Ricotta: Not Just for Lasagna

I'm doing it, people.

I am single-handedly changing the food profile for ricotta cheese. Yes, me. I. This gal right here.

I am breaking you out of your "ricotta is only for lasagna" boxes! I am freeing you from the constrictions of "ricotta is only stuff shells!" I am giving ricotta to you as a....wait for it....dessert!

You can totally thank me later.

Wait. What? What did you say? That you've had ricotta cheesecake. And cannolis, where ricotta is the main filling.

Couldn't you just let me know have my moment?

Cinnamon Ricotta Cream with Maserated Strawberries

by Bonnie Graham

Prep Time: 15 minutes, plus berries

Keywords: dessert strawberries cinnamon

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Ingredients (4 servings)

• 1 1/2 c homemade or store-bought ricotta cheese (homemade recipe to come!)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 - 4 tbsp milk, depending on desired consistency
• 2 - 3 tbsp honey, depending on your taste
• zest of 1 orange, optional
• 3 - 4 tbsp chocolate chips
• pinch salt

Maserated Berries

• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 1 tbsp sweetener of your choice

Instructions

1. Clean and slice your strawberries. Place in a container with sweetener of choice and toss thoroughly. Allow berries to sit for 4 hours or overnight.

2. Add all ingredients for ricotta to a food processor, starting with the least amount of liquid to start. Taste and add milk/honey as you go until you reached your desired consistency and sweetness.

3. Top ricotta with maserated berries and chocolate chips!

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Cookie Exchange

There's something just wrong with the concept of a cookie exchange and being diabetic. Not only does it require me to make my own batch of cookie, but then I need to sample everyone elses' cookies too!

Oh dear insulin pump, how overworked you must be!

A cookie exchange was agreed upon at my office for this holiday season. Which sounds like fun. If you have a functioning pancreas. Otherwise, it sounds like High Blood Sugar City!

Shockingly, I struggled with finding an appropriate cookie recipe. It's shocking because just about everywhere you look there is a friggin' cookie recipe. Let me clarify. I struggled with finding an appropriate diabetic cookie recipe. You know, one that actually would still be appetizing to my co-workers and not just to my blood glucose meter. One that I wouldn't have to empty my insulin pump in order to eat. That kind of cookie.

After scroll through recipes that used cups of sugar, sticks of butter, or the ever unpleasant alternative of Splenda, I said fuck it and just picked a recipe.

But, of course, it can't be that easy. It's never that easy. I started with one cookie recipe, Fudgey Nutella Cookies with Sea Salt. They turned into flat little pancakes. Not good. The next recipe was Almond Florentine Cookies, which didn't initially look promising; however, they turned out to be quite good. BUT there wasn't enough of them the cookie exchange. Recipe can be found here.

I panicked and finally whipped up these bad boys, Chai-Spiced Eggnog Cookies.

Now, I totally have a Sugar Hangover.

Chai-spiced Eggnog Cookies

by Bonnie Graham

Keywords: bake dessert cinnamon coconut oil cookie winter

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Ingredients (24 cookies)

• 1/3 c coconut oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger (optional)
• 3/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c eggnog, plus 1 - 2 tbsp (depending on consistency)
• 1/2 c powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Mix oil with sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until well blended. 3. Stir in flour, spices and salt until just combined.

4. Add in eggnog and mix until combined, having the dough be slightly sticky.

5. Scoop and roll dough into small teaspoon-sized balls and place about an inch apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

6. Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

7. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar and let cool completely on a rack.

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MIA

For the three of you who read this blog, you might have noticed that I have been MIA these last few days. That's primarily because we have been without power since Monday evening as a result of Hurricane Sandy. No power means no cooking. Or so one would assume.

But not I. I can't go  more then a few days without cooking! When we had finally given up on preserving what was left of our freezer goods, I got to cooking. Thankfully, our stove top is gas! Probably the only time I've been truly grateful for gas in our apartment. That was a Jerry/flatulence joke in case you didn't get it.

To reward us for not going completely insane without power or real running water for three days, I made us as delicious a dessert as one can make in the pitch black. Nothing like cooking by camp latern!

