Homemade Ricotta

A few months ago, we had friends staying with us for the weekend.  In the afternoon, as we were all sitting around the kitchen talking, I pulled out a pot to start making a before-dinner snack.

“What are you making?”

“Ricotta cheese.”

“What?! You’re making ricotta?”

“It’s ridiculously easy. Watch.”

I pulled out a pot and poured in whole milk from a local dairy and cultured buttermilk.  I turned the burner to medium and waited until the mixture started to just simmer and you could see the curds developing.  I took a sieve and scooped out the curds.  There you have it—ricotta!

Have you made homemade ricotta yet?  It will change the way you think about the boring and rather bland store bought stuff.  Run to the grocery and buy one gallon of fresh local whole milk and one quart of cultured buttermilk.  In less than 20 minutes, you’ll have creamy, delicious ricotta cheese to use for lasagna, blintzes, crostini or eating with a spoon while standing at the refrigerator door.

Some recipes for homemade ricotta call for a mixture of whole milk and heavy whipping cream, but I find that making it with just the whole milk still produces a rich and delicious ricotta that is a little better for our overall health.  As you know from reading our blog, we’re not advocates for ‘light’ or ‘reduced calorie’ foods, but we are advocates for making something delicious from real, whole ingredients that you can feel good about eating.   

My favorite way to eat fresh ricotta is to sprinkle it with a good sea salt, like Murray River salt, drizzle it with a good extra virgin olive oil, and top with dried Aleppo pepper if you can find it and red pepper flakes if you can’t.  Serve with crostini or crackers.   

I hope you enjoy, preferably surrounded by the people you love!

Homemade Ricotta

8 cups whole local milk

2 cups cultured buttermilk

Sea salt

Add the milk and buttermilk to a large, heavy large pot.  Place the pot over medium heat and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, until bubbles are just starting to form and you can see the curds separating.  Turn off the burner and let it sit for a few minutes.     

Using a mesh skimmer, lift the curds out of the pot and place them in a colander lined with cheesecloth.  Let the curds drain for about 5 minutes for a soft ricotta or up to 20 minutes for a firm ricotta.  Transfer the ricotta to a bowl, add a pinch of sea salt and stir.  Cover the cheese and place in the refrigerator to chill.  The ricotta can be made one day ahead. 

Lastly, don’t throw away the whey (the leftover liquid).  I freeze it and then use it in soups or as a substitute for water in making bread or pizza dough.     

{Recipe Redux} Roasted Carrot Harissa Spread

I have been known, on occasion, to eat salsa straight from the jar with a spoon.  Hot sauce on eggs? Yes!  Spicy zhug on falafel? Of course.  Pasta Arrabiata? The spicier, the better.

So when I saw this month’s Recipe Redux challenge—spicy, smoky foods—I was happy.  Spicy may be on-trend in food this year, but it’s always been a winner in my kitchen.  Red chile flakes make an appearance in almost every recipe.  I like their subtle heat better than the sometimes harsh bite of black pepper.

I made this Roasted Carrot Harissa Spread for a party and served it as part of a crostini bar with several other dips and homemade ricotta.  It’s sweet and slightly smoky from the deeply roasted carrots, spicy from the dried chilies, and rich and creamy simply from a little olive oil and a good blender.  It will keep in the refrigerator for several days—if you can prevent yourself from eating it with a spoon.

If you've never heard of harissa, it is a spicy Middle Eastern and North African condiment made from blending chile peppers with toasted spices and olive oil, and I use it often in cooking.  It is sometimes blended with tomatoes to make a sauce, but I blended it with roasted carrots to make a thick and creamy dip or spread.  It's so delicious, you'd never guess it's a healthy and fiber-filled source of beta carotene! 

While I originally made the harissa as a dip, since then I’ve eaten it for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Here are a few ideas:

I eat an open-faced egg sandwich for breakfast almost every morning.  Spread the carrot harissa on toast and top with a fried egg.  You did it—vegetables for breakfast! And you didn’t even notice. 

You know how much we love avocado toast!  For lunch, spice up your avocado toast by spreading the harissa on toast and topping with slices of avocado and a dollop of ricotta cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

For dinner, stir the harissa into hot whole wheat pasta with some fresh arugula and top with fresh goat cheese.

If you make the harissa, we’d love to hear from you! What’s your favorite way to use it?

Roasted Carrot Harissa Spread

This recipe was adapted from this one from Food52.

3 dried ancho chile peppers

1 dried ancho chile pepper

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

¼ teaspoon black caraway seeds

6 large carrots

Sea salt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided, plus extra for drizzling

Zest of one lemon

Juice of half a lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the chilies in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them stand for 30 minutes, until softened.

