Party

My hubby, Steve, is involved with our church through the Men's Group. A member of the group is throwing a big party today and we are invited, along with 300 others. A band, food, swimming pool and a parachuter are on the menu for today. We won't be going until after all the afternoon chores are done, such as, milking and feeding everyone. I am making potato salad to bring with us. The great part about that is digging our fresh potatoes out of the garden; I love having our own veggies! My son is slightly disappointed because his bathing suit seems to have gotten misplaced in the move. I am trying to talk him into wearing mesh shorts which are fast drying.

I will let you all know how the party was tomorrow.
Meanwhile, here are the recipes I make at home:

Chocolate Ice Cream
1 qt. cream from our cow
1/4-1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
dark chocolate bar smashed into small pieces
Put all ingredients into an ice cream maker and churn until fluffy.
Add chocolate pieces


Soft Cheese
2 gallons goat milk
1/8 tsp. farm house culture or 1/4 cup cultured buttermilk
2 drops liquid rennet

Warm milk to room temperature 78-80 degrees
Stir in culture or butter milk.
Stir in liquid rennet.
Let sit, covered, for 24 hours
It should look like thick yogurt.
Cut into 1 inch squares
Use cheese spoon to put into cheese cloth lined strainer. Or just pour it in.
Hang in cheese cloth for 24 hours.
Put into bowl a add 1-2 tsp. of kosher salt.
It will keep for 1-2 weeks in fridge; It can be frozen.
It has a wonderful flavor, my family loves it.
I use it on steamed veggies, scrambled eggs and to thicken sauce (it melts), along with eating on crackers.

Yogurt
42 oz. whole cow milk
1 cup active culture plain yogurt (store bought) You can buy a yogurt culture like you do for cheese, but I have not done that yet.

I heat raw milk to about 160 degrees, in a double boiler.
Keep it at that temp. for 15 mins.
Cool to 110-112 degrees
Mix a little cooled milk with the cup of prepared yogurt.
After it is creamy, add back to cooled milk.
Pour into 7 seven 1 cup glass containers that came with my yogurt maker.
Incubate for 71/2-8 hours.
The yogurt will be thick creamy and mild. Refrigerate.
I eat with blueberries, strawberries and 1/2 banana. Also, some walnuts or almonds.
NOTE: the milk is no longer raw after being heated to 160 degrees. I like my yogurt thick and if you do not heat the milk it will be runny yogurt. However, I have been lowering the heating temperature to see how low I can go and still have thick yogurt. I started out heating at 180 degrees. Next time I will try heating to 155 degrees.

Enjoy the recipes and let my know if you have any questions. I would love to know how they all turned out.

Make it yourself mom :)