Homemade Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese with fruit has been one of my favorite things for as long as I can remember.  And now that I've tasted homemade cottage cheese, I love it even more.

Homemade cottage cheese is rich and delicious and tastes incredibly decadent - and it is nothing like the stuff you pay an enormous amount for at the grocery store.  It is also incredibly easy.

Cottage cheese starts its life exactly the same way as homemade yogurt.  You begin by pouring a gallon of milk into a crock pot and then heating on high until it reaches 180-190F.

Once the milk is heated, slowly stir in 1/2 cup of white vinegar.  You will see the milk separate into curds and whey.  Let the mixture sit until it cools to room temperature.  Once the mixture is cooled, you will need to separate the curds from the whey.  I use a jelly bag, but you can use a colander lined with a tea towel or a fine cheesecloth.

Pour the mixture into your strainer.  Make sure you strain it over a bowl to catch the whey - you'll want to save that because you can make even more delicious things with it after your cottage cheese is done!

Once the curds are well strained, pour your cottage cheese into a bowl and mix in about 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt.  I used salt substitute in mine.  Add the salt a little at a time, then stir and taste because it can get very salty very quickly.

Put it in the refrigerator to firm up a bit.  You can add a little cream or half and half if you prefer your cottage cheese more creamy, but I like it just the way it comes out after straining.

I happened to have some peaches that I had canned a couple of months ago, and so I added those to my cottage cheese.  I am telling you, it was da bomb!

1 gallon milk (I used whole milk)

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 tsp salt (or salt substitute)

Pour milk into crockpot and heat on high until it reaches 180-190F

Slowly stir in vinegar and let mixture come to room temperature

Strain the curds from the whey, reserving the whey

Stir in salt to taste, chill and eat (add cream or half and half if desired)

Awesome Oatmeal To Go

Okay, so you want to eat healthier.  And you know a good day starts with a good breakfast.  But you're busy!  And stressed!  And you couldn't find your car keys, so now you're late!

Yea, you could run through McD's on your way to work and grab some oatmeal. But did you know that there are 21 ingredients in that oatmeal?  Twenty-one.  They include things like calcium ascorbate, sunflower oil, sulfur dioxide, sodium phosphate, datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sodium citrate, carrageenan, food starch-modified, salt, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color.  Seriously, how can you make a healthy breakfast so unhealthy?

So, here is the breakfast I eat every single morning.  Yes every.  Because oatmeal is awesome, and I love it.  And, it is so quick and easy to make.  I prep an entire week's worth on the weekend, and just grab it along with my lunch when I leave the house (yes, I pack a healthy homemade lunch every day.  I prep those on the weekends to that they are grab & go too).

When I get to work, I just add hot water and in about 10 minutes I have some oh-so-awesome oatmeal.  At my desk.  Warm and fresh to be savored while I check my email.  This oatmeal is completely awesome (like the title of the blog says) and is waaaaaay healthier (and cheaper) than McD's.

Here's what you'll need for a week's worth of healthy breakfast.

• 5 containers with lids (I use mason jars)
• Old fashioned rolled oats
• Dehydrated fruit (I dehydrate my own)
• Powdered milk
• Splenda brown (I make my own using equal parts Splenda and brown sugar)
• Cinnamon

First, add 2/3 cup of oats to each jar

Next, add 1 TBSP powdered milk

Add the brown sugar blend - about 2 TBSP works for me, but adjust to your taste.

And then 1/4 tsp. of your spice.  

Of course cinnamon goes perfectly with the apples I'm using, but you can use whatever you like.  

Next, add your dried fruit.  My favorite is apples, but raisins, cranberries or any other dried fruit you like will work.  I use about 2 TBSP of fruit.

Doesn't this fruit look delicious???!  I had a few blackberries, so they went in there too.

I usually keep jars of dehydrated fruit on hand for just such things.  I make my own dehydrated fruit, but you can use store bought too (it just has more chemicals & preservatives in it).

Put the lids on, and you are ready to start your day right for an entire week!

When you're ready to eat, just add hot water up to the neck (that ridge right below the lid) and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.  Yum!

**This oatmeal does have about 100 more calories than McD's, but it has fewer things you can't pronounce and is a bigger serving, so it's more filling.  If that concerns you, you can reduce the amount of oats you use.

Homemade Yogurt

Homemade yogurt is super yummy and is just about the easiest thing in the whole world to make.  It's best to start your yogurt on a Saturday morning, because even though it's easy it does take a long time.

But if you love yogurt, homemade is the only way to go (well, in my opinion anyway).  This stuff is absolutely amazing!  Seriously.  And, it will save you a ton of moolah.  This gallon of milk, which cost me about $2, yielded 64 ounces (that's 2 large containers) of the most yummy gourmet yogurt evah!  You can't buy this quality of yogurt at that price, and homemade isn't full of sugar and ingredients you can't pronounce.  Ewwww, no one wants stuff they can't pronounce in their food.

