Homemade Goat Cheese!

So about 2-3 months ago I found this really easy recipe for making your own goat cheese. I can't have cow milk products, so I've been enjoying goat milk tremendously. This recipe doesn't require that expensive rennet enzyme like your average cheese recipe, so I thought it was a good place start. I hadn't tried it yet for two main reasons: (1) our freezer's been stocked with goat cheese from our trips to Austin's Whole Foods, so why make it? and (2) they don't sell cheese cloths at Wal-mart, our main grocery station.

A few weeks ago, I removed both road blocks when I used the last of the delish mozzarella goat cheese (nom nom, yum) and we found cheese cloth at HEB. So this past Sunday I decided to take the plunge.

Now, keep in mind I've never made cheese of any kind before, so I felt a little helpless at times when the recipe called form me to make a judgement based on milk consistency. It's a lot like making candy: the look and feel are important.

So, I followed all of the directions about heating and adding lemon juice...

Side track...

Kevin and I went to Sam's Club on Saturday to pick up a few things, and I remembered that we were out of lemon juice. So we went to the cooking aisle thinking, if we find a container of lemon juice that's not too ridiculous in size we'll get it. Well the containers they had weren't bad (about half gallon), but they came in groups of two. We decided, might as well. So we now have about a gallon of lemon juice. Stop by our place if you ever need some.

Back to the main story...
Then the recipe said that the milk will be ready to strain in about 20 seconds after adding the lemon. The milk will curdle, the directions said, but not look like cottage cheese curdle. Okay, when I think curdle, I think lumps of some size, any size. I wasn't seeing lumps of any size in my lemon milk. So I chalked it up to a failed experiment and decided to let the milk cool on the stove and then use solution for ice cream.

30 minutes later...
I stick my finger in the milk and notice this fine white sand-grain sized pieces. Huh? Maybe that's what the recipe was talking about. So I pour the mixture into the cheese cloth (folded over about 6 times), and viola! Cheese! I took pictures, but they're not accessible at the moment so I'll have to post them next week. The pictures seen here are from other Web sites.

The cheese has the consistency of cream cheese and it's really mild in flavor! I also added in some fresh rosemary from our garden and a sprinkle of garlic powder. The only thing bad about this recipe is the waste. Lots of whey went down the drain and the quart of milk made less than a cup of cheese. Now I'm not sure if this is generally what happens with all cheese production, so I'm thinking that my next step is to get my hands on some rennet and try again with a new recipe.

On the running front...
I ran my first sub-9-minute-per-mile pace this past Monday. Wahoo!!! I've never run in the 8's before, so I must have hit a new mile marker in running. I ran 2 miles in 17 minutes and 13 seconds! The temperature when I got back home was 79 degrees. Way cooler than July, but still not quite cold, so there's hope that I'll go even faster once the temperature drops some more. Yes!!!!!

Cars, snakes, and Kent. Oh my!

Snakes
Went fishing again. Won't bore you with the details of the hunt, but needless to say we started out in the reeds and left rather quickly because, to the right of our kayak about 5 yards away, out popped a nice sized water moccasin. Hello! Not that much later after we high-tailed it to more open water, I spotted a big fat spider getting ready to crawl on my leg. I yelped in horror while Kevin pulled anchor and started pattling away thinking I had spotted another snake. Nope! Sorry Kevin, just a flesh-eating spider. Then the bees seemed to be really attracted to the bright colors on our life vests and the kayak. That was another tense moment. But I caught a 8 inch channel catfish. Yeah! Too small, so we threw it back. It needed to go back to school. Get it? Ha! Yeah...And then we lost our lure while Kevin was switching them around. Boo!

Cars
So after hour Power Hour class on Tuesday, Kevin and I left the parking lot in our separate cars. I made it home, Kevin didn't. I thought, hmm maybe he bumped into a student on the way or went back to his office? Wrong! Kevin called me at home. His car won't start and he thinks it's the battery because the positive connection is super corroded and might not be charging the battery properly. So I drive back to the parking lot. We decide we need to move his car backwards into the slot behind him so that I can bring my car around front. So we put it in neutral and we're rocking the car back and forward, back and forward and then get it moving off of the curb. Then we stop it and I go around the side to get in and steer. Noticed the car is locked. All keys are in said car. Right.... So we let the car roll back into position, call Pop-a-Lock, waste $30, then finally push the car into the right position. But does my car start his? Nope. So we call campus police and they come by with their battery jump start thing-a-ma-gig and we finally get it going. Rough day! But good thing we're in shape to push, we made it home, and we're were safe. Thank the Lord!

Kent
So I went on my first run of the week on Wednesday night with little "Clarp Kent." Decided to let him go as fast as he wanted for 2 miles. Well, that was fast indeed! Ran around a 9:27 pace. That's closer to my short distance race pace. He ran out of poop though towards then end and kept trying to take short cuts. I'd tell him, "come on Kent, you can do it, let's go, let's go." Then he'd reach down deep and pick up the pace again. Cute as all get out (not convinced, click on the pic to enlarge). Love it when he looks at me while running, like "Mom, this is fun!"

