Clabbering

Clabbering!

This is my next adventure with the raw milk. Raw milk. It is still creeping me out just a little. I hate milk, so this is just super cow juice in my mind. Ew. The boys like it and it makes great butter, so I am approaching this next step in the milk process with excitement (and trepidation...)

So, I am clabbering the milk. This is basically the process of leaving the milk on the counter. That's it.

Why clabber milk? For one thing, I don't like to waste stuff. You can use every part of the raw milk and even use it when it has soured. Seriously. Raw milk doesn't got bad, it just changes form. (Sounds like energy, huh? Maybe there is a reason raw milk is just so good for you.)

I put the milk on the counter and now I'm waiting for it to sour. After about a day, it should be ready to turn into cream cheese and whey. I am not sure about it, but I am giving it a shot.

Fall. *sigh*

Fall is my favorite season. Weeeeelllll....used to be my favorite season.

Fall was my favorite season when I could drive down the paved road, up my blacktopped driveway, pull into my garage, and take my shoes off before even entering the house. It was my favorite season when we lived in a neighborhood with very few trees. It was my favorite season when someone got paid to rake my leaves...

Now we live in the country. It is great. Really. Really, really great. We now have five (heavily wooded) acres. We live off a gravel road off a gravel road down a gravel driveway.

What does that mean? Dust. Dirt. Leaves. Mud. Ew.

Ok, it really isn't that bad. It really isn't. It isn't.

I still like fall. Like. Maybe if there were a coffee place nearby that served some hot apple cider I could be persuaded to love it again.

But Mums! That's right. Fall rocks. Oh, and fall food. I am going to be a cooking madwoman this fall. I can't wait to share some recipes on here.

Adventures with raw milk

I want to get a cow. I don't want to rely on The Man for my milk needs. (Ha. Ew.) You know what I mean.

Would there be anything more satisfying than milking a cow and making your own butter, cream, yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk...? I think not.

So we bought a gallon of raw milk the other day from the cutest Amish lady. I'm not going to lie, I am a little nervous about it. I made Kyle try it first. He hasn't died yet.

I left the milk in the fridge so the milk and cream could separate. I am obviously a pro at making my own butter so I thought the butter making would be exactly the same. WRONG.

So wrong.

When you buy the cream from the store all you have to do is whip it good. That is not the case with raw cream. Who knew? Probably the internet, but I don't check those things.

Luckily, I salvaged some of the butter, but it wasn't much. A quart of store bought cream will make a pound of butter. This made about a pat. Maybe more, I'm not good with measuring things.

Kyle decided this butter needed to be a little fancy. Here it is as we are smushing the buttermilk out of it. We added hickory smoked salt.

Then we got some rosemary from the front yard and smushed it some more. Here is the finished product. Not as exciting as I thought it would be. 

I think I should have put a quarter by it for reference. 

Was this adventure in raw milk worth it? I don't know. But I did use some of the milk to make cream of chicken soup, and that was good. 

Risotto. Is there anything more delicious?

In case you had no clue, I love risotto.

Let me clarify...I love good risotto.

I recently went to a "fancy" restaurant near where we live and ordered a lovely risotto. For $18 I got a bowl of crunchy rice that desperately needed salt. No.

Risotto isn't that difficult to make, I don't know why everyone hasn't mastered this process.

Tonight I made some risotto with dinner. We got some (really good) gruyere and roasted garlic sausages, so I figured it made sense.

I don't really follow a recipe, and I would recommend you do the same. I think things turn out better that way. (Maybe not baking, but everything else.)

Here's the basic risotto idea...

You NEED a wooden spoon and a nice, heavy stainless steel pan. It will work if you use Teflon, but ew.

Melt some butter and olive oil together, cook any veggies you like first. I love to use shallot, garlic (shaved) and shiitake mushrooms. *sidebar, this batch had mushrooms on the side for picky Logan, that is why they are not in the picture. I made a heavenly mushroom and wine sauce. So. Good.*

Deglaze the pan with white wine. Use as much as you want. I like to cook with wine. If you don't, use chicken broth.

Throw in some rice. You can use any rice, but I really recommend Arborio, it has more starch.

Stir the rice with the little bit of wine that may be in there, getting all the delicious bits from the pan.

Now you just add liquid and stir. That is it. I alternate with chicken broth and wine. (Today I totally cheated and used Swanson's Tuscan Chicken broth. It was really good.)

Stir, add broth, stir, add broth, stir. Once the rice gets creamy, it is done.

I usually stir in a stinky cheese or the cute little balls of mozzarella. Season with some salt and maybe garlic and onion? That is your choice. I usually throw in some marjoram. Top with parsley and olive oil and it is done.

I don't think risotto is complete without mushrooms, but that is up to you. You can really put in any veggies you like.

