I have recently begun a new "eating plan" with my family, which involves, more or less, living like a pioneer, with modern conveniences. My daughter, who has lots of health issues, recently needed to try a fairly restrictive diet due to some allergies and sensitivities. We are seeing profound results, so I decided to really kick it up a notch.
Among other things, we are buying raw milk from a local dairy, and I've been making all sorts of dairy products: Yogurt, kefir, fromage blanc, mozzarella cheese, sauerkrat and kvass from the whey, etc. I'm even boiling down the whey I get and making our own whey/protein powder (milk is too expensive to waste.)
Today I am trying my hand at making cheddar cheese. It is a long, tedious process, and I just began the "cheddaring" process where the curds must be kept in a pot of water maintained at precisely 100 degrees. I tried using the stove on low and moving the pot on/off the flame, but that got old fast, since it has to be done for 2 hours!
I "put on my thinking cap" and then it hit me! The cat bed warmers heat to a consistent 108 degrees. If I put the pot of water on top of that, it should be very close to 100. BINGO! It is exactly that! So now instead of standing over the stove, I"m typing comfortably upstairs, and only checking and turning the curds every 15 minutes.
See, if I didn't have spoiled kitties, I'd be getting a lot more tired with this project! Tee hee!
Thanks for reading!
Cally
ps--the cats are loving all the milk products, too!
