Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

Learning new skills is always a good idea especially when you are a prepper or even just concerned over current events or even just because.  I've been making easy soft cheeses like yogurt, farmers and ricotta for quite some time.  I even tried my hand at making cream cheese that came out very close to store bought.  So I decided that branching out from making simple cheeses might be rather interesting.

The first rule of thumb with cheesemaking is to use the best milk possible.  Unfortunately, all of our milk is pasteurized but after a bit of experimentation, I found a brand that gave rather good results.  If you try cheesemaking, keep that in mind.  One brand may work better for you than another.

Fresh mozzarella cheese is not difficult to make but there are two steps where the process can fail:  at the curd stage and at the stretch stage.   Other necessary ingredients are rennet, citric acid and non-iodized salt.  A thermometer is essential as different stages require different temperatures.  It's important to take that stage to that temperature and no further.  I also found a good pair of heavy vinyl gloves quite useful because forming a ball for stretching involves putting your hands into rather hot whey.

For fresh eating, the mozzarella cheese can be stored in whey and refrigerated for an hour.  For longer storage, rinse in a cold water bath the store for upto 3 days in the refrigerator.  The mozzarella cheese will shred easier after a day and it does freeze nicely for later use.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Storing Block Cheese

Wrap block cheese in cheese paper or parchment paper, then place the wrapped cheese in a plastic zipper storage bag or container and refrigerate in the warmest part of the fridge (eg. cheese drawer).

A Foodie Train Ride Road Trip

My husband and I have itchy feet or what some refer to as wander lust.   Honestly, had we not had kids, I doubt we ever would have settled down.  Not that settling down and establishing roots is a bad thing it's just there are so many places to see, so many adventures and my gosh the food possibilities are endless.  We are beyond pleased to have become established, creating firm roots for our kids and grandkids, but we still have a bit of wander lust yet to expore.

A couples of our kids and family live in Wisconsin so we try to get there two or three times a year.  The problem with driving from Ontario to Wisconsin is you have to go down under the bottom of Lake Michigan and let me tell you with the lake effect, that stretch of highway is beyond brutal in the winter.  So this trip, we decided to take the train.  If you have not traveled by train especially for a longer distance, this is a must do on your bucket list!

We seriously have coolers and insulated food bags at home, on the boat, at the vacation home and in both vehicles.  Well, we arrived at the train station for our early morning 6 AM departure, opened the trunk and all we had was the large insulated food bag.  I'm sure it would have worked fine but my husband insisted we would buy another cooler in Wisconsin with the size depending on the amount of cheese being brought home.  He felt the insulated bag would not keep the cheese cool enough for the over 8 hour trip.

Only foodies would buy a cooler to bring home their stash of goodies :)  We stopped at Cedar Valley Cheese Store where we delighted in stocking up on cheeses.   Then we stopped to buy a cooler to fit our purchases.  He bought the 28 quart Igloo Island Breeze cooler which just fit all of the cheese leaving just enough room for the light lunch and yogurt we purchased at the grocery store for our lunch on the train before the switch-over.  Now, we were travelling rather light with two back packs (one almost empty for other purchases), the computer case (computer, iPad) and we had a spare cloth shopping bag just in case.  The nice thing about traveling by train is there's no liquid restrictions and coolers are allowed (50 lb or under with size restrictions) plus we only had to get the cooler from the rental car to the train then to the next train on switching then to our car and finally in the house but it was considerably less complicated than flying.  If traveling by train, I highly recommend not getting a cooler larger than this as when filled, this cooler just comes under the size restrictions.

I have blogged several times about Cedar Valley Cheese Store in Wisconsin.  The store has expanded and now offers gift boxes, wines and imported cheeses along with their own cheeses. You can order online with shipping via UPS or USPS.  You really cannot appreciate this cheese without visiting the store though.  It does have some of the best cheese in Wisconsin although I may be just a tad biased.

