Crazy Kitchen Concoctions

Here's a rundown of my most recent (over the last few weeks) kitchen experimentations:

• I started a half-gallon jar of beet kvass. It will be sitting on my kitchen counter for the next two days. This is my first time trying it, and it was pretty easy to make. It is supposed to be a good liver/kidney tonic. It's also supposed to be tasty, but we'll see about that.
  
• I made a kefir cheesecake a couple of weeks ago, and I'm going to try another one in a week or so. I've got my kefir in a jar sitting out on the counter (my counters are quite full these days). When it has separated into whey and cheese, I will strain out the whey and have kefir cheese. Last time I made the cheesecake, it was a little dry. This time I'm going to try a no-bake recipe, which will preserve the probiotics in the kefir-cheese. It tasted pretty good the first time, and I think it will be even better the next time I try it. Did you know that cheesecake could be really good for you?
• We had eggnog on the evening we put up the Christmas tree. It turned out good, but too sweet. I guess that's what you get when you don't measure your honey but just dump it into the blender. I believe I used egg yolks, real milk, real cream, vanilla, honey, and salt. Then whipped it up in the blender. I didn't whip the egg whites to add to the mixture, so it was a little runny. Maybe if I add a few ice cubes next time it will be colder and thicker. Of course I had nutmeg on the top, too. My kids weren't too interested in the nutmeg, though.
  
• I made butter again last week, and plan to make some every few weeks when needed. It is really not that hard to do, and it's fun to see that butter rise to the top when you open up the blender. I also made it in my food processor, and it works well either way.
  
• Now that I'm making butter, we also have old-fashioned buttermilk to use up, so we have had buttermilk pancakes and biscuits lately. This is different than the buttermilk you buy at the store. That kind is cultured. We already have lots of culture(s) in our house, so I guess it's ok if our buttermilk is not.
  

Now I have to do something equally crazy. Eventually I will have to sweep the kitchen floor. I'm just waiting for that perfect moment.

As a postscript to my last post, Kansas Milkmaid has up several more good posts - Farm Crisis Part 3, and another one called "Is cheap food really cheap?"