Food projects for the weekend

Oftentimes I will offer some of my recipes and talk about food in general. This particular post won’t have any recipes of my own, as I’m hoping to tackle some new things this weekend. It could very well be that I’m overly ambitious in my head, as I have lots of ideas and less time than I anticipate. Life has been deliciously full but that does not leave days on end in the kitchen, as it did when I didn’t have as much going on.

So, this weekend’s projects hopefully consist of the following:

• Making mozzarella. I finally got my organic vegetable rennet so I will grab some Hatcher whole milk and get to it! If you live in the Nashville area, you know Hatcher to be the BEST milk around. I love this family dairy and the products they produce. I’ve been making my yogurt with their milk for a year or two and it is so tasty and creamy. Not to mention, when I buy a gallon of their whole milk, I LOVE to eat the cream plug that has settled at the top of the bottle. Decadent, I know, but as a runner, I can certainly afford the calories. That leads to…
• Making yogurt. About a month ago, my Love and I made some yogurt, set it in the warmed oven to set… forgot about it and I turned the oven on to roast a chicken. Let’s just say the smell of my burning towels (wrapped around the jars to maintain the warmth) and then the cracked (thankfully not shattered) glass filled with now burned yogurt was pretty atrocious. So, we definitely need to make a new batch and I will end up needing new jars in time but for now, we are overflowing in jars. My canning obsession is a bit out of control.
• Making queso fresco. Well, maybe. It would be easy and fun but we only need it for another recipe I’m making so I may just buy it. Time is of the essence!
• Finally in the cheese category, possibly making traditional ricotta, as it is made with the whey leftover from mozzarella making. Perhaps not. We may keep all the whey for post-run drinks. Fresh whey takes some getting used to but really is tasty and a natural form of protein.
• What do I need the queso fresco for? My homemade tortilla soup. I hate to toot my own horn (not really, I’m rather proud of this) but I make a tortilla soup that is a recipe reminiscent of the soup from Mas Tacos Por Favor but also similar to the kind you can get from Chuy’s. In other words, the best of both and all my own! I won’t share that recipe today but perhaps if it gets made this weekend. This is also my first time making this using queso fresco instead of something like monterrey jack cheese. Should be tasty. If I’m really ambitious and end up with loads of time (yeah, right!), I will make tortillas too but that’s highly unlikely.
• Chocolate cupcakes with blue cheese buttercream. Sounds crazy, I know! I took up this challenge from a friend and now I have the cheese in hand to do so. The cheesemonger at Whole Foods recommended this one when I told him I was putting it in a buttercream frosting. See?

• The only other thing I will make and is the thing I’m certain will get made in the next few days is this baked orzo with eggplant and mozzarella from Smitten Kitchen. I love love love her cookbook and her site in general. I often make stuff from there. See why I need mozzarella now? Though, who needs a “reason” for fresh mozzarella? We have a massive eggplant and loads of tomatoes that need to be used STAT from our wonderful CSA from Delvin Farms. If you are not familiar with Community Supported Agriculture, please look into it. It is a great way to get excellent, organic produce in abundance and support your local small farms. It’s also a great way to get away from Monsanto (the DEVIL!) genetically-modified “foods”. I won’t get up on that soapbox at the moment but I think you can get the drift of my opinion of that horrible corporation.