homemade American cheese

When I told my hubby I was going to make this-um, let’s just say he disapproved. Not that we don’t use/eat American cheese- we do on occasion for grilled cheeses, and cheeseburgers, mainly…but it’s not one of those things we would eat unmelted. He disapproved because he had no clue how I was going to make it and feared coming home to a “not so fresh” house. “Honey, I’m home. Are you making cheese?” is not something he wanted to say. Me either, I would much rather hear “Honey, I’m home. It smells great in here and I won the lottery!”

So…cheese. Now- this is not “junk” cheese. It’s real. And it melts really well. It’s real because you begin with real cheese add some magic ingredients and poof-a 2lb brick of edible gold.

There will be a printable at the end of this post. I am so happy to finally have that for y’all. Now, I will be going back and editing all my previous posts (there are 246 of them) so you can print those, too. See how much I like you guys!? note: the print function works best with Mozilla Firefox, it did not work for my old-a** Internet Explorer. I am working on that. If you use IE and it works, let me know, please! Thanks.

I know what you’re thinking: how does it slice? Let me show you:

look at that! Like butta!

To make this- you need a blender. A food processor may work, I didn’t try it. The cookbook I got the recipe from was from 1978…I’m not sure if food processors were found in a lot of kitchens then. I was only 3.

First you whip up some hot water, gelatin and milk powder:

then add some shredded mild cheddar cheese:

Liquefy:

and place into a plastic wrapped lined pan:

groovy.

But, let’s keep it real.

Wanna see my mess?

Thought so.

It won’t be so messy next time…ha. Who am I kidding?

See the back splash-(the white part?) Yes- I am still waiting on my cabinets so I can paint. Ugh. 3 years in November….oh well.

[print_this]

How to make the world’s best American cheese:

From Make Your Own Convenience Foods by Don and Joan German

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs grated mild cheddar cheese

1 1/2 c HOT water

1/2 c plus 1 tbs instant nonfat dry milk

1 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder

Method:

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap.

In a blender, place: [from your ingredients above]

1/2 c hot water

3 tbs milk powder

1/2 tsp gelatin

whirl until frothy.

Add 1/2 lb of the cheese, whirl until liquefied and pout into prepared pan.

Repeat process 2 more times until all ingredients are used.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. (not you, the cheese. Okay, you can chill, too)

A note:  In my blender, I did the 1st batch then just one more batch with all the ingredients- it was fine. I guess it depends on how big/powerful your blender is.

[/print_this]I am going to try this with different shredded cheeses, also and some seasonings…its great this way, but this stuff will be fun to play with! Yum- imagine jalapeno and bacon bits in there? Me too.

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