Mozzarella from a Gallon of Milk

WOW!  This was so fun to make and absolutely delicious to consume.  A couple weeks ago I came across this pin on Pinterest which took me to Simple Bites post about The Best Party Trick Ever: How to Make Thirty Minute Mozzarella.  I'd like to share some notes about our first two attempts to make this.

#1.  Our first attempt turned out a little tough and dry.  We used 2% milk, and think that it was heated and handled too much.  It was possible to shape it into a nice log to cut.  Sorry no pictures, I was having a rough day.

#2.  The next day our mozzarella turned out amazing, it was nice and soft and gooey.  This time we used whole milk, and heated and handled it much less.  This time it was hard to get it to shape into a log, but if we let it cool a little it probably would have been possible.

I'm working on editing the video so it's not 30 minutes long.  There are some really cool points in the video that you can really see stuff happening.

Finished Caprese Salad.

Even my 2 year old ate the cheese!

My hubby did some research on what to do with the "leftover" whey after our first attempt because he didn't want it to go to waste.  He found The Prairie Homestead's post "16 Ways to Use Your Whey" decided that he would try to make ricotta (using this recipe from Fias Co Farm/Dairy) with the second batch.  While we didn't do anything with the ricotta it turned out well, although it needed some salt and a lot of the cheese got stuck in the cheese cloth.

Ricotta Cheese.

We got about a pound of mozzarella each time even with the changes, and between a quarter and a third of a cup of ricotta was produced from the resulting whey. 

Graduation!

We attended a couple graduation parties last month.  One was for a cousin of mine and the other was for a neighbor.  I looked through my card pins on pinterest and thought I would do a patchwork card (like this one from The Paper Stamper or this one from Stuck on Stampin') for each of them, but when I sat down to craft I didn't find enough patterns that I liked in the schools' colors.

Sitting on my tables were three sets of felt flowers from Three Bugs in a Rug (The Back Porch, Luke & Lola, and Chalk Garden) that I got at the LSS Trash & Treasure sale.  Since I had just looked through my pins I had this one in mind from all things paper.  I don't think I've ever used stitching on a card before, even though I've had my Sew Easy for quite a while now.  The stitching was all done with the Sew Easy straight stitch (I added an extra hole between each standard hole) and white thread.  Everything I used was in my stash.

I really like how these turned out.

Busy Bag List

((I started this post a long time ago, seeing as baby is 3 weeks old we're looking at about 2.5-3 months))

Our second baby is due in 8-10 weeks and as I will be nursing I need something for Melodi to do while I take some quiet time with baby.  I think the best way to accomplish this is to make a LARGE collection of Busy Bags or Quiet Bins.  I'm going to start with some Busy Bags and reserve Quiet Bins for when Melodi gives up her nap, but still needs some quiet time to herself.

There is a collection of ideas that I have found on Pinterest for Busy Bags.  I figure that I will need about 4 a day for 5 days during the week, so I need to come up with 20 bags.  I think that some of these may be books, magnet sets, and chunky wooden puzzles kept "put away" for nursing time.  Of course I would like for most of them to be educational or developmental in nature, and NOT messy.

It is going to be a work in progress as I have quite a few pins to sort through.  Luckily I have 2 months to get these together, but I also have a pile of other projects.  Maybe I'll have the planning done and be ready to do the shopping when my mother-in-law is out next month to help me with final baby prep.

Current Idea List

1. Paper, colored pencils/crayons (add stickers when a little older)
2. Lacing cards
3. Pipe cleaners, pony beads
4. Matching Color Shades (a little to young still, so do a Color Matching Wheel)
5. Felt board
1. build your own cupcake
2. tree
3. house
4. doll and clothes
6. Letter magnets (refrigerator, these are better than the premade bright colored ones)
7. Number magnets (refrigerator)
8. Fishing (felt fish with washers inside, pencil fishing pole)
9. Sensory Texture Boards
10. Matching Cards (store bought since we have a couple, or homemade)
11. Button Matching Game (I like the one a little ways down this page better)
12. Quiet Books (also useful for church, meetings, etc)
13. File Folder Games (switch out seasonally)
1. The Easter Story
2. Daniel in the Lions Den (telling time, too young still)
3. Shapes
4. Flowers
5. Counting (octopus, watermelon)
6. Colors
14. Lacing Cards (make with laminated cardstock shapes and a hole punch)
15. Popsicle Stick Puzzles
16. Color Sorting
1. colored pasta into cups
2. craft pompoms onto color cards
17. Flashcards
1. color
2. alphabet
3. animals/sounds
18. Lacing Beads

Some of these will make for good car travel bags for our road trip this summer and future PCS moves.

Button Snake

I was organizing my Pinterest boards earlier this week and later that night I was watching shows on my computer.  My hands needed something to do and I remembered seeing this idea and since I had everything I needed sitting in front of me I figured I had something to work on.  It wasn't on my original list of busy bag projects, but rather quick and easy.  There are several different ideas out there, I did a google search for "button snake" and clicked on one of the images that was listed at the top which took me to Jonah Lisa Land's post.

Not too much to write so here are some pictures.  My supply list and directions are below.  I'll do another button snake using smaller buttons and felt pieces once Melodi has mastered this one.

Supplies:
5/8" grosgrain ribbon (about a yard)
2 buttons (about 1")
Thread
1.5" square felt pieces

Directions:
Sew the buttons onto the ends of the ribbon.
Cut a bunch of felt squares.
Cut a slit into the middle of each square, just big enough for the button.

Introducing... and an Update

Erica Marie!  Our second daughter was born in the afternoon of May 8th.  She was born weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces, and was 20.25 inches long.  It was a wonderful, personalized experience, especially if you consider the stories that you hear about military hospitals.  I may or may not get around to sharing her birth story.

I've been busy the last three weeks with baby and toddler stuff, and my parents left this morning after staying for a week.  There are several projects that I've done that I haven't had a chance to write about, between getting ready for Erica's arrival and getting into some semblance of a routine.  I will try to get some the following projects posted in the next few days (I don't promise that they'll be in order).   Some of these go way back.

• HELPING: In late February or early March Melodi decided that it was time to really start helping with stuff around the house, especially in the kitchen.
• BUSY BAGS: I finished up enough busy bags for Melodi to have a good variety of activities for when I need her out of my hair to nurse or otherwise.
• CLEAN FINGER PAINTING: Melodi got to do some clean finger painting when we were trying to do some housework before Erica arrived.
• OSW MOTHERS DAY CARDS: I got one set of cards made for Mothers Day.  They got sent out late, but they've been sent.  I also used some from this set for birthdays.
• NEWBORN PHOTOS: We had Erica's newborn photos done by DanetteKayPhotography and love how they turned out.  For the sneak peek visit Danette's blog.
• GRADUATIONS & ECLIPSE: We've attended two graduation parties, with Erica in tow, and with that comes more cards.  These were really cute!  We even got to see the eclipse after one of them.
• GRANDMAS' BRAG BOOKS: I put together the bones for brag books so our moms and grandmas can carry Erica's pictures with them.  Considering how much time I put in to making scrapbook pages together I had my mom pick out the individual page embellishments for hers while she was here.
• MOZZARELLA: My mom is a huge influence on my desire to try new recipes and we have fun doing it together.  I told her about a homemade-microwave mozzarella recipe I found so we tried it a couple times.  Then hubby had to find something to do with the leftover whey so he made ricotta cheese.
• FAT QUARTER SKIRTS: Back in February I bought some fat quarters to make Melodi some skirts.  They finally got dug out and at least started.  Mom helped a lot and I learned some new sewing techniques.  We used this pattern, but finished all internal seams completely.