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Easiest Homemade Ricotta Cheese {2 Simple Ingredients}

March 25, 2015 by Wendy

Easiest Homemade Ricotta Cheese {2 Simple Ingredients}

Imagine making Ricotta cheese with just two simple ingredients.  Hard to believe, right?

Whether this is actually called Farmer’s Cheese, Ricotta, or even dry curd, dry cottage cheese, or Queso Blanco – is up for debate. It kind of depends on what you use to make it, what you put in it and how long you let it drain. They all have similar characteristics: they don’t melt, they’re considered a “bland cheese” (until you season it), and they’re really easy to make! If you’re lactose intolerant, you’ll want to steer clear of this since it’s “fresh” or not aged cheese, it contains more lactose.

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I’m enjoying Do It Yourself projects lately, and so I decided it would be fun to try to make cheese. I live in Wisconsin, America’s Dairyland, so it seems natural that I’d want to.  I don’t have cows, but I live in a very small town with many family farms surrounding us. I grew up here, and for a while my family did have a small dairy farm. Talk about a fantastic childhood!

But, I’m not exactly ready to delve into becoming a fancy cheesemaker and spending a lot of time on this. I just wanted to see if I could make something we could eat and enjoy. So, I Googled “Easy Homemade Cheese” and was pretty shocked at how not easy they all seemed. I don’t want to buy a bunch of ingredients simply for the purpose of making cheese, I just want to make it and eat it! 😉

They say using raw milk from grass-fed beef is best when you’re making your own cheese.  Since this recipe is for Easy Cheese – or would that be Easy Cheesy? – I’m not going to suggest that you go out of your way to find raw milk. I would imagine it’s wonderful, but I didn’t do that. I used milk from the store. It’s pasteurized (just be sure it’s not ultra pasteurized).

You also don’t need other ingredients you need to make other homemade cheese, such as special cheese salt or even muslin or cheesecloth to strain it – because you don’t need to do all that with this super easy cheese recipe.

What can you do with Gimmie’s Super Easy Cheese? You can use it in Italian dishes, such as lasagne.  You can add honey to it and eat with crackers (yum!!) Or, sprinkle it on salads or put in your tacos. Get creative!

What’s it cost? That all depends on milk prices, and that varies so much it’s impossible for me to figure out what it will cost you. But, around these parts you can find milk on sale priced, 2 gallons for $5. That would mean you’re spending about $2.50 a gallon and since this recipe makes around 2 pounds of cheese, that’s $1.25 a pound. At Walmart by me, 15 oz of their Great Value brand Ricotta cheese (which is just less than a pound) costs around $2.

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Easiest Homemade Ricotta Cheese {2 Simple Ingredients}


  • Author: gimmie
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 2 lbs 1x
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Description

Now you can make 2 lbs of cheese for the price of a gallon of milk! And, it’s super fun to show kids how to make cheese. Homemade cheese is so easy! So try this DIY Ricotta Cheese recipe today.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 gallon whole milk
  • 1/2 cup vinegar (use 3/4 cup for firmer cheese)

Instructions

  1. Heat 1 gallon of whole milk in large pot on stovetop, over medium/high heat until it scalds (thin layer forms on top of milk). Be careful not to let the bottom scorch or burn.
  2. Remove from heat and add vinegar. Stir and watch the curds and whey separate until whey (liquid) becomes clear and yellowish color.
    Optionally, you can add salt. I used about 3 tablespoons of sea salt. Just stir it in while you’re making it, or you can add salt while you’re using (eating) it.
  3. Strain in a colander. Note: your colander needs to have small holes that will keep the cheese in it. I used a pasta pot with it’s own built-in colander top and that worked just fine. You could line a coarse (big-hole) colander with cheese cloth. The longer you let it strain, the firmer the cheese will become.
  • Cook Time: 15

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Filed Under: How To - General, Recipes Tagged With: diy, do it yourself, farmers cheese, homemade, homemade cheese, make your own cheese, recipe, ricotta, ricotta cheese with vinegar

Quick & Easy Hamburger Pie Casserole (Hotdish) Recipe

February 5, 2015 by Wendy

Quick & Easy Hamburger Pie Casserole (Hotdish) Recipe

Quick & Easy Hamburger Pie Casserole (Hotdish) Recipe

I love my mom’s cooking more than the Food Network. Her recipes are amazing, and thankfully most of them are simple enough I can make them at home. Because, after all, homemade is best, and it costs less! 🙂 So, this is her Easy Hamburger Pie Casserole Recipe, which in the Midwest we call a hotdish.