Thus endeth the week of extremes (so far).

After Run Wrap

Food Heaven

Kevin and I have been l-o-v-i-n-g our new George Foreman Grill. Although we don't use it every week because we have to take a little more care to hand wash it, it's allowed us to really add that grilled flavor we've been missing.

Grilled to Perfection

So, if you've been reading, you know that I've added more carbs to my diet the day before long extra long runs. That's helped tremendously with my little issue! But AFTER long runs, it's good to pack on the protein and veggies to feed my broken down and tired muscles (pronounced mus-culls in baby talk).

This is one of my favorite meals that we've had as of late. You got your GF (that's gluten free and George Foreman! Ha!) burger wrap with dressing and tomatoes, extra tomatoes on the side with sweet cucumbers (seasoned with sugar, wine vinegar, salt), grapes, and fresh corn on the cob. Whahoo! That's a tasty meal! We cooked up a pound of 80/100 beef (got to have some fat so the GF grill doesn't create rock-for-burgers), mixed in some fresh rosemary from our herb garden, and it's a major wham-oh on the taste buds.

Sweet Cucumber Goodness!

Man! My stomach is a rumblin' just thinking about it. After run meals are the best!

Oh, and don't be fooled. I had many a hand full of grapes and almonds while we waited on the burgers to cook. Yummy in the tummy! Yummy in the tummy! [last two sentences must be read in a sing-song voice]

I Need Some Meat

Kevin and I had a pretty rapid-fire Labor day weekend of good fun, food (Katherine friendly of course), company, and exercise. One of the main events was our first lake-fishing adventure in Texas. We didn't come back with any fish, but for several good reasons: we'd never fished that lake before, we'd never fished at that time before, we'd never fished for bass/catfish/crappie by ourselves before, we'd never fished with the bait and lures suggested to us before, and we'd never fished while in a kayak before. So here's a summary of our adventure in a nutshell. Feel free to chuckle or guffaw.

We rented a tandem kayak for free and piled in with our two poles and a backpack full of fishing goodies. We head out on the water and immediately noticed the difference that is "Labor Day weekend on the lake." Lots of boats! Lots of People! The water was choppy! But we coordinated our paddling efforts and make it to the reeds across from the lake house. In fact Kevin said we were way better than last time in the tandem.

Tandem Kayak (needs anchor)

We find a little alcove and start to start to take things out and set things up. The backpack is soaked at this point. We have a self-bailing kayak, that may be why... There's also the choppy water, that might have also contributed.

Kevin takes the first plunge at casting while I try to maintain our position in the water. And that's all I remember doing for about half of our time on the lake (total time spent was about 3 hours). Our conversation went something like the following. It should be noted that Kevin has a high frequency hearing loss, and depends half on his hearing and half on his lip reading to understand what I'm saying in places with a lot of background noise. It was very loud that day.

Reeds (not a good anchor)

Kevin: "Point me to those reeds."

Katherine: "Which reeds?"

Kevin: "WHAT?"

Katherine: "Which reeds?"

Kevin: "The ones on the right."
Kevin: "Can you turn me around?"
Katherine: "Okay."
[Katherine proceeds to turn clockwise]
Kevin: "Can you turn me around the other way?"
Katherine "Okay."
[Katherine proceeds to turn counter-clockwise]
Kevin: "We're right where I want to be casting."
Katherine: "Where do you want me to go?"
Kevin: "Left."
Katherine: "I'm having a hard time staying here."
Kevin: "WHAT?"
Katherine: "I'm having a hard time staying here."
Kevin: "Just push us to the right."
[This goes on for a while]
Katherine: "Kevin, I have to say that my level of stress is v e r y  h i g h."

Kevin agreed. So we decide to paddle a ways up this clearing of reeds and try to anchor ourselves to the reeds using our stringer. That helped a bit. I was then able to fish using a jig for some crappie. I had a bite at some point. Wahoo! But neither of us caught anything. We still floated around a bit even while anchored, so we'll be looking into something a little more substantial for next time. But our good times we're over yet. Here's what happened within the last hour of fishing.

With my back turned I said, "Kevin I think I need to pee."

Kevin: "You need some meat? We'll I'm trying to get you some meat just as soon as I catch a fish."

I laughed for a good 2-3 minutes before I could tell him what I actually said.

Good times. Good times.

This is Tired

Cutie Little Pups!

Kevin and I did our longest run yet this weekend. We went out to a country road and pounded asphalt for 14 miles. I was going at a similar pace to my original half marathon, and doing that with hills. I'm very excited! But after the run, Kevin and I were blobs. Big ones. We looked similar to the two lazy pups over there on the left. VERY similar.

As the runs get longer, I'm learning things about my body (what I should eat, when I should eat, how much sleep I need, how often I should train, when I need breaks, etc). This past weekend and directly after the half marathon a couple of weeks ago, I've learned that I have a form of this not so fun symptom. So my next tactic will be to eat low fiber meals the day before a long run. Hopefully that will lessen the after-workout problem for me. But it might set me back a bit on the losing a few pounds. We'll see...