homemade yogurt ice cream: vanilla and strawberry variations!!

I made both vanilla and strawberry "yogurt-ice cream" over the last few weeks!  Both flavors turned out really delicious and fruity tasting (even though the vanilla didn't have any fruit in it)!!  These recipes were adapted from the vanilla yogurt recipe in The Ultimate Ice Cream Book.  Since i like to find and make lower-fat and healthier variations of recipes when i can, i decided to substitute coconut milk+milk for heavy cream here.  I got the idea from making coconut ice cream last month.  I thought, "hmm..that coconut milk is kinda creamy, maybe i can use it instead of heavy cream"!  it seems like it is healthier, but i haven't done a comparison of the nutrition information side by side, so i can't say for sure.  Here's what i did:

Vanilla
2 cups (vanilla, organic) yogurt - strain (in strainer through a cheesecloth or wet paper towel to get a very fine strain) in fridge for 1-2 hours (to get 2/3 cups liquid out of the yogurt), discard liquid
2/3 cup sugar whisk into post strained-yogurt until dissolved
1 cup (2%, organic) milk
1/2 cup (light, organic) coconut milk
2 T vanilla extract
Strain yogurt for a few hours in refrigerator.  In a separate bowl, mix coconut milk, milk, and vanilla together, and chill.  When yogurt has been strained, discard liquid; add 2/3 cup sugar and whisk until dissolved.  Add milk mixture to yogurt mixture.  Mix with ice cream maker until frozen.  Serve with fruit or chocolate cookies.

After making the vanilla yogurt ice cream, i felt like a pro and was ready to tackle a fruity flavor!  I basically used the same recipe, added strawberries and a bit more sugar (to compensate for the extra volume of the strawberries; i realized afterward, it was probably not necessary and would have been good without the extra sugar).

Strawberry
2 cups (vanilla, organic) yogurt - strain (in strainer through a cheesecloth or wet paper towel to get a very fine strain) in fridge for 1-2 hours (to get 2/3 cups liquid out of the yogurt), discard liquid
2/3 cup sugar whisk into post strained-yogurt until dissolved
1/2 cup (2%, organic) milk
1 cup (light, organic) coconut milk
2 T vanilla extract
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup sugar (in addition to 2/3 cup)
Same process as above for yogurt.  While yogurt is chilling, mix strawberries, milk, coconut milk, vanilla, and 1/4 cup sugar in a blender until strawberries are desired texture. Chill strawberry mixture until yogurt is ready.  Add strawberry mixture to yogurt mixer.  Mix with ice cream maker until frozen.<3

right out of the machine, the ice cream is soupy!

after a while in the freezer it looks like this, yum!