Pictured is our Cedar Valley Cheese Store purchase of just over $140.  The only cheese I bought that was not from Cedar Valley was the English Blue Stilton.  We bought a total of about 30 lb of cheese: 6.3 lb whole milk mozzarella cheese, 3.57 lb sharp cheddar, 3.64 lb white mild cheddar, 3.84 lb medium chedar, 3.26 lb colby jack, 3 lb low fat cheese strings, 2.23 lb cheese curds, 1.21 lb cheddar garlic and dill, . 90 lb swiss premium grade and .19 lb of the Stilton.

Our kitchen refrigerator is stuffed with cheese but make no never mind, I will put it to good use!  It's a toss up what will be first - poutine using those beautiful cheese curds or a cheddar beer soup. Of course, lasagna is a given as is homemade mac & cheese.  Stay tuned ...

Kitchen Quick Tips - Storing Cheese

Wrap cheese in parchment or wax paper  to wick surface moisture from the cheese then loosely wrap in aluminium foil to prevent the cheese from drying out.  Cheese wrapped this way will keep for a week (eg. goat cheese) to over a month (eg. Brie, cheddar) depending on the cheese.

Kitchen Quick Tips - How to Quickly Soften Cream Cheese

Quickly warm cream cheese to room temperature by placing the foil-wrapped package* [in a small zipper style storage bag] and place in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes, or until softened.

*Note, cream cheese is that is wrapped in foil wrapping with seams that could let water in, use the zipper bag.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Grating Semi-soft Cheeses

Prevent semi-soft cheeses from sticking to the box grater or shredder blade of the food processor by spraying lightly with a vegetable oil spray.

Open Faced Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

My Mom was a ripe old age of 56 when I came to be and let me tell you she could cook!  She had been through the Great Depression and two World Wars.  More importantly she was a child of 11 from poor immigrant farmers.  She was actually born on the ship between England and Canada, but that is a whole other story!  My gosh she could cook, good old fashioned home style cooking.  All those recipes were tucked safely in her head, sure to please and yet long forgotten as the dementia became worse.  My Mom originally cooked on coal and wood but when I was a kid, she cooked on natural gas.  Both the burners and oven needed to be lit using a match.  Her household chore as a child had been to stoke the fire so to her the natural gas was a treat.  She was also quite frugal so her cook stove was narrower than the normal 30 - inches.  Part of this was due to her refusing to buy more than what she needed but part was not wanting to look pretentious to her family and friends.

Melted cheese on bread is a classic.  Even Johanna Spyri (1881) wrote about how much Heidi enjoyed the melted cheese with bread her Grandfather often made her.  When I was growing up, I never knew what a grilled cheese sandwich was, or at least they way grilled cheese sandwiches are usually made.  My Mom made these amazing open faced grilled cheese done under the broiler of her gas stove.  There is just something comforting about these sandwiches.  The cheese is warm and gooey while the bread is crunchy around the edges and soft in the middle.

All you need to make these delicious open faced grilled cheese sandwiches is bread and cheddar cheese.  Don't use American cheese slices as real cheddar really makes these sandwiches delightful.  I either slice or grate the cheddar cheese.  Then I place sliced bread on a Silpat lined baking sheet and place the cheese on top.  I bake at 350°F until the cheese melts then turn on the broiler and broil until the cheese starts to bubble and the bread is golden brown around the edges.  I place the cooked sandwiches on wire cooling rack for serving.  This prevents the bottom from becoming soggy.

While I have been able to get good results using an electric oven, the results are considerably better using a gas oven.  Electric heat is a dry heat which is fine for certain foods and for most of our married life, we have had an electric cook stove and oven.  However, electric heat can dry certain foods especially baked fish and foods like the open faced grilled cheese sandwiches.  When natural gas is burning, it releases water into the air which is quite noticeable on cold days by the condensation on the windows.  When the oven is first lit, there is condensation on the oven door as well.  I think this bit of moisture is what makes the difference, giving better results. for a lot of baked foods.

Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited, New Hamburg, Ontario

Southwestern Ontario is sprinkled heavily with various food venues well worth the visit.  These include roadside stands, orchards, mushroom farms, farmer's markets, vineyards, fisheries and cheese factories.  At one time the large commercial food manufacturing  plants like Dare, McCormick's and Libby's had little factory outlets on site where both their employees and the general public could get fabulous deals on foods produced at the plant.  While some of the factory outlets are no more, other factories like the cheese factories and some chicken processing plants (eg. Maple Lodge Farms) still have small on site shops open to the general public.  During a recent visit to the kids in the GTA, we made a side trip to Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited.

Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited is located at 29 Bleams Road East in New Hamburg, Ontario.  This is a family owned and operated business.  It was established in 1879 by the Langenegger family.  There are currently fourth and fifth generation family members working within the business that continues to manufacture cheese the same was as it was when the business was first established.  The building itself is quite large but that is because the cheese is being manufactured on site using Ontario milk.  Unlike some cheese factories, there is no viewing window in the retain store to see the cheese being made but you can take a virtual photo tour of their cheese making process on their website.

The on site retail stores of most food manufacturing factories have two things in common.  They are small, bordering on tiny and they are not fancy.  In most cases they have enough room behind the counter for one or two wait staff and room for about four customers on the other side of the counter.  Signage is generally simple, often hand written.  The staff is generally very friendly and knowledgeable about their product.

The retail outlet at Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited is small and well organized.  A neatly organized, easy to read price list hangs on the wall facing you as you enter the store.  The price is per pound (lb) not kilograms.  The counter is simply a raised closed front counter without a display where the cheese is cut, weighed and wrapped.  The staff will cut and wrap you cheese as desired, either chunk or sliced.  Our grandkids love going to this cheese factory because they always get a free sample of cheese.  

The cheese is arranged in neatly lined rows of block cheese.  Cheeses available are:  Borgonzola, brick, brie, caraway, cheddar (medium, extra old), Swiss, Colby, cook cheese (available fall to spring), havarti (plain, dill), hot pepper, Limburger, marble, Monterrey jack, mozzarella, new bra, onion & garlic, Parmesan, Romano, cheese curd, smoked old cheddar and black pepper.  They also offer cheese trays, cheese balls and gift baskets.

We had a lot of fun making our cheese choices.  Our grandkids were beyond excited.  This is one of their favourite places to visit!  I definitely share their excitement.  All that cheese just gets the creative culinary juices flowing.  Of course I overspent a bit but this is high quality cheese well worth that little extra cost!

Kitchen Quick Tips - Freezing Grated Cheese

Grate cheese then spread it on a cookie sheet and freeze.  Transfer to a freezer bag and freeze for homemade convenience.  Grated cheese can be vacuum sealed if desired.  

Kitchen Quick Tips - Melting Cheese

Aging affects how cheese melts.  Fresh cheeses resist melting so for best melting properties use hard cheeses like Cheddar or Parmesan.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Flavoured Cream Cheese

Kick your cooking up a notch by using flavoured cream cheese anywhere you would use plain cream cheese. You can get sweet (fruits) or savoury (onion, herbs, etc.) flavoured cream cheeses for the same price as plain cream cheese and they are now available in store brands for greater savings.

How its Made - Mozzarella Cheese

Cheese making is quite an interesting process.  We've watched cheeses being made at Pine River Cheese & Butter Co-op in Riply, Ontario.  Cheese making has continued to be an artisan activity in many rural areas with cheeses being made from goat and cow's milk.  Buffalo milk is also used in cheese making.  Cheese making supplies are available through some specialty stores, catelogue order and various online sites.  In general the only supplies you need are rennet, cheese cloth, cheese molds and a cheese press.  Some cheeses are coated in wax for storage so if making those you will need the wax as well.  Some cheeses like cottage cheese, mozzarella, yogurt and ricotta can easily be made at home with minimal cheese making supplies.  Hard cheeses can also be easily made at home but you will need a cheese press.

Commercial cheese operations are quite impressive.  In the following video 30,000 L of fresh milk was turned into 1,400 - 2.5 kg blocks of mozzarella cheese.  Rennet causes the milk to curdle, separating into milk solids that will become cheese curds (cheese blocks once pressed) and lactoserum (whey).  The whey is used as a milk by-product in other foods.  Whey from making cheese at home can be frozen for later use if desired.  It can be added to soups, stews, breads and anywhere else you would use milk.  Brining the cheese blocks serves to salt the cheese while curing.  This is not a part of all cheese making, only certain cheese.  Enjoy the video!

