Faithful Homestead | Sharing our journey of farm life and family.

Mozzarella Cheese and Buttermilk

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Jennifer

I am so in hopes of getting a milk cow this next year. Of course, I will have lots of milk to work with if that happens. So I am trying to get more familiar with different dairy products so that I can be ready to handle the volume of milk that a cow can produce.

I haven’t purchased sour cream and cream cheese since I started making them in November, so I figure that is a small start. Monday I started some buttermilk which is basically the same as the sour cream just with milk instead of cream. I incubated the buttermilk in the yogurt thermos that I purchased at Goodwill in 2009, for $3.33. (Okay so the receipt was still in the box. I’ve known for a long time I wanted to do this, but…)

Buttermilk in Yogurt Maker (One lid was missing when I purchased it)

I also tried my hand at mozzarella cheese. Our family LOVES cheese! So if I can get the hang of mozzarella and later cheddar we will cut down significantly on our trips to the grocery store. This is all so EXCITING to me! Can you see my great big smile?!

Looking into the pot of curds and whey

Letting the whey drain out of the curds

The hunk of cheese after the whey drained out

Chunks of cheese waiting to go into the hot salt water

Heating the curds in the salt water

Small chunks of mozzarella that refuse to stretch. 🙂 I guess I shall eat them anyway!

Well the mozzarella doesn’t look very pretty but it tastes good. LOL Apparently the pH was off. When it came time to stretch the mozzarella it just simply wouldn’t stretch it would just break apart. I ended up just making it into small mozzarella chunks.

The good news is that we all like the taste of it. I am determined to learn how to make cheese so I will keep practicing until I can “get it.” I am definitely going to get the pH strips so that I can take some of the guess work out cheese making.

I am thankful to be learning so much on our journey to be more self sufficient! I am also thankful for those who are so willing to teach!

Do you make your own cheese? What types do you make or would you like to make? Do you have any tips for those of us just beginning this journey?

Blessings,

Jennifer

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Posted in Homesteading | Tagged Cheese, Dairy, Homesteading | Leave a comment

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Jennifer

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The vigin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”- which means, “God with us.” Matthew 1:21-23

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

This picture was taken before the kids’ Sunday School Christmas program. I am SO excited to get us in one picture. That never seems to happen! Scott’s two oldest kids aren’t in this one but it seems like every year it is harder to get everyone together. 🙁

From our house to yours have a very Merry Christmas!

Blessings!

Jennifer

Posted in Family | Tagged Children, Family, Marriage | Leave a comment

The Totals are In!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Jennifer

What a busy, busy week canning! I can’t express how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to fill our freezers and still can so much!! What a wonderful blessing from God!!

I ended up with 13 quart of BBQ pork ribs, 8 quart of plain pork ribs, 39 quart of chicken, 4 quart of chicken broth and (since I was running the canner anyway) 3 quart of pinto beans. I have to say that it is a good feeling to have all that finished!

I was also able to give some away because I simply was limited as to how much I could do. As always with giving, it was such a wonderful feeling to watch the smiles on others faces as they too received free meat! Priceless.

Now I think it is time to move on to Christmas candy and desserts. 🙂

Have a blessed day!

Jennifer

Posted in Homesteading, Preserving | Tagged Homesteading, Preserving | Leave a comment

Abundant Blessings!

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Jennifer

Yesterday, we were given a LOT of free meat. Our friends that purchased a local grocery store had a freezer go out. The meat didn’t thaw but they did have to sort through and get rid of some because they didn’t have room to keep it. Well it turns out that a lot of what they had purchased from the previous owner was past its expiration date. Since they couldn’t sell it they were giving it to whoever would be willing to take it. (Most of it was only two months past its expiration date.)

I filled the back of our 15 passenger van with 63 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 20 lbs. of boneless skinless butterfly cut chicken breasts, 80 lbs of chicken leg quarters, 20 lbs. of pork rib bits, nearly 60 packages of bacon and 36 lbs. hashbrowns. Everything was still in the unopened cases.

I am so excited! Our freezers are COMPLETELY full! What a wonderful blessing! I was even able to bless some other families. It was so fun to give some of it away!

Today I am canning chicken and pork ribs because I simply didn’t have enough room to put it in our freezers. In another post I will post my final totals of today’s canning. 🙂

Merry Christmas!

Jennifer

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Old fashioned candy and fun

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Jennifer

Some may call it a moment of insanity. Others might say I had totally lost my mind. Yet others might say that it was my desire for hands-on learning… Whatever you might call it, I call it a wonderfully, fun, sticky, gooey, yummy learning experience.

We have been reading Farmer Boy and recently read about making pulled candy. (At this point you can see clearly where this is going!) Today I gave into my sweet tooth and decided we would in fact make pulled candy. I know WHAT WAS I THINKING!

Well it turned out to be a lot of fun! I think the mess was totally worth it! I tried to snap a few pictures. (Easier said than done when trying to pull candy!)