Cooking

Get plain Greek yogurt and use it as a substitute for sour cream in all of your recipes. They taste nearly identical.

I think it should be somewhere in the settings menu

Could try going in the yogurt-drink direction, with something like lassi or kefir or something like that. Mango lassi is frankly delicious. Or go in the other direction and try a really thick greek yogurt with a texture closer to cheesecake. There's brands

Could also use it as an ingredient in uncooked things. It can be used in some salad dressing recipes sometimes for instance.

I'm not sure if freezing would harm the cultures.

If you are just looking for probiotics, maybe try other fermented foods instead like kimchi

You can also thin yogurt out with cool water until it's the consistency of milk. You'll dilute the flavor a lot but maybe the texture will be more palatable..

I love making lassi, maybe that's something you can try. There are lots of different types of lassi, different tastes sweet and salty, but also different consistency.

I usually use half yoghurt and half water as the base, which gives you a consistency of buttermilk. But you can add as much or little water (and/or milk) as you prefere. From there you can add fruits or spices you like.

Here is a Plain lassi recipe.

Here are some Indian flavor options. They're making a thicker lassi, but you can easily adjust the water.

No help on the yogurt, but a suggestion. Have you tried Miso soup? It's really good for your gut health. Don't get instant, get the real stuff/paste. It lasts a long time and you can use it in other foods as a flavor enhancer. Try mild yellow first. I personally love the red. Avoid the Hawaiian version unless you like sweet things. And never boil it, it kills the good stuff in it.

You can try making a fresh fruit compote to mix in, that would kind of do it.

Do you have a similar aversion to Cottage Cheese? What about going in the direction of fermented vegetables like Kim Chi or Sauerkraut?

There’s a brand called Fage that is kinda expensive but super thick. It’s not runny like other yogurts seem to be. It’s my go to when I have a bit of extra funds. Add some granola, strawberries, maybe some honey or walnuts, cinnamon, vanilla, whatever to your hearts content.

One other thing I should emphasize. A combination of yogurt and honey is fucking delicious.

I think you’d find that Fage doesn’t give that same slimy yuck factor that other yogurts do. It’s denser than Chobani or Stoneybrook (maybe equivalent to Skyr?) In any case, I think it more so has the texture of whipped topping.

I don’t get it all the time, because it is expensive, but when I do, it’s a treat.

Look into kefir. Better than yogurt for probiotics. Yogurt is a pistol. Kefir is a machine gun.

To get frozen yogurt as it's normal consistency, you also have to add a lot of sugar. Like more sugar than ice cream. Also there is questionable value to the probiotic nature after freezing it.

What kind of yogurt do you usually get? What kind of texture do you want? Because store bought stuff has quite the range. Yoplait basic low end yogurt is practically drinkable, but their "Oui" brand French style yogurt is practically chewable. I really like the Oui but it's also kind of expensive for what you get so I usually opt to get Greek style because everyone makes it, it's good, and usually also cheap.

You might also want to try Kefir. It's probiotic but much more like drinking milk than yogurt. It's not quite either, but something in between. I pound one of these whenever I'm constipated and it really gets shit moving again, in a literal sense.

Try skyr instead of yogurt. It's way thicker so it may not be as difficult for you. If that option is still a no go, you can add it into foods instead of it being the only food. Anything that benefits from adding dairy will take plain skyr or plain greek yogurt just fine. Plain versions can also replace sour cream to a varying degree. You can also add in enough granola that it's just a creamy coating for the granola.

You can make tzatziki with it, or salad dressing, making a mango lassi with it would be a different texture. Frozen yoghurt seems like a good idea, I wouldn't expect it to kill the cultures, generally high temperature kills stuff, low temperatures usually just slow them down and keep populations from growing, so cooking with it seems more likely to kill cultures than freezing it. if it weren't for what I just said about cooking with it I'd say using it in curry would be great, though you usually add it at the end so you could do that as it's cooling some and potentially avoid that issue

I can't do the drinks, the texture kills me. i can eat it on fruit with a little honey and/or granola.

Yogurt is very easy to make. You should order a few different types of cultures and try them out and see which consistency works best for you. Wherever you order from should have a description of what its flavor and consistency are like. It's pretty cheap to get started, too.

I thought I hated yogurt until I found one there was a consistency that I liked.

What, specifically, about the texture bugs you? I'm not challenging, just trying to understand so I can offer recommendations to alter things.

So, you can use yogurt in anything you’d use a binder like sour cream or mayo. Guacamole, for example, or tuna/chicken salad sandwiches.

Edit: also frozen yogurt (though the probiotics diminish over time. You’ll have to make it fresh…. I’m gonna try this argument with my GF….)

Google is suggesting Elmer's glue. have you tried that?

Water kefir is another good option - one you get the grains rehydrated it makes a new batch every 24 hours or so, and you can referment it with fruit juice to make a fizzy probiotic drink. It’s much easier to get started with than kombucha

Considered just buying probiotic pills instead? Yogurt isn't the only way to get beneficial bacteria.

I have a hard time eating yogurt sometimes, but I find if it's not gritty enough I can just add a little sand - or even just regular dust if I can't get to the sandlot. Conversely, if there's already too much grit, I add butter to smooth it out.

If you're in the USA, Chobani full fat and Oui by Yoplait are ok, but there's added sugar. Whipping it with a whisk or handmixer will make it more like a mousse texture. There's a decent weight gain powder made with pea protein, Orgain that has probiotics. It says use water to mix with, but I use whole milk. If you're not trying to gain, water is probably fine , if you are trying to gain, add a dollop of peanut or almond butter.

Refrigerated sauerkraut has probiotics, but I don't care for it.

You can mix it with rice, have you tried that?