Black-Out Berry-Peach Dumplings

by Bonnie Graham

Keywords: dessert berries peaches cinnamon

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Ingredients

• 1 bag of mixed frozen berries, de-frosted
• 1/2 bag frozen peaches, de-frosted
• 3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 c rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 c sweetner (or more depending on your taste)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 c milk or water plus 1 - 2 more tbsp depending on consistency

Instructions

1. Add your berries and peaches to a skillet over medium-high heat. Allow to come to a low simmer.

2. Meanwhile, add all dry ingreidents to a bowl and mix well.

3. Slowly add in liquid, mixing as you go. The amount of liquid added will depend on the dough consistency. You want to be able to form the dough into dumplings, but they shouldn't be stiff.

4. Once the berry/peach mix has started to bubble, form your dumplings using a spoon on drop on top of the berry mix. Cover pan with a lid.

5. Lower to medium-low heat to allow the dumplings to cook.

6. Allow to cook 15 - 18 minutes or until the dumplings are firmed up.

7. Serve and enjoy!

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia

As in the Chia Pet. Remember those?

The new-fangled, health craze these days are the same seeds you use to smear onto a clay-shaped cow and waited to sprout "hair." They're now suggesting you eat those things!! Crazy kids these days. 

I have, of course, jumped onto the chia seed bandwagon and started to eat what had once been a brown substance smeared onto a planter. In all honesty, it wasn't my favorite ingredient. It's one of those things I could toss into my smoothie or oatmeal and not even notice it's there.

Wanting to do more with my expensive chia seed besides disguise it, I was excited to find a recipe using them in pudding! 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but I have a thing for pudding. The same kind of thing I have for sauce, dips, soups, vegetables, farmer's markets, and pretty much anything else I can put in my mouth. Wait...I mean that I can swallow....Jerry's getting happier by the minute. You know what I mean!

The great thing about this pudding is that it can be made in an instant with all natural ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. Chia seeds have this gelling quality that allows the pudding to thicken. In fact, this recipe is so easy, I've already made it twice this week! Plus, it's pretty good on my sugar!

Jerry even tried to talk me into making it twice in one night. He almost had me convinced. 

Chocolate Chia Pudding

by Bonnie Graham

Keywords: blender dessert snack vegetarian chia seeds

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Ingredients (3 servings)

• 1 c milk of your choice (I do find almond milk to set up quicker)
• 3 packets Truvia (or 6 tsp sugar)
• 1 tsp honey
• 3 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

1. In a blender, add milk, sugar, chia seeds, cocoa, salt, and vanilla.

2. Blend for a minute or more, until the seeds are fully pulverized. I use the grinder blade on my Magic Bullet.

3. Transfer to dishes. Stir in chocolate chips, and refrigerate until chilled, about 1/2 hour or more.

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Almight Chickpea, Part 3

Had I realized in my initial post about chickpeas, where I compared myself to that of a Native American using all the parts of the animal, that I was instructing Jerry to soak 2 1/2 POUNDS of chickpeas, I would not have been so liberal in my language use. TWO AND HALF POUNDS of chickpeas has got to be the equivalent of three water buffalo in Native American terms!

My apologies to any Native Americans I may be offending....that happen to be reading my blog. Please don't skin me. :) No, no, I'm just kidding. Geez, you have your land pilfered while genocide to your people occur and you lose your funny bone!

Anyway, back to my "water buffalo." With a pledge to use every chickpea and plenty of recipes to use them in, I set out to create yet another interesting dessert using the Almighty Chickpea. I'm lovin' this "put beans in your dessert" thing we've go going on here. It just feels healthier to me for some reason.

Never mind that I probably wouldn't have made a dessert if I hadn't made TWO AND HALF POUNDS of chickpeas, but whatever.

On that note, I give you the Snickerdoodle Blondie.

