Just call me little Miss Muffet!

So I had thought about making Ricotta on Saturday but when the sun shines in Seattle ya just gotta get out in it. So I spent the late morning walking and doing errands in my neighborhood.  Saturday night I worked.

So today it was gloomy, dark and sprinkling. I had some more errands to run in my van so I went out and got those done.

<-----Draining the whey from the curds.

When I got home I decided to make the Goat Cheese Ricotta. It's true! It takes just a short time to have yummy tasting Ricotta. However just as I got ready to make it I couldn't find my cooking thermometer. I at one time had two! So I ran to the neighborhood Freddies and bought one. (You can be sure one of my thermometers will show up if not both, now that I bought one.) It was done in a jiffy and I think the draining of the whey took longer than the whole cooking process. MMM curds and whey are tasty!

<-------Finished Ricotta after whey drains off.

So then I  made Lasagna. I am one of those cooks who kinda of checks out a few recipes and then flys by the seat of her pants. I have food allergies so I have to adjust and modify. Here's what I put into my Lasagna.

1 lb ground buffalo (I am allergic to beef)
1/2 yellow onion
1 large bulb of elephant garlic (cuz I luvs garlic)
Italian seasonings - (shook in what looked like it was enough LOL)
I sauteed the onion and garlic in olive oil.
Added the ground buffalo and seasoning cooked it all together until browned.

The sauce is something I found at Costco and thought was yummy.

One jar of Dave's gourmet butternut squash pasta sauce (mix in ground buffalo mix)
Shredded Jack goat cheese (would've added some goat mozzarella but didn't have any.)
Homade goat cheese Ricotta! (I'm allergic to cow dairy products)

One box of cooked rice lasagna noodles

Layered the Lasagna noodles with sauce, ricotta cheese, jack cheese.

.Done Lasagna       ..................................>

I am in Lasagna heaven!!!! It has been years
since I have had Lasagna.






Tomorrow I will make gluten free bread and use the whey to replace the liquid in the recipe.

I gotta Ricotta

Last week one of my employers showed me a book about green homesteading. So while the kids were napping I read it. (in high school  I was clocked reading 1500 words a minute in speed reading class!) So I read the whole book. It was interesting and the best thing is that it had a recipe for making Ricotta from goats milk.

Now I don't eat gluten, dairy, soy, or beef due to food allergies. I can eat goats cheese but man is it expensive!!!! I have been wanting to make Lasagna. But kept wishing I could figure out how to replace the ricotta or cottage cheese in the recipe. I kept looking for goat cheese ricotta at the specialty stores, (like whole food) but all I have been finding is jack and cheddar goat cheese and sometimes if I am lucky goat cheese mozzarella None of them fit the bill for ricotta for my lasagna.

Ricotta is so easy to  make! I was shocked. I do a lot of my own bread making due to my gluten allergy and it is pretty tasting. So when I saw the recipe I thought, I CAN DO THIS!!! So I am going to the store getting the goats milk, and then I will try it in the  morning...unless I can't wait.. then I will make it tonight. The biggest problem I face is keeping my cats out of my ricotta and whey once I make it. I think I will rig up the cheese cloth on a hook in the dish cabinet and let it drip into a bowl. I can close the door and hopefully my cat Harold won't figure out how to get it open. 

I love learning stuff like this.

So far it looks like if the world comes to an end you can survive with:

Camping supplies, first aid kit,  three chickens, a few goats, a garden, downspout water barrel or some water source, a big fence...er and some big guns...