Perfect Fall Day

Today was amazing! I remember years when the ground was already covered in snow in October! I decided that we had to take advantage of the beautiful day. So, I took my kids, along with four others I was babysitting, to the Helen Hazen Wyman park. I definitely felt like a homeschool mom with six kids, ages 10, 8, 5, 3, 2, and 9 months all packed into my van.

We started on the playground, but decided it was definitely warm enough to dip some toes into the river. I've decided "toes wet" definitely means "as wet as you can get" in kid language.

Pants rolled up ready to get in!

Gotta love these kids!

My definition of "toes wet"

Loving the dirt!

And they're drenched!

Definitely a wonderful day at the park!

Ricotta Cheese

I never knew that it was possible to make cheese at home. I remember studying the pioneer days and making homemade butter, but making cheese really never crossed my mind. It was probably a year ago I came across a recipe for ricotta cheese but I assumed it would be too difficult to make. I forgot about it until last month when I took Elia to the Lake Metroparks Farm Parks. They has a little session on cheese making and it looked really easy. But again I just forgot about it until last week.

Last week my Aunt Pam came in town from Texas. Every time she comes in town we have a tradition of baking/cooking together. And we literally did that all week! It was a blast! We (along with my younger sisters) made homemade cinnamon chips, marshmallows, truffles, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, manicotti, and stuffed shells.  I think I remembered everything!  It was so fun finally getting around to making cheese. And it was actually super easy!

You only need three ingredients (four including salt). The important thing is making sure the heavy whipping cream is not ultra pasteurized. We checked five stores before finding the correct kind at Marcs.

Whole milk, heavy whipping cream, and lemons

Here is a list of the ingredients you will need:

One Pound Fresh Ricotta Cheese

2 1/2 quarts whole milk

1/4 c less 1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream  (not ultra pasteurized)

5 Tbsp plus 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/8 tsp salt

We used the recipe my aunt found on another blog, so to save myself time, I will just post the link and you can follow the directions she gives! Ricotta Cheese Instructions

This is what it looks like before you strain it.

I didn't get a chance to get the rest of the photos we took, but it was soooo simple! And it tasted amazing!! We stuffed shells and manicotti with the ricotta. (Using this recipe manicotti ). The bonus is that one recipe of the ricotta cheese gives you about a half gallon of whey! I used some for the stock in a split pea soup, and some for the liquid called for in my bread recipe. Overall it was an awesome experience and I will definitely do it again!!