Inspire: DIY Skyr! Slow Food for Slow Days...

I am so excited to introduce you to one of my favorite inspiring women!  Nikki is so many things to so many people!  She is an ass-kicking personal trainer, a positively magical massage therapist, a brain-tumor survivor, a cheerleading friend and an amazingly strong and creative Mom to 3 unique and soul-filled girls.  You can find her through her website & her social media.  

SKOL!  I mean, SKYR!  I was pretty excited when Stacy asked me to write a little blog about how I make skyr.  I'm guessing she may have just wanted me to shut up about my go-to everyday breakfast...Ok, anyone that knows Stacy knows that's not true!  So yes...I'm a little passionate about the skyr.  I first tried Siggi's brand Skyr on a trip to Sweden/Norway a couple years ago.  We were flying Iceland Air & that was one of the items that was served to us on the flight.  I looked at the label (because I have problems) and was pretty happy to see the relatively low sugar content compared to yogurts I've tried in the past.  It also was pretty high in protein & actually tasted good-Delicious really!  It wasn't like Greek yogurt... Greek yogurt I ate it knowing it was good for me, so I pretended to like it, but in actuality...it's gross. I hate it with the heat of 1,000 suns.

Anyway!  Since then, I've been buying a ton of Skyr.  The kids like it (okay, not Kaya), so that's a huge plus! I like the fact you can recycle the container, but it's still a lot of containers.  I've been making more slow food, and upon meeting Erik, more slow Scandinavian food (It's all slow, let's be real).  He's well acquainted with his Slovak side of the family (food & tradition wise), but his Swedish side not so much-I'm happy to help with that being of Norwegian ancestry.  He also really enjoys and appreciates my cooking which I'm forever grateful for.  I credit him with reawakening my love of cooking after losing so much of my sense of smell after brain surgery.  With all of that said, I thought I'd take on Skyr.  Well, it looks easy enough!  And it is easy, I just....problems again...want it to be PERFECT.   After trying four different ways of making it, I finally perfected it to my liking.  Smooth, thick, tangy, DELICIOUS! "It tastes like a cloud" I declared upon tasting it.  I have no idea what that means, but yeah...cloud.

What the crap is Skyr & why should I eat it?  Well, I don't care if you eat it, it's your life.  If you're looking at maybe some health benefits as to why you should eat it, I can help you with that!  Skyr is actually a cheese (acktuallyyy...) as I mentioned, it's high in protein, low in sugar (especially if you keep it plain), low in carbs, packed with probiotics, it's also high in calcium, b-12, and if you care, low in fat...Note: the skyr I make is not low in fat, I'm not about that low fat life.  If you are, just use skim milk instead of full-fat as I do. I eat my plain skyr with about 500 cashews & berries on top-so. good.
Skyr is often called the 'Viking Superfood' as it's from like, the Viking times & it's healthy and all that.  It's thought that it's been around since the 9th century, and was brought over by the Norwegians that settled Iceland.  Skyr is a staple in Iceland, and seems to be gaining popularity around the world.  Yay Skyr!
Thanks for reading!! I hope you enjoy the Skyr. SKOL!

That was A lot of words...Let's get to the recipe:

You will need:
1-Half gallon of pasteurized milk (IMPORTANT!  Pasteurized, not ULTRA-Pasteurized.  It doesn't work.  Don't ask me why, science I guess.)
1/4 Cup plain or vanilla Skyr.  I used Siggi's
1/8 Cup distilled water
2 Drops of rennet (don't think too much about it...just do it)

• Sterilize all equipment
• Heat milk in in a pot until it reaches 190-200 degrees

• Remove from heat and let it cool to 90 degrees
• Take a half cup of the cooled milk and mix in a separate bowl with the Skyr
• Stir milk/Skyr mixture into the rest of the cooled milk
• Mix the rennet and distilled water together
• Add rennet/water mixture to the pot of milk/skyr
• Transfer to a glass container (I used a large container once used to make kombucha)

• Cover with a towel and let it sit overnight or at least 12 hours.

• Next you are going to cover a strainer with a cheesecloth (where the crap was mine?  Who knows, so I used paper towels)  
• Scoop all of the curds onto the cheesecloth covered strainer & let the whey separate from the curds into a different glass container.
• Stick everything in the fridge and wait...like all day.  You'll see a lot of whey has drained from the Skyr.  You can use that whey for other recipes, or if you want to thin out your Skyr, add more whey to the curds when you're mixing it.

• When most of the whey seems to have drained from the curds, transfer the curds to another bowl & mix it with a hand mixer.  I don't go ham on it, I just mix it on low for a little bit.

• Mix in some berries or some nuts and enjoy!