Crying Over Spoiled Milk?

When the milk starts to smell a little on the sour side, do you pour it down the sink? Do you feed it to your dog? Well, in the spirit of Elastic Mom stretching precious resources, here are some excellent sour milk user-upper ideas:

Bake it into anything.... cakes, breads, puddings, muffins and whatever else you can think of. I most often substitute it for yoghurt in my basic bread recipe. Or how about some bread and butter pudding. Spread slices of bread with butter and jam and arrange them in a baking dish. Beat the milk with some eggs and sugar. Pour this over the bread and leave to soak for a good hour or so. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake until puffed and golden. Yummy.

Instead of serving the baked or roast potatoes you had planned to make for dinner, mash them up with the sour milk, a bit of butter, crushed garlic and some seasoning.

Warm your family's tummies with a nourishing soup made with whatever meat and veggies you have, and of course that darned milk. How about making a basic white sauce with it and then adding fried onions, some stock, sweetcorn and tuna or chicken. Topped with cheese it makes for a delicious chowder.

Speaking of white sauce. Any slightly soured milk makes great cheese sauce for pasta dishes.

Serve oats porridge cooked up with half water, half milk ( the one you're getting rid of), some raisins, a cinnamon stick, grated apple, and nuts if you like. Served with honey on top your family will think you are spoiling them and not realize you're really swindling them.

As the cliché goes: Prevention is better than cure. USE IT BEFORE YOU LOSE IT.  If I have vast quantities of milk that is not being used up fast enough, then I try to make yoghurt with it before it goes sour. Otherwise, I plan a dessert that needs generous helpings of custard. And then there is always milk tart - a traditional South African Dessert - baked custard flavoured with cinnamon.

I could carry on until the cows come home. Speaking of cows. What do you do with your leftover milk?