Cream Cheese Recipe

I recently came across a video on making cream cheese. I couldn’t believe how easy it appeared to be! I had never attempted it before as I thought it might be complicated or required ordering ingredients as I have seen in other dairy based recipes. I had everything for it (more or less…) so I gave it a try. It worked! Raw milk would have been best or even heavy cream or half and half. All I had was whole milk and I still got a good amount!

The original link is below:

https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/how-to-make-cream-cheese/

Ingredients:

4 cups milk/cream

3 tablespoons lemon juice (she also notes substitutions of lime and white vinegar are acceptable)

A pinch of salt or other flavorings are optional

Add milk to a heavy bottomed pot and turn to a medium high heat. Stir to keep from scorching on the bottom.

When it starts to steam/bubble up on the sides turn to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice at a time. Stir a minute or so after each addition.

I didn’t think it was working but I realized I was using whole milk instead of a more fatty milk and needed to wait. I also got small chunks instead of clumps like in the video.

I ran out of cheesecloth but had these giant muslin tea bags so I set it over a jar and tightened the string.

The jar started to fill with liquid so I pulled the bag out to empty it. I did this twice. I used a butter knife to gently push the bag back in little by little.

I let it drain while I watched half an episode of “Anne with an E.” 😅 Then I squeezed out more liquid.

Once it drained I added a pinch of salt (it could have used more) and then put it in the blender as I don’t have a food processor (which is weird for someone who cooks from scratch a lot. I know). I had strained it too dry and needed to add a tablespoon of milk to cream it up.

It made what looks like a half cup or so. Fattier dairy likely would have produced the 8oz the video said it would make. Still! I made cream cheese!

It definitely doesn’t taste as sweet or creamy as store bought but I really like it. It would be perfect in savory recipes like cream cheese and sausage pinwheels or something of that nature! If you try it let me know! I put some of mine onto a cauliflower pizza crust a friend gave me. I added dill, salt, pepper, sour cream and cheese. Would have been amazing with mushrooms but I was hoping to get a picky eater to eat some.

Supposedly, the leftover liquid will be a good meat marinade so I saved it to try!

Mushroom Powder Experiment

In a post by “Fern and Fungi” they talked about making mushroom powder. I had a container of dried mushrooms from Costco and it gave me the idea to try it myself! The mushrooms were different and I didn’t forage them myself but I was hoping to make something similar. More to add the mushroom flavor I love to our food more than anything else with these particular mushrooms. My plan is to add the powder to sauces, bread, soups, etc. I already use the liquid used to rehydrate these mushrooms in meals so why not add it all?

Screenshots I took:

I thought the mushrooms might not be dry enough to powder and it was suggested in a group I help run that I dry them more. I decided to precut them with scissors before I did this to get them dried more evenly in smaller bits. However, I found most crumbling with the rough handling and scissors. So instead I added maybe 1 cup or so at a time to our Vitamix to blend and blended it on high. Emptying after each cup of whole pieces. Worked great! I’d say if you wanted it finer you could sift it but this works for us.

The bit left in this container made quite a bit of powder! I think this will last us longer than throwing in a bunch of mushrooms when I need a last minute addition to a meal. It also made the mushrooms more versatile in a sense instead of just a chewy ingredient in a typical soup or stir fry.

I’m hoping this year to forage more for mushrooms (come on morels!) and buy locally at farmers markets to dry myself for future powders. Making the powder much more nutritional than just for taste. This was a super easy and simple way to get started though! Just watch out for clouds of powder when you take the blender lid off!

I included pictures of the container of mushrooms I purchased at the end for those curious. Not the ideal mushrooms for anything other than good flavor. I put some in leftover soup tonight along with dried nettle and it deepened the flavor and made it more rich. Very satisfying dish!

Crockpot Apple Butter

One of the great things about where we live is the close proximity to hot off the farm food. We recently bought our weight in a variety of apples and weren’t eating them quickly enough. The first thing I decided to do was make crock pot apple butter. I don’t utilize this glorious kitchen gadget often enough and this was a nice easy way to use up some apples. I didn’t need to stand and stir, watch for bottom of the pan burning, etc. All I needed to do was some prep work.

The recipe below is more than enough for my family of two adults, a toddler and a baby who is old enough to eat solids (aka not solely breastmilk or formula fed). It fit nicely in my crock pot to start and cooked down with plenty of room to mash it up without a mess.

