Cheese Making-Part Due

THIS, ladies & gentlemen, is a successful batch of Full Moon Mozzarella!

 

Following the same recipe as last time, I did make one small adjustment. I used 1/2 a Junket rennet tablet instead of 1/4 a tablet.  Supposedly, Junket isn't as strong as other forms.  This amount seemed to work beautifully.

And yes, this time, I did use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius.  I'm still laughing at myself over that little mistake.

Same lineup as before.

After citric acid, curds start forming.

Added rennet and let sit and TADA!  We have real curds this time!  I was SO excited!

After cutting into cubes, it looks like this. I feel like Little Miss Muffet with her curds & whey!

After bringing temp up to 105 degrees, I got this.  YUM!

Then came the microwave process.  I was amazed how much whey came out of the heated mozzarella.  I used a small-hole colander and put the mozzarella in it as I folded so the whey could drain easily. 

Make sure to use gloves because this stuff is H-O-T!  It only took a couple of minutes to go from a big glob to shiny, stretchy cheese. 

I put the finished mozzarella in the salted water and into the fridge it went.

The ricotta is in my sink draining as I type. It will drain for a few hours before it's ready to devour.

As desperately as I wanted to make caprese salad, (Farmer's Market trip produced some beautiful late-season tomatoes and basil) I'm holding out for dinner.

Tonight's menu:  Homemade pizza.  There is homemade whole wheat dough in the fridge and I'm making pizza sauce in a few minutes.  The mozzarella is going to make this so delicious.

Tomorrow, I'll post all the recipes so you can make your own from-scratch pizza.  Trust me, you're gonna wanna make this! 

Adventures in Cheese Making-Update

Today I tried making mozzarella and ricotta cheese for the first time.  I used this recipe for 30 Minute Mozzarella. 

I gathered my ingredients and utensils.

Notice the wonderful local milk I found.  Fresh Jersey milk thick with cream.  The jug I used was only two days from the cow. 

Poured milk into pan and waited for it to reach the required 55 degrees.  Waited and waited and finally it happened. 

Added the citric acid and look!  I see curds!

It seemed to take forever for it to reach the required 105 degrees.  I stirred and waited.  And stirred and waited.  And stirred and waited some more.

After what seemed an eternity, the milk reached its goal, I added the rennet and set it aside to cool.  The curds were supposed to separate from the whey in approximate 5 minutes.

This is what it looked like in 5 minutes.  Not quite what I was hoping for.

So I let it set for 5 more minutes.  It did set a tiny bit so I proceeded to the next step, heating it to 105 degrees.  Again, it seem an eternity for this to happen.  Curds were there but they were pretty gloppy.  But, being I've never done this before, I figured it was OK.

I took out the curds to drain and went through the microwave process.  It never got shiny or stretchy.  It just looked like Ricotta.  Delicious, creamy Ricotta but it was supposed to be Mozzarella.

Then it hit me.  I glanced at the thermometer and noticed there were two sets of numbers.  One was Celsius.  The other was Fahrenheit.  Then I laughed.

Yup, I wasn't paying attention and used the Celsius reading.  No wonder it took so long to reach the right temperatures!  My 30-Minute Mozzarella & Ricotta took about 2 hours!

So my first cheese making adventure was sort of a flop, although the Ricotta is absolutely delicious.  I'm making lasagna tonight and it will taste wonderful.  Fortunately, I thought ahead and bought some mozzarella. 

Here is the lasagna I made.  Hubs said it was the best he's ever had!

Halloween/Fall Snack Mix

Last night, I got a craving.  I wanted something sweet but I wanted something salty.  I couldn't decide if I wanted chocolate or caramel, crunchy or chewy.  It was frustrating to say the least. 

I finally decided.  I'd make party mix.  Covers all the bases.  So this morning, I went to the store for supplies.  I didn't really want to heat up the house so I cheated a little bit and used pre-made Chex mix.  Then I just looked around to see what sounded good to me.

Here is what I ended up with.

The cereal multi-pack was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself!  I got six different cereals, 4 sweet ones and two plain.  Good balance.  I also decided to add some fruit and nuts to make it a tiny bit healthy.
I dumped all of it into a really big bowl and I got this. 

Doesn't this look tasty?  Believe me, it really is.  It's a fantastic mix of salty & sweet. 
And it looks pretty too!

