Homemade ricotta

The creamy texture and fresh tasting sweetness of homemade ricotta is unmatched by the product we find on the grocers’ shelves.  Although I use the store bought ricotta most of the time, I am pleasantly reminded how simple ricotta is to make at home and, why I don’t make it more often. Ricotta can be made without any of the special cheese-making ingredients or tools.  Ricotta tastes and smells like the milk it’s made from, so use the best and freshest dairy you can find. I use organic milk products exclusively.

The number of applications for using fresh ricotta can be limitless.  Using it in savory recipes like lasagna, filled pasta such as ravioli, stir some into freshly roasted spaghetti squash, or layer it in an eggplant gratin, even served on bruschetta with fresh herbs is delicious. On the sweeter side make up a batch of lemon ricotta pancakes, fill a cheese Danish or put some inside a crepe make baked blintzes, even just drizzled with honey and fresh berries- it works wonderfully.

~Shannon

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp. kosher salt
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
Combine milk, cream and salt into a large stainless steel saucepan over medium high heat.  Keep an eye on the milk and stir often to avoid scorching.  Bring the milk to a full boil, then turn off the heat and add the vinegar.  You should start to see curds rise to the surface almost immediately.

While the milk is heating, line a large sieve with several layers of cheesecloth and set over a large bowl.

Allow mixture to stand for a few minutes until it curdles.  It will separate into thick parts called curds and the watery parts called whey.  Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth-lined sieve and allow to drain into the bowl at room temperature for a minimum 15 minutes for a creamy texture, up to an hour for a drier, thicker texture.

Transfer ricotta to a bowl, discarding the cheesecloth and any remaining whey.  This can be used immediately or covered tightly and refrigerated.  The ricotta will keep refrigerated for 4 to 5 days.

Makes about 2 cups

Brioche French Toast with Vanilla and Cardamom

Here is a weekend breakfast idea that is a cinch to prepare and will certainly bring a cheer from your family.  This yummy french toast is fragrant with vanilla bean and whole cardamom pods that are baked right into this dish, resulting in an unusually decadent breakfast.  Dressed up with peach preserves and a squeeze of lemon that’s simultaneously sweet and tart, it can even be served as a dessert with some softly whipped cream. ~s

Brioche French Toast With Peach Preserves

5 slices brioche, each ½ inch thick halved diagonally. (you can substitute a French baguette)

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

3 cups half-and-half

½ cup sugar

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

3 cardamom pods, crushed

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup peach preserves

Juice of half a lemon

To prepare French toast, in a 9 ½ inch sauté pan, layer the brioche evenly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, half and half, sugar, vanilla bean, cardamom pods and salt.   Pour the custard mixture over the brioche and let soak; refrigerated, for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

To finish the French toast, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the brioche in the sauté pan until puffy and the edges of the bread on top are browned, about 1 hour. 

While the brioche is baking, place the preserves and juice of half a lemon in a small sauce pan and warm over low heat, stirring occasionally.  Keep warm until ready to serve. Drizzle the French toast with the preserves and serve immediately.  Serves 4 to 6

Legacy

As January is winding down and we get accustomed to writing 2017 on things; I’m noticing there has been a shift in my mental state. I am ramping up the intentional and releasing the frivolous. 

Awhile back, there was this young woman that came to our evening Bible Study.  She was quite the opposite of me with her colorful Disney handbag, makeup always perfect, and her single lifestyle. She fascinated me in so many ways, mostly because I saw a shy, quiet little girl hiding behind all that brave. She has since told me I scared her a little bit when I would invite her to lunch and she would agree and then cancel. She’s a pleaser, she admits it, we address it with laughter, it’s become a thing.

We look back to those first days of friendship and now see how it was such a divine encounter. I basically waited her out, gained her trust, showed her I wasn’t moving on and she mattered.  The honest talk just happened on an ordinary walk one day and it has never stopped.  When we do get to spend time together, there is more of her genuine heart coming thru that lets ‘the reals out’. She feels safe enough to be herself and not worry about pleasing me. This has taken some time, some intentional thought and prayer and, I had to be real with her first. 

