Fast and delicious - Spinach Ricotta Focaccia

Sometimes you just need something easy, tasty and QUICK!

That was me last week. It was a crazy, hectic week and I was not living up to that healthy writer appellation.

My body was craving real food, but I didn't have time to cook up a real meal.

I went rooting around in the refrigerator/freezer, and I am happy to report that the result was so good I've been craving it ever since.

But let's start at the beginning.

It was one of those weeks with lots of late nights at work, lots of meetings, etc.

I was HUNGRY!

I love this! I searched free clipart for hungry and he showed up. ;)

I didn't really want to spend much time cooking.

I opened the freezer and found a box of spinach.

The frig yielded a container of ricotta.

But I didn't want pasta.


Hmmmmm


Then I remembered!

Our local pizza place always gives us focaccia along with their pizza. I love focaccia bread, but if I'm already eating all the carbs in a pizza crust, I don't need bread too. So the focaccia usually goes in the freezer.

Perfecto!

Did I mention it's onion focaccia and to-die-for?

So dinner was this simple.

I heated up the spinach in a covered saute pan and
added in the ricotta to mix it all around and heat.












 I warmed up the onion focaccia bread and cut it into pieces to make it more manageable.










I spooned the spinach cheese mix onto the bread and sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top.











YES! I will definitely be making this again.

The focaccia had such a nice flavor and crunch beneath the cheese and spinach. So satisfying.

And it took about  five minutes.

Ricotta Cheese Apple Pie with Apricot Glaze

Hello, everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back with a delicious, high protein dessert that tastes good, too! 

I love cheese. I love aged, fresh, hard, soft, home made, store bought. I love Stilton, Gouda, Brie, Cheddar, Paremesan, Mozzerella. I love herbed chevre most of all, and we make our own! Just a few days ago, I made herbed goat cheese and with a pint of goat milk got about 8 oz of delicious fresh cheese for our French bread. 

Anyway, I also love pie. Some people put cheddar on their apple pie but I've never gotten into that. I do eat cheddar and apples together, and blue cheese and pears. But sweet-cheese combo has never been my favorite.

But a friend told me about this ricotta pie that has a lot of protein and not much sugar. I thought it would be a good break from the Nutella and fried apple pies we've had around here.

So, you'll need:

3 c. thinly sliced apples

1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs
1 c. ricotta cheese
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel

1/4 cup apricot jam

Pastry to line deep 9" pie pan

Mix the ricotta, lemon, sugar, heavy cream, salt together until completely smooth. 

Pour into pie shell.

Layer on the apple, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg mix. I actually left off the sugar from the apple mix because these were Fuji apples, which are very sweet naturally. I think with Granny Smith, I'd add the sugar back, but it was perfectly sweet without it.

Layer until the top of the pie is covered with apples.

Put the 1/4 cup apricot jam in a bowl with 4 TBS water. Heat/ microwave for several minutes until blended. I used a no sugar added apricot jam we made this summer from leftover apricots and it was delicious. You can get no sugar added apricot jam at the grocery store.

So, the pie is ready to go in for 400F for ten minutes. Then reduce the oven 350F and bake for 45 minutes. Before I put the pie in, I had second thoughts about that apricot, wondering if the cinnamon and apricot would go well together. A facebook friend commented that she makes a Jacques Pepin (he of the debone a chicken post!) pie with apples, cinnamon and apricot and it was delicious. So, I felt a little better about whether it was going to be a pie fail. 

 After it was done, I was afraid to take a bite.... but it was DELICIOUS. Like a cheese danish, but not as sweet.

 I was afraid it would spill over and it did a little bit, but I had a pan underneath the pies.

 Also, I added almond slivers to the top of one, just to add some crunch. Everyone said this was their favorite, so we may make it this way from now on!

That's all for now. Happy Halloween!!!
Be sure to run by Amazon and pick up my historical Christian novel, Purple like the West for FREEEEEE. Also, All The Blue of Heaven is .99 this week! Until next time!

Pineapple Ricotta Custard

Hello, everybody!!

                                        You know I love anything in a ramekin.

 

 It just makes everything so much more elegant. Or maybe it's because they match, and I usually don't have enough matching bowls. And there's portion control, too, so I could make a point for it being HEALTHIER. :)

I've made chicken pot pies.

Spinach lasagne.

Blueberry pie.

 Lemon souffle.

And I wanted to make a dessert, but keep the portions small so I went looking... OH MY!

 

 Mini pineapple upside down cake!! But I think these would defeat the purpose of having something small. They look really, really yummy and really, really fattening.

So, I thought about what would have a good protein boost, use natural sugars, and no flour.

 

(At least Matt Groenig,the creater of the Simpsons, understands me. Did you know his dad was named Homer? And was raised in a Mennonite, Plautdietsch-speaking family? Yup. You'll never look at Homer Simpson the same way again.)

Anyway,  I had some ricotta left over and I remembered eating a wonderful ricotta dessert when I lived in France. It had pineapple and cinnamon and was soooo creamy and delicious.

I had those things. Ta-DAH! Magic pantry! And magic fridge. Don't keep ricotta in the pantry. That would be gross.
I found this recipe online but it had heavy cream. Something I didn't have... and didn't really want.

2 pounds ricotta cheese (drained)
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 large eggs

 

So, this is what I did.
Preheat oven to 450F (what's that sign for degree????? Well, now that I've wasted five minutes, you can just draw it on the screen with a Sharpie. :)

I mixed 1 lb ricotta, 3/4 cup sugar, 4 eggs, 3 tsp vanilla, 1 cup whole milk together until creamy. Then I reserved 6 whole rings of pineapple from the can, chopping the rest and adding it to the custard mix.

It looked a little soupy and I was wondering if I'd just ruined a whole pound of ricotta and some delicious pinapple. Fill each ramekin about half full.

Top with a pineapple.

Add more of the custard to completely cover the pineapple and then add a SPRINKLE of cinnamon. Yes, that's not quite the way it should be. Anyway. You get the idea.

Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then lower it 350F for another 15.  Here's one that's finally cooled enough we can eat it.

They did take a long time to cool off.

Here my 7 year old stakes his claim on the pineapple ricotta custard cup of his choice. I don't think anyone will jump that Fisher Price fence and dare Mr. Transformer to a Lego Ninjago firestick duel.

But I could be wrong.


So, until next time, keep experimenting with new things... Right until March rolls around and Speedbo begins because then we'll be doing the super simple, crazy easy dishes so we can WRITE LIKE THE WIND!
I thought I was starting a historical romance (to follow All The Blue of Heaven) and then jump directly into the sequel to Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits...

 

But I've changed direction! I'll leave you wondering until next Wednesday, when we're officially started on Speedbo. :)