Category: Recipes

Buttermilk Blue Cheese Recipe

Published on by richbLeave a comment

Ingredients

  • 1 quart of buttermilk
  • 1 gallon of whole milk
  • 1 pint of cream
  • 1/16 tsp of penicillin Roqueforti culture
  • 1/8 tsp of mesophilic direct set culture
  • 1/2 tsp rennet in 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 tsp calcium chloride dissolved in 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon non iodized salt.

Directions

  • Add buttermilk, milk, and cream to pot stir to mix then heat to 90 degrees F.
  • Sprinkle cultures on top and let set for 5 minutes
  • Stir cultires into milk, cover and let set for30 minutes, temperature should be maintained at 90 degrees.
  • Add in rennet store for 1 minute and let set for 2 hours
  • Cut the curds into 1/2” cubes. I could not get a clean break, probably due to the buttermilk and possibly not enough rennet so I increased the amount of rennet for this recipe. Let set for 5 minutes after cutting curds.
  • Now since I didn’t get a clean break, I lined a colander with a butter muslin and put in the sink and spooned the poorly set curd into the lined colander, let it drain for about 5 minutes, then gathered together opposite corners of the butter muslin and hung it over a pot to drain for about an hour. If you get a clean break you can let the curds rest for 5 minutes, then gently stir for 20 minutes trying not to break them up. Then spoon the curds into the butter muslin lined cheese mold.
  • Remove the drained curd and break into 1 inch pieces and put into a 6” cheese mold lined with cheese cloth, put the follower on and press with 5 lbs of weight for about 30 minutes. The cheese will be draining so put it into a pot or cake pan with a bowl turned upside down inside to raise it off the bottom, out of the pool of whey that will form.
  • Remove the cheese, empty whey from pot, unwrap the cheesecloth and flip the cheese and put back into the mold without the weight or follower and let set for 2 hours.
  • Remove from the cheese mold and repeat the flipping and re-wrapping with the cheesecloth and putting back into the mold. Let set for 12 hours (or overnight).
  • The next day if the cheese is firm enough you can remove the cheesecloth and flip and put back into the mold without the cheesecloth. Let set for another 12 hours, flip cheese again and if it is firm enough now you can set it on a cheese mat (I use a sushi rolling mat) in the pot inside the pot elevated out of any whey pool that will form and let set for another 12 hours (or overnight) and flip again. Let set out in room for 3 more days, to let cheese mostly drain flipping cheese every 12 hours. After 2nd day smooth over any holes on the outside surface of the cheese with a butter knife and then distribute salt evenly over the surface of the cheese. It will penetrate the cheese during the aging.
  • Now we will create the passages for oxygen to get inside the cheese to form blue mold inside by taking a clean skewer and inserting it from the top of the cheese to the bottom gently to create holes. I put about 20 evenly spaced holes
  • Now put cheese inside of a ripening box. Mine is a vegetable storage container with an strainer like insert that raises the contents off the bottom so any liquid that forms on the bottom doesn’t come in contact with what you are storing inside and a lid to seal it. Now put the storage box in the cheese cave (mine is the vegetable drawer of the fridge that maintains about 55 degrees F). Leave this in the ripening cave for 3 weeks, Flipping the cheese over once a day removing any condensation and liquid on the bottom of the container. It should have a blue mold form covering the surface of cheese after about a week. This mold covering may slip while you are flipping it so be very gentle to keep it in tact.
  • Remove the cheese from the cave now and gently using a flat blade scrape most of the mold off the surface of the cheese leaving little spots here and there. Be careful to just remove the mold and not the cheese.
  • Wrap the cheese in foil and store in the fridge (not the cheese cave) for 3 more weeks to mature.
  • After the 3 weeks in the fridge the cheese is ready to eat. You can cut in half and re-wrap one half and put it in the fridge and use the other half to eat. The half you are eating can be wrapped in plastic wrap instead of the foil since it won’t be stored for too long.