Our visits now include lunch or running some of the mundane errands on our lists- just doing ordinary life. Every once and awhile she will quote me, back to me, as she fondly says “I will always remember how you shared this” or “one time you told me this”. Frankly, I rarely have recollection of that moment, but the biblical truths she quotes are in my heart so I claim them and I am thankful I was obedient to share them.

The other day we were out in a very busy home accessories store and she sat down for a rest in this lovely, tufted chair.  As I sat down on the chair in the aisle across from her,  we had a spontaneous little heart to heart. When I looked back later, I was surprised how openly we were discussing such heavy topics in that setting so naturally. 

It has become so much more urgent to me to make legacy moments in the midst of the chaos we call life, this recent aisle side chat brought to light how this had shifted in my heart. I have started to count my days in encounters. Did I take time to encounter God this morning through His word? Did I plan my day with God?  How many conversations/encounters went past the surface? How many people did I get to share my heart with in conversation? How many times did I share a biblical truth with someone that was seeking? How many people did I get to pray with, not just pray silently for in my head?

Keeping it real, some days are still a blur, the ones where all my worlds collide and I seek to keep my head above water and just do the right thing. Other days are slow starters and there is time for this intentional pursuit. The only constant in them - God is God of all the days and He has ordained every one of my days. My prayer is that I seek Him, in all the ways He brings across my path and that I have spent time seeking Him, so I am full of something worth saying. More on that process next time. ~Teri

7-Steps to Family Dinner Success

7 Steps To Taking Family Dinner Back!

Step 1: Commit
Unless you desire to make some changes in the dinner routine you will have to make a commitment. Family dinner requires front-end planning plus some back-end chopping, mincing and assembling. Once you realize that it’s going to be a little work, and once you embrace that work, you will be in a much better place to stick to it and see the fruit of this determined choice.
Once you decide to commit to taking family dinner back you need to take a small chunk of time each week to organize yourself. I recommend doing this on the weekend, either a Saturday or Sunday when you will most likely have chunks of time to complete the shopping and prepping of some ingredients for the week ahead.  Before the craziness of the week sets in. this in itself will take an untold amount of stress off your plate. Trust me. 
You will need time to plan and a time to shop. Look at your schedule to see what works best for your family to do the shopping. Shopping for the week if you have a busy schedule is probably what you need to shoot for here.

Step 2: Announce
You will have to let your family know what you’re committed to doing, so that they are in on it. You don’t want to blind side them. Be enthusiastic, ambitious. Try to mention words like adventure and prizes (if you’re not opposed to bribery) remember this is survival.

Step 3: Gather Your Recipes
This is the fun part! Sift through recipes from dog-eared cookbooks, bookmarked websites, even recipes gathered from friends. You’ll want to start with twenty easy recipes (this will get you through a whole month of cooking five days a week with the weekends as your cooking day’s off) that will be your Weeknight Meals. Remember the end game is to get dinner on the table. And by choosing recipes that a simple. You’ll be able to get dinner on the table more efficiently and not end up with a pile of dirty dishes so that you’ll be motivated to do it again the next night. The goal is sustainable routines, a pleasant tableside experience. Success!
For me I will set aside some time, grab a stack of my favorite cookbooks and flag things that look good. I even have my husband pick a cookbook and flag things that look good to him. This could also work with school age kids as well. Have them go through a cookbook, using different colored flags. If they flag it, maybe they could have some responsibility for that meal. Even if it’s something as small as gathering the ingredients, measuring or prepping. Try the new dishes especially if they seem a little daunting on the weekend when you might have a little more time to prepare the meal.

Step 4: Make A Meal Plan
Now that you have your recipes in place, get the family together. Everyone must be present. Bring calendars, smart phones, and be ready for action. Look at the collective schedules for the coming week and decide which nights would be best for which recipes. Based on the recipes chosen for the week, write out a shopping list. Doing this will also in the long run eliminate a lot of food waste. 