You will need a gallon of milk, a crock pot, some plain unsweetened yogurt with live active cultures, a small dial type food thermometer, a big fluffy bath towel, and something to strain your yogurt with.  When you buy your starter yogurt, the yogurt label will tell you if it contains live active cultures.

In my instructions below you'll see that I'm using a jelly bag to strain my yogurt.  But, you can use a colander lined with either a cheesecloth or tea towel.  You don't need anything fancy.  And, if you don't already have one, you can pick up a little food thermometer in the gadget aisle of most grocery stores for less than $5.

Also, any milk will do.  Skim, 1%, 2%, or whole - whatever floats your boat.  Well, except for goat's milk.  I read somewhere that yogurt made from goat's milk tastes kind of, well, goaty.  If you're going to make homemade yogurt, I strongly recommend that you treat yourself  at least one time to a batch made with whole milk.  It is rich, and creamy, and wonderfully delicious!  Once I tried it, I have never turned back.

Oh, and the plain yogurt with live cultures is a one-time investment.  Once your yogurt is made, you just save a little aside before sweetening or adding flavors to start your next batch.  Your first time though, you will have to buy some.  Be sure you like the taste of whatever brand you get.

So let's make some yogurt!

First just pour your gallon of milk into the crockpot and set it on high.  Set a timer for 2 hours.  Set your plain starter yogurt (you'll need about a cup) out on the kitchen counter to let it come to room temperature while you wait for the milk to heat.  

After two hours, check the temperature on your milk.  You want it to be 180º F.  If it's not quite there, just let it go longer and check the temperature about every 30 minutes or so.

Once the milk is at 180º F then turn the crockpot off and let the milk cool to 110º F.  This can take a couple more hours, so go read a book or poke people on Facebook.

Once the milk is at 110º F, dip out about a cup and add it to your plain starter yogurt.  Fold them together gently, and then pour the mixture back into the remaining milk in the crock pot.  Fold mixture together again with an up and down or side to side motion.  Be gentle.

Now it's time to swaddle your baby yogurt and incubate it.  Wrap the crockpot in a nice, big, fluffy towel and set it in a warm place.  Leave it alone for at least 8 hours.  You can incubate your yogurt much longer than that, though.  The longer you leave it, the thicker and more tart it will be.  I usually let mine incubate for 12-18 hours.

After your yogurt is finished incubating, remove the towel and lid and you should see something like this. A nice, thick custard with some whey floating on top.  

Scoop out the yogurt into your jelly bag or lined colander or whatever you are using to strain it.  The whey will strain through, leaving just the creamy thick yogurt in the strainer.  Leave it sit to strain for at least 4 hours.  If all of your yogurt won't fit, you can strain it in two batches.  It won't hurt it to strain it at room temperature, or you can put it in the refrigerator if you have room.

I put my strained whey in ice cube trays and freeze it.  I store the frozen whey cubes in a gallon ziploc bag and use them in my morning smoothies.  Yum!

Your yogurt will be kind of yogurty looking, like this.  With lumps.  'Cause that's how yogurt rolls.

Once your yogurt is strained, put it in the fridge to chill for 2 - 4 hours.  After it's chilled, you can add fruit, sweetener, vanilla, or whatever you like in your yogurt.  Before you add your goodies, don't forget to save some out to use as starter for your next batch.  I usually add some Splenda, vanilla and fruit to mine and store individual servings in Mason jelly jars.  The yogurt will keep up to two weeks in your fridge.  If you don't eat it all first.  'Cause it's that good.

Waffled Peach Fritters

I made some peach fritters a couple of weeks ago.  One evening not long afterward, I was just browsing through the internet and found an article about all of the foods you can make in your waffle iron.  Suddenly, those fritters popped into my head and my brain exclaimed, "Waffled Fritters!"

I finally tried waffling my fritters this morning.  They are actually more like a waffle than a fritter done that way, but they were still extremely yummy and took very little work.  And, not fried, which is a very good thing.  Actually, the fritter batter makes a most excellent waffle base.

However, if you want that wonderful cruuunnnnnch! that you get when you bite into the edges of the fritters, I'm afraid you're going to have to drop them into hot oil after all.

I started off with some awesome peaches I had canned a few weeks ago.  I found them for 47¢ per pound, so of course I had to stock up and preserve them at that price!  Aren't they beautiful??  I just had to show you.

Here is a closeup of the waffled fritters.  Look at that glaze! Look at those perfect drips at the edges.  I can tell you that they didn't last long.  Good thing I made a small recipe since I was just testing.

Waffled Peach Fritters

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 TBLs sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

1-1/4 cups diced peaches (fresh or canned)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

1 cup of confectioners sugar

milk, enough to make a drizzling consistency.

Directions:

With a wire whip, combine flour, salt, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Whisk in eggs, milk and butter. Fold in peaches.

Preheat waffle iron, and when hot scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into center of each waffle well.  Cook for 8 minutes or until crispy on the outside.  Drizzle with glaze while still hot.

**If you want true fried fritters, just drop scoops of the batter into hot oil and deep fry until crispy on all sides.  You may want to make your batter a bit thicker for this by using 1/4 cup of milk in the recipe.