My very domestic week

So, it has been a very long time since I have really posted much of anything.  It's certainly not that I don't have anything to talk about, it's just that life gets busy and I don't make this a priority.  

Anyway, I have been very busy recently.  First, I have been doing a LOT of crocheting in my spare time (as if moms really have "spare time").  I have been making some baby gifts for some friends, along with FINALLY finishing the very large blanket that I was making for Timothy.  (He was VERY patient in waiting, considering I started it well over a year ago.)  

Secondly, I have had a very fun week of making things from scratch in the kitchen.  On Monday, we stopped to pick up our fresh, raw milk from our friends who have a dairy farm.  (Before anyone freaks out, yes it is legal to buy and sell raw milk in our state, and no, it is not unsafe or otherwise unsanitary.  In fact, it is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH healthier for you, but that is a topic for a different day.)  Anyway, on Tuesday we made a batch of homemade yogurt.  This was our third time making it, and it is not nearly as crazy, scary or "weird" as I thought. :)  It's really very, very simple (and tasty).  Then we also tried something we had never done before...we made some homemade butter!  It was really pretty fun (and again, very tasty with the raw milk).  It is great for spreading on homemade bread, which we also made twice this week, but it would take a LOT of cream to make enough butter to use for things like baking.  

The most exciting kitchen venture was definitely Thursday night.  One of the ladies in our homeschool group has been making homemade mozzarella cheese for almost a year.  So, at our Mom's night on Thursday, she taught us all how to make it!!! :)  I was SO excited!  In our house, we LOVE cheese!  A lot!!!!  And it turns out that mozzarella cheese it extremely quick and easy to make.  (It only takes about half an hour!)  Hard cheeses are definitely more involved, but maybe someday...
One thing I have to say is that it was AMAZING to all of us to see the incredible differences between using raw milk versus pasteurized milk for making the cheese!  The raw milk took less time to set, the curd formed SO much nicer and didn't stick to the kitchen towel when straining (apparently cheese cloth does NOT work so well, contrary to what one would believe).  Also, the cheese stretches and forms SO much nicer.  And...the whey was completely different!!!  The whey coming out of the pasteurized cheese looks pretty much watery, while the raw milk whey looked basically like skim milk. :)  Bonus science experiment with our lesson! :)  

So, it has been a VERY fun week in the kitchen!  Also, my beloved has requested some homemade chocolate chip cookies.  It looks like we need more butter for that, but that can definitely be arranged. :)  However, there appears to be some debate over what cookies we should make.  When I asked Abby if she wants to make chocolate chip cookies, she replied, "No.  I want strawberry cookies...with chocolate beneath the strawberries...and extra vanilla...and maple syrup...and "cupcake frosting" on them."  So...I'm not sure we really have a recipe for that...  Also, when I told her today that we need to pick up some more butter to make our cookies, she said, "I don't want butter!!!  Butter and strawberries do NOT mix!"  Silly girl. :)