Powdered Cheese

Yes. I'm talking about powdered cheese, like the kind you get in your mac & cheese boxes. It is so great for soups, cheese sauces, pasta. TONS OF STUFF. So I have looked ALL over to find powdered cheese. Most places that I do find it, it's WAY to expensive. I'm talking like $7 for 1/2 a cup. But I found...you can make it yourself! Yeah doy! you can make your own dried almost everything else. Why not powdered cheese! The process is pretty easy, it just takes some time, and a food dehydrator. Which I have thanks to Michelle (love ya!).

I'm totally stoked about it cause now I can put cheese in my foodstorage too. My father-in-law, makes his own cheese, and I'm planing on telling him about this too. If he's up for giving away some of his cheese, I'll put it to good use! But this is how you do it......

Making Powdered cheese
STEP ONE
Slice hard cheeses into thin pieces. The thinner the slices, the faster the cheese will dehydrate. Try to make each cheese slice the same thickness so that all of the pieces dehydrate at the same speed.

STEP TWO
Place single layers of cheese slices in a food dehydrator. Leave room between the pieces of cheese so that none of the pieces are touching each other. If you want to dehydrate soft cheese, such as cottage cheese or ricotta, line the food dehydrator with a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap. Spread a thin layer of the soft cheese on top of the wax paper or plastic wrap.

STEP THREE
Dry the cheese in the food dehydrator, turning the cheese over every few hours. When you turn the cheese, blot up any grease with a paper towel. Dry the cheese in the dehydrator until it is fully dry. When the cheese is dry it will have a hard texture and a darkened color. Make sure the cheese is completely dry in all spots before taking it out of the dehydrator.

STEP FOUR
Set the dehydrated cheese slices on a plate and allow them to cool to room temperature.

STEP FIVE
Place the dehydrated cheese pieces in a food processor and process into a fine powder.

STEP SIX
Store the powdered cheese in an airtight and watertight package, away from light.


Easy Cheesy!

Blackberry Sauce (edit)

This is a little less than 1/2 of what the recipe yeilded. And it's so good on EVERYTHING. chicken, crepes(I have a pretty good recipe for those too), waffels, fish, ice cream....you name it. The only thing, is that after it cools, it's not much of a sauce anymore. so we've taken to mixing it with butter, cream cheese, milk, or water. Whichever works best with what you're cooking.


I only had this one little wire strainer that would work for getting the seeds out, it took a while.


This is the recipe cooking down. looks like seedy sludge. In the end it was well worth it.

Blackberry Sauce.

2/3 c. butter, melted
1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/4 c. sugar
Dash of salt
1/4 c. orange juice
2 c. fresh or frozen blackberries

Combine butter and cornstarch in saucepan. Add sugar, salt, orange juice and blackberries. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thick. Be sure to remove stems and strain for seeds before servings. Makes 3 cups.

For......

HYRUM

Piano Time

Piano time, for Gavin, is all the time. I'm constantly finding him pounding away and singing. It is rather cute. He loves that piano. Lately though he's wanted to play with his feet. Yeah...not a huge fan of that. But he will usually sit at the bench play a little and "sing" and then turn the page of whatever music I happen to have up. Usually I keep music that is in sheet protectors so he cant rip it. He loves to play, but he's still figuring out how to be soft.

Sitckers

I stuck a sticker on my nose,
And now it won't come off!
The sticky glue won't let it move,
Not even when I cough!

I've tried to pull the sticker hard,
But cannot make it budge!
So now the sticker interferes,
And stops me eating fudge!

The glue that holds it on so tight,
Is tough and mighty strong!
And by mistake just yesterday,
It also snared my tongue!

But now to make my plight complete,
My finger just got stuck!
You know I shouldn't pick my nose,
I really am a schmuck!

"The Stickey Sticker" ©2003 Gareth Lancaster

It's Nice and Warm!

So I was getting Xander ready for a nap, meaning putting on a diaper. As soon as I got him naked...he peed on himself. He didnt say oops, or uh oh, he just smiled real big and said 4 little words.

How Every Mom Feels

Just watch the first minute and 22 seconds of this video. Which is right about where Howie (the Dad), says, "call me crazy Martha but I think you need a break." Unless you really want to watch bobbys world. But I was watching it with my boys the other day and it was like...WOW. Thats totally Me. EVERY DAY. Anyone who's raised a three year old knows what it's like. SO This is for all you Moms out there. Enjoy.