Cottage Cheese
All you need is skim milk!
Let it sit out in a covered pot for a few days until it "clabbers" or sets up like soft jello. The time this takes varies depending on the temperature and humidity - it's longer in the winter, shorter in the summer heat and recently I learned that milk will clabber "overnight" if even a tiny thinderstorm goes through! So just be ready to make cheese shortly after it gets to that point.
Next, put the pot on the stove and cut the clabbered milk into a grid of 1/2in squares all the way to the bottom of the pot and then horizontally as much is you can - the point is to make fairly even sized chunks. Turn the heat on medium low to medium and gently heat to 120 degrees F slowly turning up from the bottom every 5 minutes or so - you want to heat the curds evenly with out breaking them up too much. They will shrink and seperate into "curds and whey" Once it reaches that 120 - which feels like a nice hot bath temperature - turn the heat off and let it sit for 20 min or so.
Finally, strain the whey off in a collander (save it though - it has many uses in Traditional cooking!) and let the cheese drip drain in either the same collander or a tight weave cheese cloth or thin tea towel. It takes 2-3 hours to be basically fully drained and you are done!
Tips -
If you let it clabber too long the cheese will hold a strong "sour" taste and most people don't care for that even though it won't hurt you.
Stirring to harshly breaks up the curds and the finally product will be small curds which are easy to overcook and get crumbly.
If the heat gets too hot for too long your cheese will be tough and hard.
Don't try this with "store" milk - it will just rot!
Don't bleach the pot you use - honor the "aliveness" of cultured cottage cheese! If the pot is too clean, the bacteria that sours the milk properly won't be able to live. If you intend to use that pot again just use hot water and soap to wash it. Lots of old timers say don't even use soap but rinse with hot water!
We love to eat it with fresh cream, chives or green onions and salt and peper but you can experiment with all kinds of herbs, including garlic and dill - let your imagingation run!