Kitchen Quick Tips - Storing Cottage Cheese

Extend the shelf life of cottage cheese by storing the container upside down before and after opening.  

Cheese Lace Salad Bowl

Cheese is one of my favourite foods.  In fact it's more like a food group :) 

I discovered cheese lace quite some time ago.  It is extremely easy to make and most hard cheeses can be used so there are endless possibilities for flavour.  I used an aged cheddar for the cheese lace bowls.  For a lacier effect you can stir a about 1 tsp flour into the shredded cheese before placing on baking sheet or spread the plain shredded cheese apart more.   Cheese lace can be left as rounds, formed into bowls, formed into smaller cracker sized rounds or broken to be used as a salad topping.  Since most of the oil has been removed, cheese lace is low fat yet packs a lot of flavour.

Method:  Spread shredded cheese in a circle on a Silpat (1).  Bake at 350ºF until melted, edges are golden and centre firming (2).  Carefully transfer the cheese lace to cover the inverted bottom of a glass (3).  If you want a slightly more compact bowl light press the cheese lace closer to the glass as it cools.  Once cooled remove from the glass.  Set on a paper towl and place a wadded up piece of paper towel in the lace bowl to absorb any additional oil (4).  Fill as desired just before serving. 

I like using cheese lace bowls as edible salad bowls.  They make such a lovely presentation!  Cheese lace bowls would also be suitable for serving cheese cubes or shorter breadsticks.  If using for salad, do not add any salad dressing until served.

I filled each cheese lace bowl with leaf lettuce, cucumber slices, green onion, green pepper and mushroom slices sprinkled with sunflower seeds.  The salads were topped with  simple vinaigrette then served with grilled Oktoberfest sausages. 

Homemade Dairy Products

I am by nature a chronic musser as my Mom would say or in more refined terms as perpetual experimenter. Either way I love trying different things especially in the kitchen. Quite often the goal is to see if I can do it not so much as trying to save money. The secondary goal is to create a homemade substitution for those times I may need to. A homemade substitution may be a bit more expensive in terms of ingredients but it ends up being cost effect in terms of both time and expense by saving a trip to the grocery store for one ingredient. Any time you can eliminate a trip to the grocery store you will end up saving money because it eliminates impulse buying as well as the travel costs.

Raw Ingredients

I usually have whole milk (3.25% MF), skim milk (2% MF, 1% MF), half & half (10% MF) and whipping cream (35% MF) on hand all the time. The heavier milk fat (MF) products are used for things like creamed soups where I want a creamier flavour while the skim milks are great for frothing on lattés and cappuccinos. Buttermilk and plain yogurt is something I buy only when having to refresh a starter. Both need to have active culture for this purpose.

Milk in Canada comes in plastic bags 4 L divided into 3 bags. This tends to be the cheapest way to buy milk however, some milk products can only be bought in waxed cardboard containers as pictured. While whole milk can be bought in bags, cultured buttermilk, whipping cream and half and half comes in the waxed cardboard containers. Milk and dairy prices are controlled by the Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) so the price per L is fairly consistent across Canada and it is seldom possible to find any great sales on these products. Some grocery stores will put milk or butter on at loss leader prices occasionally.

Homemade Dairy Products

It is surprising how many products can easily be made from a few ingredients. I made sour cream (1), cultured buttermilk (2), plain yogurt (3), sweet butter (4), ricotta cheese (5), yogurt cheese (6), ricotta whey (7), buttermilk (8). Of these products the sweet butter (4) was not cheaper than current store prices but this method allows me to easily flavour it with herbs, citrus or cranberries and gives a small amount of buttermilk (8). The homemade products cost: sour cream 50¢; cultured buttermilk $2.17; yogurt $2.49, butter $3.47; ricotta cheese $1.99 with the whey and buttermilk free by-products. These are the costs with buying cultured buttermilk and plain yogurt to inoculate the fresh product. A batch of yogurt only takes 2 tbsp of starter yogurt so the rest went to the cook and yogurt cheese. Once the fresh product is ready it can be used to inoculate future batches eliminating the cost of store bought cultured buttermilk and yogurt further reducing the cost of the homemade. The cost per batch will continue to decrease using the homemade cultures until the only thing you are paying for is the milk or cream so at today's milk prices (CDN) the cultured buttermilk will go down to $1.49/L and sour cream down to 48¢. So while the homemade products are not going to save a lot per product it is still a savings.