You will need:

*Approx. 2.5-3 apples (look below for chart)

*1/2 cup white sugar (or use what you prefer)

*1/2 cup brown sugar (or use what you prefer)

*1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I used homemade)

*1 teaspoon cinnamon

*1/4 teaspoon clove

*1/4 teaspoon salt

Optional:

*1-2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or spiced alcohol

*1/4 teaspoon ginger or replace all spices with pumpkin pie spice

*honey or maple syrup to taste or to replace sugar

I found this handy guide via Google if you don’t have a scale to weigh apples:

Peel, core and chop all apples and add to crock pot.

Add all other ingredients including optional ingredients (if using store bought vanilla extract I would wait to add this until you mash the apples).

Mix well then set lid on to cook on low for approximately 10 hours. I tend to just leave it for the day then switch the heat setting before bed.

Stir occasionally.

Turn onto warm overnight. In the morning or after 8 hours or so check on contents to see if the mixture has cooked down well and browned. Turn off, remove lid and let cool for 30-60 minutes before continuing. You can add imitation vanilla extract, etc at this time. You can alternatively cook on low a few extra hours instead but I like it all to stew together as long as possible.

Mash contents up using a whisk or potato masher. Alternatively, purée in blender in small batches or use an immersion blender. I have also seen people blend down the apple mixture raw before cooking. Some even include the peel to create less waste and for any additional benefits the peel may have (still core and chop apples).

Now you can add your mixture to jars, Tupperware, etc. It freezes well! Use on toast, in cookie cups, as a cake filling, etc!

Enjoy!

Almond Apple Butter Protein Shake

I was looking to add more protein into my diet and potentially use a shake as a meal replacement for our busy mornings. A friend suggested I go homemade after lamenting that the powders I’ve used were awful. I’m thinking of making up shakes and if they are good to go I’ll share them! Today was Almond Apple Butter!

*1 cup vanilla almond milk

*1/3 cup Greek yogurt

*1/4 cup Apple butter

*1/4 cup almond butter

*1/8 cup ground flax

*1/8 cup honey (the apple butter was already sweet)

Add ice if desired and blend! My baby loved it so much I had to top it off with cold coffee to give myself a full glass. You could add a banana to this but I forgot to pick some up. Chia, oat and/or cacao powder would also be good additions!

Homemade Lentil Flour

I made this back in May 2017 but just now got to posting. See my last blog for reasons why! 

I had started looking into trying to make foods higher in protein for my toddler. She’s high energy from the moment her eyes open to when they close for the night. I was told that some studies suggest a high protein diet can help to calm hyperactivity. So I started there. Plus, we all need protein in our diet. My child had started to get picky like most toddlers do. So I began looking for foods she may like with a better source of protein. I tried pumpkin protein bites, peanut butter protein cookies, etc with some success. My sister suggested lentil bread but wasn’t sure if that was actually a thing. The two year old loves bread so sneaking in more protein would be good! Unfortunately, lentils are an incomplete protein but I was already deep into recipe testing when I discovered this. 

I essentially used this recipe but took pictures and such of my own as a first step recipe before the bread recipe that will come next. I also changed a few things: http://thecookiewriter.com/homemade-lentil-flour-tutorial/

I took two cups of green lentils and split it in half. 

One half I ground in our Vitamix as best I could. If you are using a food processor or less powerful blender it has been suggested to work it in half cup measurements.

The other half I toasted in our cast iron skillet. Stirring the entire time. I did this for about 10 minutes on high heat. I should note if you’re using a wooden spoon to stir lightly so you don’t burn it from the constant movement against the hot skillet. 

I then let the toasted lentils cool completely before grinding in our blender. 

Mix both the raw and toasted lentil flours together! The combination lends the blend a better flavor than purely raw or all toasted. 

You can put the flour in a sifter to only get the most finely ground flour if you wish. 

If you have a picky kid you can use this as a hidden protein. It needs more prep than regular flour (more liquid, longer cook time, etc) but is great for flatbreads, pancakes, etc. Look up gluten free recipes with lentil flour or just lentil flour recipes! We are not a gf family but some of the recipes are amazing!

Veggie Scrap Broth How To

A few months ago I was making broth from kitchen scraps like I normally do (unless I’m making meat stock or broth) and I took pictures for the blog. I was dealing with post partum depression, military life and getting my toddler evaluated for neurological disorders so you can say I was a little overwhelmed. I just couldn’t get myself into my writing. I have a dozens of photos to make blogs for but I haven’t been able to get my brain to function enough to write. Here it is. Finally. 