Making Your Own Cultured Buttermilk

Published on by richbLeave a comment

Making your own cultured buttermilk is easy and takes only a couple of minutes. You just need to get a buttermilk culture and some milk.

Ingredients

  • Buttermilk Culture: Store bought Buttermilk, or a Culture. (amazon link)
  • Milk: Either 2% or whole milk for more creamy Buttermilk.

Directions

If using store bought buttermilk to culture, just mix about 1 cup of buttermilk to 3 cups milk shake/mix and let set at room temp (72-82F) for 12-16 hours till buttermilk is as think as you like. Then refrigerate and it will say good for 1-3 weeks. If you re-culture (take 1 cup of the buttermilk and follow the same process as above) it will last another 1-3 weeks in the fridge.

If using a buttermilk culture, bring 1 qt milk up to room temp (72-82F) then sprinkle culture onto milk and let rehydrate for 1-2 minutes. Then shake and let set at room temp for 12-16 hours as above.

Notes:

I used 1 quart of store bought cultured buttermilk and used all but 1 cup of the buttermilk, then poured milk into the quart milk container, mixed by shaking and then let set at room temp for 12 hours.

You can make a substitute for cultured buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup of milk, mixing and it will create milk that is similar to cultured buttermilk which is made with a culture similar to yogurt.

You can use your homemade buttermilk to make fresh easy to make cheese.

Fresh Garlic Chive Buttermilk Cheese Recipe

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I have made a few cheeses already. Those have been more difficult cheeses such as cheddar, blue cheese, and mozzarella. This cheese is much easier and less time consuming than the ones mentioned above, doesn’t require any special equipment and tastes incredible. It is a soft spreadable cheese and requires no aging. Pictured are the Garlic Chive flavor and the Black Pepper flavor.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of cultured buttermilk
  • 2 quarts of Whole milk
  • 1 bunch of garlic chives (Can use regular chives & garlic powder)
  • 1 teaspoon of onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon of garlic powder if using regular chives
  • 4 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions

Pour buttermilk (you can culture your own buttermilk easily) and milk into pot and heat to about 90 degrees F. Let set for an hour, I did this to culture the regular milk into buttermilk to a small degree. After the hour culturing, Add in onion powder (and garlic powder if using regular chives) and chives. Heat over medium heat while stirring slowly until it gets close to 180 degrees. When it does reach 180 degrees F, you will see it curdle. At this point remove from heat and per set for about 30 mins to fully curdle. Then scoop into a colander lined within a doubled over cheese cloth till all the contents of the pot have been spooned into the cheese cloth. Now gather the corners of the cheese cloth and lift by the corners and twist to squeeze out the whey (liquid) until it is mostly out. Spoon the cheese that is in the cheese cloth to a container and enjoy. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks, if it lasts that long.

Lechoen Manok Chicken Wings

Published on by richbLeave a comment

These are Filipino chicken wings. Lechoen Manok is usually done for a whole roasted chicken but I came up with my own spin for Chicken wings. I cooked them in an air fryer, but you could bake them in the oven or grill them also.

Ingredients

  • 12 chicken wings
  • 1 Cup of Regular Sprite (NOT Diet)
  • 5 cloves of garlic smashed
  • 4 Tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 4 green onions chopped or 1/2 yellow onion diced
  • Juice from 1/2 regular sized lemon
  • 1″ piece of ginger sliced across the grain
  • 6 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon of course ground black pepper

Directions

Put chicken wings into a ziploc bag. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl and add to ziploc bag with chicken wings and let marinade for at least 4 hours. Remove wings from marinade and pat dry.

For Air Fryer: Put into Air Fryer and set temp for 390 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for about 20 mins (optionally basting w/marinade after 10 mins for extra flavor) or until they are as crispy and tender as you like.