Sour Cream1 c whole milk
2 tbsp fresh active buttermilk

Mix together and pour into mason jar. Cap. Let sit at room temperature 12 - 24 hours then refrigerate.

Cultured Buttermilk

8 oz fresh active buttermilk
3 c whole milk

Mix together and pour into 1 L mason jar. Let sit at room temperature 24 - 36 hours then refrigerate.

Butter

2 c (500 ml) whipping cream

Pour the whipping cream into blender. Beat at high speed until butter fats separate. Pour into cheesecloth lined strainer. Pat butter lightly to remove as much of the buttermilk as possible. Reserve buttermilk for cooking. Place the butter into molds or container then refrigerate. If desired season with salt or herbs.

Cedar Valley Cheese Store

Cheese is a staple in our home! Many of the grocery stores here store brand sell cheese in bricks and often but the 900 g bars on sale. While they are named (sharp, cheddar, colby, marble, mozzarella) they basically taste all the same for what little taste they have. A step up in flavour are those bars by Kraft and Cracker Barrel. I seldom buy either of the store brand or brand name cheese because I do find them lacking in flavour. Some stores in our area sell cheese from Pine River Cheese Factory located on Hwy 21, 6 kilometers south of Kincardin, Ontario. We always stop there when in the area. Pine River Cheese has an online store if you can't find it in your area. The cheese is shipped in special coolers packed with ice by ground so they do not deliver to PO boxes. Other cheeses like Emmental, Asiago, Havarti, Swiss, Gouda, Parmesan etc are available as well as specialty cheeses. While these are more expensive than the store brand or brand name they are considerably more flavourful and well worth the extra cost. This means that in some dishes you can reduce the amount of cheese without reducing the flavour of the dish. So spend that little bit extra for good quality cheese.

Cedar Valley Cheese Factory

I had been looking forward to our Wisconsin trip not only to share the milestone wedding but also to stock up on cheeses. I have heard so many good things about Wisconsin cheese so planned ahead by bringing a large cooler. We stayed at the kids from Thursday through early Sunday afternoon and enjoyed cheese each day. Talk about a cheese lover's mecca!

Saturday the kids took us sightseeing. One of our first stops was the Cedar Valley Cheese Store located in Belgium, Wisconsin just outside of Random Lake. Shown in the picture is the back of the massive factory. Midway up in the photo in front of the second white sign there is a road that the factory faces. Not visible in this photo as we are on Side Road 57 is the store which is tucked into the far left corner facing the road in front (Jay RD) of the factory.

Cedar Valley cheese can be ordered by calling them at 920-994-9500. A list of their products can be found on their website. They do not recommend having cheese shipped between May and August but next day service is available. Shipping is by UPS or USPS so they will ship to PO boxes by USPS.

Cedar Valley Cheese Store

Pictured is the store portion facing Jay Rd. of Cedar Valley Cheese, makers of fine Italian cheese. Not shown is the massive factory portion extending to the left of the store. The store in tucked into the far right corner of the factory with ample parking out front. There are plenty of signs so you won't miss it regardless of what road you take.

The store is bright, cheery and spacious yet small in comparison to the factory. There is a entrance before the doors entering the store. There you can find pamphlets for other area attractions as well as store notices. The main attraction here is of course the cheese!

Cheese!

The store portion is not all that large. As you enter the store to your left is a table with various cheese samples. The aroma of smoked cheese greets your senses. Samples that day included string cheese, fresh mozzarella ball, tomato bruschetta and Sesmark Savory thin sesame rice crackers. Lining the wall behind are gift shop items. To your right and running the length of that wall is various foods, jams, jellies, maple syrup, honey and anything else that goes nicely with cheese. A wide aisle separates this wall from the cheese coolers that run the same length. There's cheese, cheese and more cheese! Just before the coolers, closer to the doors is an open cooler with specialty cheese including some for taste testing. Above this cooler are cheesehead (the name for Green Bay Packer's fans) hats.

