Well hello blog, nice to see you again.

Yesterday I was feeling rather optimistic and took on two kitchen projects that I've been wanting to try for a while. I decided to try my hand at making ricotta cheese and no-knead, whole grain bread. 

Now, food-related projects tend to go badly for me when they involve a recipe. I'm pretty awful at following written directions, because of my ADD and general impatience. But it's become very important to me to start making more of my own food, particularly expensive and frequently purchased items like cheese and bread. Eventually my goal is to have a little homestead with my own chickens and goats, and maybe even a miniature cow, for eggs and milk. But that's another blog entry.

PART 1: THE RICOTTA

The ricotta recipe I used was supposed to yield about a cup of cheese. I wound up with more like a tablespoon. Having read on several different websites that this was by far the easiest cheese, that it was a joy and pleasure to make, and that basically a monkey could do it... well, it was a bit discouraging to see the results. I figured there were several places where I could have gone wrong. First, I used 2% milk instead of whole. I only did this because one website said it was fine to substitute, but who knows. Second, I scalded the milk on the bottom of the saucepan (in spite of my frequent stirring). I'm not sure if this would really affect the end product or not. Finally, and I think most likely, I don't think I waited for the milk in the saucepan to come to a full simmer before adding the lemon juice. I saw the bubbles start, and promptly dumped the juice in. When it didn't coagulate immediately like the recipe said it would, I had a feeling I'd jumped the gun. 

I got enough to mix in to a little bowl of blueberries, at least. Oh, and I can't believe how freakin' hard it was to get this stuff out of the damn cheesecloth! Maybe because the curds were too watery, maybe because I squeezed too hard when trying to get the last of the water out, but my goodness that was a frustrating episode. Practice makes perfect I suppose, but it's frustrating to be unsuccessful when you practice on expensive organic ingredients. 

On the plus side, I got a nice amount of whey which I used to make breakfast smoothies. Delish.

PART 2: NO-KNEAD BREAD

I fared far better with this project. Behold, my ugly, yet tasty loaf o' whole grain bread:

It didn't rise quite as nicely as I'd hoped, but for a first attempt it turned out decently. The bottom got a bit burned, but it still tastes pretty damn good. I had a moment of panic when somehow, a piece of saran wrap somehow got stuck to the dutch oven and wound up on the 500 degree oven rack. I'm not exactly good at thinking on my feet and I had no idea how I would get this gooey, stringy plastic out of a hot oven, and I envisioned the plastic gluing itself to the oven floor and the burning smell permeating everything that was cooked from then on. Fortunately I was able to pull almost all of it out with some tongs, and there was a slight smell of melted plastic but it didn't permeate anything and the bread turned out fine. WHEW. 

I am slightly obsessed with reading labels. It's part of my larger obsession with being an educated consumer. I believe you need to know what is in your food and the products you buy. You need to know if what you're buying really is what the manufacturer wants you to think it is. This is especially important now that it's considered cool to be eco-friendly, because so many companies are hyping up their "green" products which really aren't green at all, or the companies themselves are still involved in destructive practices that harm the earth, animals, and people. For example, in the grocery store the other day I saw that Perdue had recently changed the labeling on their chicken parts to say "All Natural, Raised Without Antibiotics or Hormones." The uneducated consumer would likely take a glance at that package and assume these chickens were "organic" or healthier in some way than the "old" Perdue chickens. First of all, unlike for the term "organic," there are no federal rules or limitations in place on the use of the term "all natural." In this case, "all natural" doesn't mean shit. It means that the chicken parts came from a bird, which makes them "natural." Next, take a look at the teeny, tiny fine print at the bottom of the package. It states that federal law prohibits the use of antibiotics or hormones in chickens. Antibiotics and hormones were never the issue to begin with. The issues with Perdue chickens include squalid, inhumane living conditions and slaughtering practices, feed made from ground up bits of OTHER CHICKENS, and the massive amounts of agricultural pollution generated from the factory farming of chickens (and other livestock). In this case, look for chicken meat that has a label stating the meat is organic, the chickens were raised with access to fresh water, fed a vegetarian diet, had room to roam and access to the outdoors, and were humanely slaughtered. Yes, it takes a little bit more effort to be an educated consumer. Research what you're buying before you buy it. You can sacrifice a little convenience for knowledge. Knowledge is power.

We are still a capitalist society and we vote with our wallets, so don't vote for companies that make misleading and deceptive claims, or fill their products with chemical garbage, or use tons of unnecessary packaging.

Read a little bit more here, and all over the internet.

I feel pretty satisfied with my accomplishments during my first week of unemployment. The past two days have been spent painting what will be our bedroom and living room as of next week. My parents graciously offered to let me and Kenny move in with them and save money for a house of our own. This is absolutely the best possible scenario for us right now, in terms of paying down our debt and saving a substantial amount for a down payment. I feel pretty lucky to be able to do this. 

I've been applying for jobs, only one or two of which I'm genuinely interested in. That one is a veterinary assistant job at the vet hospital less than 5 minutes from my parents' house. 

I did my taxes, e-filed both federal and state last night. My first though upon finishing was that I should have waited until AFTER tax time to quit, because I ended up with a pitiful $27 federal refund, and I owed the state $56, plus the cost of the tax software. 

I'm making my first visit of the year to the county Farmer's Market this weekend. Buying local food as much as possible has become a main priority in my grocery shopping. Local AND organic is even better. My moral dilemma comes from wondering if, for example, its better to buy that organic box of strawberries that was grown all the way in California, or the conventionally grown box that came from a field a few miles away. The first batch was grown without pesticides, hopefully with sustainable growing practices, but had to be shipped across the country, which uses energy and contributes to pollution. The second batch put pesticides on the fruit and into the ground, but used far less energy getting from the plant to my kitchen. 

Usually I try to strike a nice balance by purchasing a mix of local foods and organic foods, buying locally grown organics whenever possible. I've done most of the grocery shopping since Kenny and I have lived together and I've become more interested than ever before in how my food is grown and where it comes from. That's why I was inspired and excited to start a vegetable garden at my mom's house this year... you don't find food more local than what's grown in your own backyard.

Tomorrow... more painting, maybe the dog park for an hour or so, and hopefully planting the blueberry bushes if the ground isn't too soggy from two days of steady rain.