Sausage and Potato Casserole

This makes a lasagna pan's worth of food, or 2 smaller casseroles.

Ingredients
4-6 lbs of potatoes, peeled and sliced.
1 onion, diced

1/2 lb cream cheese or nuefchatel
1/2 lb of queso fresco **
1/2 lb farmer's cheese
2-4 TBS prepared mustard
4 TBS coconut oil
4-6 TBS gelatin
2 eggs
8 TBS cane sugar
Sea Salt, a lot.....2 TBS?
Cream of tartar as needed

1 lb Sausage, bite sized

1. Prep potatoes and onions and set aside
2. Combine sauce/filling ingredients until smooth.
3. Correct seasoning, should be slightly saltier/zestier than needed as the potatoes will neutralize some of the taste when it's all cooked together.
4. Combine sauce with potatoes and onions and pour into a coconut oil greased pan/s.
5. Add bite sized sausage evenly over the top.
6. Cook for about an hour at 350*-375*, cover, if needed to prevent burning.  
7. Check for softness of middle potatoes.  Adjust cooking time as needed.
8. Cool for about 20 minutes and serve.

This was a big hit the first time around.  It doesn't reheat well, as is. I used the leftovers as a soup by adding broth, some tomatoes and a little extra gelatin and salt. Traveled very well in my thermos. Fabulous!


**Queso fresco is ricotta-ish, without the additives usually found in commercial ricotta.

Hunk of Meat Monday 
Hearth and Soul Hop 
Fat Tuesday

Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie

I make a mean fruit dip.  I love it for dipping strawberries and it goes great as a brownie topping too.  I got my recipes confused the other day and put WAY too much gelatin in the dip.  Seriously, dip should not be slice-able.


Directions:
I added 2 slices too firm cheesecake dip to 2 eggs in the blender and whipped. Much to my delight, the gelatin dip actually did blend in. I was concerned I would get a chunky smoothie....like adding coconut oil that turns gritty in the cold, ewwww.  I added OJ for liquid as needed and a large handful of frozen strawberries. "Seasoning" was some salt, cream of tartar, cane sugar and homemade vanilla extract.

No Bake Cheesecake - GF

The original recipe: Rich No Bake Cheesecake

I replaced the whipping cream with sour cream, orange juice for the water in the filling.  The crust I made with cocoa butter (didn't have any butter) and chopped, dried coconut instead of crumbs and I added a little homemade baking powder. Oh and a little salt and cream of tartar, well, because I add it to almost everything.

Ingredients:

.5 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
2 TBS unflavored beef gelatin
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 TBS cream of tartar

Dissolve gelatin in OJ, then add the rest of the ingredients from the above group.  Heat, while stirring, until the liquid become translucent.  Let cool a bit.


16 oz cream cheese (softened)
8-16 oz sour cream
1-2 TBS coconut oil (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the above ingredients in a blender or food processor, then add orange juice mix.

Crust: (Optional)
2 cups dried coconut, chopped fine in blender or food processor
1/2 cup cocoa butter
1 TBS arrowroot powder (optional?)
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp baking soda

The To-Go Version

 Chop coconut as small as you can, then add in cocoa butter, then the rest of the ingredients.  Fill pie pan or spring form pan and bake at 350* F for 5 minutes.  Let cool completely. (If you make the crust first, you can stick it in the freezer to chill while prepping the filling.)

Put filling in crust and chill for about 2 hours.  The filling makes 1 large cheesecake in a spring form pan or 2 pies....or 1 pie and 4 individual serving sized crust-less cheesecakes for "To Go" food.

Future variations:

• Using baking chocolate in place of some of the fat in the crust, perhaps with butter.  The crust had an awesome flavor and texture, but was a little bit firm for cutting a bite off.  (The first piece I thought I cut lifted the WHOLE thing out of the pan.)  Butter would be a softer fat when chilled.
• Using rice flour in part or instead of coconut.  Every once in a while, the dried coconut taste was too strong or slightly "twangy."
• Omitting or reducing the sour cream to make a summer weight cheesecake.  The flavor was spectacular, worked well, but I wanted a little more "cheese" in the cheesecake.
• Cherries! (Does that really need explanation?)

UPDATE:
This makes a fabulous brownie topping at room temperature, just add extra OJ. Seriously, it's good.

See Ya In The Gumbo

Creamy Orzo with Tomatoes

A variation on Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese:

Ingredients:
2 TBS Coconut Oil
2 cups Orzo Pasta
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis
2 cups full fat fresh Milk
2 TBS unflavored beef gelatin
1 tsp Sea Salt 

2 TBS cane sugar
2 tsp cream of tartar
8 oz  lowfat cream cheese or neufchatel (in chunks)

Plop all the ingredient in the cooker, give it a stir, set to "cook" and wait. VERY rich and creamy with a little kick from the chilis. If you can't handle the heat, just use plain diced tomatoes.

