Sunday, October 11, 2009

What's Cooking Sunday / Vanilla Ricotta Creme

Since the kitchen is still in the "war zone" stage of painting, I haven't been doing much cooking this week: no room to spread out and whip up something exotic, and certainly no energy. Here's a nice easy dessert that I found through the South Beach Diet cookbook for Ricotta Creme dessert. I'll list the basic recipe, but you can add all sorts of flavorings to make it a special treat for any mood.



Vanilla Ricotta Creme Dessert
Serves 2

1 C part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 packages sugar substitute (I use splenda)

With a blender, whiz up the ingredients until the cheese is nice and smooth - I've found an immersion blender works great for this.

Pour mixture into individual serving cups and refrigerate until ready to eat.

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Variations:

Orange (pictured): add 1 T orange liqueur, or a bit of orange zest
Almond: add 1/2 tsp almond extract and reduce vanilla extract to 1/4 tsp. Top with toasted slivered almonds.
Mocha: add 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder. Just before serving, top with a dash of espresso powder and 1 tsp mini chocolate chips.
Lime Zest: add 1/2 tsp grated lime zest
Peanut Butter and Chocolate: add 2 T peanut butter and 1 tsp cocoa powder, then blend.
Pumpkin: Add 2 T canned pumpkin puree and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Top with a tsp of whipped cream.
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Experiment with flavors on your own, then let me know what you did so I can try them too!
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The texture of this recipe is very loose. If you want it to be more like a pudding, mix in a beaten egg, spray an oven-safe dish and bake until a knife comes out clean. Equally as yummy!
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As for the kitchen makeover, here's a little taste of progress made this week:



"Paint on, Sister, paint on..."

13 comments:

High Desert Diva said...

Painting takes forever, doesn't it?

Rhonda Roo said...

paint on my sister paint on! You'll be soooo glad you did, when you're done...
HEY! I make that all the time, the ricotta dessert-i love the pumpkin one too :-)
Thanks for saying hey; I'll be sending good juju for tired arm shoulder and neck muscles your way!
XOXOXOXOXO Rhonda Roo

Snap said...

Delicious looking kitchen and Creme!

Unknown said...

Paint on yeah!! Looking good...

lori vliegen said...

your kitchen is looking fabulous, dahling!! are you loving it (the colors, not the painting!)?!! i'm going to try the ricotta creme....i'm thinking mocha first, then pumpkin..... paint on! :))

somepinkflowers said...

hey
missy

bring some of this yumminess over
when you pop in to paint my kitchen,
why don't cha?


:-)








no
really.

Faded Plains said...

Is there something in the air...cuz I've been a paintin' momma too lately.

rochambeau said...

Like how your resipe matches your new colors! Looks like the newest color for Kitchens: Vanilla Ricotta Cream.

Are you listening to music? As it's fun to whistle as you work?

Are you fini?
Hugs~
xox
Constance

rochambeau said...

Meant recipe!

Rhonda Roo said...

Well i was hungry, and i wanted to see how your kitchen was coming along...so I came back
{helps herself to ricotta creme and stares at kitchen in progress}

oh yes. It's gonna be good.....

Fete et Fleur said...

This dessert looks yummy, and the painting is looking great!! Yes, and I too say, paint on . . .

Nancy

Isabel said...

If I make you a Portuguese dessert, will you come over and help me paint my kitchen :)

I'm loving your color palette!

Gabriela said...

Hello Kate,

Ricotta cream? Mmmmmmm...I used to eat ricotta with sugar as a girl...
But cream is so sophisticated...
Makes me wish some good cannoli...


~ Gabriela ~