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lots of leftover 2% milk - recipe ideas?

My mother has been away from my father for a month on vacation. Since I've been checking in on him every week, I usually pick him up some things at the store while I'm there. This week as I was unloading the grocery bag and putting a new half gallon of milk in the fridge, I noticed a third of a gallon and a brand new half gallon looking up at me from the shelves.

I hate wasting, and have to admit I'm not much of a milk drinker myself. Besides having a contest to see who can drink all of it under an hour and not vomit, are there any recipes I can make that require a great deal of milk?

Thanks!

21 Comments:

How about some rice pudding (Kheer)? Super simple and affordable plus you don't have to stand at the stove forever.

1 half gallon milk
1/2 cup long grain rice, soaked in luke warn water for 30-45 minutes.
1 1/2 cups sugar
3-4 cardamom pods
1/2 slivered almonds, pistachios
1/2 tsp rose water (optional)
a few threads of Saffron (optional)

Boil milk over medium heat, once it comes to a bubble turn the heat down and simmer for almost two hours, reducing the milk. Add cardamom.
drain the soaking rice, slightly crush them with a wooden spoon. add to the milk and cook until the rice is throughtly cooked and integrated into the milk. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Add the slivered almonds, add sugar and bring it to another bubble. Taste test. Turn off the heat. Add rose water and saffron, if using. Pour into serving dishes and sprinkle more slivered almonds. Cool to room temp, then refrigerate.

tapioca pudding?

I would recommend a recipe called Kheer, Indian rice pudding.
I just made some this afternoon, super easy and uses up a fair amount of milk. Much better to eat a sweet, cinnamon dessert than to drink all that milk.

Great minds think alike, judging by first comment.
My second suggestion would be to make a cream of broccoli & cheese soup or any other type of dairy based soup.

how about making yogurt?

Homemade chai tea.

I'd totally make paneer. An Indian fresh cheese, paneer doesn't melt and can be a substantial substitute for meat. I like to cut it into cubes, brown it in a pan, and then throw it into all sorts of inauthentic Indian and Thai dishes.

To make: bring the milk to boil in a stock pot, then add lemon juice (1/3 cup per gallon of milk). The milk will separate. Strain curds into a colander lined with cheese cloth, then press your cheese between two plates. Refrigerate overnight and voilà: dense cheese goodness!

Pudding was my first thought too. Homemade pudding is sooooo good (way better than the boxed mixes), and there are good recipes out there for about any flavor imaginable. Take it a step further, if you like, and use that pudding in a pie, a trifle, etc. Cream-based soups are also a good suggestion, and something you could do now and freeze for later. Higher fat milks work well in drinks too, such as smoothies and milkshakes. Beyond that...l don't know...lots of cereal?

Why hasn't anyone suggested Dulce De Leche? The foodnetwork website has a great recipe from alton brown using whole milk (not canned condensed milk), I'm sure you could make it with 2%. It will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

Try to make the curdled Dulce de Leche too... it's different and tangier, but really good.

http://www.univision.com/content/content.jhtml?cid=489201

The recipe is in Spanish, but let me know if you're interested and I can translate if necessary.

@madelyn, I'm interested. Dulce de leche is soooooo good.

As for the rest of the milk, buy some cream, make ice cream, and slather the dulce de leche on top.

Make ice cream for sure! Then take the ice cream and make milk shakes.
Sausage and gravy--I've used 2% and it's just fine.

pudding and rice pudding would be good and easy. You can also freeze milk if you are not able to use it up.

rice pudding bread pudding a big batch of mac and cheese you can freeze.

Or make tres leches cake! Yum.

And have a talking to with your dad about not drinking his milk. :P

for the benefit of dbcurrie and all those interested... here goes the Dulce de Leche Cortada recipe in English. This recipe was taken from the Univision.com site and comes from chef Jaime Vazquez from rest. La Carreta in Miami, FL. I have eaten thsi dessert many, many times when I was growing up, but I have never made this recipe in particular...

DULCE DE LECHE CORTADA

Ingredients:
2 liters of milk
1 lb sugar
4 egg yolks
1 green lime or limon criollo – you’ll use both the rind and the juice
1 cinnamon stick
3 drops of vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Mix well the milk and sugar. Add the egg yolks and the juice of ½ lemon. When everything is well blended, pass thru a fine sieve.

Add the vanilla, salt, cinnamon and the zest of ½ lemon. Let the mixture rest about 30 mins. (If you're not too fond of lemon zest in recipes... just cut a few pieces of rind and let them steep in the mixture while it rests... the flavor will be in the mixture without the pieces of zest.)

Place on top of high heat until it just starts to boil. Reduce the heat to medium and stir once in a while. When the mixture has turned golden and it develops some sort of syrup, it’s done.

Remove from heat and transfer to the fridge to cool. This dessert is best served cold.

This dessert is very sweet, so it’s traditionally served with pieces of cheese to cut the sweetness – cheddar cheese or white cheese are very popular.

I was just metioning to my mom that I did not know that this Dulce de Leche Cortada dessert had egg... she mentioned that the Puerto Rican version does not include it. It's just milk, sugar and lemon rind.

So... if you're not into eggs like me, just omit them. I do not think it needs them at all..

You can freeze milk.

I second what CJ said. Measure into cups or half-cups and freeze. Take some home and use in your own baking or cooking. Also the puddings, hot cereal and muesli (if he eats such things), ice milks and sorbets, cherry soup or other fruit soups, other cream soups, mashed potatoes, cakes (instead of water), cream gravy...... Milk separates a bit when you thaw it so not all uses would be as good as with fresh, but you can certainly do enough. I learned all kinds of tricks for slipping milk into things for its nutritional value when a friend was caring for an elderly family member. For puddings, consider unusual ones such as tapioca, or the classic baked rice pudding that nobody does anymore (just stirring rice, sugar, spices, and dried fruit if you like it, into a LOT of milk and baking slowly), indian pudding (molasses and cornmeal and sugar and spice), and so forth. Custard pies. Custard sauce over summer fruits.

And stop buying your dad so much milk!

Pudding, flan, all good suggestions. I'm lactose intolerant, so I often replace cream in recipes with 2% lactose-free milk (I don't drink whole, and it doesn't come in small sizes). I would imagine you could make some nice "cream" soups and macaroni and cheese with it. :)

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