BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

I'm literally dreaming of eating one of these right now and it definitely will be a midnight snack...figured I'd share the wealth.

The first time we ate one of these was at the fair, a glorious moment in time where you realize that this combo of food is what you've been missing all your life...food perfection.  Of course this is not to say that it's the *best* thing I've ever eaten, but for a snack to make at home, I'm not sure it can be beat.  We have since tried to re-create that perfection at home, it's so easy and beyond good...I don't quite know why I always forget about them, but I often do.  And when I remember, I get excited all over again.  Unfortunately now that I've given such an intro you will inevitably be disappointed...so don't get your hopes too high...but I think you might just like it, at least a little bit.

Silly Old BBQ Quesadillas

One flour tortilla
Melt able cheese like Colby jack or cheddar or something you like
Leftover shredded chicken, or make some for this...about a bowl full, 1/2 -1 cup...how hungry are you?
BBQ sauce...I'm sure any and all kinds would be great.

Heat tortilla on a oiled or dry pan, I've done both and they are both good.
Slice cheese and put around your tortilla.
Put your chicken in a bowl and add a generous amount of bbq sauce...mix to coat.
Add chicken to your tortilla...let it all heat, shake the pan sometimes.

Fold over your quesadilla with a spatula and  cut on a board and serve with sour cream and salsa if you like...plain is also good.

Enjoy!

I know I will.

Not my quesadillas.  This woman added onions to hers...to each their own...maybe I'll add jalapenos.

FETA update

So happy to announce two out of the three fetas turned out great!  We did a taste test (well the men that were here) and liked them very much.  The kids then did their own and also liked them very much.  I'm a happy cooker.  The one I liked best was the easies to make.  It simply takes our "farmers cheese" we make regularly and then you heavy brine it (salting it) and then pickle brine it for a week.  Could not be easier!  Now we'll see how they are after 2 weeks, etc.  I kind of want to try some other feta recipes now that I've watched more YouTube videos on it, I like the idea of using the whey (with added salt) as a brine for the feta, seems less wasteful.  The cheese book we have is great but I really want to strangle the author sometimes...he makes things much harder than they need to be.

Yesterday I made cottage cheese and today I made mozzarella...guess what I'm making tomorrow?  (Hint:  It includes moose burger and spaghetti sauce and layers...yum)

FETA

It's silly that we have not made feta before, but today was the day!  I'm doing 2 different recipes with the same brine method to see which one turns out best...they are both draining now and will 'till tomorrow.  Then onto the salty brine 'till tomorrow night, then into the "regular" brine for a week.

I can't wait to try them!

Feta hanging overnight.

Farmers Cheese & Chocolate Custard Icecream

Wednesdays at our house are typically vegan, so it's a painful day to make such delights but very needed as we had 4+ gallons of milk in one of our extra fridges. 

I hadn't been planing on making them, but after a root canal re-do, I felt like it...go figure. I took 2 containers of lentil soup and one "mystery" soup out of the freezer and put them out to thaw.  There was dinner for later. Time to make the cheese.

Farmers Goat Cheese aka Chevre

2 gallons of milk into a pot, very full, bring up to a boil or just under (when frothy).  Remove from heat.
1/2 c. white vinegar, mix in slowly to hot milk so it's very well combined, will separate, let sit about 10 min.

Prepare a colander with a cheese cloth/thin dish towel liner.  I prefer to put a bucket or pot underneath and collect the whey, our chickens love it.

Pour curds and whey into cloth. 

Add kosher or sea salt, I used about 2 Tbs today, taste it to see.  Let the curds drain for a bit. The cheese absorbs the saltiness so it typically needs more than you may feel comfortable putting it. Taste again to be sure you don't need more before you hang it.

At this point we put them into our little homemade cheese press and press it in the fridge overnight with a couple boxes of soda pop.

This makes a nice firm cheese, not super dry, just holds together nicely.  We cut it into quarters and vacuum seal it then put in fridge, it keeps a long time in the vacuum seal.  Otherwise you can freeze it. It's nice to slice and put on crackers this way.

Instead of pressing the cheese you can simply tie the cheese inside the cloth and drain it for a few hours and then eat, or overnight in the fridge.  Once I just put it into a round Tupperware container and used it as a spread for crackers the next day, then added smoked salmon.  Heavenly.  You can make this recipe as big or small as you like, just keep proportions mostly the same with the vinegar to milk. 

This is my fastest easiest method to use up extra milk. Our favorite cheese recipe are the squeaky cheese curds, but that takes 3-4 times as long to make. I like the non-goatiness of this particular cheese, people at church love it as well, it is very very mild. It also will not melt, you can fry up squares of it in a pan for Indian dishes that call for paneer. It's basically the same recipe. 

Goat Milk Chocolate Custard Ice Cream

I combined Rachael Ray's technique (mix all in a blender) with the Ben and Jerry recipe, then added in my own need to use up a ton of goats milk, and this is what I made:

Their recipe, like most icecream recipes, called for 1 1/2 c. milk and 1 c. cream, but separating goats milk is such a pain in the, so I decided to condense my own milk and try that and replace the milk and cream.

I made 4 batches of the custard because we had so much. It will keep nicely in the fridge until I'm ready to turn it into ice cream.

Prepare condensed milk (a couple of hours letting the milk evaporate on the stove using a heavy bottom pot, stirring often 'cause the darn skin keeps forming), I took about 8 c. milk and it made about 6 1/2 c. condensed milk.

2 eggs in blender, blend for a minute or so.
1 c. sugar and 1/3 c. cocoa powder mixed, pour in about 1/2 and blend
1/3 c. chocolate chips, I only had semi-sweet, blend
1 1/2 c. hot condensed milk, pour in a bit of a time to blend as to not hard cook the eggs but to melt the chips
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
add any sugar and cocoa powder you still have out.
fill the blender up to the 4 cup line with regular milk...about 1/2 or 3/4 cups.

Pour into cups or into a qt jar to use later in the ice cream maker. Chill for a couple hours. Then use in your icecream maker, follow the instructions on your machine.

Beautiful pic of some paneer with herbs added along with the salt. (not mine)