Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Another milestone...

Do you know what this is??? What could it be??? Anyone....

You are right, it's mayonnaise and yes I made it. The color is a bit richer- I am guessing that is due to the farm fresh nature of the eggs, and let me tell you it is delicious!!!! Oh man, another thing I don't think I will be purchasing at the store anymore.

Here is a quick recount of what went into it :)
3 egg yolks- fresh from the backyard if possible- at room temperature
1 tablespoon brown spicy mustard
place into the bowl of the food processor with the regular blade and start it up-
next, very slowly drizzle in 300ml of canola oil or any other very mild flavored oil- seriously do this one slow or it won't come together right.
Once it's all combined it will have the consistency of mayo, although like mentioned above, mine was seriously yellow :)
Now I started with the juice of 1 fresh lemon, coarse salt and fresh black pepper, add it and pulse to combine. My mayo needed more salt and acid, so I added the juice of another lemon and more salt and pepper- only pulsing to combine.

And voila!! Deliciousness!!!!
It made about 1.5 of those little pint size canning jars :)

Now off to experimenting with some flavors....

Friday, June 3, 2011

Living homemade

What a treat- I am sitting outside with the sun warming my face, listening to the chickens cluck and enjoying the rare moment of silence as the boys are taking their rest.
Along with the serenity I am enjoying my latest accomplishment in the quest for a simpler, more homemade life: my own ricotta cheese drizzled with honey. Yep, I took my first venture into cheese making and thought that ricotta might be the best place to start.
Well, it turned out delicious!!!! It is firm yet incredibly creamy, which after eating ricotta from the store  I did not know was possible :)
I found my recipe here: Homemade Ricotta - this version uses the simplest ingredients, which is what I was after.

I hope you too will give this a try, but be warned I don't think you will ever want to buy the gummy, grainy stuff from the store again.

Oh and as to how to eat it or in what, here are some suggestions: in a bowl with some honey and fresh fruit, drizzled with olive oil and pepper on some good crackers, as cheese blintzes or of course in lasagna or ravioli.

Blessings to you from my little slice of heaven.