Micro Dairy...back in business! 

      So maybe you've heard, I hurt my back in October, so I've been very limited in what I can and can not do.  It was all I could do to just get through each day for a while...then as I began to heal, my thought wandered to milking and making delicious dairy products for my family.  I didn't expect to have to milk Bossie until later this spring, and hoped I would be all healed up by then.  But, as life sometimes does, it threw a curve ball. Poor Bossie lost her calf in early January.  So...before I wanted to...we began milking her daily so she wouldn't dry up, leaving us without a source for fresh raw milk this year.  My dear husband helps each evening, so I don't have to lift anything when we milk.  Bossie is giving us 1 gallon per milking, which is enough for us to have a 1/2 gallon of ice cream, 2 lbs or more of fresh mozzarella, a couple cups of Ricotta, some cottage cheese, a couple gallons of 2% or so milk for drinking, and a lb or more of Farmer's Cheddar in a weeks time. That is plenty of dairy for anyone!  Once Goldie, our Jersey heifer calf is fresh, next summer, we will be drowning in milk!

How to Make Homemade Noodles

2 Cups All Purpose Flour and 1 T salt, put in mixer with dough hook (if you don't have an awesome mixer with a dough hook, just put in a med or lg bowl.

In a measuring cup, add one egg, a couple tablespoons of oil, and enough water to bring it to 2/3 cup.  Slowly pour this into the flour as you mix, either with the hook or by hand.  Don't add all the liquid at once...just keep  mixing and adding until it's a nice workable, not too sticky, not to crumbly texture...like playdough. If you get it too sticky, just add more flour until it's right.

Divide the mixed and kneaded dough into 4 parts, roll each one to the about 1/4 thick, using flour on the counter and on top of the dough to keep it from sticking. With plenty of flour on top, then roll the noodle dough up into a roll, like a log, and cut the noodles into the width you want (like 1/2" or so). Unroll each noodle you cut and let it dry, either hanging on a dryer rack, or on a cookie sheet. (Make sure you toss flour on them or they will stick together...try to keep them from laying on top of each other too, they need air to dry)