Making Cheese

I was going through some of my old pictures this morning and found a few good ones I never got around to posting before we left America.  It made me really nostalgic to look at my own food, which sounds kind of funny I guess, but it's the truth.  I really have missed cooking.  It's been over a month.  Which is grievous.

On a happier note, our shipment of things from home arrived yesterday.  It was mostly stuff that doesn't fit in our apartment or that we would never use here, but I did get some kitchen stuff I was immensely happy about.  Coffee maker, pot, real knives.  I can't wait to start cooking again.  I think I'll go to the store tomorrow and get as much food as I can fit in my dorm-sized refrigerator and get to cooking!

So anyways, on to the old pictures and the cheese making!

I've been wanting to make cheese for years.  My husband is terrified of it.  I think he thinks I'm going to poison him somehow.  So I made this cheese when he was away on a business trip right before we left home.  It was really amazingly easy, and didn't even involve any bacteria, so nothing to be wary of.  I found the recipe here and was totally drawn it.  It looked so easy!

So I boiled the milk and the buttermilk and some fresh thyme from my garden (oh how I miss my garden!) and salt and pepper.

After it reached the right temperature and started separating in strange ways I strained it through cheese cloth.

I wrapped it up and let it drain for a little while.

After it drained I just unwrapped it and ate it with crackers.  Almost as easy as boiling water.  I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who has the slightest desire to make his or her own cheese.  It's so simple and delicious.  And it's always fun to tell people you've made cheese!

The taste is kind of tangy, texture is something like a cross between cream cheese and mozzarella.  I love this recipe because you can add all kinds of things to it to make it different flavors - nuts or dried fruit, spices and herbs.  The website where I got the recipe has some good ideas on what to add.  I hope you'll try it!