junior kitchen

I’ve always been fascinated with the process of making cheese. Farmer’s cheese looked easy enough for our first attempt. After reading dozens of recipes that all appear to be closely related I opted for an easy version that did not require a trip to the store for the purchase of cheesecloth. By using more vinegar the cheese will have bigger curds and using a fine mesh strainer will work. Kitchen Daughter was very happy helping with the process and impressed herself with what she remembered from science class when she studied states of matter.

Ingredients:
1 Gallon Whole Milk
2/3 cups White Vinegar

Pour the entire gallon of milk into a large pot. Heat over medium high until hot.

The milk is hot enough when the top has the skin on it

Add the vinegar and stir it in. The curds and whey will start to separate. Let the pot sit for 15 to 20 mins.

Empty the pot by pouring into a fine mesh strainer. You can have a bowl under it to catch the whey.

The cheese sat in the strainer for an hour before it was fully drained. After that I scooped it out added a little salt, some fresh dill and served it with crackers.

Although everyone who ate the cheese enjoyed it, half of the folks said they thought they could taste a hint of vinegar. I think next time I will try the cheesecloth method using a half gallon of milk and buttermilk with less vinegar.

Easter morning, ready to hunt for eggs

The night before Easter, dear friends invited us over for an evening of pot luck and egg dying fun.

With an abundance of tomatoes right now, we made bruschetta to take to the party.

Ingredients
4 ripe tomatoes
1/4 cup minced basil leaves (or whatever herbs you have around – we used Mexican tarragon, parsley and chives for part of that total)
2 cloves minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil (be generous!)
A few dashes balsamic vinegar (if you have any herbal vinegar, this is a great time to bust it out.)
1 loaf of Italian bread
a pinch of salt and pepper

Prepare

Get a large bowl. Mince some of your garlic and glug a little balsamic over it. Add some cubed tomatoes. Mince some basil (or whatever herbs) on top of that. Add more tomatoes. Put some oil over that. Add salt and pepper, whatever tomato you have left, and some more olive oil. If you feel the mixture is not coated with enough olive oil, you can add even more. It’s healthy, right? Allow the mixture to sit for minimum 10-15 minutes for the flavors to blend. A couple of hours is better. Overnight is even better than that. This is a great dish to take to a party because you can make it ahead and let the tomatoes sit in the fridge for a while and let them get all juicy.

When you’re ready to serve, cut the bread cut into diagonal slices and place on a baking sheet under the broiler until they get brown on both sides. If you feel brave, put a drop of olive oil on them, too, before broiling.

Serve

Spoon the tomato mixture over the warm bread and enjoy.

Our pup Lulu loves this peanut butter with molasses biscuit

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup lowfat milk
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 tbsp. molasses
unsweetened carob chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350° F
Whisk the flour, oats and baking powder together in a medium bowl.
Gradually stir in the milk, peanut butter and molasses.
Turn out onto a floured surface.
Knead until a soft dough forms.
Roll out to 1/2″ thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter or dog bone cookie cutter.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Let cool overnight in the oven or cool on a wire rack.

After the the biscuits are cool, melt the carob in the microwave 10 seconds increments until soft. Be careful not to burn them. A little water may be stirred in if necessary to get a liquid consistency. The biscuits may then be dunked in the carob or using a spoon drizzle the carob.

We keep a weeks worth of biscuits in an airtight container and freeze the rest, defrosting as needed.

The perfect dish for little hands to help with.

And for a great recipe we used this one from 101 Cookbooks.

Christmas rocks.

Miami City Ballet’s Nutcracker is opening this week and we have one very excited ballerina dancing around our house. Making her stage debut in Miami as an angel we are geared up for two weeks of performances with the company.

We took off for Atlanta  and celebrated Thanksgiving with old friends.

So. Much. Fun.