Homemade Skills-Tooth Powder

I like nothing more than fresh breath and a sparkling smile.  I did a stint in the 90s as an Oral Surgery Tech and a chair-side Dental Assistant so yeah, it's in my nature.  I also like nothing more than saving money & helping the environment. 

Enter homemade tooth powder.  Frugal, natural, effective and tasty. 

There are a ton of recipes on the Internet.  This is my version.

Tooth Powder
2 parts baking soda
1 part sea salt
Clove oil*
Wintergreen oil*
*Clove and wintergreen oils are pretty potent.  Start with less and add to your taste.  Clove oil is excellent for oral health.  Feel free to substitute peppermint or cinnamon for wintergreen. 

Add soda to Magic Bullet or food processor.

 

Then sea salt.

I used coarse salt but use what you have.  Just don't use table salt.

 

 

Approximately 10 drops of clove oil.

1/8 teaspoon Wintergreen or to taste.

 

Blend together until salt is finely ground and all the oil is incorporated evenly.

 

Put in a lidded jar. 

 

To use, simply dampen your toothbrush and dip or sprinkle with powder.  Yes, it will taste a bit salty and it's not really very sweet.  Trust me, you'll get used to it quickly and will be pleasantly surprised how fresh your mouth feels.  I can't stand how sicklingly sweet and 'chemically' regular toothpaste tastes to me now. 

 

How easy is that, right?

 



Tenderfoot House Tour-Befores & Afters

Tenderfoot Hearth has gone through a lot of changes in the past three years.  Our house is a 1963 Cindarella or Storybook Ranch home.  This means it includes things like window boxes, shutters, diamond pane windows, and exposed rafters.  

Unfortunately, the former owner wanted to turn a Ranch into a Victorian.  The interior was dark and filled with very busy floral wallpaper & fussy lighting.  Pretty but not a good match for this house.  They also had no sense of color and simply used white and hunter green on the exterior.  Making things even darker. 

Obviously, we made some changes inside and out.  Here is the before of the front entrance.

Notice all the fake, overdone flowers.

And the after:

Yup, that's real plants there now.

Now you can actually see the beautiful paned glass in the door.  I painted the door a crisp green to match the planters.  I also painted the old bronze light and doorbell hammered silver.  Amazing what a difference it made.

Inside, we went from this:

To this:

And from this:

To this:

Next post, I'll show the other rooms and the major pool overhaul.  I think we're doing a good job bringing the house back to the 1960's where it belongs.

Garden Update

Remember those garlic cloves from a few weeks ago?  Well, check 'em out now!  I'm so excited!

You can also see I planted kale and Swiss chard.  I've never tried fall veggies before so I'm looking forward to watching this grow.  From everything I've read, Oklahoma has the perfect climate in the fall for a good crop.  Warm days with lots of sunlight, cool evenings & a fairly late first frost.  Gives these little guys a fighting chance.

I can't wait for the first harvest later this fall.  I'm also excited to see how far into winter I can extend their growth.  Perhaps a salvaged window cold frame is in my future?

I also can't wait to try sauteing fresh garlic scrapes and sweet new kale next spring. Yum! 

I tell ya.  Gardening really is fun.  You never know what exactly is going to happen.  It's also nice to know as fall turns to winter, in my garden under the snow, there is a secret world waiting to show itself when the sun returns.  The excitement and anticipation will keep me going through the dark of Winternights. 

Speaking of excitement, here is a flower from one of my bushes I though was long dead.

Isn't this beautiful?

So Sorry

Sorry for the lack of posts.  It's been busy here on the ole Tenderfoot Hearth.

First off, Hubs & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary in grand style.  OK, maybe not exactly grand but good enough for us.  We went to the Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa for the Heart concert.  It was a fantastic concert and fulfilled a 4-year old promise Hubs made the first day we met.  Heart was playing that summer and we were going to go, but, alas, the concert was sold out so it was a big ole no go. So we finally go to see them.  It was worth the wait! Those ladies can still sing a razor line. 

Snuck a picture.  My bad. ;)

The other excuse is pretty lame.  Life.  Yup, life sometimes just gets in the way of computer time.  Actually, it's not such a bad thing.  I've spent a lot of quality time with my family & friends.  For me, there is no better way to spend my time.  That is the whole point of my efforts here at Tenderfoot Hearth.  Making life better for me and my family.

So, if I neglect my little blog from time to time, I beg your forgiveness.  It just means I'm living a happy and satisfying life with those I hold dear.  I'm pretty sure ya'll can forgive me for that one.