To celebrate our house being free of handymen and my being able to use the kitchen for the first time in weeks, I made small curd cottage cheese today! Here's the recipe/instructions:

• Heat 1 gallon of skim milk to 72F. Hold it at this temperature between 16 and 24 hours.
• Cut the resulting curd into 1/4 inch squares and let it sit for 15 minutes to solidify a little more.
• Heat the curds to 100F, going in 1F/minute increments, then hold at that temp for 15 minutes.
• Heat the curds to 112F in 1F/minute increments, then hold at that temp for 30 minutes, or until the curds are cooked to a semi-firm consistency.
• Pour off the whey, then hang the curds in a cheesecloth bag for about 10 minutes.
• Dunk the bag of curds into ice water a few times, then hang to drain again for 5 minutes.
• Put the curds in a bowl, break them up, and add salt to taste.
• Add a little heavy cream (actually, I used skim milk) if you'd like it a little moister.

Here is the finished product:

It's delicious (slightly more sour than what you typically buy in a grocery store), it's healthy, and it was really fun to make!

Next week I'm going to try cheddar!