Coffee and "Cream" Beef with Rice

This is a "use it up" meal.  It was "sticky" sweet and a little overwhelming for me after one meal.  Ketchup boy was THRILLED and was quite pleased to hog most of the leftovers.


I had 3 chubs of lb packages of my beef in the upstairs freezer.  They don't stack well and I needed to freeze some goat milk, so they got defrosted in the fridge all at once.  I had a partial container of sour cream and nuefchatel, so they got tossed in.  I also had a Tupperware container of brown sugar (a light Muscovado, I think) that has been sitting in the cupboard for a LONG time because it was too hard to use.  I tossed that in too, in one big block.  The gelatin balances the meat and the cream of tartar balances the sugar.  You can get away with cream of tartar with the coffee in moderation because of all the other ingredients.


HINT: If you get the rice cooking first, they should both be ready about the same time.

Coffee and Cream Beef

Leftover coffee (2 cups?)
Beef gelatin (1 cup)
Grass fed ground beef (3 lbs?)
Sour cream (1 cup?)
Cream cheese or neufchatel (1/4 of a package)
Balsamic Vinegar (A few generous shakes)
Brown Sugar (pint sized container, 3/4 full)
Cream of Tartar (1 tsp, at least)
Sea Salt (2 TBS?)

Soak the gelatin in the coffee.  Meanwhile, brown the burger and toss in ingredients in the proportions that appeal to you. Add gelatin coffee mix and heat until blended.  Adjust salt to taste....more salt balances the sweet....up to a point, so does the vinegar. ;)


Rice Cooker Rice
4 scoops jasmine rice
1 TSP cream of tartar
1 TSP sea salt
2-4 TBS Coconut oil
Water to 4 scoop fill line

Place all ingredients in cooker and stir with rice paddle a few times to mix powder with rice and water.  Cook and serve.

Neufchatel - Attempt #2

1. Again, I started with 1/2 gallon of freshly strained milk, but I let it cool down for an hour before I started.
2. I added approximately 1/4 tablet rennet (approximate because it had gotten a little crumbly in it's container.) and stirred for a few minutes.  No gelling took place this time.
3. I did not add clabber this time....because I forgot.  What can I say....it happens.
4. I set the measuring bowl outside to clabber/gel on the back porch in a sunny spot (no rain today and hot and humid) with a clean dishtowel to keep out direct sun, bugs and too curious critters.
5. I set the timer for one hour to check it.  It looks just right and there is a small pattern on a section of the top where the dish towel sunk down and made contact.  Oops.
6. I brought it inside to drain off excess whey and cut the curds into 1 inch squares.  This releases more whey and allows for easier transfer into the butter muslin lined  colander.  I used a wide, slotted spoon for transferring.

Drip, drip, drip.....

Now I am waiting as the whey slowly drips from the curds.  I have high hopes this time!

Update: We're definitely getting there.  No squeak this time, color is whiter throughout, the texture is much softer but still firmer than cream cheese/neufchatel.  If you ever want to make imitation Silken brand tofu, this is it.  I can't believe I just said that.  LOL!

I didn't mix in salt, but added it to the bottom of the container and placed the cheese on top.  The next day, all the salt is absorbed into the cheese quite evenly, as far as I can tell.

P.S. The first attempt made a great breakfast with a side of fresh cherries.  I added a little more salt across the bottom of the storage container and the cheese seemed to absorb it well overnight.

Yummy Failure - Neufchatel

Neufchatel isn't supposed to squeak, is it?

This is my first attempt at a non Mozzarella cheese.  Well.............it STILL wants to be Mozzarella!
It tastes like a raw, non stretched version of my Mozz.  Yummy, but not at all what I had in mind.  I used this recipe as a guideline, kinda sorta:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09337.html

We have been hot and dry for a long time and the pasture is crispy.  This morning's milking wasn't enough for a full batch, so I halved it.  I strained 8 cups of the "still warm from the cow" milk into a large glass measuring cup with pour spout.  The dog got the rest of the morning's milking.  Why? She's pretty adorable and it saves cleaning a jar later.  I stirred in 4 TBS of 2 day clabber that had already formed a soft curd.  If you look closely, you can see the white specks in the cheese...it didn't quite blend all the way.

The next step was to add the rennet, which is where I got into trouble, I think.  It was supposed to take about 30 minutes to gel and it gelled almost immediately, in a few stirs of the spoon.  I followed the rest of the steps as closely as I could.  It became obvious I was not going to get the intended results when I tried to stir the salt in.  I don't think you are supposed to have to chop it up to mix.

I used my plastic colander on top of a 2 cup measuring cup and butter muslin to strain and the measuring cup on top as the weight and waited 2 hours.  The drippings were very milky colored and came to about 1 cup, so I estimate my yield at about 1.5 cups of cheese.