Our Purchases

I can't help but share the purchases we made. Immediately you will notice the focus was on cheddar cheese. There is a method to our madness! Cheddar is our most used cheese so we go through a lot of it. I want quality cheddar with lots of flavour. Our second most used cheese is mozzarella but really we use a lot of cheese. I have a cheese keeper in my fridge that is the size of a vegetable crisper, a nice selling feature for the fridge. It is usually stuffed with various cheeses spilling out onto the cheese shelf. As you can see a good portion of refrigerator space is dedicated to cheese.

Their cheese strings are award winning so I had to get two packages, one for snacking on there and one to bring home. They come in a plastic bag with a tie or vacuum sealed. There is no difference in quality only in packaging. I should also mention that their cheeses with the exception of cheese strings, curds and shredded cheese are vacuum sealed. Vacuum sealing extends the self life of the cheese. Cheese is one of your more expensive food items so vacuum sealing is a must. When I use cheese, I cut from the block the amount I want to use then immediately vacuum seal the remainder.

• garlic cheddar (0.89 lb)
• white cheddar mild (1.24 lb)
• 2 year aged cheddar (1.13 lb)
• garden monterey jack (0.84 lb)
• mozzarella (1.34 lb)
• mozzarella (1.29 lb)
• red wax cheddar longhorn (1.15 lb)
  
• string cheese (0.76 lb)
• 1 year sharp cheddar (3.37 lb)
• white cheddar curd (0.79 lb)
• two tone cheddar curd (0.87 lb)
• shredded mozzarella (1.72 lb)
  

Be sure to check back often to see some of the foods I make using cheese bought on this trip :)

Faux Lasagne

Anyone following my blogs will know I've been undergoing a lot of dental work at the moment. I'm dealing with a major and irrational phobia of dentists and we have no dental coverage. So that means we're paying for this torture out of our pockets and heaven helps us when my husband goes! After spending so many hours in the dentist's chair last week, I really only wanted soft foods. Honestly, when the freezing wore off the dental work itself didn't hurt just my jaw from keeping my mouth open so long and the multiple injection sites! Saturday, I was tired, irritable and still in discomfort that wasn't being helped by knowing I had another appointment on Monday so I decided to do a fly by meal.

Faux Lasagne

This dish started out as a faux lasagne or quick lasagne whatever you want to call it. I simply stood in front of my canning shelf to see what looked good. The roasted tomato sauce (method in archives) kind of popped out as did the mini lasagne noodles. The noodles are from Italy, made from durum wheat semolina and are about the size of broad egg noodles except with ruffled edges. Sorry, I don't read Italian but I find I like the Italian pastas better for texture. With two ingredients in hand I looked in the larger deep freezer and found a package of pre-cooked ground beef with mushrooms. One look into the refrigerator gave me my final ingredients, four kinds of cheese which meant I had a chance to play with the food shredder attachment for the KitcheAid® and have a bit of fun just creating. I didn't measure for the cheese but rather grated until it looked like enough. The cheeses were: colby, extra aged sharp cheddar, cheddar and fresh mozzarella.

Method: I cooked 1/2 package of the noodles while the meat was defrosting in the microwave and I grated the cheeses. Once the noodles were cooked, I drained those and poured into a large mixing bowl, poured on the sauce and cheese then stirred well. The mixture was poured into a large baking dish and baked at 350ºF until the cheese was well melted and bubbly.

Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries

Around Christmas, I saw cheese with cranberries or blueberries on a flyer. Since we are playing with cheeses, I really wanted to try this cheese. Well, with our new grand baby two days before Christmas and not being home much, the idea of cheese went on the back burner. However, one of my purchases after my last dental appointment was Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries. This is an English semi-hard cheese studded with cranberries and coated with a deep burgundy wax.

