What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Friday, March 06, 2015

Milk Making





















I set out yesterday to take care of the milk that had been accumulating from our jersey cow.  There were 15 gallons in the house.  I worked all day, often without even a square inch of freed space on the counter top and very often feeling like I was buried alive in dirty dishes but by the end of the day, I had made...

  • Mozzarella... 7 large balls or about 7-8 pounds.  (I found a bag of mozzarella curds from a few days' before and finished them off while I was at it.) (6 gallons)
  • Vanilla yogurt... 4 3/4 qts (1 gallon)
  • Cottage Cheese... 2+ pounds (1 1/2 gallons)
  • Garlic Queso Blanco- a large round (1 1/2 gallons)
  • Onion Dill Queso Blanco- a large round (1 1/2 gallons)
  • Hot Cocoa for snack (1/2 gallon)
  • Mac N Cheese for lunch (using whey from the mozz making) 
  • Cream Cheese- 2 batches (1/2 gallon)
  • Butterscotch pudding for dessert (>gallon)
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream for the weekend(>gallon)
  • Drinking (1 gallon)

Making the grand total 14 gallons used!  

As an aside- isn't it crazy how much of a difference a few hours make in photo taking?  The last few photos were taken after the sun went down- and boy, can you tell!  This is why I never update my food blog- because I can never take a nice picture of the food before it is snarfed down- and these days there is no chance of taking a picture of leftovers the next day.  

My children seem to all be going through growth spurts all at the same time!

Yesterday, I answered the phone while I was making breakfast and without realizing what I was doing- cracked 18 eggs for scrambled eggs while chatting on the phone.  18!!  I laughed and said I would have to refrigerate some for the next day but the children all begged to just eat them.  And they did!  18 eggs between four children!  Can you believe that?  And then, a few hours later, I suggested that they just skip lunch since they had such a big breakfast and oh, you would have thought the world was coming to an end.  Skip lunch!?!?  They'd hear nothing of it.  So they ate lunch too.

My little bottomless pits.  

18 comments:

Courtney said...

Get out with that ice cream! I'm running out right now to buy a dairy cow.

Bonnie said...

Bravo! I cracked one of my jars- with the raw milk still in it- last night and had to dump the whole thing. I almost cried. But the crack went all the way through and I knicked my finger on the inside so down the drain it went. Too risky. My favorite part of this post though? Seeing your whole kitchen : ) Off to Walmart for a gallon of pickles to replace my broken jar...

Julian said...

Lovely! I know your kids were very happy to have all that yumminess! You are such a hard worker and a great mom! Blessings! Christina

Rozy Lass said...

I know it is a cliche, but "wait until they are teenagers!" Actually, it is all that outdoor activity and creativity that drives their hunger. All your products look delicious! Good job. You are amazing, wonderful, talented! Keep it up!

Cindy said...

oh my. wow.

looks so good!! especially the ice cream!

Ulli said...

Impressive!! I was thinking adding frozen pudding pops. Great snack!

rebecca said...

What a problem to have! :)

Can you sell raw milk and raw milk products in your state?

beth said...

you are amazing.

and your kitchen is wonderful!

Marlene Bibby said...

I am so impressed!! Hope to see you soon.

Unknown said...

Wow! Yum!!! You are awesome, woman!!! :D I absolutely love seeing your chalkboard art and quotes! :D I need me a big chalkboard like that! :) My kids are so hungry all the time also. Hollow legs...especially the boys!!! My 10 yo..ei yi yi. Is Andrew really hungry all the time?

Anonymous said...

You are so inspiring, Rebecca! Your blog is one of the three or four I read regularly. I always walk away inspired. Your posts on 'making do' with what you have have inspired me many times when I couldn't buy groceries until the following week. There have been days I have has tomatoes ruining on me or peaches sitting in buckets ruining and I really didn't need to stop the laundry (I have six kiddos) or quit the dishes. But I would remember your diligence to just take a day and get it done and I would just get it done! My favorite posts are your challenges to yourself! I also appreciate how if you are discouraged or irritates about something you share with us. So many bloggers fail to do that. I don't read those long! ;) hope you have a great week with those kiddos and your farm life! Ps. Um I so know a thing or two bout bottomless pits...my oldest is twelve and he has eaten me out of house and home since he was born weighing ten pounds, eleven ounces. He is paving the way for five more healthy eaters! Haha

Love your kitchen! It just looks like a farmhouse kitchen. Fabulous! And the dairy delectables will be in my thoughts all throughout the day! :)

Unknown said...

Super impressed! You are so artistic and skilled at everything!!! Being Godly, being a wife, being a mother, being a daughter, being a sister, being a friend, being a blogger! Like many others have mentioned, you are one of my favorite blogs! Thanks for sharing your life with us!

Leah T. said...

So many delicious dairy delights! Could you share with me your cottage cheese and cream cheese recipes? Oh, and the children want your vanilla yogurt recipe, too! :)

I know just what you mean about bottomless pits! John, especially, can never seem to get filled up. Of course, he and the rest of the children do help lots at the barn every day.

I started a letter a couple weeks ago and then we got sick. :( I will finish it this week and get it off to you! :)

Rebecca said...

Alright ladies. There is entirely too much admiration going on here!

I just do what I do because I must- but I will not pretend I do it without grumbling from time to time (both on the inside and the outside, I'm ashamed to say).

I am happy to share my life with you all- and I love that you are so kind and encouraging in your comments- but please don't put me on any sort of pedestal. I don't belong up there and if you saw the whole me and not the wee glimpses I allow you to see, you'd know that quite clearly.

I am no different than any of you as we all struggle to make the best of our own circumstances and sometimes we hit one out of the park and sometimes we fumble along, wondering at the utter failings we all have.

Praise God He loves us in all of these circumstances and Praise God He gives us the strength to keep chugging along!!!

Abigail said...

Rebecca,

You are a rotten, nasty, dull person. No one likes you, and you have false teeth, freckles, and a wooden leg.

Whew. Now that I've balanced the scales ahead of time, I can freely give some compliments! ;)

One. I LOVE that new quote on your board! It is so creative and artistic! I'm due to change my board up today, and I'm tempted to stead your idea. (I won't, but I'll probably wish I had once I put our new words up.)

Two. There would be many benefits to living a few hills closer, but one selfish reason is the fact that I could take some manna off your hands more regularly. You did a bang-up, impressive job of turning something delicious into other somethings delicious. It all looks delectable!

Three. Re.: the eggs. I like imagining that using up all that milk at one time got you so fired up that you accidentally tore through the house using up insane amounts of everything. Here, children, are five thousand sandwiches for lunch! Eat up! (And, no doubt, they would.)

Rebecca said...

Hey- I love freckles! I envy those lucky ladies who happen to have them- and admire Susie's all the time...especially in her recent bridal pictures. Swoon.

I really liked this chalkboard too- but I will say having a lion stare you down as you make dinner has a different sort of feeling than one expects. Even the stare of a kind lion can make you squirm.


Debbie said...

You did great and the cheese looks wonderful! I miss having fresh milk to make cheese. whipped cream and just to drink.

Renata said...

Wow you are amazing! I love this post and all you accomplished!
Please tell me that you didn't do all that AND homeschool the children. If you did wow, wow, wow!

I had to smile at your comment about your children's appetites- ours eat amazing amounts of food at the moment too.
:)