A great place you can check out for recipes is foodnetwork.com I just looked up "bridal shower" for you & they have recipes there & I bet you can find something really cool & easy to make as well as inexpensive. Betty

Wow, this reminds me of last spring when I was making cheese nearly every morning because my husband decided to milk 2 of our beef cows that lost their calves. Kind of like a science project, temperature, cultures,enzymes and timing are very important. (the New England Cheese Supply is awesome) I made my own press with a PVC pipe with holes and made wood disks to fit inside. My weighting were not accurate, but I guess it didn't matter since most of the cheese got eaten before it totally aged anyways. The harder the cheese (Romano or Parmesan) the more pressure._ Quite frankly there's not big money to be saved making your own but it is fun and I learned to appreciate the process. It takes 10 lbs of milk to make 1 lb of cheese and I can buy basic cheddar around here for $4.00 a lb. (homemade yogurt is definitely money saving though 1 gallon milk =1 gallon yogurt) I like the fast mozzarella recipe using citric acid when ever I was in a hurry but I did experiment with some of the other hard cheeses although most did not make it through the aging process because of sampling.

Here's a recipe you might be interested in. Here is a link that might be useful: cream cheese pound cake

It sounds like your venture worked well. You may want to try this.... Check your yogurt after 3 hours, gently giggle the mixture to see if it is firm. If not firm, let stand one more hour and check it again, then every half-hour after that. Refrigerate it as soon as it is done and don't use it for at least 6-hours. It will continue to thicken as it chills. Once you have a strong starter and a good source of milk, the length of time it takes to ferment depends on the three T's. - Temperature you heated the milk to (between 190-210-degrees F.). - Temperature for adding the starter - 105-120-degrees F. When you add the starter on the cooler side of the temperature window, the yogurt will be more mild than if you add it towards the warmer side of the temperature window. -Temperature for incubating - This temperature can range from 105-120-degrees F. Temperatures over 120-degrees F will destroy the bacteria. You can take the remaining Greek Yogurt and freeze it in portions for future yogurt sessions. Thaw it in the refrigerator before using for making another batch. You can also save a portion of your new batch to use as a starter, but it will eventually get weaker with subsequent batches until you will need a new starter. Whey is a very healthy part of yogurt, and you can expect it to separate from the curd during a long fermentation session, or if you stir or disturb the curd by cutting into it with a spoon and then letting it sit again. I love the whey from kefir and use it to make lemonade. It's a great thirst quencher during these horribly hot days. I use whey for lacto-fermentation of grains. You'll find more information about the whey in the link below. After decades of making yogurt, I moved on to the much simpler and better for you kefir. I drain the curd from kefir and use it as a substitute for cream cheese (as well as sour cream, plain yogurt, and in the liquid form as a substitute for buttermilk), and you can do the same thing with yogurt. The greatest portion of the whey drains off the yogurt the first hour. If you let yogurt drain for only 5-10 minutes, a cup of yogurt gives up 25% of it's volume in 5-minutes; a pint gives up 18% and a quart only 12%. -Drained Yogurt: Drained about 10-minutes. -Thick Yogurt: Drained at least 30-minutes. It will thicken, but still be soft - but won't retain its shape on a flat surface or the mark of a finger indentation. One hour is ideal for draining. -Yogurt Cheese: Yogurt that has drained for 8-hours or longer. It is the consistency of cream cheese, will hold its shape and retain the mark of a finger indentation. -One quart of yogurt will yield approximately 1-1/3 c. of yogurt cheese (about 2 c. of whey is drained off.) One quart of yogurt will yield about 2-1/2 c. of thick yogurt (about 1-1/4 c. of whey is drained off). Adding non-fat dry milk along with your milk will increase the protein and calcium and also results in a thicker yogurt. There are recipes where you can also add gelatin to help make a firm curd. The gelatin also adds protein. If you use reconstituted powdered milk as your only milk source, you can skip the step where you heat the milk. Just add warm water to the powdered milk to the temperature you need for adding the starter. By altering the ingredients - milk only, OR milk + powdered milk, OR milk + powdered milk and gelatin, it will determine whether your yogurt is soft, firm, or very firm. Make yogurt with half and half or cream and you have a lovely, rich, yogurt to use for desserts with fruit, or make into ice cream. You can also make yogurt with evaporated milk or add sweetened condensed milk for making sweetened yogurt. Another "secret" ingredient in yogurt making is to add cornstarch for a smoother and creamier finished product. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Benefits of Yogurt Whey