bake covered with foil for 1 hour. Remove foil for the last 10 minutes for cheese to brown. Serve warm.

*For Gluten Free option: use gluten free lasagna noddles, or even zucchini thinly sliced long ways instead of noodles

Coffee Cake
(adapted from the Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe from The Practical Encyclopedia of Baking by Martha Day)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2/3 cups sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla Yogurt (plain or Greek would work, I just happened to use French Vanilla)



crumb (if you like a lot of crumb topping, feel free to add!)
1 cup brown sugar (I used just a little more)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (you can use any nut combination, I just had these on hand)
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 375°, prepare a 9"x9" cake pan.

2. Make the crumb mixture, combine all ingredients until the butter is about the size of peas. Set aside.

3. Start the cake batter. Using a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Slowly add one egg at a time until well combined.

4. In a medium size bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

5. Alternating between the dry ingredients and the yogurt, slowly add to the butter mixture. 

6. Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan, followed by half the crumb mixture. Repeat. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Gluten Free Option: use an all-purpose Gluten Free flour blend and add 1 tsp. xanthan gum. 



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