So onto the broth! This is such a great way to utilize all of your veggies! To not waste one bit. To start you just need to begin saving scraps! Everything I cut off and normally toss (or compost in our old home) would be put in freezer bags (you can use jars or Tupperware but we were low on space) and frozen. Even veggies nearing their end that you wouldn’t get to in time. I didn’t add veggies that were too starchy like potatoes but we almost never have scraps from those as we eat the skins. You can add the skins if you would like to but I think it changes the consistency and flavor. I also avoided the main part of things like beets. Though I did use the leafy greens. 

I ended up saving four of the gallon sized ziplock bags to make a mega batch! Much more than what I actually needed (I still have a few jars left and I made this in late June!). I had continuously put off making it because I couldn’t get to it with my kids needs. So I ended up with a ton of scraps! I think storing it less of a time would be better so if you try this go one bag at a time! 

I added everything to my big canning pot and went to town adding herbs and spices. Chosen for their flavor and health benefits! You can also add extra veggies for flavor and health. Such as garlic! Or things like soy sauce, miso, etc. 

Then I covered with filtered water and stirred it up!

I didn’t have a weight or anything to keep the veggies down (not necessary but I prefer to) so I used the rack that normally holds my cans. Worked decently! 

I covered heated on high for about 15-20 minutes and then cooked on low for around 2 hours. It was such a big batch I wanted to get everything well! You can also do this in a crock pot. Once finished I took the lid off and let it cool for about an hour. 

I forgot to get pictures of this but I strained the chunks out with a colander then used a ladle to pour the broth through cheesecloth that I fixed onto a big jar. 

I used that jar to fill smaller jars and ice cube trays full of broth goodness to freeze! 

When I ran out of jars and trays I cooked down what was left (not all pictured here) to make a concentrated bit to use for cooking with the next week. I put it in everything and even just drank some hot. It’s good! I used to love drinking broth or stock as a kid. 

The cubes are great for dishes that need a little moisture and so instead of adding water you can toss in a bit of broth! I put them in a ziplock after freezing. I would keep trays specifically for food as they retain the smell and a bit of flavor after use. 

Turmeric Powder Tincture

When I first met my now husband he introduced me to herbs to help with skin issues. He suffered a skin injury that required almost a year of medical attention but wanted to help his skin in any way he could. So he looked to herbs. The best way to get the herbs he chose to help in his opinion was to ingest them. Now we use many of the herbs he loved in our food and tisanes frequently. Turmeric is one we go through a lot of. It helps with inflammation and many skin issues are the product of other health problems such as this. Check out the link at the end of this post for more in depth information.

When a neighbor/friend asked if I wanted her bag of turmeric she didn’t like (it has a peppery taste that isn’t appetizing to some) I started brewing up ideas for usage. More than putting it in almost everything we eat. Which poses an issue with my toddler who ends up staining her clothes with any food saturated with it. I decided the first thing I wanted to make with it was a tincture. 

Most recipes I found suggested using the root. Fresh or dried in slices to help the alcohol base saturate it more easily. Well, I didn’t have a root. I had powder. So I did a 1:5 concoction to test it out. 1 part turmeric powder to 5 parts alcohol. It worked great! It was also really fun to work with and see the lovely color changes. The powder is a gorgeous yellow color and once it settled it created a red hued liquid. Later I saw it was more orange when not stacked the way it was but still lovely. 

One small pint jar creates a ton of tincture in my opinion. So unless you have a large family using it, are taking the tincture several times a day or are creating to share this should work great to start with. I filled two 2 oz dropper bottles to last me a while and barely made a dent in the tincture. I left the rest to continue brewing until I needed to strain some off again for use. 

This is what I used: 

I filled roughly 1/5 of the jar with powdered turmeric then filled it up with the alcohol.

After mixing gently and being sure to scrape any bits off the bottom I noticed the amount of product went down.

So I topped it off with a bit more alcohol. 

Then I added the lid and shook it up! Making sure to get any clumps out. 

It WILL settle and you will notice that it may look something like this:

It will definitely still brew perfectly fine so no worries! What you need to do though is shake vigorously every day at least once until the day before you decide to strain it. 

Typically, you would leave this for 14 days then let it rest on the 15th day before straining. That’s the bare minimum needed. I let mine brew for almost 3 months. Many saw the longer the better with tinctures. 

