Tomato, Green Bean and Carrot Salad

This recipe is LOOSELY based on a Fannie Farmer recipe that is made up mostly of green beans with a bit of tomatoes and no carrots. But since I still have lots of tomatoes that need to be used, and the green beans are just coming on, I switched their amounts and made a tomato salad with the other vegetables I had on hand (like carrots instead of celery). It turned out pretty well, and was definitely an interesting salad. I would probably make this again, as it was bursting with flavor and used a lot of tomatoes.

For this, I used:
3-5 medium tomatoes (about 4 cups, chopped)
1 c. green beans
1/2-3/4 c. black olives
2 medium carrots
1 very small red onion (or 1/2 medium)
1/2 c. vinaigrette dressing

1. Remove stems from green beans and cut to about 1 1/2 inch pieces
2. Put on to steam 5-10 minutes, until slightly soft but still a bit 'squeak' when bitten
3. Meanwhile, chop tomatoes
4. Put carrots and onions through a food processor or grate/mince them
5. Cut black olives if whole
6. Mix all ingredients together and dose liberally with vinaigrette/French dressing
7. Take green beans off heat and chill in fridge until cold, then toss into salad
8. Eat plentifully!

Homemade Cream Cheese

A while back, I found a recipe for making your own cream cheese (on Pinterest, of course). I pinned it, and a while later, found it forgotten like so many other pins. I read the recipe and it sounded really easy. So I went to my local natural foods store, where they told me they didn't sell rennet and that they didn't know of anywhere locally that sold it. WHA???

So, I gave up on it for a while. Then, a friend of mine brought some homemade cheese to a party. Weirdly enough, when I asked where she got her cultures, she said she got them at the brewing store. So, I went to the brewing store and amid all the beer-making tools, found rennet and cheese cultures. I got some and then got busy with canning. Finally, over Labor Day Weekend, I had enough time to make the cheese. At that point, I'd had an 8 oz. container of heavy cream floating around the fridge for over a month!

When I got around to making it, I couldn't believe I'd put it off so long. It is beyond simple. I thought it was going to be really expensive, and therefore something I'd only make once, but in the end, it ended up making so much more cream cheese than I thought, so it wasn't even expensive.

For a cost breakdown I got:
1 gallon of organic milk for about $8.
1 cup of organic cream for $2.
1 packet buttermilk culture for $1.
1 bottle of rennet for $8, but since I only used 3 drops, that's about, I don't know, a nickel.

So the total for what I used was $11.05

I got:
3 8 oz. packets organic cream cheese
1 quart buttermilk
1.5 quarts of whey for cooking
1 quart milk left for everyday use

Not bad, if you ask me!

For this, you will need:
butter muslin or fine muslin--I couldn't find anything called butter muslin, so I just bought some muslin with a tight weave and the lady at the fabric counter said she made cheese and it would work. It was just called original muslin, I think, or maybe fine muslin.

1/2 gallon whole milk, at room temperature (pasteurized but not ultrapasteurized)
1 c. heavy cream, at room temperature (pasteurized but not ultrapasteurized, if you can find it. I could only find ultrapasteurized organic cream, so I had to use that, and it worked fine).
3 drops rennet
3 tbsp. buttermilk
salt to taste

Opening the cloth...and here it is!

 So, pour your half gallon of milk and your cream into a large bowl and stir it. Let it sit until it's at room temperature--I think ours was about 75 or 78 when we decided to go ahead.

Add your buttermilk and stir until well mixed, maybe 30 seconds.

Add 3 drops of rennet and stir gently for 1 minute.

Cover the bowl and let it sit for 24 hours undisturbed.

At this point, it will look about like yogurt.

Dampen your cheese cloth (butter muslin) ahead of time, or when you're ready for it. Then lay it over a colander with the center of the cloth in the colander basin.

Gently spoon the yogurt-like mixture into cheese cloth and secure the ends and tie so it hangs in a bag. 

Hang it from a sturdy cabinet door handle or somewhere it can hang undisturbed for another 24 hours. We used a steamer basket instead of a colander, with the steamer pan under the basket. Then we just hung it over the steamer for 24 hours (NOT ON THE STOVE). That way, it could drip into the bowl but nothing else got into the whey, like fruit flies or other critters.

After 24 hours, unwrap your baby cream cheese! It will be soft and pliable. It was a bit sour tasting until we stirred in the salt, and then it tasted just like store cream cheese. The texture is a bit different since it doesn't have gelatin added. It's super creamy and delicious. And so simple--just set it up and leave it and voila, organic cream cheese!

Make sure you put the whey that dripped out into the fridge, too. You can use it in bread or pancakes or soup in place of stock.

Coconut Almond Macaroons--Gluten Free, Grain Free

Okay, this is my first recipe that's not from Fannie Farmer. Why? Because this blog is Fanny and Me. So here's one that I made for me. I'm still doing mostly Fannie, so I can cook every day. But when I make something from another source, I'm posting it here as well.

I've decided that I'm going to have to expand from Fannie Farmer and do some posts about the recipes I make that are not from Fannie. I have been doing them on my other blog, but that just takes too much time! So I'm combining my cooking endeavors into one blog...those from Fannie, and those for me. 
I found this recipe on Pinterest of course, and it looked really simple and healthy. It's based on this recipe over at Grain Crazy blog. She has a ton of healthy recipes over there.

This one did taste a little granola-girl, but it was still good. It reminded me of something my vegetarian hippie parents fed me when I was a kid. Of course, back then it would have been a big treat. With all the processed foods around, my son wasn't very interested in these. He did eat one and say they were good, though. Also, my uber-picky sister ate one and, even though she professes to hate almond extract, said she liked them. So did my mom. So they have the approval of everyone, and I'm calling them a success.

 For the recipe, I used:

1 c. raw almonds, blended
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1/4 c. coconut oil (mine was congealed at the time, but you could use liquid, though I'd say it would probably make it a bit more tricky).
2 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Mix everything in a small bowl and set in fridge to harden a bit. I only put mine in for half an hour, though you could do longer.
Remove from fridge and shape into balls.
Return to fridge for about an hour, or until hardened.

Like I said, these were so simple to make and very healthy and yummy. They are, however, sort of expensive, like most healthy food. I don't know that I'd make these every day, but they are a great tasting healthy recipe that I'll try to use as a snack again sometime. 

Fresh Salsa

I used this for a party and it was excellent. I love fresh salsa, and this was a great recipe. I would definitely make it again. This was from the newer Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and this is my adaptation, not the exact recipe.

I used:

Tomatoes from my garden.

4 medium tomatoes, about 4 c. when chopped
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 jalepenos, diced, seeds removed
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
half a bunch of cilantro, chopped (about 1/2 c. chopped)
pinch of oregano (I didn't have this, so I used a dash of Italian seasoning, and it wasn't noticeable).

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, and voila. Salsa. 

This recipe was really great. She calls for 2 cloves of garlic, too, which I would use next time but I was all out. She also uses a can of green chillies, which is just weird to me. So I left those out. It still turned out great, and everyone at the party liked it, especially with the tomatoes from my garden that were super sweet. Even my son ate it, onions and all, which must be some kind of miracle. The only thing I'd change is that it wasn't at all hot, so next time, I might leave the seeds in one of the jalepenos.