For Oven: Put into oven on a rimmed cookie sheet with a cooling rack on it to put the wings on. Put the cookie sheet with the wings on the rack in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 20 mins, then drain the oil from the cookie sheet and put the wings on the rack back on the cookie sheet and put back in the oven with the temp at 350 degrees for 10 mins after basting with marinade or until they are done to your liking.

For Grill: Grill Chicken wings as you would any piece of chicken, but remember since they are small they will be done sooner. Also you may see the drums take longer than the flats because there is more bone in them.

Chili Mac w/Instant Pot Option

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For a fast healthy fresh meal this is an excellent option, especially using the Instant pot

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground beef (85% lean)
  • 1 28oz can crushed tomato in tomato sauce
  • 1 medium size onion chopped
  • 4 tablespoons of chili powder
  • 6 cloves of garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons of gound cumin
  • 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (adjust to desired heat level)
  • 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 1 16oz container of dried elbow macaroni

Directions

For Instant Pot: Set Instant pot to saute and brown hamburger add in onion and garlic during browning of hamburger. When brown add in all other ingredients (uncooked dried pasta included) to instant pot along with 5 cups of water and stir together. Set instant pot to high pressure cook for 7 minutes. Immediately release pressure when timer goes off, stir and serve.

For Stove Top: Start a pot of water boiling to cook elbow macaroni. In separate sauce pan, brown hamburger along with onion and garlic in a sauce pan. When brown add all ingredients and simmer. Add macaroni to pan of boiling water and cook till done then drain and set aside. After sauce has simmered for about 30 mins, add to drained pasta, mix sauce in till combined, then serve

Delicious Mexican Pasta

Mexican Chicken Pasta

Published on by richbLeave a comment

This is a delicious, quick and easy meal to make for a weekday meal when you are busy and don’t have a lot of time to spend cooking.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1lb chicken breast, finely diced
  • 1 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tablespoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/2 large red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 can (10.5 oz.) cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 lb. any type of pasta
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, for garnish

Directions

  • Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high. Add the chicken and sauté until browned all over, 5 minutes
  • Toss in the chili powder, cumin, garlic salt and red pepper. Sauté another minute. Add the red bell pepper, cream of mushroom soup and milk and stir to combine.
  • Transfer to an oven-safe baking dish and sprinkle with the cheese. Cover and slide into a 350°F oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 more minutes, until the cheese is browned and bubbly

Healthy Instant Pot Elk Meat Chili

Published on by richbLeave a comment

A friend gave me some of the elk meat from his last hunt. This meat is very lean and can be pretty tough. Cooking it in the instant pot makes it nice and tender. I wanted a hearty meal so I came up with this recipe from the items I had in my pantry and it came out great.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 pounds elk meat (Round steak) chopped into 1 to 1/2″ chunks
  • 2 tbsp. oil (Canola, Vegetable, or Corn oil)
  • 3 slices of finely diced bacon
  • 1 – 14 oz. cans of stewed tomatoes
  • 1 – 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
  • 1/2 – 6 oz. can of tomato paste
  • 2 cups of pinto beans (soaked overnight)
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 1 bell peppers diced (Green or Red)
  • 1 onions, diced
  • 2 tbsp. New Mexico chili powder
  • 1 tbsp. cumin
  • 1/2 tsp of oregano
  • 1 tsp of basil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp. Worcestershire
  • 1 tsp of crushed red chilies (I used 3 extra hot dried cayenne peppers crushed)
  • 3 tsp beef bullion powder
  • 4 cups of water
  • Additional Garlic & Onion powder and salt to taste (I added about 1 tsp of Garlic and Onion powder)

Directions

Night before, put pinto beans in bowl covered by 3″ of water. When ready to cook, set Instant Pot to sauté and add oil and Elk meat, bacon and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 of the diced garlic. Sauté till browned. Then add in tomato sauce and paste, chili powder, cumin, oregano, basil, Worcestershire sauce, beef bullion, and red chilies and stir. Set Instant pot to pressure cook high and cook for 40 mins. When done do quick pressure release, open instant pot and stir in the rest of the ingredients and then set for pressure cook high for 15 more minutes. When timer expires do quick pressure release and enjoy.

