"Whey" too much fun!!! Uses for Whey

I have been making so much goat cheese and it has been a thrill!! However, when you make cheese you are left with Whey! The whey is the yellowish liquids left after the cheese has all been stripped out of the milk. When I first started making cheese a couple years ago I would throw the whey away because I didn't know the tremendous amount of uses for it!! So next time you make cheese make sure to keep the whey and have fun!! Whey is packed full of protein and is a very nutritious liquid!!

My favorite Uses for Whey:

• Use it in your baking (anything that calls for milk or water) it will make your pancakes, biscuits, and breads extremely light and fluffy not to mention all the extra nutrients you get in your food without the added fat
• Cook your rice with it! Substitute whey for the water and your rice will taste so creamy and buttery..without all the fat of butter!
• Marinate your meat with whey! This was an experiment at first. I had a lot of whey that was on the verge of going bad and I didnt have any baking to do, so I poured the whey into my pork chop marinade. I couldn't believe how juicy it made the pork chops! Since then I haven't marinated my meats without it!! I am really bad at keeping pork chops and chicken juicy...no matter how I cook them I end up drying them out :( This has saved me... no more dry dinner!!
• Feed it to your animals (be careful if they are indoor pets because they will get rather gassy)
• Water your plants with it (it is packed full of nutrients and if you get to the point that it is going to go bad and you don't have time to use it any other way, don't throw it down the drain, throw it in the garden!)
• SO many other uses!!! This is just the tip of the iceberg :) 

Let me know what uses you have found or find :)

Homemade Yogurt and Cream Cheese

Watch this video and you will fall in love with Homemade Yogurt and Cream cheese before you even taste it...then you will taste it and be hooked!! I have been looking for a good homemade yogurt recipe and after watching this video I just had to give this a try!! Definately get the kids involved on this one! Henry and Addie sure loved making and eating it!

I doubled this recipe when I made it and had enough for some blueberry banana yogurt, frozen blueberry banana yogurt, cheese and cured herb cheese...definately a bargan for only the cost of 1 gallon for milk!

Homemade Yogurt:

6 cups milk

1/2 cup plain yogurt

Step 1: Combine Milk and yogurt in your pot and Heat uncovered to 98 degrees

Step 2: Cover with a kitchen towel and leave to rest in room temperature over night.

Step 3: Enjoy! Its seriously that easy! After sitting overnight you can tell the consistency is perfect...let it chill in the refrigerator a little bit if you want it cold and toss in some berries and you have some fruit yogurt for alot cheaper than store bought! OR add some berries and put it in the freezer for a few hours and you will have frozen yogurt...much healthier than ice cream :)

Homemade Cream Cheese

(picking up where the Yogurt recipe left off)... you will need a bowl, several kitchen towels/or cheese cloth, some string and a stick to tie the string to to hang your cheese.

Step 4: Put a kitchen towel in a bowl and Transfer the Yogurt to the towel (adding any herbs and spices you would like) and close tight with string.

Step 5: Hang in the refrigerator for 24 hours, over a bowl to collect the dripping water.

Step 6: Remove the cloth and serve with fresh bread, a pinch of salt and a splash of olive oil or your very own homemade crackers!

Keeps for three days in refrigerator.

Homemade Cured Herb Cheese
Follow the Yogurt Recipe Above
Follow Steps 4 & 5 from the Cream Cheese Recipe Above:

Step 6: Prepare brine (6% salt per weight) in a suitable container. Transfer cheese (without removing the cloth), to the brine and let sit for another 24 hours. Depending on the size of your cheese ball and the bowl you will be using for the brine will change the amount of water you will need. I used a tall Canning Jar and put 3 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of salt then submersed my wrapped cheese into the jar.

Step 7: Cover a brie-style cheese box (or other container) loosely with baking paper. Gently unwrap the cheese cloth and transfer the cheese to the paper, pressing slightly to suit the box. Place herbs on top, close paper tight and cover with a lid. Keep for four weeks in refrigerator.

I'm not real sure where you can get "brie style cheese boxes" but I did find some Paper Mache Boxes online and at our local craft store. I didn't get any this time around but thought they would be super cute as a gift with a ribbon and gift tag! The Paper Mache Boxes come in all sorts of shapes (hearts, stars, squares, ovals) so have fun with the designs! This would be a very great, thoughtful and unique gift but delightfully inexpensive!!

Step 8: In 4 weeks Enjoy!!

Cheese Making!! Homemade Mozzerella Cheese Ball

Homemade Mozzerella Cheese Ball! DELIGHTFUL!! I hope you give it a try and like it as much and we do! :)

I love this 30 Minute Mozzerella Recipe!

HINT: I did figure out 1 thing (by accident) that made the cheese ALOT better. In the first step where you add the Citric Acid, (Add 1 & 1/2 tsp. Citric Acid diluted in 1cup cool water to 1 gallon of cold milk) DONT stir it right away! Let it set for about 15 minutes, this helps seperate the milk and you will get ALOT larger cheese ball. I know it makes it more of a "45 Minute Mozzerella", but it is WELL worth the extra wait!

Also, I used Liquid Rennet instead of Rennet Tabs (just because that is what I could find at my local Whole Foods store. Doing this method with Liquid rennet, you will have to add 20 drops (1/8 tsp) to the 1/4c of cold water for each gallon of milk you use. I dont think it really makes any difference but this is the rennet I got. I also got Citric Acid you can order it online at IHerb.com... everyone who knows me knows that I LOVE IHerb.com!

Note: Make sure you use Stainless Steel and NEVER aluminum, it will mess with the cheese ball and it wont form right.

Hint: I didnt use a Stainless Steel strainer (because I only had aluminum) so I cut the top out of an old gallon plastic bottle and inserted a double layer of cheese cloth (from the local fabric store) and this worked WONDERFULLY for straining out the whey! If your pocket of cheese cloth starts to get full, then just scoop out the cheese and put it in your microwavable glass bowl and continue to strain the rest.

DONT FORGET THE SALT! I forgot to add salt one time and it was miserable! I tried to go back in and reheat the cheese and kneed in the salt, but it was just a mess...We still ate the cheese and it was yummy, but it wasnt the same :(

Here is a photo of my very first Mozzerella cheese experiement! I was so excitted and couldnt believe it actually worked and it was SO yummy. Now I just cant stop making them! It was pretty small because the first time I did mess up alot, but now the cheese balls about twice that size! Very fun!

This one is a Basil and Sundried Tomatoe Mozzerella!! It was really simple...once you have the Regular Mozzerella Ball, just toss in some sundried tomatoes and fresh basil in the final kneed and you have this!

I love to try something new each time...Try a different spice , fresh herb, or dried vegetable each time and you will soon figure out which is your favourite!! My problem is that I like ALL of them!!

Enjoy :)

MORE RECIPES on Cheesemaking!!