I’ve started a new little challenge for myself. Every week I pick a new recipe from a favorite blog, cookbook, cooking magazine, etc. and try to make it completely out of items in my “home store” pantry. That means nothing from the fridge or freezer, and I have to have it on hand already. It’s been pretty fun so far. I made Chicken Mozzarella Pasta, Peanut Butter Poodle Pancakes, and most recently “Calm Before the Storm” lasagna (all pics on our Facebook page).
For the lasagna. Here is the recipe I was originally working off of found in my Rachel Ray cooking magazine:
Most of the substitutions were pretty easy. I used Thrive Freeze-Dried Ground Beef, chopped onions, and tomato powder for the basic sauce. I used freeze dried mozzarella cheese which I’ve tried before on pizza and it works great. The question I was worried about was the ricotta cheese layer. I decided to google making homemade ricotta and found this recipe which seemed like it would work with powdered milk so I gave it a try! It’s a simplified version of ricotta, you can make true ricotta by doing even more processing but this was fast, easy, and tasted great to us.
Homemade Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients:
8 cups water
1 1/2 cups Thrive Instant Powdered Milk
1/3 cup lemon juice or white vinegar
1 tsp. salt, optional
1 T. oil or butter, optional
Directions:
Mix the water and milk powder in a large saucepan. Heat over medium heat up to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit (or just before boiling). The milk will get foamy and start to steam. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat and add in the lemon juice and salt and butter if desired. The oil/butter can be helpful to encourage the curds and whey to separate better since the powdered milk is a non-fat milk.
Let the mixture sit for 10-20 minutes. You should see the milk separate into curds (white clumps) and whey (yellowy liquid). Once it all seems to be separated, strain the curds using a strainer with small holes and/or a cheese cloth or clean t-shirt. I just used a strainer and it seemed to be fine. I like to make things easy. I let it strain for about 30 minutes and then squished out as much of the excess whey as I could by pushing against the curds with a spoon. It made a crumbly cheese that was perfect for this lasagna.
- Jodi Weiss Schroeder
http://yourthrivelife.com
Hi there! I’m Jodi. I teach busy moms how to save time and money in the kitchen while making healthy and delicious meals using freeze-dried foods.
chantal says
Big Question. I am using up old food storage and just have standard “Low Moisture Regular Nonfat Dry Milk”. Nothing as fancy as instant, will I be able to use it to do this??
admin says
I think it would work with regular powdered milk too, you’ll just want to make sure to get it mixed really thoroughly.
William Miller says
I made some simple mozzarella using whole fat powdered milk and used the resulti ng whey to make ricotta.. Great cheese.
Marla says
I’m intrigued by this! Do you think it could be made, then frozen for later use?
Jodi and Julie says
I’m not sure what the consistency would turn out like but I don’t think it would be HARMFUL to freeze it and save it. I’ve never tried freezing regular ricotta either though…
Karen W says
What did you do for the Parmesan? Sounds really good. I’m anxious to try it.
Rosanne says
Can i sub Rennet for the lemon or vinegar, i seem to be out of both…??
Jodi Weiss says
I’m not sure if that would be a valid substitution. If you try it let us know!