More cooking adventures ...

Well, I finally made my first batch of cheese!!! I went to a local dairy licensed to sell raw milk (as recommened by the book that Chrsitian got me for my birthday, but I had to pasturize the milk before making the cheese) and I made some mozzerella. It turned out fine, but I stretched it too much and it ended up being a bit tough. I was in Target a few days later and I found milk for 99 cents. I thought I'd try that and it worked out really well. The curds didn't form as nicely as the local milk did, but it resulted in a fine cheese. I barely stretched the second batch and it turned out MUCH better. We enjoyed just munching on it, but finally used it on pizza the other night. It melted beautifully and was delicious.

All this cheese making resulted in vats of left over whey. Left overs have been a theme lately and I have been trying to use as much of them as I can. For example, I had some left over sweet potato casserole. So, one morning, I made sweet potato doughnuts and made "cheesy" scrambled eggs with my homemade cheese (on the cutting board).

I still had some casserole left and I made some bread with it following a recipe for pumpkin bread. It didn't call for any milk or yogurt, but I went ahead and added some whey. It turned out great. The flavor has actually gotten better the longer it sits. I kind of wish I had included mini marshmallows in the batter.

I used the whey to make the pizza dough. The dough was marvelous. It rose nicely and stretched perfectly. It turned out kind of soft, though and we prefer a crispier crust.

I want to make dinner rolls and perhaps biscuits with the whey, too .... yes, I have A LOT.