Cheesy Again

I made cheese yesterday.

I figured it was now or never so I went to town and took advantage of an unfettered afternoon while Grace was at Nana's to try the cheese unassited. The ricotta was actually pretty easy and turned out great despite the fact that I later realized I'd only used a half gallon of milk. Memory Lane's milk comes in 1/2 gallons. Yeah, I'm not the brightest bulb sometimes.

Thankfully I figured it out as I was preparing to make the mozzarella. The "30 Minute Mozzarella" took a little longer than 30 minutes because I just couldn't get organized. I really need one more stainless steel pot to make things easier next time. I finally got it done in between making THREE lasagnas. I made one for our dairy farmer neighbors who just had their third child five days ago. I sent Bryon up there to deliver it and he said Charity (the Mama), the two kids and their five day old baby were all in the milk barn together. Charity was milking cows.

Did I mention she just gave birth five days ago? Any self congratulations I was feeling over making homemade ricotta and mozzarella was extinguished. That girl is tough.

The other lasagna was for a family at church that are having health issues and finally I made one for us. I used the cheese for ours because I only had enough for one lasagna. It's definately too time consuming and expensive to do to give away on a regular basis. I had $10 worth of milk in the cheese which I was thinking was sort of crazy but 2 cups of Kraft mozzarella is about $3+ anyway. So really, the TIME is the clincher. It was a long day but really worth it. I used some of our deer burger and sausage from our pig in it along with organic pasta sauce and whole wheat lasagna noodles. You just can't get much better than that. I just don't forsee it happening on a weeknight anytime soon... or ever.

I wanted to make bread too but there are only so many hours in the day. Maybe next time I'll be more organized and able to whip it out more quickly.

Bryon had a good MAN day outside working on his tractor with the Huggler Men, bottles of gas and a welding supplies. I'm not really sure how all that works but now he has a grill on the front of the tractor to keep from breaking out the new $120 headlamp we are having to replace because he thinks the thing is a bulldozer. He also has a shield on the back of the tractor so now he won't have to be the only farmer in Webster county who's wife makes him brushog while wearing a motorcycle helmet. He's been a good sport about it but I know he's ready to go commando.

The chickens got to enjoy a few hours outside after I got back from the grocery store and they were HAPPY! I'm still getting 5 or 6 eggs a day and I have 6 dozen in my fridge right now even after I used a half dozen today. I just keep giving them away.

We got a call today from my uncle saying that he had a litter of puppies about ready. A 7 week old Brittany male that he only wants $40 for. We are going to be out of town this coming weekend but will maybe get him after that. Grace has no idea and we aren't going to say anything to her until it's a done deal. Bryon and I were sitting on the couch last night talking about life with a new puppy. We haven't had a new puppy in 15 years. I'm not sure if we know what the heck we are doing but I do know Grace will be thrilled and have a whole summer of chasing a puppy around the yard.

One more thing to clean up poop after.