I Made Cheese!

I love to learn new kitchen skills and I have been wanting to make cheese forever and finally found a simple recipe to start with. I was watching YouTube and one of the channels I subscribe to “Living Traditions Homestead” had a video on how to make farm cheese with three ingredients. In this video she uses raw milk to make her cheese but I ran to the store and grabbed a gallon of whole milk and her recipe still worked out perfectly. With three ingredients milk, vinegar or lemon juice, and salt you can make homemade farm cheese that is so tasty. I am going to link her video here if your interested in giving this a try, this is a great skill to have.

Even if cheese making isn’t your passion this would still be a great activity to do with your homeschool. Hands on experiences like these are invaluable.

** Helpful Note**

In her video she uses 1/2 cup of vinegar and I noticed after using the 1/2 cup of vinegar that my whey hadn’t fully separated from the curds. I did a quick search on the internet and found that you need to keep adding a little vinegar at a time letting it sit a little at a time until you see the whey fully separate. I ended up using a full cup of vinegar to make this happen.

Jan 14

The One Thing They Forgot…

Comment 1

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Last night Northwest Ohio was gifted several inches of fresh snow and my kids were itching to try out their new sleds they received at Christmas time. This afternoon with the sun shining above we set out to our local metro park to test out the sleds. We weren’t the only ones inspired to try out the sled hill and found ourselves surrounded by dozens of families outfitted for some winter fun. These parents took great care to prepare their kids for the winter weather so that they could stay safe and warm. Each child had on a nice winter coat, a cozy hat, mittens and snow boots. Some had fancy snowboards and some had old fashioned flying saucer sleds like my own three and a few had some homemade sleds that were quite impressive. Everyone was having a great time but then I began to notice that something had been forgotten. Something very important had been forgotten a lesson that all parents should teach their children so that they can participate in society productively….consideration.

When we initially arrived at the sled hill I reminded my children to pay attention to those around them. I advised them to walk up the side of the hill and stay out of the way as others were sledding downhill. We also discussed how to handle a situation in case they accidentally bumped into someone. Our discussion wasn’t new and to be honest I really don’t need to remind them at this point because over the years they have caught on how to behave in public (at home is a different story), but as a parent I feel obligated to remind them before setting them free on the public just in case memory fails them. Apparently, I was the only parent who had this conversation with their children as we saw children walking up the hill and even stopping in front of others who were attempting to sled downhill. We saw kids purposely aiming for other kids and unfortunately there was a group of young teens who decided that yelling expletives downhill was appropriate. I looked around at the smiling parents who seemed to be oblivious to how this type of behavior could cause injury. The only time I heard parents call out to their kids was to remind them to zip up or put their gloves back on not once commenting on their actual behavior.

As I was pondering whether I was over reacting or not I saw the most horrific incident. A teenager on a sled aimed himself at a three year old who was trying to get up from her sled. He hit the toddler’s sled in such a way that the three year old literally went airborne flipping up and over her sled and landing on her face. As I am running and inquiring if she is okay I hear the strangest noise behind me, laughter. Not only was the teen laughing but most of the parents and teens at the bottom of the hill were laughing as well talking about how funny it was that this little girl went flying up in the air. One 13 year old girl started yelling that it was worthy of “Funniest Home Videos”. The teen who had hit the young girl was busy getting high fives from his friends and parents yet never once stopped to find out if the little girl was okay. Luckily she was bundled up pretty good so despite the face full of snow she received she is okay but I can’t even imagine how scary that had to have been and then to have so many people laughing adding insult to injury.

My kids made me very proud when they rushed down the sled hill to see if the little girl was okay. Maybe I am over reacting but watching young and old delight in an accident that could have ended very badly was troubling. Parents take so much care making sure their kids are dressed warmly and that they are fully stocked with hot chocolate and snacks but never once thought to outfit their kids with kindness, compassion and consideration. I find it more than troubling that we live in a society where people are forgetting to be kind, compassionate and considerate. That we live in a society where parents model inappropriate responses to real life situations. As parents we have a duty to society to raise our children to be the productive members who will positively impact the world we live in.

What do you think? Am I over reacting? How would you have reacted if your child laughed while another child was injured? Let me know in the comments below because I would love to have others chime in on this issue.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Jan 09

My Favorite Bread Recipe

Comment 1

hecticeclecticmama.com

There is nothing more comforting than the smell of freshly baked bread oh wait there is… eating freshly baked bread. Over the years I have tried so many different bread recipes and I have also created my own because bread is pretty simple it’s simply flour, yeast, sugar, salt and oil. You can play around with a variety of ingredients to customize your very own bread recipe or you can try my favorite bread recipe.

Homemade Bread

1 cup of warm water

1 tbsp of yeast

1/3 cup of honey ( you can also substitute sugar, maple syrup or even molasses)

2 tablespoons of oil

3-4 cups of all purpose flour

3 tsp of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix together the warm water, yeast, oil, honey and 1 cup of the flour let this sit for about 5 mins in a warm location.

Add two cups of flour and sprinkle the salt over top using your hands or a wooden spoon to combine ingredients. At this point your dough may be a bit sticky you can add additional flour a little at a a time until you have achieved a smooth ball of dough. Let the dough sit for about 30 mins or until doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled I like to spread a piece of parchment paper on my table and then I use my rolling pin to roll it out into a flat disk. Using your hands fold the dough like a tight jelly roll tucking in the ends and firmly sealing the center.

Flip loaf over seam down and cut in 3-4 2″ deep slits so the bread can vent while it’s baking. Let your loaf rest for 30 mins or until it has doubled in size again.

Now that your loaf has doubled in size it’s time for it to go into the oven and bake for 35mins @ 400 degrees.

Remove dough from oven and allow it to cool fully this step can take an hour or two but it ensures that the bread finishing baking all the way through.

Slice your cool bread into slices and enjoy with your favorite toppings.

20190108_224018~3

Jan 09

*Original written by Rudyard Kipling

*Adaptation written byThe Derryberry Kids 🙂