Winter Salad

1 cup grated apple
2 cups grated carrot
2 tsp. fennel seeds
1 cup chopped pears
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup grated cheese
1 tsp. lavender buds
1/4 cup plain yogurt

Combine all ingredients and chill.

Beetroot Salad

1 pound beet roots
1/2 apple juice, or other fruit juice
2 Tbls. olive oil
4 Tbls. minced chives, mint, or parsley, or a combination
Salt
2 cups, packed, of chopped lettuce and beet greens

Scrub the beets and grate with a large-holed grater. Toss with the lettuce and greens. Combine the juice, olive oil, and salt to taste. Toss with the beets and greens.

Serves 4.

Cold Mint and Apple Tea

8 cups hot water
4 mint tea bags
2 apples, grated

Mix together and steep until cool. Strain. Serve chilled.

Mossflower Vegetable Stew with Dumplings

7 cups water or vegetable stock
6 Tbls. corn meal
3 Tbls. oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 1/4 pound potatoes, diced
5 carrots, chopped
3 celery sticks, chopped
1 1/2 medium onions, chopped
1 1/2 cup peas
1 1/2 cup corn
3 cups beans, precooked

Dumplings:
2 1/4 cup flour (whole wheat, white wheat, or whole wheat pastry)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup milk or nut milk
1/3 cup minced parsley
3 egg whites

Whisk the corn meal into the water/vegetable stock. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Let it simmer, but not boil.

Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Stir in milk and parsley. Beat in egg whites. Drop dough in spoonfuls into the stew. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes until dumplings are done.

Mozzarella Fior del Latte (Mozzarella from Cow's Milk)

Makes about 12 oz. of cheese.

1 gallon milk
2 tsp. citric acid or lemon juice
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. rennet

Pour the milk into a large pot. Dissolve the citric acid in a bit of cool water and stir into the milk, or stir the lemon juice directly into the milk. Stir well. Heat the milk slowly to 90 F (use a food thermometer). Try not to let it get above 90. Once it reaches that point, you can turn off the heat without the temperature decreasing.

Dilute the rennet in a few tablespoons of cool water. My rennet is extra strength that says 1/8 tsp will work on 2 gallons of milk, so I try to approximate 1/2 of a 1/8 tsp. measure. If your rennet doesn't have a suggested ratio on the container, using 1/4 tsp. should be fine.

Stir the rennet dilution into the milk. Let sit until a curd forms, this usually takes 5-10 minutes. Check the curd by sticking in your finger and pulling it out horizontally. Your finger should come out mostly clean with the curd splitting apart around it. You can also check by pulling the curd away from the edge of the pot and having clear whey fill in the space.

Take a long, sharp knife and cut a grid pattern in the curd all the way to the bottom of the pot. Cut several more lines that slant through the depth of the curd. Let rest for a few minutes. The curd should be thick enough that you see the lines you cut, and the cuts will be filled with clear whey.

Line a large colander with cloth (in my experience the commercial cheesecloth is too gauzy, and normal muslin or light linen works better) and place the colander over a larger bowl. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the curd into the bowl. You're using the cloth to strain out the whey, which you'll put back into the pot and heat the whey in the pot to about 175 F.

Take a few tablespoons of the whey and mix with ice water and a few tablespoons of salt in a bowl.

Add salt to the curd to taste.

The stretching and kneading that follows is what makes this into mozzarella.

Knead the curd to work off more whey, depending on how dry you want the final cheese to be. Then bundle up the curd in the cloth and hang it in the pot of hot whey to warm it up. It needs to be almost too hot to touch when you take it out. Take it out, open the cloth, and knead and stretch the curd. When it gets cool, bundle it in the cloth, heat it up in the whey, take it out and continue to knead it. Continue doing this.

Eventually when you pull at it, it will start forming the stretchy grain that mozzarella is known for. When it's all smooth, stretchy grain instead of the little cottage-cheesy curd texture, start forming it into a nice ball of cheese by tucking the edges under to the middle. Then immerse the ball of cheese in the cold brine you made earlier, which sets the cheese.

You can store the cheese in the brine, or just in a plastic bag or container. As this is a fresh, all-natural, soft cheese, it should be eaten within a few days of being made.

White Cheese with Sage

1 gallon milk
2 tsp. citric acid or lemon juice
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. rennet
2 Tbls. minced sage leaves

Pour the milk into a large pot. Dissolve the citric acid in a bit of cool water and stir into the milk, or stir the lemon juice directly into the milk. Stir well. Heat the milk slowly to 90 F (use a food thermometer). Try not to let it get above 90. Once it reaches that point, you can turn off the heat without the temperature decreasing.

Stir the sage leaves into the milk. If you are making yellow cheese, add the carrot juice or turmeric at this point. I haven't measured exactly how much is needed, but it really is just a tiny amount. But it also depends on how strong you want the color to be.

Dilute the rennet in a few tablespoons of cool water. My rennet is extra strength that says 1/8 tsp will work on 2 gallons of milk, so I try to approximate 1/2 of a 1/8 tsp. measure. If your rennet doesn't have a suggested ratio on the container, using 1/4 tsp. should be fine.

Stir the rennet dilution into the milk. Let sit until a curd forms, this usually takes 5-10 minutes. Check the curd by sticking in your finger and pulling it out horizontally. Your finger should come out mostly clean with the curd splitting apart around it. You can also check by pulling the curd away from the edge of the pot and having clear whey fill in the space.

Take a long, sharp knife and cut a grid pattern in the curd all the way to the bottom of the pot. Cut several more lines that slant through the depth of the curd. Let rest for a few minutes. The curd should be thick enough that you see the lines you cut, and the cuts will be filled with clear whey.

Line a large bowl with a large piece of cloth (in my experience the commercial cheesecloth is too gauzy, and normal muslin or light linen works better). Pour all the curd and whey into the cloth. Add salt to taste. Twist the cloth closed at the top, trapping all the curd inside. The whey will pour out into the bowl.

Set up your cheese press. You can have a real one or a makeshift one like mine, where I put a wire cooling rack over the sink, placed the bundle of cheese on that, then put a cutting board on top. On the board I used heavy cans of food as weights to press down on the cheese.

Let sit for about an hour, then check to see how solid it is. I added more salt at this point, molded it with my hands into a thicker shape, folded the cloth around it so it didn't make creases in the cheese, and let it press for another 1/2 hour.

This makes about 1 1/2 pounds of a soft cheese.

Mint Ice Cream

1 cup fresh mint leaves

 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream

Wash and dry the mint leaves, removing the stems. Crush the leaves with the sugar until it resembles wet sand. Stir in milk and cream until the sugar dissolves. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Strain out the leaves, then churn and freeze in an ice-cream maker.