When the time came to strain I got out my sterilized bottles, a funnel, a bowl to catch any spillage, a measuring cup and a magic eraser sponge because I’m bound to spill something! 

I poured off some of the liquid from my jar into a measuring cup. Purely for the ease of pouring from it. I made sure to let the jar settle so I would get the least amount of powder in as possible. You can strain your concoction if you wish but I found that powders can be tricky business to work with. So I decided to use just the liquid from the top of the jar. 

Once I filled my bottles I put the leftover tincture back in the jar to save for a future pour. Letting it continue to brew.

I put some in my iced tea to test out immediately. A few drops definitely effects the flavor! If it’s too much to sip a drink with it then use the dropper to squirt directly into your mouth then chase with a drink or food if needed. Or add it to your food. 15-30 drops a day up to four times a day is the highest recommended dosage. Though I am not a doctor or certified herbalist so please do your own research! 

I then labeled my bottles and put the jar back in the dark cupboard. 

For an in depth look at the uses and side effects of turmeric feel free to check out this article: http://www.m.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-662/turmeric

Sun Brewed Coffee

The heat is slowly coming to the PNW! A few days ago I put out the kids pool and started some lemonade and cold brewed coffee and fridge green tea. Then in a post of a group I admin a question about sun tea was brought up. We love sun tea in this house! 

Check out my blog on sun tea: https://theheathenhomesteader.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/sun-tea-and-reusing-jars/

It got me wondering about about sun brewed coffee. I make a big batch of cold brewed coffee on my kitchen counter every few days. I also use a French press when it’s cool out to make hot coffee. Sun brewed was never something I considered until yesterday oddly enough. 

So I tried it. I used the ratios for my cold brewed coffee (link below) but set it in the sun for 2 hours. It’s not very hot here yet or I might have done an hour. I only made a two cup batch or else I would have left it longer as well. Further experimentation is in the works to see if longer brewing effects the flavor. 

https://theheathenhomesteader.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/cold-brewed-coffee-recipe/

I did everything the same as the link above except I had a smaller scale version of 2 cups water to 1/4 cup coffee. Then I shook it up and sat it in direct sunlight. I moved it once to keep in the light and away from neighbors pets. 

It worked! It tasted less bitter than both my coffee machine (when I used one) and French press produced. 

It wasn’t HOT however so I plopped in cold creamer and a few ice cubes for a nice drink. Quicker than cold brew and still tasty and smooth! 

I think one needs to take into account where they are (altitude), possibly humidity and definitely the temperature. I think 2 hours at least is a safe bet to brew but you may try shorter if it’s over 100 degrees or longer if it’s under 80. 

Enjoy! 

Kitchen Experiments – Sourdough Beet Bread Recipe Testing

Sometimes I feel like I should share more of my failures. From praising comments and negative reflections on ones self I get the feeling people don’t know just how hard I can fail. I fail a lot! I am absolutely terrible at making food look pretty, I experiment constantly and that doesn’t end well frequently and I make food from random things we have to avoid going shopping which sometimes comes out weird. A big factor in my fails is that I am a mother. I’m often exhausted and overworked but my desire to make things pushes through. This recipe took me four days to finish writing but I stuck with it. 

 This bread recipe below is an example of something I desperately wanted to do and messed up a bit. It’s ugly and flatter than expected but I made it and I’m still proud. I still wanted to share in the hopes that you’ll help me make it great! 

A few months ago I stumbled upon a recipe for sourdough beet bread. Seeing as I LOVE both sourdough and beets I quickly saved it for later. When I finally came back to it I realized the recipe was measured out using the metric system. *sigh* So I looked for another instead of converting measurements. No luck. The two decent recipes I found were both metric. Converting them turned into odd standard measurements. So experimentation began. Here is my journey! Please try it out and help me test this recipe! 

You will need: 

*Two large beets (I used red)

*3 1/2-4 cups flour

*1 cup warm water

*1/2 cup fed sourdough starter 

*1 teaspoon dry active yeast

*1 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher)

I had boiled and peeled the beets for dinner the night before so I had them already cooked and refrigerated. You can use roasted, boiled, etc beets. Prepared differently may result in a slight change in flavor. 

I put the beets in our Vitamix and it took no time at all to purée. You may want to cube them for a food processor or other blender. Two beets yielded roughly 1 cup purée. Mine were cold but warm beet purée would work as well. Hot may negatively effect the yeast. Set aside once finished. 

