Making Cream Cheese

I love cheese. Almost any kind of cheese too. I think cheese makes the world a batter place! I have been wanting to learn how to make cheese for a while now. I was in a store a while back and bought a small cheese making kit. I made mozzarella the first time with no success. I read up a little more of different types of milk and tried again, and this time I had some yummy cheese to show off at the end. 

While I was reading up on home cheese making, I found lots of references to cream cheese and it being a fairly easy project to start with for a beginner. When Samantha and I went to the cheese making class last month, our handouts also included a recipe for cream cheese (similar to this one)

I knew I would have some time this weekend so I bought the ingredients and started my cream cheese by combining my ingredients and bring them up to temperature. After that, the mixture sat in a covered pot for about 24 hours to ripen it.

After the 24 hours was completed, my milk mixture looked like yogurt and pulled away from the pan like this:

The next step was to line a colander with butter cloth and let it drain for about an hour.

When the hour was up, I gathered the cloth, tied loose knots using the corners of the cloth and then inserted 2 bamboo skewers between the knots. I use the knobs on my kitchen cabinets to hang things on when I need it.

I left the cheese hanging for about 10 hours and this is what the ball of cream cheese looked like after draining it.

The only thing left to do was put the cream cheese in a bowl and stir in a small amount of cheese salt.

It was getting kind of late at this point so I just smeared some on some crackers so I could taste it. 

I will be making this again. It did take almost two days to make, but the actual hands on time was minimal. The taste was incredible and I wished I had a bagel to go with it. I try and keep bagels made and in the freezer but I was out of them. I know what I will be making in the next couple of days!

The day I bought my cheese making kit, I also picked up this book. The photos are great, the instructions are detailed, and the book is arranged in sections for the beginner, intermediate and advanced cheese maker. 

CSA Basket

This week's CSA basket included potatoes, squash, a couple of different kinds of zucchini, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, two different bell peppers, and CORN! I like all of these things, but the corn was especially exciting for me. Kip and I both really like it cooked on the grill. I shuck and clean it, rub on some butter and some chili lime seasoning***, wrap it in foil and throw on the grill and it is delicious.

I think I have said it almost every week, but I am so happy with this new CSA. I love the variety of foods that we get each week and everything has been so tasty. Everything tastes as good as it looks too.

I have a few extra zucchini. so I think I am going to make some Zucchini bead today. I will probably go ahead and shred some of what I have and freeze it in two cup portions so that it is ready to go when I am ready to make it again.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July celebration. It was wet here, so we cooked indoors and went to my SIL's house and had a great time over there. Everyone kind of pitches in and brings a couple of different dishes and we are usually over there for a while, eating, visiting, playing cards or other games, watching movies, and eating again!

***the chili lime seasoning I like the best is a Chili-Lime Rub that I order from Pampered Chef. I don't know what made me sprinkle over my corn one day, but I did and we both love it.

Rosemary Bread

Rosemary Bread is one of my favorite herbed breads to make at home. Bread is one of my favorite foods and nothing makes my house smell as good as bread baking in the oven. With the addition of the rosemary and the other herbs, this one is exceptionally fragrant. This is my basic bread recipe that I use for any herbed bread. Rosemary is what I make the most often, but I have substituted the rosemary for other herbs such as dill or a combo of oregano, parsley and basil. Any combo of herbs that you would pair together will work. 

Here I have added my dry ingredients (minus 1 cup of flour) , including the yeast.

After adding the water and softened butter, mix for just a minute or two.

Add remaining cup of flour. At this time I switched to the dough hook on my mixer.

Bread is now ready to rise. I really like using my Kitchen Aid mixer for this, because the bowl that goes with it happens to be one of my largest mixing bowls. This way, I don't have to get another bowl dirty to allow the dough room to rise.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then cover with a dish towel and allow to rise for about an hour in a warm, not hot, place.

At the end of the hour, punch down the dough and knead for a few minutes.

Grease a loaf pan. Press dough into the pan, make sure to get it in the corners. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 45 minutes. 

After this rise, the bread will fill your loaf pan.

In about 40 - 45 minutes of baking you will end up with a golden brown beauty like this:

Herbed Bread Recipe

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 packet active dry yeast

1 1/4 cup warm water

2 tablespoons of melted butter

2 teaspoons parsley

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Combine 2 cups of the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Stir, then add the water and the softened butter. Mix on low for 1 minute, scraping the sides of the bowl. Turn mixer to medium and beat for 1 more minute. Stir in last cup of flour. (Switch to dough hook if you have one) and mix until smooth and the batter pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about an hour. 

Grease a loaf pan. Punch down dough and knead for about 5 minutes. Place dough in the greased loaf pan and pat down. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 - 45 minutes until dough has about doubled. 

Preheat oven to 375* and bake in oven until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on top, about 40 - 45 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

It really is best to wait an hour before slicing, but I have only been able to do that once or twice, nothing beats bread straight out of the oven!

Steak Seasoning

Are you grilling this week? I am sure we will be at some point. I thought I would share one of my favorite seasoning mixes that I almost always have on hand here at the house. I usually use it on steak but it is actually pretty good on burgers too.