Here is tonight's delicious creation. I should have taken a picture of the sauce on the rice, but I was lazy.

Try it. You can make risotto.

Why do people live in the city?

I grew up in the suburbs. I spent every minute I could in the city. I would go to Woodfield Mall between classes in nursing school. Yeah.

Then I married Kyle. He is so anti-city. So. Much. Hatred toward "city life". I hate to say he is starting to rub off on me. There. I admitted it.

I really really really miss good places to eat. However, on our last trip up to Chicago, it took FOUR hours to drive 65 miles. No kidding. We used to live in a townhouse in Lakemoor, which is pretty much Wisconsin, and we didn't even know our neighbors. We shared a wall and I didn't know their names.

Now we live in the country. Maybe it is just Missouri, but the people here are super cool. Ok, maybe not "cool", but nice. Really nice. Bring cookies to your front door nice.

Or like today, bring a tire swing to your front door nice.

Yep, that's a tire swing. (Oh yeah, that is tile for my shower behind the tire. That's another story...)

Our other neighbor brought us 100 pounds of apples and a beehive. 

There are days when country life isn't so bad. They are starting to be every day. 

Why pay for something when you can do it yourself?

This is a concept that was incredibly foreign to me when Kyle and I got married. My family isn't what you'd call "handy". Sure, my mom is super crafty, but that is not quite the same. Kyle is incredibly handy. Like ridiculously so.

I have tried, over the years, to embrace this crazy idea. It has led to some...interesting...outcomes. How about that time I dyed my hair and my face was blue for a few days? (Yeah, that was recently, I'm still learning.) Or that one time Kyle thought he could be a plumber?

Anyhow, this 'do-it-yourself' way of living seems to be incredibly necessary if you want to build a homestead. Here are a few of our DIY adventures, proving that you, too, can do it yourself.

 So this is Logan's room. Cost? Paint. I could have hired a mural painter...but ohmygoodness the price. Yeah, it took forever. But can't you just see the love poured into every detail? Or maybe that's loathing. (Remember, it took forever.)

 Here's a big one, the house. Oh. Man. This project started February 11th and is still dragging on. This one is a little more expensive, but everything has been done by our hands. Well, some unsuspecting friends and family, too. I grouted. No joke. Me. I couldn't make Jello a few years ago. (maybe I still can't, I haven't tried lately.) Even the boys helped. You gotta train them early.

 Another HUGE DIY is canning. Holy smokes. This is a pain. Like a horrible pain in the neck. The work...ugh. But you know what? Eating fresh tomatoes in December is worth every annoying minute. Eating pickles that aren't laced with nasty crap? Priceless. I learned using the Ball Canning Book, you can learn, too. Try it. Do you have a garden? Learn to can!

I think the point of all of this is that doing things yourself can (obviously) save you a ton of money. IF you know what you are doing. Or if it is something that, when you mess up, will not cost a ton of money to fix. Start small. What can you do yourself? If I can do this stuff, anyone can. (Remember the Jello?)

I just ate store bought butter, and it was gross.

So I just ate butter bought at our local grocery store. It was nasty. It tastes like chemicals. When did I get so darn picky? When I started making my own butter. Thanks to a friend's suggestion, I tried it and I will never go back. I must get the vile crap out of my fridge.

Do you want to learn how to make butter? YOU CAN do it. If I can, you can. Here's what you should do:

Get some heavy whipping cream. Get some salt. Get a KitchenAid stand mixer. (Ok, not necessarily that last one, but it makes life so much easier.)

Put the whipping cream in the bowl, add a pinch of salt, start the mixer on high speed and you are pretty much done.

For real, though, it is easy. I like to start my mixer on medium and I wrap the whole blessed thing in a kitchen towel because it is a little messy. Once it gets to about whipped cream consistency, I crank up the speed.

A few things to keep in mind, toward the end of the process, the butter and buttermilk separate. This is where you can end up with buttermilk all over your kitchen. Keep an eye on it.

Once your butter is "done", you need to rinse it well. If you leave buttermilk in the butter it will go bad very quickly. I like to put the butter in a bowl and squeeze it. Then I rinse it with cold water several times, squeezing the rest of the buttermilk out. Of course, save the buttermilk. It makes great ranch dressing, marinade for fried chicken, pancake batter...the list goes on.

I sometimes make the butter into a cute little rectangle, sometimes I just leave it in a ball. Do what you want. I recommend wrapping it in parchment paper instead of wrapping it in plastic or putting it in a plastic bag. It just breathes better. I have tried smoked salt, but it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. Also, if you don't add salt, it makes very sweet butter.

Try it. You will never eat store bought butter again. (And also, it is cheaper. Butter is about $4/lb here, I can make a pound of butter and get a a pint of buttermilk for less than $4.)