Homemade Laban Cheese

I made a comment on Facebook the other day about making some homemade cheese. So just a quick blip on that cheese... I make it out of yogurt although it can also be made out of whole milk, buttermilk, and kefir. Making it out of yogurt gives you the texture of cream cheese with an every so slightly sour taste - think of it as a hybrid between cream cheese and sour cream.

Tidbit of the day: To make it specifically out of yogurt creates a cheese commonly used in the Middle East called Laban Cheese.

Rather than recite all the instructions, I'll simply direct you to one of my favorite Foodie sites, Cheeseslave

Here is a picture of my Laban cheese when it is finished:



Moms, this would be a fun EASY project to do with the kids!

One caveat - you must use PLAIN WHOLE FAT dairy. A little blueberry cup of "yogurt" isn't going to work. If you can get raw dairy, even better. When I can't get raw milk to make my own yogurt, I use Strauss yogurt out of CA. It's pasteurized but the cows are primarily grassfed and hormone/anti-biotic free.

Someday I hope to do more cheesemaking someday but this is about as much as I can do with my equipment and knowledge... so far ;-)

It's a figgy sort of day...

So... remember when I posted this picture of my fig tree earlier this year?



Check it out now!!!!



Funny thing about this fig tree... I've had it for years and years but it never did anything fruit-wise. Back in February 2010 I told it if it didn't start producing figs it was going to be chopped down to make room for a GOOD fig tree. Sure enough, about a month later, some of the branches of a looming chinaberry tree came off and some figs appeared! I guess the poor tree was choked off from the sunlight figs love so much. THIS February the ENTIRE chinaberry tree was chopped down and the fig tree is going CRAZY!!! Figs are amazing things, considering we've had basically zero rain for months the figs are still there. Perhaps not as plump but happy enough. We are now in fig season so I've been going a-figging.







Peering through the fig jungle!

So expect some figgy posts the next few days... I'm making fig preserves, fig jam, fig desserts... Fig season is so short and so precious, it really only lasts just a few weeks. But hopefully I'll be able to capture enough figs in jars to brighten up a rainy winter morning. And of course, I'm sure a few figs will just end up popped into my mouth as well ;-)

Lessons in Gardening, Part 1

So this spring I had what I consider to be my first REAL garden. Technically I did plant a garden last spring but it was a colossal failure for several reasons.

1. I didn’t plant anything on time. I had the plot ready, I had the seeds… what I didn’t have was a P L A N. Yes, on certain things I’m a Planner of the Highest Magnitude. I love the details in planning. Oh, I planned the heck out of my garden but by the time I got done planning and actually planted something, it was far, far too late in the season.
2. I didn’t understand watering. It isn’t just giving plants some water, especially in S. Texas (this is something I’m still learning).
3. Don’t bury your seeds. I planted my seeds so safely, so securely, soooo deeply! The poor little guys couldn’t get enough growth to get their heads above ground. I’ve learned to just pat them into the ground.


I thought at the time, that’s ok, I’ll do better in the fall (fall is really be BEST of our three seasons down here). The only catch was that by the time fall planting rolled around, I was falling madly in love with this handsome man who by Christmas would be my husband. Needless to say my mind was not on gardening ;-)

So this spring, handsome sexy hubbie aside, I was DETERMINED to do a garden the right way. I still had to overcome my planning tendencies. Fortunately I was able to use a lot of the info I had put together from last year (again, the plan wasn’t so bad, just the timing). I actually got some seeds in the ground – on time! I actually made a garden map with dates. When some seeds didn’t do well, I replanted (and recorded the new date). If they still didn’t grow, I marked those seeds as junk (didn’t toss them though, someday I’ll do a wild haphazard plot and just toss all my junk seeds out and see what happens…that could have really cool results). I watered, I nurtured, I sang and talked to my plants, I even prayed over my little plot. How did it do?

Weeeeeell… from a harvest perspective… I’ll call it “ok” but really it’s been pretty dismal. My mustard and collard greens went crazy, and I got quite a few radishes out of the deal. Everything else? Well, let’s talk. Technically I have the 2nd “wave” in the spring garden still working but I’ll go over my mistakes and what I’ve learned most of this season.


