Ricotta Cheese - Cheesecloth not required!

I love making cheese. Making cheese yourself is  usually cheaper, you control the ingredients, and of, course, homemade = delicious. The easiest cheese to make is Ricotta. You don't even need any special ingredients!

All you need is:

Ingredients
1 gallon of whole milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 C lemon juice (or you can use white vinegar)

Equipment
Candy Thermometer (anything that reads 180 degrees Fahrenheit)
Porous dish towel (Cheese cloth NOT required. Any tea towel works great. Choose a towel with a large weave, and not a terrycloth/washcloth towel.)

Put the milk and salt in a large pot over medium heat (you don't want to scald the milk on the bottom). Heat to 175-180 degrees F.

Turn off the heat. Add the lemon juice (or vinegar) while stirring. When you are done pouring in the lemon juice, stop stirring. Let the lemon juice work it's magic for 20 minutes.


Now you have a bunch of curds (ricotta) and whey (which I hear is lovely for baking bread).

Separate the ricotta from the whey by putting a towel over a strainer and then ladle or pour the mixture from your pot into your towel covered strainer. If you're saving the whey, make sure you put the strainer in a bowl. Slow and steady wins- you get larger chunks of ricotta if you ladle. Then you wrap up the ricotta with the ends of the towel, and let it drain out for an hour, or up to overnight in the fridge (overnight makes drier than the hour on the counter).

Then you're done! This recipe made over 2.5 cups of ricotta, plenty for your favorite recipe. Ricotta can also be flavored and eaten with crackers, or put in homemade ravioli...Yum!

Happy Eating!

Tarts and Lollies Recipe:

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

1 gallon of whole milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 C lemon juice (or you can use white vinegar)


Heat the milk and salt under medium heat to 180 degrees F. Turn off heat, and gently stir in lemon juice. Let sit for 20 minutes. Strain using a strainer covered with a towel. Allow the cheese to drain for 1 hour on the counter or up to overnight in the fridge. Enjoy!

Dream House

I have a dream to own a house. I want to take that house and make it a home. What's your dream house?

My dream house has changed over the years. It started out as a castle (when I was 4) and by the time I was a teenager, it had morphed into the house I left in Arizona (The big one with a window seat you could sleep in).

Now, it has changed from a big, new, fancy house on tons of land to a smaller, more manageable space. I toyed with the idea of a "tiny house," but that really isn't feasible with my desire to make my house a place people want to visit.


Here is my current list of desires:

Neighborhood:

• Safe
• Friendly
• well-kept (people water and mow their grass)
• educated (think good schools for the kids)
• not exacting (low/no HOA fee)
• has kids who play outside 

Yard:

•  Anywhere from a quarter of an acre to a half acre (I wouldn't say no to a full acre, if I didn't have to mow the grass)
• ample shade and sun areas
• fruit trees (1-2) or space for some
• garden space
• zoned for chickens and bees (beehives sound like an adventure)
• fenced (we have a dog and I want him to run free)
• English flower garden (think wildflowers all growing together in a mishmashed fashion)
• At least one maple tree
• swing set or tree fort
• shed or garage for woodworking and projects
• Porch or deck for rocking chairs and porch swings

House:

• 3-5 bedrooms 
• Nice kitchen that opens to an eating space for 6+
• Master bathtub
• 2 living rooms of some kind
•  High ceilings (i.e. not 7 feet)
• A place for coats
• A pantry
• A space for vacuums, etc
• An open layout, but not a complete lack of walls either
• If it has stairs, the staircase should have a wooden banister and the ability to have an under the stairs closet. 
• Carpet in the bedrooms
• A place to sew
• A place for the computer 
• Air conditioning and efficient heating

Beyond that, I want something I can invite others to. I no longer feel the need for a huge house, as I like cleaning a small space, but I would love a place to hide the mess of life sometimes. I think a shed/garage and/or a second living space would solve that. Then I'd have room to have laundry out or work on sewing projects without making everyone else claustrophobic in the process.

Someday, I'd love to have my parents come to stay with us. I think I'll feel like I've arrived when that happens.

Hey, if you never dream, what do you have to shoot for in life?