It's Not Easy Being Cheesy

I think I'll hold off getting business cards that say "Lynnsey Sitter: Artisan Cheesemaker" made up.

I made my first, valiant attempt at making mozzarella cheese. The product is definitely what I'd call cheese...although, perhaps, not what I'd call mozzarella.

It all started out innocently enough. A pot of milk with some acid in it. Another pot with some boiling salt water for the brining. You know, the same thing everybody has on their stove.



Yep. Just like mom used to make. Or...not so much.



Apparently, the magic temperature for making mozzarella is 88 degrees. Oh, and then later 106 degrees. These seem like totally arbitrary numbers to me.



Cheesecloth lined colander ready to go. It's really hard to rinse out cheesecloth, in case you were wondering. I'm going to have to boil it again.



Yes, I own a book that is not recipes with cheese, but recipes for cheese. That's how I roll. I also have a little diluted calcium chloride and rennet.



Cover and let stand. So your curds can form. Or something.



Curds. The whey went down the drain. Because it was kinda gross.



In the salt water brine. Which was quite hot. My rubber gloves...not heat-resistant, by the way.



And then into the ice water after you stretch and fold it. I'm not sure I did that part right.



I don't know if I over- or under- worked it. It is definitely cheese-like in nature. It's a little bland. It's not a texture I'd call fantastic. Still cheese, though. Oh, and I couldn't get it to roll into a nice ball so its not very pretty.



I'm thinking I'll give it another try. Maybe a different type of cheese...or the other recipe for mozzarella...or maybe I'll stick to knitting.

We Be Jammin'

I made jam today. Blackberry jam...from this recipe.

I also found out that the time-consuming part is getting ready to make jam. There's a lot of simmering.



And a lot of sugar.



That's a pretty color...you have to admit.



This pan was almost not big enough. It got dicey towards the end.



Keeping it hot...I mean warm.



How did people get these out before the magnetic lid lifters? I could barely get them with the lifter.



Almost boiling. Don't watch!



There's something supremely happy about lids that pop as you walk back into the kitchen.



Liam officially taste-tests the leftovers from the fridge on a sandwich with some peanut butter. He seems to like it.

Chicken Quesadillas

...or, as Ryan calls them, "kwesadilluhs."

First, you simmer the chicken in seasonings until it falls apart.







Next you put cheese on one side of your whole wheat tortilla. A lot of cheese.



Then you put the fallen-apart, seasoned chicken on top of the cheese.


Then...wait for it...you put more cheese on top. A lot more cheese.



Fold them in half. I like to make a pile. It's just fun.



Next, you take them to the grill. If you are unable to get to a grill...well, I guess you're out of luck, eh? I mean, you could cook them in a pan or on an electric griddle if you absolutely had to.


Top with your choice of salsa, sour cream, guacamole, whatever.



Or just eat them plain like Liam does with a big cup of milk.

Cedar-Planked Salmon with Lemon Dill Butter

As a birthdays/anniversary present we got a big basket of BBQ goodness. One of the things in it was a package of cedar planks. Coupled with Wegman's current supply of Alaskan wild-caught salmon (have you heard what's in farm-raised?) we decided that it sounded like a good Father's Day dinner.

Chopped some dill from the garden. Zested and sliced some lemons.



Softened some butter. Added garlic and the dill and the lemon zest.



Here's the color that salmon should be, kids.



Soaked the cedar plank.



Made some rice to go with.



Here we go!


Hot stuff!


Heat the cedar plank until it chars and smokes. It's too bad I can't take a picture of the smell.



Smoky, butter-y, dill-y, goodness.






I can't quite deal with this part. It reminds me of what I'm eating. Yuck.



But it looks nice on the plate.



And Liam likes it.

Springish

Well, it's been a really long time since I've written anything. Sorry about that. Most days I feel like I don't get halfway down my to-do list and that makes it difficult to find time to do much of anything.

So...what's been going on? Well, Liam is huge.


Stuff is growing in our backyard as I try in vain to figure out what color I want to paint each and every room in our house.


I actually managed to clean out, thin, and tie back the berries without too many scrapes.

We're working on a garden. Mostly a tomato, pepper, and herb garden. Ryan is working on getting ready for our rototiller-extraordinaire, Cindy.





I'm getting ready by checking obsessively on my herbs and trying to figure out if there's extra storm windows in our garage rafters so I can make a cold frame because they're getting too big for the seed starter.


I'm also looking for strawberry plants because I have a strawberry pot and my seeds don't seem to be doing anything. Oh, and lavender for the other side of the brick wall. And waiting to see what kind of heirloom tomato plants I can get my hands on.


Ryan left for Jordan today so Liam and I are eating ice cream for dinner, um...I mean carrots...yeah, carrots! That's it. He's going to take lots of pictures and write about it when he gets back. Look for that somewhere around August (you've all met Ryan).

Liam has all of the trappings of toddler summer fun. Swingset, sandbox, and pool are all ready to go.


I'm making cheese and knitting lace in my spare time (ha!). I'm on the sixth lace scarf of the year. My original goal was one a month, so I'm ahead still. The cheese-making has just begun, so I'm not sure how that's going to go yet.


I'm also thinking about canning salsa (in case we don't eat all the tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro) this summer and maybe making jelly (I know I can't NOT eat the berries, so we'll have to figure that one out). I'm also going to have a lot of herbs from the look of it, so I'll be drying those, too.

This is just the beginning. We need to re-glaze the windows, re-do the garage roof, paint, fix or re-do the siding, make a workshop...I'd like to get rainwater barrels and a composter going...no problem.