Snickerdoodle Blondie

by Bonnie Graham

Keywords: bake food processor dessert breakfast low-carb beans cinnamon

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas
• 3 T nut butter
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• heaping 1/8 tsp salt
• 5 packets of Truvia (or 3/4 cup brown sugar)
• 1 T unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
• 2 and 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• a pinch cream of tartar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Blend all ingredients until very smooth, and scoop into a greased 4 greased ramekins

3. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Blondies will seem slightly undercooked when you take them out, because they’ll firm up as they cool.

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Guessing Game

I'll give you three guesses as to what is the base of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough recipe.

Are you thinking?

Come on! Play my game!

Okay, fine, do you want me just to tell you? It's less fun that way, but I can.

It's chickpeas.

Hello? Are you still there? Have you clicked out of this post yet?

As someone with a sub par pancreas, I'm constantly looking for healthier, lower carb ways to satisfy my sweet tooth. A few months ago, there was a bit of a craze in the blogosphere (listen to me, blogosphere! I'm so cool!) over dessert hummus.

Now, I'm pretty much down for anything hummus, but I wasn't so convinced that dessert hummus was for me. As I saw more and more dessert hummus recipes crossing the blog posts of some of my most trusted bloggers, I decided to give it a try.

When I first made this recipe, I asked Jerry to taste test it without telling him what it was. Which is actually quite a challenge in a relationship where torturing each other is a bit of a sport. He immediately asked for a second spoonful and couldn't guess that chickpeas was the main ingredient. Success!

The rest is history, my friends. Literally. We polished off this dip in less then 24 hours. And you should too.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip
Adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups chickpeas or white beans
1/8 tsp salt
scant 1/8 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 c nut butter of preference (I used almond butter)
up to 1/4 cup milk of choice, only if needed
2 tbsp honey
3 packets Truvia
1/3 cup chocolate chips
Optional: 2 to 3 tbsp oats - makes for a thicker, more textured dip

Method
1. Add all ingredients, except for chocolate chips, to food processor and blend until very smooth. 
2. Mix in the chocolate chips.
3. Eat with a spoon straight from the food processor. 

***Update: I made this recipe again, using canned white beans and peanut butter. Results were ah-mazing! Even better then the first batch. I think the white beans are more mild in flavor and are more well masked by the other flavors. You should make this!!

Single Lady Serving

Recently, I started following Chocolate Covered Katie, a healthy dessert blog where recipes use all-natural, vegan-friendly ingredients. It's totally addicting! Especially since many of Katie's recipes are single serving size. Perfect for a diabetic fat kid where the term "portion control" might as well be in Icelandic.

Jerry will often read blogs with me....over my shoulder...while commenting that  he doesn't understand how I can spend so much time reading blogs...but oh, can you make that for me? Whenever I get to a  recipe Katie calls "Single Lady Servings," Jerry will say, "You can't make that. You're not a single lady." Sorry, sweetie, I'm a fat kid and that wins out every time. 

In reality, I think he's less concerned about our relationship status and more concerned that he won't get any! Good thing he has such a generous girlfriend who will make him his own "Single Lady Serving."

Chocolate Peanut Butter Soft Serve*
This recipe can be eaten straight out of the blender and will have a consistency similar to that of melted ice cream. You can also re-blend after freezing for a more soft serve consistency. 

Ingredients
1/2 c cottage cheese with pineapple (trust me, it's better then regular)
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 - 2 tbsp peanut flour or peanut butter
1 packet Truvia or sweetener of your choice
splash of milk
3 - 8 ice cubes, depending on your preferred consistency

Method
1. Add all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.
2. Either enjoy straight from the blender or place into individual ramekin and return to freezer. Freeze for 30 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.

*A few notes on ingredients:

• You may have noticed the use of peanut flour. This is a new ingredient in my pantry and so far....I'm lovin' it! Peanut flour is made by taking roasted peanuts, grinding them into a paste (like peanut butter but without the added salt, sugar, or any added oils) and then pressing out the oil.  Since most of the oil's been pressed out, peanut flour is relatively low in fat. But it's still got all the protein, fiber, and other nutrients that make peanuts nutritional powerhouses.
• You may have also noticed that cottage cheese is the primary ingredient in this recipe. Have no fear. It definitely does not taste like cottage cheese once you're done with it.