Step 5: Shop
This can be carried out by either spouse or even tag team for more efficiency. If you have littles and are a stay-at-home mom doing a run to the farm stand is a fun outing. Some places even have a pick-your-own fruit and vegetable opportunities that can help picky eaters become more open to new foods. But always remember the goal: Get dinner on the table! So don’t get complicated.
Step 6: Unpack and prep for the week
After returning from your Weekly Shop. This unpacking is another form of organizing. And if done each time you do your weekly shopping there will be less chances of things going bad and ending up with food waste. 
The next important thing to ask yourself is “What can I do right now to get ahead for the week?” Take a look at the dinner line-up for the week and search for those make-ahead notes at the ends of recipes. Look for highlighted tasks that can be done in advance.
Make a vinaigrette
Roast and shred a chicken
Make a batch of whole grains (quinoa, barley, rice)
Blanch broccoli, green beans so you can easily toss them into a stir fry or salad
Wash greens and herbs
If you chip away at the front-end work little by little, you’ll see that dinner can become a source of pleasure not pain. 
Get in the practice of asking yourself “what can I do right now to make my weeknight dinners easier?”

Step 7: Think About Dinner Before Breakfast
While you are getting ready for the day, look at your schedule and see what’s on the line-up for dinner. Is there anything you can prep before you go to work if you haven’t done it already. You can chop and onion, even set a pot of water on the stove for pasta. It’s incredibly satisfying to walk in the kitchen and just turn the burner on. Marinate some meat, take something out of the freezer. One small task that I find takes some additional stress out of the dinner equation is assembling all of your ingredients on the counter. This in some ways might give you the idea that you have some semblance of control over your life. It’s important to keep in mind what you are doing here. You are training yourself to think like a food planner. And if you chip away at the prep here and there, little by little, instead of starting from zero every night, if you come up with a plan to stick to, the whole idea of family dinner will start to feel a little less overwhelming. It’s even possible you might even be psyched to do it all again tomorrow.

Hopefully by organizing and planning and prepping for dinner with these seven previous steps some of the dread that has been associated with dinner will now be alleviated. The hardest part of dinner is planning. The think-work is behind you. Now with a few things prepped ahead of time, there isn’t that “what-to-make” frustration that can crush the strongest among us at the end of a long day. Now all that has to be done is to close the deal. Cook the meal. Gather everyone together. And eat, together.
So why are we doing this again? To break out of the dinner rut. To avoid the self-loathing of having no idea of what to make for dinner
To have the family dinner become a place of nourishing traditions the will reap delicious dividends for many years to come. ~Shannon

Teri's 2016 Reflection

January is a gift, at least it feels like it is to me.  Our family has no huge celebrations in that month, my part-time job has nothing major planned that month. Basically, January is a time to reflect, prioritize my goals and work on the process of what that all looks like in an ordinary day.  
Coming off the holiday season this year basically felt like jumping out of a swing at the highest point and flying thru the air and coming to an abrupt stop when you land.

 Actually all of 2016 felt like I was on that swing and couldn’t jump.  Don’t get me wrong, as a child the swings were by far my favorite go to on the playground, soaring, pumping, leaning into the wind, all good.  This last year had all the lows and all the highs and it was non-stop action. I found my attention span shortened, my body aching, my relationships suffering and my growth in my daily walk with the Lord stilted.  

2016 Highlights,etc.: (only because lowlights seems like a made up word) Losing my Dad’s earthly presence. Heart shattering.  Publicly sharing the gospel and sweet memories at my Dad’s memorial, priceless. Witnessing 2 sons get married, speechless. Losing touch with some family members, heartbreaking. Being given opportunities share in ministry. Humbling. Clinging to the abundant grace in the midst of it all, life sustaining.  Looking back is also a look forward, as you compare where you have been and how you were carried through it all, that is where the sustaining hope comes into play.

Psalm 139 is the point of this post; it says it way more eloquently than me. Stop reading this and go read it instead, it is way more profound. God does not discover anything, He knows all about us from before we are even created. We can not escape Him or flee from Him.  As I move into  goal setting and prioritizing life in this quiet month that I have been gifted, my prayer for all of us is that we would ask Him to ‘Search us O God and know our heart, try us and know our anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in us, and lead us in the everlasting way.’ (Psalm 139:23-24)

The everlasting way. What matters at the end. The legacy we are building in the midst of the chaos we call daily life.  More on that next time.~Teri