Rhubarb and Lavender Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

So, in case people forget that this blog is also about my cooking adventures, here's a post about some of my forays into using my new ice cream machine.

I found a tub of vanilla yogurt in the chest freezer the other day. I've found that the texture of yogurt is not very desirable once it has been frozen and thawed-at least not for eating just as-is. So I decided today to put it to use and make some frozen yogurt.

I didn't really use a recipe, per se-I just threw together a couple different recipes I found/had in my stash. I had a recipe for a delicious rhubarb/lavender compote that I used as filling for some meringue-topped cupcakes I made for my friend's baby shower. It takes 1.5 c diced rhubarb, half a cup of sugar, and a teaspoon of lavender buds. Throw it all into a pot, and simmer gently on med or med-low until it's all broken down and shiny. Stir occasionally, and don't let it burn.

Once that was done, I put it into a med. sized bowl and put it into the freezer for 20 minutes then the fridge for an hour.

I probably wouldn't have used that much sugar but I actually thought that the yogurt I had was unsweetened plain-but it's actually sweetened vanilla. Oops. So this might be overly sweet. We'll see.

Once the hour was up, I poured the yogurt into the rhubarb mixture and mixed it all up. I set up and turned on my ice cream machine (I keep the bowl in the freezer when not in use, so it's always ready) and poured in the mixture. It didn't come close to filling the bowl, so I added about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of raw milk.

The yogurt/rhubarb mixture that was left in the mixing bowl after I scraped it into the machine tasted pretty darned good. That rhubarb/lavender marriage is so unexpected but SO delicious. The vanilla from the yogurt should blend nicely with it, too. I'll write about how it turns out.

Edited to add: we just tasted this straight out of the machine, and it is AMAZING! It's a soft-serve consistency at this point, so it could be a little harder for my liking, but it's so good. Just the right amount of rhubarb and lavender taste. Next time I think I'll pulverize the lavender in my mortar and pestle.

Giant Tiger has Astro yogurt on sale for 97 cents a tub. I am going to get some strawberry to make some strawberry rhubarb frozen yogurt. How I love rhubarb season! I better freeze some so I can use it all year!

Edited AGAIN to add:  go check out my HubPage that I wrote on making ice cream and frozen yogurt.
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