Spanish Rice in a Rice Cooker

Published on by richbLeave a comment

This is a quick and easy but delicious recipe. It goes well as a side dish to many different dishes. My Crave-able Refried Beans recipe is a good match. You can make a Bean Burrito and add this to the Burrito or have it as a side.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of long grain white rice
  • 1/2 cup of tomato sauce
  • 1 tsp of Garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp of Cumin
  • 2 tbsp of Oil (I used canola)
  • 1 tsp of chicken (or vegetable for vegan) bouillon
  • 3 3/4 cups of water

Directions

Add all ingredients to rice cooker, stir, and set for white rice and cook. When done fluff with a fork and serve.

Crave-able Instant Pot Refried Beans

Published on by richbLeave a comment

Do you love refried beans with the smoky flavor with garlic and onion notes along with the creaminess of refried beans coming together in a deep rich flavor? If so, then you will crave these easy to make and delicious refried beans. Make comforting bean and cheese burrito’s with onions & hot sauce or delicious tostada’s with fresh shredded lettuce and cheese. These are quick easy to make refried beans and are the best I have made so far. Keys are to start with frying the bacon, cook the beans in the bacon and rendered fat. Then after following the recipe to customize them in the end with the garlic powder, onion powder, and cumin to your taste. Cook, eat and enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups dried pinto beans, soaked overnight
  • 4 strips low sodium bacon chopped to bits
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cups filtered water
  • 1 tsp salt and pepper, to taste (maybe 1 tsp salt)
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin

Instructions

  1. Turn the instant pot on sauté mode. When hot add in oil and bacon. Let the bacon sauté for up to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
  2. Meanwhile drain beans from overnight water and wash beans thoroughly. Add beans and water to instant pot with bacon and bacon grease rendered.
  3. Turn off sauté function. Close the lid and seal the vent valve. Cook on high pressure for 55 minutes. When done allow for natural pressure release. 
  4. Carefully open the pot. You might want/ need to remove some of the liquid. If needed you can add back the bean liquid during the blending/ mashing process. It’s best to start with less liquid and add if needed. I removed about 1/2 cup of liquid and didn’t need to add it back. 
  5. Add in the spices and seasoning. Using an immersion blender, work it for 1-2 minutes or until you have reached a consistency of your preference. If the result is not thick enough, press the sauté button and boil while stirring till desired consistency is achieved.
  6. Serve with fresh cilantro and jalapeño. Refrigerate remaining refried beans in an air tight glass container. 

Healthy Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Published on by richbLeave a comment

Ingredients

  • 4-6 large Poblano Peppers Halved and seeded
  • 8oz of shredded Jack or Medium/Mild Cheddar Cheese
  • 3/4 lb Lean Ground Beef
  • 1 package Taco Seasoning (Use 3 tbsp.)
  • 2 cups of cooked White Rice (Eliminate for low carb)
  • 1 8oz can of Hot Tomato sauce (Regular Tomato sauce can be substituted)
  • 1/2 of a large onion diced
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • Optional Ingredients to kick up flavor
    • 1 teaspoon of cumin
    • 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
    • Chopped Jalapeno (little spicy) or Serrano (more spicy)
    • 4 oz. Frozen corn
    • 1/2 can Black Beans

Directions

Brown ground beef till done. While browning add in taco seasoning. Add in onions and cook for 2 more mins. Then add in rice and stir till combined. Add in Optional seasonings and salt and tomato sauce. Stir to mix together. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix in half of the shredded cheese and any optional ingredients. Add in enough meat mixture to fill and sprinkle cheese on top. Cook at about 325 degrees F till pepper is cooked and cheese melted (about 20 mins).