Cheenius’ Big Day

Everyone loves a guest post from Cheenius! Thanks, Cheenius!

With a name like Cheenius, you’d expect someone who really knows cheese. But frankly, Cheenius has been more of a cheese dabbler than anything else. Sad. So, you can imagine her excitement when she sourced some local goat milk and decided to hold her very first CHEESE DAY!

First, somewhat sleep-deprived from the anticipation that accompanies Cheese Day Eve, Cheenius got up early to pick up the goat milk. The friendly goat owner provided Cheenius with not only a gallon of fresh milk, but some chevre and extra milk for tasting. Cheenius even got to meet Lavender, the goat who provided the milk!

goats

After Cheenius gathered her mostly-willing Dad, Aunt, and Uncle, goat milk shooters were downed and the work began.

goat milk shooters

We assembled the ingredients, and then discussed our battle plan: One Day. Two Cheeses. We wanted to attempt a simple paneer and then if we weren’t demoralized and/or cranky, move up to a slightly more advanced feta.

cheese ingredients

cheese tools

For the paneer we basically just heated up the goat milk, added lemon juice, let the curds and whey separate, salted, and then squished it for awhile, and voila! Very-bland-but-edible cheese!!

cheese chemistry

curds

kneading the paneer

applying weight to the paneer

[ed: there’s cheese under there. took me a sec.]

frying the paneer

Paneer-fortified, and feeling pretty darn confident, we were now ready for feta. We went with Tinkling Springs whole cow’s milk for this attempt, and then hit some tedium: a lot of chemistry, heated discussions about the best way to maintain a temperature of 88 degrees, and then long periods of just waiting.

heating the milk

Luckily, we filled the waiting periods with games of pool or Bananagrams, so no time was actually wasted. We did realize that we should have started the feta earlier, since to stick with the recipe Cheenius had to stay up late to salt the feta at the right time. We were also a little disappointed that for all that work we only got 4 turds of feta (only 2 shown; Cheenius is not an idiot, she know how to count turds).

feta

The next day we bounced out of bed to try the perfectly salted feta, and it tasted like . . . FETA! Evidently our 5 degree temperature swings (yeah, whoever won that argument about temp control didn’t actually “win”) weren’t enough to upset this very forgiving cheese. Cheenius plans to try freezing some to see if she can make bigger batches in the future and get more turds for the same amount of work.

The unexpected bonus to the experience was that two Cheese Day byproducts, the whey and the extra goat milk, were made into Whey Bread and yogurt. Yum!

yogurt and whey bread

All in all, Cheenius was ecstatic that she finally got to live up to her name, AND she got to boss around her family for a whole day. Thank you Family! Special thanks to our goat milk provider, S.S., along with Ricki Carroll’s cheesemaking kits, and Gianaclis Caldwell’s book, “Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking.”

One last thought to leave you with, as HP always says: Remember, you’ve got a friend in cheeses!

Things I ate this weekend (spoiler alert: steak)

It’s boring to read about what other people ate. But since many of you aim to eat real food and avoid gut-irritants like I do, maybe this will be interesting despite being about what someone else ate. Also, steak!

So, without further ado, here are some things I ate this weekend.

Overnight no-cook refrigerator oatmeal. I love this easy breakfast and adjust it in the following ways:

  • I multiply the recipe x 1.5
  • I use half coconut milk and half water for the milk portion
  • I don’t add sweetener. It doesn’t need any!
  • I chop up whatever fruit I have and pack it in (or throw in frozen chunks), and add chopped walnuts or pecans

Yum.

Adult smoothie with frozen berries, coconut milk, and Malibu.

adult smoothie

Blend up a few cups of berries, a glug of coconut milk, and a few glugs of Malibu, and enjoy!

Avocado tuna salad. This is quick and easy and, like the oatmeal, you can toss in whatever you have on hand. I don’t bother with the fancy leave-some-avocado-in-the-shell part, but it would be impressive for company. I’ve added combinations of the following to great effect:

  • chopped onion
  • chopped celery
  • chopped hard-boiled egg
  • chopped tomato
  • chopped walnuts

Seared scallops over zoodles

zoodles

lemon pepper scallops

seared scallops with zoodles

This dish will be going into the HP household rotation. It seems sophisticated, but is easy to make with great flavors and textures. I don’t know that I had ever cooked scallops before; here’s a useful tip if you’re a scallop newbie too: put the scallops in the pan and don’t mess with them until it’s time to flip them. I’m a compulsive over-stirrer/poker and probably would not have gotten such a lovely sear if I hadn’t read that tip.