No matter how much you think you will eat, plant more.
Very important lesson for several reasons. First of all, if something is really yummy, you will want more. Humans are funny about food in that way. Secondly, I remembered too late the old saying “One for the blackbird, one for the crow, and that will leave just one to grow”. Ok, so I’m not dealing with blackbirds or crows but I still had my share of hungry little bugs (who are still decimating my Cherokee Purples as I write this). Thirdly, not every seed you sow or plant you put into the ground will actually produce. More on this a little later. Lastly, you don’t realize until you’ve been there that one bean bush doesn’t give you a heck of a lot to work with. Most plants seem to need multiples to give you something to actually COOK (some exceptions – maters, eggplant, some greens like collards).

Water. And water a little more. But don’t waste water.
Most of this spring I was fortunate enough to use my two 55-gallon water barrels that were filled up this past January. Just 3 weeks ago I drained them dry (although a shore rain since has filled them back up about halfway). During that time I did pretty well with watering from the barrels, filling up my water bucket and doing what I call a “focused” watering – pouring a cupful of water around each plant. It was a little more work and tedious, but I liked knowing I was using God-given water and I also like knowing I wasn’t paying for it. However as the days got hotter and we had some exceptionally dry wind, I did come to realize that every few days the garden needed a really good soaking, and then I used the hose.

Another thing about watering… little plants and seeds don’t seem to need as much, but when you are transplanting potted plants into the earth, they need a LOT of water to get established. I planted two grapevines and three blackberry bushes into the ground directly and they were all suffering until I figured this out. Now they are established fairly well and don’t need that soaking quite as much.

Square Foot Gardening doesn’t work… aaargh!!!
My OCD side loved the idea of square foot gardening. It’s clean, it’s precise, it’s easy to maintain… and it doesn’t work. Part of the reason by the SFG Guru, Mel Bartholomew, is that you plant an exact amount of seeds rather than waste them by planting too many only to thin out later on. Yeah, ok that only works if ALL YOUR SEEDS SPROUT. This has never happened to me. Blame me, blame the seeds, doesn’t matter. Next comes spacing – Bartholomew is passionate about spacing. HIS SPACES DON’T WORK. One square foot for a full-grown tomato? Um, try 2 feet. Four heads of lettuce per foot? Not if you want baby greens, then you want a bunch of seeds in that foot of land (oh and other thing Mel, some seeds don’t do well “planted”…sometimes you gotta just sow a lot of them. Another thing I learned about lettuce).

Oh wait, Square Foot Gardening DOES work…whaaa?
Some aspects of Mel’s writing do help me out. It keepshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif me organized. It helps me find little nooks & crannies to plant things (for example, plant late harvest radishes under the branches of taller plants).

Don’t be afraid to experiment with new plants – but you might want to know what to do with them once harvested.
Kinda self-explanatory. Let’s just say I’ve had some interesting cooking experiences.


So those are a few things I’ve learned so far … but I’m sure not the last ;-)


This post is part of Weekend Gourmet - Hartke is Online

Shrimp Stock

Ever since becoming a Weston A. Price girl I've been gradually trying (emphasis on the "trying" here) to increase my steps towards Real Food. You know, like, food-food? Not the Hamburger Hell-per that is processed garbage but real meat, veggies, fruits, and "naturally" processed foods via fermentation, etc. One thing that is strongly emphasized is the importance of good stocks and broths. I save and freeze all sorts of potential stock goodies - chicken bones, meat bones, veggies scraps (ok some of those go to the girls), fish scraps... I even had a full bag of shrimp shells. So I decided to make some shrimp stock. What will I use it for? I have NO IDEA! Why let that stop me? ;-)

For the record I've always bought shrimp with shells. They are cheaper and I find it theraputic to de-shell & de-vein the little boogers. But before I always just tossed the shells into the garbage, and forget about them, then 6 days later I wander through the house wondering what in the world that smell is wafting about. This was before The Mister came along as he is very diligent about trash duties.

So following the general recipe in Nourishing Traditions, behold, the glories of shrimp stock!!!

You start with all your shells, break 'em down in a food processor. Simmer them in some oil (I used coconut oil...of course). Add some wine, apple cider vinegar, and a few other goodies.