Mix the sourdough starter and dry active yeast with the warm water. The recipes I found didn’t include dry active yeast but I wanted a fluffier bread. Feel free to exclude the dry active yeast and let me know how it turns out! Let sit for 5-10 minutes. I waited about 10 as I tended to my kids.

Add the rest of the ingredients! I started with 1 1/2 cup of flour like the recipe suggested but ended up more than doubling it. I used 3 1/2 cups for mixing and almost one more half cup for kneading and flouring the dough. It took quite a while to mix in my Kitchen Aide and I had to use a medium high setting to get it decently mixed. 

I almost always knead my dough a little by hand even after using a mixer. It gives me a better sense of the texture. I only kneaded it until mixed together.

Set in greased or floured bowl for 12-24 hours. I waited 6 before putting it into a floured proofing bowl but waited a full 24 to bake as I didn’t want to be up at nearly midnight making bread. There’s no need for the proofing bowl. I just forget I have it and wanted to use it more. Cover and let sit. 

NOTE: I think kneading at intervals would have helped this bread a bit. Every few hours kneading a bit more before letting sit overnight. A warner room than what I had would have been best as well. 

There are two ways you could bake the bread. Here’s what I did: First I moved my dough into a greased cast iron skillet and let sit while I prepped the rest. 1-2 hours would have been best to let rise again but I want to get lunch going so it only sat about 20 minutes. I also slashed it a few times with a serrated knife for aesthetic purposes that didn’t pan out. 

I put a container of water on the bottom shelf of the oven then preheated it to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Then I set the skillet in and baked the dough for 20 minutes. Then I lowered the temperature to 400 for 25 minutes. 

Alternatively, for a crusty crust you can try putting the dough in an empty but greased Dutch oven in for 20-30 minutes, take it out to add dough and cover before baking for 30 minutes then removing the lid and baking for 15-20 minutes or until fully baked. Tap it with your knuckle to test if it’s hollow. 

At one point between a teething baby and a toddler grabbing at my shirt asking for crackers I brushed the bread with oil. I immediately regretted it. It severely diminished the beauty and made me want to rush out and immediately buy more beets. Fortunately, it turned out alright. Just ugly. As usual.

The flavor once completed was amazing despite multiple setbacks. I especially loved it with overeasy eggs and then later with a kalamata olive tapenade. It came out flat but wasn’t dense as I thought it might be. Some color faded inside but the crust stayed lovely. I would definitely make this again but with more kneading and a warmer room. 

3 Ingredient Flourless Banana Pancakes

My toddler has started to love bananas. Before she’d only eat them if someone other than myself offered them to her. Kids are weird. She still only will eat them from me if she’s actually hungry and if they are not very ripe. So when we don’t get to them fast enough I turn them into other goodies! Here’s one recipe we’ve been playing with! 3 Ingredient Banana Pancakes!

This recipe includes optional add ons but the main ingredients are baking powder, banana and eggs! Some recipes we’ve tried are even just banana and eggs but you need to add half a banana more to the recipe to replace the baking powder. We prefer them the way below:

You will need:

*2 eggs

*1 banana (the more ripe they are the sweeter they are!)

*1/8 teaspoon baking powder
Optional add ons:

*dash if cinnamon

*1/8 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

*1/4 cup crushed nuts

Etc

Peel and mash the banana! I used my clean hands because it works faster. Most recipes will suggest mashing with a fork or the end of the whisk you’ll be using in the next step.

Crack and whisk eggs well in a separate bowl! 



If you’d like you can add other ingredients now such as vanilla and cinnamon to the bananas. If you add heavier ingredients like nuts, coconut shreds, chocolate chips, etc it makes flipping them a little awkward but food doesn’t need to be pretty to be good!

Add these to the eggs!

Whisk/mix well then add the baking powder. Mix again fully.

Heat a pan to medium low and add coconut oil or butter. You can skip this if you want to keep it light and have a nonstick pan. I think butter boosts the flavor however. 

Add 1/8 cup of the liquid to the pan. Repeat for other Pancakes. 

Let cook until edges bubble. About 2 minutes. 

Flip and cook another 1-2 minutes. 

Serve hot! They taste fine cold but get kinda mushy in texture. 

Feel free to add syrup, fruit, whipped cream, etc but they really don’t need it!