Steak Seasoning Mix

2 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs. onion powder

1 tsp cracked brown mustard seeds

1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 1/2 Tbs garlic powder

2 tsp hickory smoke seasoning

1 tsp hickory sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

Measure out all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

An even quicker way is to measure your ingredients into a small mason jar, put the lid on and give it a couple of shakes!

Store in an airtight container.

Most of these spiced are easily found wherever you do your grocery shopping, but the brown mustard seeds, the hickory smoke seasoning and the hickory sea salt aren't as common or easy to find. I buy a lot of my spices online from My Spice Sage. I have ordered from them many times and have always been happy with their service and the prices. I also order the Clear Jel I need to canning pie fillings from here. Orders over $20 ship free and they also let you choose a free sample when you check out. Lots of the time they also have a free gift with a minimum purchase. They have lots of great recipes on their site too!

CSA Basket and an Update on the Raised Bed

This week's CSA basket included a kohlrabi, a head of purple cabbage, squash, zucchini, some beets, onion, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, red potatoes and regular potatoes.

I am loving all of the tomatoes and cucumbers that I have been getting. Everything has been very good, but I tomatoes and cucumbers are some of my favorite things to eat in the summer. I eat them plain, or love to slice them together and add just a bit of ranch dressing and some pepper.

The kohlrabi is new to me, I have never used it or eaten it before. Getting new things has been one of my favorite things about being a part of a CSA. Anytime I have gotten something that I wasn't familiar with or had never cooked before, all I have to do is ask and can get some suggestions. I love it that the person bringing us our shares always has ideas, but if there are other people there art the pickup time, they are usually quick to offer additional ideas too.

Last week I blogged about how we built and set up my new raised bed garden. This past weekend, my Dad came up for a visit and added this fencing to use as a trellis to the back of the bed. I have green beans and cucumbers planted on the back row and this will allow them to grow up onto the fence instead of just growing out. This is how he grows his cucumbers in his garden and I wanted something similar. I can't wait until it is covered!

Here is my Dad attaching some zip ties for extra support:

And here is a shot of the growth so far:

New Apple Recipes

A couple of weeks ago, I got an unexpected call from my mother-in-law asking me if I would be interested in a box of apples that someone had given her. She took a few of the apples home with her, but the majority of the box she gave to me. I had already canned all of the apple pie filling, applesauce, apple syrup and dehydrated a bunch of apples too. I went searching for some new apple recipes and this is what I ended up making (l-r)

Maple Apple Jam

Red Hot Cinnamon Apples

Caramel Apple Jam

Lemon, Honey Apple Jam 

Canned, Sliced Apples

The apples were an unexpected gift and I was happy to get them. It was also nice to find some new apple recipes. I think all of these will be made again. We have already been enjoying the apple slices, and here is one of the ways I prepare them:

Warm Spiced Apples

1 pint of canned apple slices, drained

2 tablespoons of butter

2-3 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg or allspice

Double all ingredients if you are using quarts.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add drained apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar and spices and cooked until apples are heated through.

Egyptian Lentil Soup

I am a huge fan of soups and can eat them year round and for any meal of the day. This lentil soup happens to be one of our favorites. One night I had planned a Red Lentil and Chicken soup for dinner and Kip called and asked if I cared if he invited a friend over. My philosophy is there is always room at my table, I just like a heads up if possible. I would rather have to add something to the dinner than not have room for someone. I had only met this friend of Kip's once before and I knew he was a vegetarian. I couldn't remember if he was vegan or not or what kind of vegetarian he was. I did a quick Google search for "red lentil soup" and found this recipe. It was a huge hit and has been made many times since then. 

Here are all the ingredients chopped and ready to go in the pot. I don't think I had ever had lentils until I was an adult. I have made several different kinds of lentil soups with the hard brownish green lentils you can buy in almost any supermarket. I guess about three years ago I had some recipes that called for other kinds of lentils. I like these small red ones, but none of my local stores carry them. When I drive to the other side of Nashville to either Whole Foods are Trader Joe's I try and stock up on them.

Cooking the spice mixture just until they start to release their smell makes a difference for this soup.

 

The final step is using an immersion blender to make the soup smooth. 

I serve this soup with fresh bread and it makes a nice, hearty flavorful meal.

Cheese Class

Samantha is my cooking buddy. She loves to come over and try out new recipes and cooking techniques. A couple of years ago, for her birthday her Mom enrolled her for a pasta making class. I was thrilled that she included me too! The three of us learned how to make pasta, ravioli, a yummy salad dressing and a couple of different pasta sauces. Since then we have taken a couple of other cooking classes as well. 

This past Christmas, I asked Samantha if she wanted her gift to be something to have or something to do. She chose something to do. I found a cheese making class that I knew she would enjoy. It took a while to get a class that we could get into, but our class time finally came around on Thursday.

We drove to a nearby farm where they teach cheese making classes. Standing Stone Farms is in Gallatin, TN and has a herd of Nubian Dairy Goats. 