Local ribeye steak from The Organic Butcher, with Mustard-Garlic Brussels Sprouts

steak and brussels

I wasn’t crazy about this steak, but Mr HP, who knows better, was. It was too chewy and fatty for my redeveloping meat tastes, but the flavor was good. Mr HP salted the steaks and threw them in the freezer for a bit before grilling on high heat to crisp up the outside while not overcooking the inside. The Brussels sprouts were phenomenal. They were both savory and a bit sweet (due to roasting), healthy, and incredibly simple to make. YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE.

A Paleo Frittata

paleo frittata

This recipe is designed for leftovers. I planned on using leftover steak, but we ate it all for dinner, so I used onions, avocado, tomato, and spinach. It was a fun change from scrambled eggs, but it did involve me spending a considerable amount of time staring at the frittata in the oven to see when it was cooked enough but not too much. Presumably I will have to watch it less as I get more frittata experience.

Please share your favorite healthy, easy, tasty recipes with me!

Oh Deer.

Folks, it does not get much more fresh, local, or sustainable than this. Here’s how to have your own venison adventure and take a share of the title Best Dog Owner Ever:

  1. Find a friend who hunts. (For those of you scratching your heads: no, I don’t eat mammals; no, I don’t like the idea of shooting Bambi; yes, I support hunting for food.)
  2. When said friend offers non-human worthy deer pieces for your dog, happily accept.
  3. Take delivery of scrap meat pieces and assorted organs.
  4. Empty bag one into a baking dish. Put bag two into the refrigerator. Admire pretty color to distract self from reality.

deer livers

  1. Bake long enough to make them seem less gross. Remove from oven, cut into big oozing pieces, get grossed out again, return to oven long enough to make them seem less gross. Let dog lick fork.
  2. Remove from oven once more, hack into small pieces, place into storage container and pour cooking juices over meat. Give dog a sample chunk or five.
  3. Since that actually wasn’t so horrible, two days later, fetch bag 2 from fridge to repeat the process. Notice that bag 2 has a leak. Notice that blood has seeped out of the bag, run along the shelf, dripped into the produce drawers, and pooled on the bottom of the fridge. Mop up blood. Reflect on your love for your dog.
  4. Cook random parts. Try to guess what they are.

deer pieces cooked

One was easy to guess…

deer heart

  1. Chop meat, store pieces, feed dog.

Mr. HP consolidates steps by cutting the raw meat into chunks. That seemed messier to me, and I was avoiding contact with raw substances. He also cooks the pieces in a skillet, but again, the baking seemed more hands-off for this squeamish sissy. I will say, though, cutting up the heart was pretty neat, from a science-experiment point of view.

HPDog gives this recipe 4 paws up.

How to work quail eggs

As the proud new owner of quail eggs, I was excited to try them out. How do they compare to chicken eggs? Quail eggs At the risk of overwhelming the eggs’ flavor, I scrambled 3 eggs to mix in with my regular egg-and-roasted veggie breakfast. Getting the eggs out of their shells was no easy feat. I wish I could have taken pictures of that process! I tried cracking Egg 1 like a chicken egg, but the shell smashed and splintered while the membrane stayed intact, and I ended up squeezing the innards out through a small hole. Egg 2 I opened with a combination of banging to crack the shell, and poking with a fork–still very messy. But by Egg 3 I was a pro. Here is my advice: hold the egg in one hand and a dinner knife in the other, and in one quick motion, cut the egg in half with the knife. The clean cut doesn’t pulverize the shell, and the knife breaks the membrane easily. eggs and veggies The quail eggs were lighter in flavor and color than chicken eggs. Perhaps in a dish that highlights eggs more than my breakfast slop I would have appreciated them more, but for this meal, it’s a lot easier to use a single chicken egg than three quail eggs. Even if I do know how to open a quail egg now.

Tips for cooking grass-fed beef

Having a Labor Day cookout? These tips from Edible Blue Ridge will help you get the most flavor from your grass-fed steaks and burgers, which are leaner than corn-fed meat:

  • Choose burgers with a higher fat content for better texture.
  • Be sure to trim the white membrane from steaks, as the connective tissues won’t soften as well as in regular meat when cooked.
  • Sear the meat over high heat to keep the juices in, and then move it to a cooler area of the grill to heat though. Don’t overcook!
  • Let the meat rest before cutting it against the grain.

Have a great Labor Day! Haute Pasture will be enjoying the day on the Meet Yer Eats farm tour!