I came across this recipe that calls for 1/2 the amount of rennet:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/neufchatel/neufchatel.htm

I suspect the freshness of the milk has a lot to do with the discrepancy of rennet needed.  Or maybe it's my cow?

This cheese is begging for a fresh tomato....hmmmm....like a thick slice off a Cherokee Purple.....a little salt and freshly ground pepper.......

I wonder if it would melt?

Monday Mania
Barn Hop

Savory Neufchatel Dip

I couldn't resist tasting with a mushroom first....

Ingredients 
Base:
1 cup Neufchatel (lowfat cream cheese)
2-4 TBS skim milk
1 TBS sugar
1 TBS Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Suggested spices:
Thyme 
Red Pepper Flakes
Onion Powder
Fish Sauce

Mix all ingredients until well blended.  I used a food processor and added to it while while blending.  The milk is just to thin to desired consistency.  This came out about like a sour cream dip, only with a lot less fat and more protein.  I envisioned it with a little added vinegar for a cucumber salad dressing as well, but ate it all before I could try that.

We used the dip for whole mushrooms, fresh black cherries and homemade tortilla chips.  It was very interesting how the different food items brought out different flavors.  The mushrooms made the dip seem very mild and sweet, while the cherries seem to bring out the hotness of the pepper flakes.  The tortilla chips were used with the leftovers the next day and they were the best.  They were hot from the stove and slightly melted the dip as the chips made contact.  Sublime!

Hearth and Soul Hop
Made From Scratch
Gluten Free Wednesday
Dip Blog Hop

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream with Chocolate Drizzle

Ultra rich cherry cheesecake ice cream with a drizzle of homemade chocolate sauce

Do you see that?  That is a single scoop of ice cream.  Our family just doesn't DO single scoops.  This stuff is so rich and yummy, a single scoop is more than enough to satisfy.   It is a meal in and of itself.  Wow!

We had a birthday this past weekend and this is how we celebrated by request....we REALLY like ice cream here.

Cheesecake Base*, **
*this will need to chill at least 2-3 hours before using
**would make a fabulous fruit dip too

1 cup heavy cream (this is the stuff skimmed off the top of 3 day old milk for my non jersey cow)
1 cup sour cream (I used Kalona's from grass fed cows, Daisy would work)
1 cup cream cheese, softened (I used lowfat because that's what I had)
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 TBS Cream of tartar (the original recipe called for 2 TBS lemon juice, this did the job just fine)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla)
1/2 tsp salt (I used 20 rotations on my grinder, just guessing the actual amount)

Stick the above ingredients in a food processor or mixer and blend until smooth.  Resist the urge to eat it all right now.  I used a wide mouth quart jar for chilling.  It didn't all fit and I was FORCED to eat about an 1/8 cups worth.  Oh the sacrifices we make for our loved ones.

The Fruit Filling
2 cups Cherries* (mine were frozen)
2 TBS cane sugar

(add ons to the original recipe)
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 TBS OJ **
1 TBS Unflavored Beef Gelatin
1/4 tsp salt

*Sweet Cherry was the fruit requested, but almost any fruit will do
**I think I used more though, there were a few extra shakes in the container and I didn't want to return a mostly empty container back to the fridge.

I measured my cherries, then added everything but the gelatin and let it it for a bit.  I drained the juice off and mixed it with the gelatin in a small pan.  I heated it, stirring frequently, until the gelatin was dissolved.  I let it sit to cool, then added  back to the cherries.  I chose to chop my cherries at this point, but they could be left whole too.

At this point, we started getting a little impatient.  We didn't want to wait for things to chill and firm.  We wanted to eat yummies.....

So......

I mixed the filling into the ice cream maker with the base and stirred a few times and served.
This is what I got:

Still yummy and decadent, but not so pretty and not quite as good as when it was all the way frozen.  Two scoops was too much to eat at one time too, in my opinion.

Next time I'll wait for the individual ingredients to firm up, then fold in the filling and freeze until firm.....THEN serve.

Oh, the chocolate drizzle is this recipe: Homemade Chocolate syrup with Gelatin as thickener

Hearth and Soul Hop 
Made From Scratch Tuesday 
Gluten Free Wednesday
What's Cooking Wednesday
Garden Variety Wednesday

Cream Cheese and Jam

A delightful snack or light summer supper...

Choose a holding vehicle (I chose a rice cake, but a piece of  bread or toast would do), slather cream cheese as thick or thin as desired, add a glop or two of fruit jam (black raspberry was my favorite, but marmalade, peach or lemon curd would be good too) and sprinkle salt lightly on top layer.  The salt really brings out and blends the flavors...don't leave it out.

Eat right away....rice cakes become amazingly CHEWY when they sit a while with cream cheese on them....edible, but really disappointing texture wise.


Monday Mania