My family eats their way through almost 3 kilograms of natural yoghurt every week. This may seem like enough to bathe in, Cleopatra style, but not with a family of 8 enthusiastic eaters! My five older children would happily ladle Greek style yoghurt over every dinnertime meal if I would allow it and my husband and I add a generous spoonful to our cereal or fruit salad in the mornings. We especially enjoy silky, home made yoghurt which my mother-in-law is an expert at churning out upon request. I’m not as skilled as her at making this and find it much easier (and quicker) to buy a good commercial brand.

Yoghurt is a healthy and tasty way to start the day, snack on during the day, and use as an accompaniment to savoury meals. Yoghurt is also included in many of my baked goods, like this Yoghurt, Fruit and Coconut Cake. Creamy yoghurt, whether it is plain or flavoured, adds an aerated texture to cakes, ups the moisture content and overall flavour.

Yoghurt, Fruit and Coconut Cake – This is a dense, moist morning or afternoon tea cake that has a lightness to it due to the inclusion of yoghurt. 

Ingredients 
125 ml light olive oil
2 large eggs
8 standard tablespoons of plain, unsweetened yoghurt (I use full fat)
1 medium banana, mashed
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup caster sugar
2 cups self raising flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees on a conventional setting. If making this in a fan forced oven reduced the temperature to 160 degrees. Grease (with unsalted butter) a deep kugelhopf tin measuring 20 cm in diametre. 

Whisk together the olive oil, eggs and yoghurt until smooth and creamy. 

Whisk in the banana and lemon rind. 

Add all of the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. 

Scrape into your prepared tin and bake for 50 -55  minutes until golden and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes. If you would like to eat this warm, turn out onto a plate and cut thick slices to share around. Otherwise, turn out onto a cake rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 



This evening I prepared Roasted Tarragon Chicken with Fennel and Lemon Potatoes and Crisp Iceberg Lettuce. 

Lunch was a speedy Beef, Broccoli and Carrot Stir-fry with Ginger and Honey. No photo because it was eaten with gusto.  

I also made a delicious, hearty Vegetable and Red Lentil Soup. This is an excellent waste-free way of incorporating whatever vegetables are in the fridge. Unfortunately the bowl of steaming soup that I had set aside to photograph was snaffled up by my husband, who thought that I had already saved an image. A wholesome, tasty, vitamin packed meal.