The picture above is right after we arrived. I have a thing about being late for anything and so we got there about 30 minutes before the class started. 

The class started with making butter. Samantha has made butter here with me before, but she was still pretty happy with the butter she made. This is her pouring the "buttermilk" off of her butter.

And here she is helping stretch the mozzarella that they had just made.

She really enjoyed tasting the cheese too!

After the class was over, everyone was offered the chance to milk a goat too. 

Feeding the baby goats.

I didn't know what to expect from this Parent-Child cheese making class. I knew that we would be making butter and mozzarella. Since Samantha has made butter before, I didn't know if she would be bored with that part of the class or not. I also didn't know if this was going to be a very basic class and might be geared for very young children. Even though she is still pretty young, Samantha has been in the kitchen doing things since she could stand at the counter and actually has pretty much mastered a lot of different skills. 

I have to say, this class exceeded all of my expectations.  The teacher (and owner) Paula was fabulous. She did a great job talking to the kids and also to the adults. She also shared some of the history of cheese and the chemistry of cheese making. It was presented in an easy to understand manner for the kids, but not "dummied down". All I knew before is that I love cheese, and now I know more than I did before. If you are local and have the opportunity to take a class  here, go for it! They also offer more advanced classes and I am hoping to get in on one of these.

Samantha was beyond thrilled too. She talked about the class all evening. When I took her home, she went through the entire class with her Mom. She can't wait to make cheese at home. We bought a cheese making kit so hopefully we will have the opportunity in the near future. 

STANDING STONE FARMS info here.

Setting Up a Raised Bed Garden Plot

My birthday was last month and I told my husband that all I wanted was wood and dirt. Well, that and some sweat on his part! We have a nice sized backyard that is great for sitting and enjoying a book and a good cup of coffee or tea. It isn't however that great for planing a garden. The majority of the yard spends most of the day in the shade. The back patio and the area just past that get enough sun and I have had luck the past couple of years growing tomatoes, herbs and a couple of other things in pots on the patio. Just past the patio is a basketball goal that we don't use. I decided that area would make a good place for a raised bed. For my birthday, I wanted a raised bed garden built and then filled with dirt. Originally we had planned a cookout and my FIL and BIL were going to help Kip get the dirt and help him fill my garden bed. We were still able to have the cookout, but the dirt was going to have to wait until the following weekend. I was a little bummed at first, but decided that it was for the best because it would allow me to layer my bed.

Here is the box that Kip built for me:

I don't have a tiller, so I broke up the ground with a shovel and hoe. It took me a while, but I was so excited about getting it done so everything would be ready when the dirt arrived.

After tearing up all the grass and weeds and breaking up the dirt I covered that area with cardboard. For my reading, I saw this done on several sites and should help with weed control, help retain moisture and as is breaks down, adds some compost material.

On top of the cardboard went a layer of newsprint.

And on top of the newsprint, I added some kitchen scraps mixed with compost and manure. I do compost everything that I can so the compost came from my compost bin that is on the back part of our yard. Adding in the layer of kitchen scraps will allow the scraps to decompose and provide fertilizer for the plants. 

And finally on top of that is a load of garden soil.

Here is my finished birthday garden box, full of dirt and the first plants. Someone had told me a few years ago that they used pinwheels in their containers to help keep the birds away. I have these four that are a pretty good size that I bought at a Dollar Tree and then several more  that are smaller but made from a metallic material. Both of them spin freely and make a small amount of noise which supposedly helps scare away birds. I am not sure how well it works, since I still battle the birds for my berries, but I kind of like them.

When everything really starts growing I will update with new photos!

Banana Nut Muffins

I am really trying to break several bad food habits and one of them bring waking up late, rushing to get ready for work and out the door on time. If I have not planned breakfast this means one of two things; either I will be eating out of the vending machine at work or I will go through a drive through on the way there. If I even really liked the fast food breakfasts, it would be okay on occasion, but for the most part I really don't even like the food I am eating. The honey buns in the vending machine are another story, I do like them a little too much. 

I try to have some healthier options on hand and one thing I like to do is have muffins in the freezer. I prefer to take them out the night before to defrost in the fridge. Banana Nut muffins are one of my favorites that I try to keep on hand. I use the recipe here, subbing some of the white flour for whole wheat or oat flour.

I like making my own because I know exactly what is in them, I can control the portion size and in the long run they are much more cost efficient. 

Adding in the nuts. This recipe calls for pecans and that is what I used for this batch but I like to use walnuts sometimes too.

Ready to pop in the oven. 

Yummy! They are all done and cooling. I will save a few out for breakfast for the next couple of days, and the rest will go into the freezer to be eaten later.

I love the pan that I use for baking cupcakes and muffins. A long time ago I taught preschool and I used to cook with the kids in the classroom  a lot. One day one of the parents came in with this pan that had been used at the business where she worked. She knew I also loved to cook at home too and when they were giving these away, she grabbed one for me. I have used this heavy duty pan for many, many years and every time I do I remember that sweet parent of one of my preschoolers.