Daring Baker's July Challenge

As humans, we are blind to the future.

I once overheard someone behind me as I was crossing the street.

"It's weird," She said. "I completely trust you and everything, but I've never crossed the street blindfolded before."

I didn't have to look back to know that a good friend of hers was likely guiding her across the street.

Isn't that how it feels sometimes when we try to follow Christ?

We know we're supposed to trust Him, but sometimes it's hard. Sometimes we wonder if there are cars coming. And we also might realize that the moment we let go of His hand and start going our own direction, we could get ourselves in some terrible or dangerous situations.

We can't see the future, so we have to listen close and hold on tight as Christ leads us into it. This isn't easy. But it must be done. If we quit following Him, we've cut ourselves off from the One who can see the future, yet we would still be blind.

Doesn't sound like a great idea to me: wondering around blind with no guide.

Even in cooking we sometimes need a guide. (Especially when we get hungry and our brains don't work as well!)

I could've used a guide for this month's Daring Baker's Challenge. We were guide-less, to an extent. It was a pick-your-own challenge from ANY previous challenge! Overwhelming.

Well I saw a few that seemed do-able but still challenging and I chose ricotta. I chose this because it would allow me to also complete another challenge: cannelloni. Well, the ricotta went really well and I highly recommend making your own.

The cannelloni, on the other hand, I would definitely not recommend making from scratch UNLESS you have a really good pasta rolling method. Please don't try it by hand--unless you have an unlimited amount of time and patience. It ended up tasting and looking wonderful by the end, but I had to throw a lot of pasta away and it caused me unnecessary stress.

This is how the "successful" pasta turned out!

Homemade pasta is delicious. Invest in a pasta roller :)

Because I didn't take a photo and it didn't go well, I won't include the cannelloni recipe here. Let's just pretend that all didn't happen. So onto the wonderful, simple, delicious ricotta...

This picture makes it look more like cottage cheese than it really did!

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Originally From the bartolini kithcens
Total time: 30 minutes to prepare, at least 2 hours to drain.
Makes about one pound (about ½ kg) of cheese

Ingredients:

8 cups (2 litres) whole milk (homogenized)
1/2 tablespoon (7 ½ ml) (9 gm) table salt
5 tablespoons (75 ml) white distilled vinegar

Directions:

1.Combine milk, cream, and salt in a large non-reactive pot and stir over medium heat as you bring the temperature up to 85°C (185°F) (about 15-20 minutes).

2. Add the vinegar all at once and stir for 15 seconds; heat for two more minutes before removing from heat.

3.Allow to rest undisturbed for 15 – 20 minutes

4. Using a small sieve or slotted spoon, remove the floating curds and place them in a cheesecloth-lined colander to drain

5.Place colander over a bowl in refrigerator and drain for at least a couple of hours or overnight (I found 2 hours was enough). The longer you allow it to drain, the more firm the results.

6.Remove the ricotta from the colander, place in airtight containers, and refrigerate.

Note:
-don't use store bought cheesecloth. Use a real cloth--some sort of cotton napkin or towel. What's shown in the photo is what I strained it in, and it worked perfectly!