Olive Garden bread sticks- see Emily's previous recipe
(only change was exchanging Santa Maria Style Seasoning instead of Tony C's)
Strawberry Pecan Poppyseed Salad
Spinach Mushroom Ground Beef Lasagna
Chocolate dipped kiwi Popsicles with Blueberry Lemon Sorbet
(we didn't get to the sorbet though due to Clinton having to leave)
AND the secret ingredient: homemade cheese!!
That's right people, we made our own mozzarella and ricotta cheese for our lasagna and it was sooo good! I bought a kit a few weeks back and have been very excited to try it out. Even better, it makes 30 ~1 lb of cheese total!
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| Just add milk, sort of... |
Vegetable rennet tablet
Citric Acid
Cheese Salt
Dairy Thermometer
Butter Muslin cloth
In addition to the gallon of milk- must be not ultra pasteurized, you'll also need a stainless steel large pot, or at least one that is not cast iron or aluminum. A slotted spoon, colander, microwave bowl should also be on hand as well as rubber gloves. Don't skip on the rubber gloves like we did unless you want to burn yourself because it's smoking hot!
Ricki's 30 Minute Mozzarella (~3/4 lb.)
1 gallon milk- not ultra pasteurized we used Vitamin D milk for the added flavor
1 1/4 cup cool water, chlorine free- We used my Brita filter
1 1/2 tsp. citric acid
1/4 rennet tablet (wrap the rest in plastic and store indefinitely in the freezer)
1 tsp cheese salt
1. Dissolve 1/4 rennet tablet into 1/4 cup of cool, chlorine free water. We used a small bowl. Stir and set aside.
2. Mix 1 1/2 tsp into 1 cup cool chlorine free water until dissolved. Pour into pot.
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| Citric acid into water |
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| Milk into the pot |
3. Pour 1 gallon milk into pot and stir in vigorously
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| Stir! |
4. Heat the milk to 90 degrees while stirring.
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| 90 degrees, ready! |
5. Remove from heat and slowly stir in the rennet solution with an up and down motion for 30 seconds.
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| Up and down with the slotted spoon |
6. Cover the pot and leave undisturbed for 5 minutes. We left ours for about 10
7. Check the curd. It should look like a custard with a clear separation between the whey and the curds. If it's still milky with no separation, let sit a few more minutes.
8. Cut the curd with a knife that will reach the bottom of your pot.
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| Little miss moffet sat on her toffet.. |
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| eating her curds and whey? very strange |
9. Place the pot back on the stove and heat to 105 degrees while slowly moving the curds around with your spoon.
10. Take the pot off the burner and continue slowly stirring for 2-5 minutes (the more time you spend the firmer your cheese).
11. Pour off the floating whey using the cheese cloth. We tried this without the cheese cloth for the mozzarella but wised up for the ricotta- use the cheese cloth!!
Ladle your curds into a large microwave safe bowl. Drain off as much whey as you can without pressing the curds too much. USE THE GLOVES!
Microwave for 1 minute. Remove bowl and drain off more whey if necessary as you fold the curds together into one piece. Add the cheese salt here.
Microwave another 30 seconds. Drain again and stretch the curd. It must be 135 degrees to stretch properly, so if it isn't hot enough put in for another 30 seconds.
Stretch the cheese until it's firm and shiny, like taffy! The more you work it, the firmer it will be. You can taste it now too, delicious!
Form your cheese however you'd like (ball, braid, mini balls, sticks) . When finished submerge into cold water for 5 minutes and then ice water for 15 to cool it. We just stuck it into the freezer and it was okay.
Yay we're cheesemakers! It'll store up to 2 weeks in the fridge in saran wrap, or you can freeze and re heat for a later date. We didn't have to worry about that as there were no leftovers!
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| Curds |
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| Into mozzarella! |
Ricki's Whole Milk Ricotta (~1 1/4-2 lbs.)
1 gallon whole milk- not ultra pasteurized
1 tsp. citric acid
1 tsp. cheese salt.
Now we're old hands at this and have a clue what we're doing so the ricotta was much easier!
1. Pour the milk into your pot (we used the same one as the mozzarella), add the citric acid and salt. Stir.
2. Heat the milk to 195 degrees. Keep stirring or else you'll scorch it.
3. When the curds and whey separate, turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Line a colander with the butter muslin aka cheesecloth and gently pour the pot into the colander.
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| Curds and whey into the colander |
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| Draining |
6. After draining, the cheese is ready to eat! Again, this will keep up to 2 weeks or you can freeze it.
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| CHEEEEEEESE! |
Next: Lasagna!
1 lb. ground beef
1 package frozen cooked spinach, thawed
1 cup shitake mushrooms (Costco re hydrated kind)
2 green chiles
Marinara sauce
Homemade mozzarella
Homemade ricotta
~9 lasagna noodles
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
Cook the onions in basil olive oil and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and brown. Add spinach, chiles and mushrooms, cook for about 10 minutes to warm through. Drain off the grease.
Pour sauce into 9 x 13 pan to cover. Layer 3 noodles, then top with filling, shredded mozzarella and ricotta and more sauce. Continue with this pattern until out of noodles. Top with more cheese and sauce.
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| Ready to bake! |
Cook for about 35 minutes in the oven, until nice and bubbly. Enjoy!
Chocolate Dipped Kiwi Popsicles
Ingredients:
As many kiwi's as desired ( I made 4 and used 2 kiwi's)
Popsicle sticks
semi sweet chocolate chips
Cut kiwi's into desired shapes. Stick Popsicle sticks into pieces. Be sure the kiwi is thick enough.
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 15 seconds at a time until completely melted. Add water to help with consistency.
Dip kiwi on stick in chocolate until covered. Place on wax paper and let sit until the chocolate hardens to make it easier to move them. Put in freezer until frozen, yum!
Whew! Dinner was delicious, we should have let the lasagna sit before cutting into it but we we were hungry! And I think we may have the upper hand with the home made cheese...
happy eating :) xoxo b
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