This is a wonderful snacking cheese! The flavour of the cranberries meld nicely with the slight tang of the cheese. I think this would be a nice appetizer cheese served by itself or perhaps a very light tasting cracker. At any rate, this is a definite cheese to try.

Cheese Bowls & Cheese Lace

A quick reminder: This blog has really grown in size. There are several recipes in the archives so settle in with a hot cup of coffee and take a few minutes to browse the archives. There are a lot of good recipes to spark your interest.

The new KitchenAid® RVSA rotary slicer and shredder attachment arrived Saturday so I decided to use for Sunday's meal. My goal with the KitchenAid® attachments is to eliminate a few single or limited use kitchen appliances thus freeing up a bit of kitchen space. I'm hoping this attachment will replace my slowly fading food processor.

KitchenAid® Shredder Attachment

This is a blatant plug for KitchenAid® stand mixers and attachments. I am extremely impressed with the quality of these appliances. At the front of the mixer there is a little port covered by the logo that flips up. The attachements fit in there.

When I opened the box for the rotary shredder/ slicer attachment, the first thing I said was "Oh my!". Talk about impressive looking! There were four cones: thin slice, thick slice, fine shred and thick shred. Immediately this gave me more options than my food processors. Each cone is about 4" long and 4" diameter. The housing is a heavy plastic that reminds me of melamine. The food pusher is built into the handle and the hopper itself is at least a good double the size of my food processor. Assembly is super easy. Just put the desired cone onto the shaft, give a slight twist then put the shaft into the housing and attach to the mixer port.

I initially had two problems. First, out of habit with my food processor, I was pushing to hard and caused the entire attachment to swing free. There is no need to apply pressure at all! Now this would not have happened if I had attached it properly in the first place. Each attachment has a little divet where the attachment knob tightens into. Looking at the attachment after it popped off gave me the clue I had attached it improperly. The second problem is the removal of the cone from the shaft. It does need a bit of a tap but that was easily solved.

Cheese Cups & Cheese Lace

Cheese cups and cheese lace are two ways to get a lot of protein without the fat. Both pack a lot of flavour! Cheese cups are used for presentation while the cheese lace is used for snacking or garnishing. Whenever I make either, I grate enough cheese to make extra cheese lace. We are rather partial to using cheddar cheese.

I think I stumbled upon this method when researching low carb diets for one of our friends. Immediately I saw the potential for presentation. Making cheese cups is rather easy but gives a very nice presentation for salads. Grate the cheese of your choice, spred into large circles on parchment paper for cheese cups or smaller circles for cheese lace then bake at 350ºF until all the cheese looks to be almost crisping.

Note: The following instructions require a fair amount of paper towels! You will be surprised at the amount of oil depending on the cheese. For the cups, remove from oven and cut each circle roughly away so you are working with one circle at a time. Work quickly as they do harden rather fast. Invert a glass into the centre of the cheese, quickly flip over and peel the parchment paper away. Using paper towels, press the cheese towards the glass then let cool. Repeat for all the cups you are making. Remove from the glasses and swab up any oil on the inside of the cups with paper towels. If making cheese lace, move the baked cheese circles while still on parchment paper to a cooling rack. When cooled, place onto a layer of paper towels to absorbe and extra oil. I find both keep well when vacuum sealed in canisters and refrigerated. However, I normally make only what we will use up within a day or two.

Salad in Cheese Cup

Salad served in an edible bowl is a nice treat and perfect way to fancy up a simple salad. It makes a nice presentation that looks like it took a lot of time but in reality didn't.

I have a couple of tricks when serving salad this way. First, the cheese cup should be cold as should the plate. Second, the lettuce should be dry. Third, fill the cup just before serving. I prefer using a homemade viniagrette at the table for salad dressing.

Homemade Viniagrette

2/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c herbed vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard

Here's where it gets fun. Substitute half the vinegar with lemon juice for a different flavour. Homemade herbed vinegars are easy to make (method in archives) so play with the flavours. You can substitute the dijon mustard with a mustard of your choice, honey or even sugar so the possibilities are endless.

Cheese Sticks Are Up!

