Cherry Ricotta Muffins

This recipe was totally inspired and borrowed upon from Giada deLaurentis' Nonna's Lemon Ricotta Biscuits


Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup of sugar
* 1 stick of butter, room temperature
* The zest from 1 lemon
* 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
* 1 Cup + of dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sift together flour, baking powder and soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar, add egg, mix well. Add almond extract, lemon zest and ricotta. Mix well.

Add flour mixture to batter and blend well. Fold in dried cherries.

Line muffin tin with 12 liners and scoop batter into the liners.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes and enjoy!

Note: The Tipsy Housewife would most definitely pour a good swig of Limoncello into the muffin batter to enhance the lemon flavor from the zest prior to baking! And then she might take a swig herself ;)

Tipsy Bolognese Sauce

To read the story behind how the recipe was named click here to go to The Entertaining House.

This hearty, soul satisfying dish was created on the heels of a terrible Nor'easter that swept through and left us chilled to the bone. That and the fact that Rebecca had a friend over and I need something that was quick and easy to make but didn't taste quick and easy!

Ingredients:

1 can *Hunt's pasta sauce
2 cloves of garlic, crushed,
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 - 11/2 lbs of lean ground beef
2 tbs of olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup red wine, whatever you've just poured into your glass... a cab, Merlot, anything will do!
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese

Grated Parmesan cheese for serving
1 lb box of pasta, any shape

In a large pot bring water to boil. When ready add pasta and cook per direction on box.

In a medium saute pan add a drop of olive oil (if you have purchased super lean beef, if not you will not need

it) and heat pan. Add beef and brown well, breaking it up into pieces as it browns. Add the salt.

In a medium sauce pan add the Hunt's tomato sauce and turn heat to medium high. If it starts to bubble turn down slightly. Add onion and garlic and mix well. Add red wine, stir and let sauce simmer on low heat.

As the meat turns a nice dark brown in color place in a bowl lined with paper towels to absorb unnecessary fats. The add meat to the sauce. Add ricotta to the sauce. Mix well and let sit for about 20 minutes so the flavors can blend.

When pasta is ready, drain and return to pan.


* Hunt's sauces are found with the spaghetti or the tomato sauces. Unsually on the bottom shelf and sell for $1 a piece. These are over-sized cans. Don't let the price tag or unfancy label fool you. Of all the pasta sauces out there, this is one has the most tomato flavor and is the most versatile. These are worth stockpiling.

Strawberries with Ricotta Creme and Chocolate Pound Cake

On The South Beach Diet one of the desserts I love is their Ricotta Creme. It tastes like the inside of a canoli. It's divine. So I adapted the dessert to suit my children (substituted Splenda for powdered sugar) and served it with our healthy freshly picked berries and a chocolate pound cake. But you could serve it on a regular pound cake... or banana bread. This was actually a bigger hit than I expected!

To make the ricotta creme:

2 Cups of part skim ricotta cheese
6 Tbs. powdered sugar (Rebecca wanted it a tad sweeter)
2 Tsp. vanilla extract

Pour ingredients in to a food processor (I used my mini prep) and pulse until smooth and creamy like whipped cream as pictured below.

(Note: Strawberries used did have imperfections as I was trying to use the ripest berries first.)

To make the dessert as pictured above cut a slice of pound cake and cut it in half. Warm it a bit (in the microwave about 12 seconds and place a layer of the creme over the bottom layer of the cake and top with sliced strawberries. Place the other layer over the berries, top with creme and place a whole berry on the top of that. Voila, an easy and perfect dessert!

The kids were so delighted with their little dessert that I decided to make myself a bite-sized piece. Isn't it cute? It would be perfect to serve at a party or bring to a pot luck! It definitely tasted every bit as good as it looked!

And since I had some left over banana bread I had to make a little sample of that... delish, but the chocolate was stronger and the flavor held its own whereas the banana flavor was lost. I suspect these would be fabulous on a traditional pound cake as well.

For a fabulous pound cake recipe check out Martha Stewart's... and if you subscribe to her magazine you will know that she has many featured this month! And of course Martha has a recipe for chocolate pound cake as well!

Blueberry Ricotta Muffins

Light, simple and a fun departure from your ordinary blueberry muffin, these muffins are sure to please! Light ricotta cheese and a touch of olive oil, yes, olive oil, replaces the butter that makes traditional blueberry muffins so succulent. Here, the ricotta adds a nice body to the muffin without weighing it down and the flavor complements the blueberries wonderfully. I am not a ricotta lover, but I assure you that these muffins will not disappoint!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups of all purpose flour

1 1/2 Cups of ricotta (or 1 15 oz container)
3 eggs

1 1/2 Cups sugar

1/3 Cup of olive oil

2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 package of frozen blueberries or 2 cups of fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl add flour and baking soda, set aside
In a large mixing bowl add ricotta, eggs, sugar, vanilla, olive oil and mix well
Add blueberries and mix well. Some blueberries will break apart causing the mixture to turn purple. This is exactly what you want!

Add flour mixture and blend well.

Pour batter into 20 lined cupcake/muffin tins. Bake about 25 minutes. Check for doneness. Cool about 10 minutes before serving... if you can keep them on the counter that long!