If you’re looking for dinner ideas that use ground beef recipes and soup recipes, this is the perfect meal for you! Give it a try. Your whole family will love it!

Why Hamburger Pie?

WHAT’S IN A NAME? I struggle with what to call this recipe. I Google’d it and found Hamburger Pie Casserole. Boring. Or, something like Tomato Soup, Ground Beef, Mashed Potato Skillet is boring, but at least more definitive.  I guess the best ever Hamburger Pie Hotdish is a little closer, but still doesn’t do it justice. It’s not shepherds pie, although I do love a good shepherds pie recipe. Oh, and Best. Recipe. Ever. was taken. To be honest, OMG that Awesome Stuff Mom Makes with Tomato Soup, Hamburger and Potatoes is close but doesn’t explain what it is to the unsuspecting-yet-hungry passerby, unless they’ve already eaten it in which case it’s the perfect name. So, you see my dilemma.

Hotdish vs. Casserole

A word about hotdish and casserole – they’re essentially the same. Different parts of the United States call meals like this different things.  Hence the dual name. 🙂

What You’ll Need

SOUP IT UP You can make it a Campbells soup recipe, instead of using generic. I admit in this case name brand often tastes better than generic. But if you find an off-brand soup that tastes good, then go for it and save a little money.

HANGA-BURR (How two of my favorite little people used to say it!) We’re fortunate to live in the country where good hamburger is available. The grocery store in my teeny-tiny little town, Nilssen’s – named after the family that owns and operates it, makes award-winning ground beef. I use 80/20 from them, but it’s not like 80/20 from other stores. It’s very lean and incredibly tasty. If you’re buying regular hamburger meat, you might want to opt for a leaner variety such as 93% lean or better.  If not, be sure to drain the fat after you brown the meat.

Price breakdown: 

  • Tomato soup:  this can vary in price from $0.25 a can to over $1
  • Hamburger: Ground Beef in my area ranges from as low as $2 per pound if you buy in bulk, but the good stuff I buy costs $3.79/lb at my local butcher which is still cheaper than most places I’ve found!
  • Mashed Potatoes: You can make from whole potatoes, or from potato flakes – whichever you prefer. Neither are very expensive, but obviously you pay for convenience. A serving of 6-8 instant potatoes costs about 25¢, if that. Real potatoes are going to be more like 10¢
  • Total = You can make this whole meal and serve up to 5 people for around $4 – $5!!

Easy Hamburger Pie Casserole

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Food: Easy Hamburger Pie Hotdish Casserole | Recipes


  • Author: Gimmie
  • Total Time: 25 mins
  • Yield: 5 1x
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Description

Easy and fast, can be baked or made as a one-skillet meal! This tasty meal uses as few as 3 ingredients.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground beef hamburger
  • 1/2 cup onion (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • dash pepper
  • 1 can green beans (optional)
  • 1 can condensed tomato soup – undiluted
  • 1/2 cup water
  • Prepared Instant potatoes
  • 1/2 cup shredded American or Cheddar cheese (optional)

Instructions

  1. Brown meat in skillet, add salt and pepper. Add onions (if desired) and saute. Drain off grease.
  2. Add condensed soup, water and green beans (if desired, or serve on the side) and simmer on low for 5 minutes.
  3. Prepare 4-6 servings of instant potatoes, as directed. Or peel & quarter 5 medium potatoes, boil in water for 20 minutes or until fork tender, remove and mash with 2 cups milk and 3 T butter.
  4. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of potatoes.
  5. For quick skillet meal: spoon mashed potatoes on top of meat mixture and cook for 5 minutes
  6. For oven baked meal: pour meat mixture into casserole dish, spoon mashed potatoes as top layer, leaving a crater (hole) in center for faster baking time. Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 350 F for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are golden.
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Cuisine: American

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Filed Under: Recipes, Main Course, Meat Tagged With: all recipes, beef, breakfast casserole, campbells soup recipes, casserole, dinner ideas, Easy Hamburger Pie Recipe, evergreen, food, food network, green bean casserole, ground beef recipes, hamburger hotdish, hamburger pie recipe, hamburger recipes, healthy recipes, homemade, hotdish, mom's casserole, potato hamburger casserole, recipe, recipe using ground beef, recipe using hamburger, recipe using tomato soup, recipes, recipes with ground beef, shepards pie, shepherds pie, shepherds pie recipe, sloppy joe casserole, soup recipes, tater tot casserole

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