Cheese sticks make great snacks and can really accent a meal. They look fancy but are oh so easy to make! They are perfect for that lazy winter night served with homemade tomato soup. Talk about comfort food.

Cheese Sticks

This recipe is actually for pizza dough but I decided to see what else I could do with it. This is one result. The recipe is for a breadmachine however it could easily be adapted to do by hand or using a Kitchen Aid. Once the pizza dough has proofed, it is cut into chunks, rolled into long strands and covered with cheddar cheese. You can use other cheeses but our family likes them made with cheddar.

If you want to use this recipe for its intended purpose, beer will result in a thicker crust while substituting water will give a crispier crust. We prefer the crust made with beer. It will yield enough dough for two large round pizzas.

Pizza Dough
1 1/2 c beer
1 1/2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 1/8 c white flour
1 1/2 tbsp instant yeast

ABM - add ingredents to pan as per your manufacturer's instructions. Set to dough setting. Remove dough when timer sounds. Then proceed using the instructions for either cheese sticks or pizza.

Handmade/Kitchen Aid: Mix 1/2 to 3/4 the flour with the rest of dry ingredients. Pour in liquid and mix. Slowly add in rest of flour 1/2 c at time until dough cleans side of bowl. If continuing by hand, remove from bowl and hand kneed until smooth and elastic. If using Kitchen Aid, kneed 2 minutes. Cover bowl and let rise until doubled.

Cheese sticks - When finished, turn into cheese sticks by cutting into chunks. Roll and stretch into a long strand. Roll the strand in shredded cheddar cheese until well covered. Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Allow to rise about double. Bake at 400ºF until golden brown.

Pizza - When finished, divide the dough and form into two large rounds to fit your lightly greased pans. Top with pizza sauce, toppings and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400ºF 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.

Fun With Cheese!

We are true cheese lovers here so at any given time will have upwards of 20 different cheeses, some of them homemade at any given time. We just enjoy cheeses so much! Most freeze well so end up being a true convenience food and fresh they just make a meal. I really enjoy playing with cheeses especially when cooking.

Cheese Cups

Cheese cups are something I just sort of came up with while looking for a new way to serve salads. I came across the idea for making cheese crisps on the food network. There was a show about low carb that I kind of stumbled upon and really liked the idea of shredding cheese then baking it. So I decided to experiment.

I shredded cheddar cheese then mounded it onto parchment paper and baked it until almost crisp. Now this was really good, a nice type of cheese cracker that I make often. However, I immediately saw the versatility of cheese crackers. What if I formed them into bowls to seve salad in? I thought that would be rather a neat presentation where you could eat both the salad and bowl. So I baked the shredded cheese in rounds and while still warm, I drapped over a juice glass, pressed a bit then let them cool. This was the result and I must say my family loves this presentation!

Cheese Sticks

Cheese sticks just sort of happened and I can't really recall why other than our love for cheese and a bit of kitchen experimenting. I use a ABM pizza dough (recipe follows) then the dough into narrow strips and roll in cheddar cheese and bake. This is a true family favourite!

Pizza Dough

1 1/2 c beer
1 1/2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 1/8 c white flour
1 1/2 tbsp instant yeast

Add ingredients as per your breadmaker instructions. Set to dough setting. When finished, remove from bread pan and roll out the dough. Cut into strips and roll into shredded cheddar (or cheese of your choice) cheese. Let the dough rise then bake at 350ºF until cheese is bubbling and bread is golden brown.


Cheese on Salad

We eat a lot of salads, usually daily, so coming up with variations can be challenging. For the most part I much prefer fresh cut greens and vegetables from the garden and I do love adding fresh cut herbs as well. But a bit of cheese really makes a salad sparkle. It accents the homemade viniagrette well and just adds that perfect sparkle. I love freshly shredded parmesan cheese for this purpose but often use other cheeses too.

Now If you are wondering the viniagrette is a homemade purple basil, lavender, lemon thyme and organo vinegar combined with a bit of honey, dijon mustard and fresh chopped onions and chives. I make a lot of homemade vinegars from my herb garden and I insist on using fresh herbs whenever possible.

Enjoy!