Add your water and some veggies. Then you let it simmer. Some people say that with shrimp you can cut it off as early as 30 minutes... others say to go for about three hours. Not being in a hurry I let it go three hours.




The golden goodness of shrimp stock!!!

Getting back on track...

Eeek!!! It's been weeks, almost two months since I posted! Bad blogger, bad!!! So I'm going to try to catch up a bit with some "blog blasts" this weekend. First, some epicurean fun...

Made my first batch of homemade bbq sauce! Took this recipe from one of my favorite food blogs Cheeseslave . Check out this pretty little jar!




My first harvest! Lovely radishes to go with my girls' eggs :-)



I collected these a few weeks back. Sadly, radishes have really been the bulk of my harvest so far. Don't get me wrong, I love radishes but... well, I'll save all the garden stories for tomorrow. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed for something new soon ;-)

Weekend Chatter

Time for an in-depth update on what is going on here with the SassyChiken.

All three hens are laying now, which surprises me. I was convinced there was a slacker in the bunch because pre-molting period I was only getting 2 eggs a day. But now there are some days where all three are laying. I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering -- did the negligent hen go on vacation? Was she on strike? Casually brooding (no one was obviously broody at that time). Or simply knowing where her bread was buttered and that she was safe from slaughter regardless of egg laying inclinations?

I planted three blackberry bushes last weekend. I opted for the Rosborough, I'm sure The Mister will rue the day I went with a thorned variety. Actually I might rue that day myself. We'll see. So far they are looking vaguely depressed, but that could just be the replanting process, plus I think I left them in their pots too long after I brought them home (about 2 weeks). But their fresh spring leaves aren't looking too bad so I'm just going to keep an eye on them. Not that I would know what to do for them if they starting showing stress, hrmph.

To be planted this weekend: two grapevines that will grow along the new fence (chain link fences make for an AWESOME grape trellis!). On one side I will have a Thompson seedless (white grape) and on the other a Flame seedless (red grape). I felt like a cop-out for doing such typical boring grapes AND seedless. But honestly, I don't feel up to dealing with seeds when it comes to grapes. Call me a wimp, that's ok. It will make the jam/jelly process far easier down the road. From what I've been reading there is a strong potential for these vines to cover the whole fence within a year, which would be fantastic! A lovely green hedge instead of cold stark metal!

But I think I'm most excited about my purchase of a Garden Annie apricot tree, a natural dwarf tree among apricots. While I want to plant some fruit trees, my space is limited so I must choose wisely. So I have this idea of a tableau of some smaller fruit trees in containers along the fenceline. I'm trying to be very careful of creating a backyard of edible goodies but at the same time, striving to avoid a trashy look -- this is a delicate balance to achieve. Do-able of course, but takes a bit of planning and considering. One of my favorite bloggers over at Urban Self-Sufficientist has discussed this problem of balance and I think he has done a really lovely job over time with his projects being both productive and tasteful. But it takes time to see the results and I am not patient by nature. However, the overall image I have in mind of the fenceline I believe will be stunning and gorgeous in a year -- if I can keep everything alive ;-)

So on duty for this weekend:

•Planting the grapevines
•Potting the apricot tree
•Purchasing and potting a lemon and lime tree and whatever other dwarf or container-appropiate fruit trees I can find.
•Moving the chicken coop (they need a change in scenery and I need to get them out of the back corner since that involves an upcoming project).
•Helping The Mister remove all the brush from the chopped up Chinaberry tree to the front for upcoming brush pick-up.
•In the FRONT yard I would like to finish cleaning up the hedge, plant some small roses in the front wall container, and prettify my front stoop a bit with some daisies, marigolds, etc.


On the domestic front (aka "boring housework") I need to start the long awaited Kitchen Floor Scrubdown Post-Dog. Loooooooong overdue but put off until Crazy Daisy was permenently installed outside.

I think that will about do me for the weekend!!! Veggie report later...

Bits of Spring...

First olive bloom of spring...



Remember my tight orange buds? Full blossom now!


Sweet pea flowers are the sweetest!


A dash of color with potted cherry tomatoes.