RAW CREAM - 7 WAYS to add SERIOUS, LUXURIOUS LOVE to simple meals

Because of the high fat content in cream, it keeps much longer than milk. In fact, sometimes cream can last up to a month if you place it in the coldest spot in your refrigerator. It may form small chunks of fat that must be shaken out before using. But if it doesn’t smell spoiled, it isn’t spoiled. Trust your nose. Just pour some into a cup and smell it to make sure you’re actually smelling the cream and not the dried debris around the mouth of the jar.

That being said, I use cream regularly so I never have any leftover cream unless the jar got pushed back into the fridge and lost somehow. Nevertheless, there are ways to use up leftover cream and make your dishes taste even better, without feeling like you are taking the gamble of leaving it in the fridge for weeks.

1. Whipped Cream - this is most obvious. People think they need to make whipped cream to go on desserts, but I LOVE to whip cream and use it in my coffee, to top fruits or to top veggie soups! It does not HAVE to have sugar in it. You can whip the cream on its own and then use it 100 ways! I whip it with cinnamon for my coffee. You can stir it into a soup to add a silky magic to it that will elevate the soup to another level you never knew existed. For example, you can add the cream to top roasted winter squash soups!  It is so easy to season then roast winter squashes like butternut, pumpkin or acorn, blend them in a vitamix with hot bone broth. Use the bone broth to get the soup to just the right thinness. Then bowl the soups, top with the whipped cream and stir it in to each magical bite!
2. Flavored Cream for hot beverages - why not add some flavor to your cream to make your own holiday creamer? Whisking in flavored extracts and baking spices like cinnamon, ginger, allspice or nutmeg. My favorite combination is heavy cream with turmeric, blackpepper, ginger, cinnamon, clove & nutmeg! You can blend (I blend my coffee every morning) these or whip them to use for the hot beverages.
3. Homemade Ricotta Cheese. Did you know adding lemon juice and salt to boiling hot cream will make it curdle into fresh ricotta cheese? Add raw milk and raw cream to a pan. I like a 2:1 ratio, but you can play with that a bit to make it creamier or lighter as you wish. Add salt to the mixture, so the ricotta will be seasoned. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Remove the pot from the heat, then add two tablespoons of organic fresh lime juice. Stir everything together, and you’ll see that the mixture will curdle. Line a strainer with a moistened paper towel or cheesecloth (I use a very fine siv), and pour the mixture through to let the whey liquid drain away from the cheese. 20 minutes of draining yields my favorite texture, but you can let it drain longer if you want a thicker ricotta. The ricotta is now ready to be used! Stir in fresh herbs and spices to make an incredible cracker dip. We enjoy thinly slicing our cassava bread loaves and toasting them to the perfect crispness to enjoy these homemade fast herbal cheeses! More regularly however, I love to season the cheeses and use them on top of pork chops or lean steaks. The best use in my world however is when I elevate our grass fed ground beef chopped steak into an elegant main star of the plate simply by topping it with this luxurious herbed ricotta cheese!
4. Highest Quality Homemade Alfredo Sauce. I use Alfredo sauce with chicken and seafood all the time. Most people think this has to be a "PASTA SAUCE", but I love it as a MEAT & SEAFOOD GRAVY! I do enjoy it more over poultry and seafood, but I guess folks could enjoy it over any meat. It is SUPER FAST and easy to make as well. Mince some garlic and reserve. Finely grate some parmesan or in my case I love and will only use the real deal parmigiano reggiano. (This is THE ONLY CHEESE that I buy at Whole Foods Market. A note from Whole Foods: We support artisans, farmers and lovers of cheese. We source our wheels from five producers that we know personally. Our Parmigiano Reggiano® is made with raw milk — using the same traditional methods that were 'round since the world was flat — and aged at least 24 months for intense, complex flavors. Nutty, sweet, grassy, creamy, fruity. If I ever find a local cheese maker who will make this- they will have all my business.) You will need about a cup of grated parm (I always mean the real deal parmigiano reggiano when I say that. LOL- but seriously) Start some of our butter & ghee in a pan (you are making a gravy so you need the butter and butter oil). When the fat is heated so you see the butter foam up, add the garlic (at least a heaping tablespoon- you can't have too much garlic, go ahead an add a little more) keep the fat moving and when the garlic browns a tad slowly pour in the cream - about a cup. Now keep stirring, steady and constant, when the cream warms up add the parm and keep moving the sauce. You want to melt the parm- do not let it stick or scorch. season with salt and pepper to your taste but keep stirring, add a little more cream- another half cup is ok, you aren't making a cheese sauce, you are making a light gravy with cheese. It should be a LIGHT but deeply flavorful and rich sauce so as it cools it is silky, creamy, dreamy and not CHEESY. This is NOT Mac & Cheese. Once the additional cream is warm and the cheese and cream have blended - your sauce is ready to pour over any meat. You can have sauteed seafood or chicken or baked them in another dish and now pour this over that and stir this gravy into that dish until you are able to deglaze the meat pan of all its flavors into this Alfredo sauce. When you plate this silky dreamy creation, it should still flow richly across the dish but not run away from you like soup. I love to make shrimp Alfredo and top any other meat with it- like chopped steak, ribeyes, pork chops, chicken breasts...SURF & TURF!
5. Slow Cooker Cream of Chicken Soup. Slow cook one of our WHOLE BIRDS in distilled water only covering the bird a third or half way for a full work day OR overnight. Season the bird simply with salt, pepper, garlic granules and if you want to - add sliced ginger root and turmeric root. When you come home from work, or wake up in the morning - de-skin and de-bone the bird. Strain the broth out of the crock pot thru a fine sieve and wash out the crock. Replace the pulled meat back into the crock with the bone broth and add 2 cups of raw cream. Blend well. Turn the cooker on high and then enjoy the soup in 15 minutes - OR Put the cooker on LOW and then mince onions and mushrooms, saute them in ghee on the stove and then add those to the crock. You will probably still have 10-15 minutes left on the 30 minute timer. Stir in well. ENJOY when the timer goes off! SOME FOLKS want to add veggies- you can do that in the last half hour. We generally enjoy cream of mushroom and chicken soup or just creamy chicken soup. There are no rules here friends- EVERYTHING is fair game. Just chop the veggies and saute them in ghee and add to the soup in the last 30 minutes of slow cooking like the cream if you want veggies in there.
6. Spectacular Dressings or DIPS! Do you love whisking up homemade vinaigrettes? Try adding a splash of heavy cream to your classic herb vinaigrette. These are fabulous dips for meatballs, shredded meat, cubed chicken, shrimp, fish, all sorts of chops! Salads will never be the same. My Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix: 1 Tablespoon Dried Parsley, 2 teaspoons Dried Dill Weed, 1 teaspoon Dried Chives, 1 Tablespoon Garlic Granules, 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder, 1 teaspoon Real Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper. *All Frontier Organic seasonings* I blend this with 1/2 cup raw cream & 1/2 cup raw buttermilk for the perfect ranch everytime*
7. Sassy Sauces. After cooking proteins, deglaze your skillet with a little broth and a splash of heavy cream for a fabulous quickie pan sauce. You can also turn your marinara into a silky, gangsta gravy with just a touch of cream.