DIY Yogurt?

My son is obsessed with yogurt.  He'll cry and point to the container on the top shelf of the fridge, demanding a tasty yogurt snack.  My main problem with flavored yogurts is that they are loaded with sugar.

On July 20th, I was pondering plain yogurt in this blog.  I've since bought some more plain yogurt and ended up using some over the weekend.  I sweetened it with a little juice and some sugar added.  I'm not pleased that I had to use so much sugar, but my son gobbled it up! 

I wanted to come up with a way to get the boy to eat his yogurt without having to load it up with sugar.  I wondered if there were some other sweeteners that would be sufficient.  As is typical, I turned to the internet to do a little research.  I think I'll try a little honey to sweeten his next yogurt snack.

In my searching, I was sidetracked.  I came across several websites that explain how to make your own yogurt.  I first learned that you can make your own yogurt a few months ago from another blog, but I didn't pursue yogurt making at that time.  Though yogurt makers are on the market, I was pleasantly surprised to find that making yogurt doesn't require any additional equipment or appliances.

This site is probably one of the best ones I found.  It offers detailed instructions and photographs on how to make your own yogurt using items that you probably already have in your kitchen.  My husband patiently tolerates my hippie tendencies, but he doesn't get why I want to try my hand at yogurt making.  Call me crazy, but it sounds so unbelievably easy and I totally want to give it a try!

Have you every made yogurt in your kitchen?  Do you have any tips or advice?  I'd love to hear from you!

What Do You Do with Plain Yogurt?

I like yogurt.  Well, I sorta like yogurt.  I've found that the types of yogurt I tend to prefer contain so much sugar that I think they are desserts masquerading as a healthy dairy snack.  With this in mind, I'd like to purchase more plain yogurt. 

My problem is that no one in my family likes plain yogurt.  It tastes totally awful and I can only think of two things to do with plain yogurt:  make tzatziki sauce or make a homemade treatment to handle a yeast infection.  I know it sounds like I'm kidding about that last bit, but it apparently is a handy way to take control when yeasty nasties are overrunning your hoo-haw.  As a side note, I hope that my computer search history is never made public because I'll feel like a real weirdo when "yogurt tampon" shows up.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  I don't often serve Mediterranean cuisine and I never get yeast infections, so I really have no idea what to do with plain yogurt.  What can I do with plain yogurt that doesn't involve kebabs or vaginas?  As I have in the past, I'm soliciting tips from my readership.  What do you do to make plain yogurt more palatable?