Place the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black caraway seeds in a small pan.  Heat the pan over medium heat and toast the spices for a few minutes, until you can smell them roasting.  Take them off the heat and let them cool.  Grind them in a spice grinder or using a mortar and pestle. 

Place the carrots on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Season with sea salt and drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over carrots. Toss to coat evenly.  Roast the carrots for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the carrots are browned and very tender.

Drain the water from chilies, reserving water.  Remove the stem from the chilies and then place the chilies in the bowl of a food processor (if you don’t want the harissa as spicy, remove some of the seeds).

Add the carrots to the food processor, along with the toasted spices, another tablespoon olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Process the mixture until it is very smooth, using a little of the chile water to loosen the paste, if necessary.  It should have a very thick consistency.

Taste and adjust salt, lemon and olive oil, as needed.  Transfer harissa to a container with an airtight lid, cover top surface with a drizzle of olive oil and let mixture sit at least one hour and up to 24 (in refrigerator) before using.  The harissa will keep for 3 – 4 days, covered, in the refrigerator.

An InLinkz Link-up

Roasted Broccoli & Radicchio Winter Salad

We’re big fans of eating seasonal foods.  It  gives rhythm to our recipes and meals throughout the year. There’s something so refreshing about tossing berries on a salad in summertime and something so comforting about a hearty stew with kale and sweet potatoes when the weather cools down.

During these last few months of winter, we encourage you to take advantage of these seasonal, nutrient-rich ingredients for delicious winter salads. Here are a few winter salad ‘greens’ that give you big taste and great nutrition!

• The purplish red and white leaves of radicchio, a member of the chicory family, add a slightly bitter, astringent flavor to salads.  If it’s too bitter for your taste, just grill, roast or sauté the leaves, which brings out the sweet side of this vegetable.
• When you hear Brussels sprouts, you probably don’t think salad.  But this cruciferous vegetable can be shredded and used just like cabbage, to make a Brussels sprouts slaw. 
• Like almost all nutrition lovers, we have a love affair with kale, and other dark, leafy winter greens like collards and Swiss chard.  While we love kale sautéed or added to soups and stews, one of our favorite preparations is to include it in a simple salad.  Just massage the destemmed kale leaves with a little salt and lemon juice, and the tough and slightly bitter leaves become silky and sweet.  Simply dressed with a little olive oil, it’s divine.
• Red, green and savoy cabbage are good for more than just cole slaw.  Thinly sliced or shredded, they make a great base for a variety of salads—your imagination is the only limit!  Cabbage makes a great base for make-ahead salads—great for taking to work—since they just get better as they set and marinate.

Here is a recipe to help you get started in creating your own winter salad.  In general, we like a salad that stimulates and balances all of our senses and tastes—something sweet, savory and bitter; something soft and something crunchy.  This winter salad is that perfect combination. 

Roasted Broccoli & Radicchio Winter Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 head broccoli, cut in small florets

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 small radicchio*, cored and very thinly sliced

½ cup toasted pecans, chopped

½ cup pomegranate seeds

6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (optional)

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2.     Place broccoli florets on a large sheet pan.  Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.  Place in the oven and roast for about 20 – 25 minutes, or until the broccoli is caramelized and cooked through.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

3.     To make the dressing, whisk together the sherry vinegar, maple syrup and extra virgin olive oil.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.

4.     In a large bowl, toss together the sliced radicchio, cooled broccoli florets, chopped pecans, pomegranate seeds and feta cheese (if using).  Pour over the vinaigrette and toss to combine. 

This salad can be made up to 12 hours ahead.

*If you don’t like the bitterness of radicchio, you can substitute any of the other winter greens in this recipe.

Healthy Baby Foods and Hearty Soups

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post; as always, we only work with brands and products we believe in.

Over the last several months, many of our friends have become new moms (and several more have little ones on the way)! And as their “mini-me(s)” have grown, many of our friends have developed a keen interest in making their own baby food.  So, we thought it would be fun to call upon our friend, fellow dietitian and founder of SuperKids Nutrition Inc., Melissa Halas-Liang to share her tips and tricks for how to make your own baby food. 

Without further ado, here's Melissa!

Food for Baby

By Melissa Halas-Liang, MA RDN CDE

Making meals for the littlest members of your family can be both easy and healthy. Preparing baby food in advance allows you to buy seasonal foods at their peak and at a cost savings. Freezing baby food means fast, simple future meals. With the Champion Juicer, you gain complete control over your baby’s food by making it yourself, which will ensure there are no additives or preservatives. You can use a food processor or blender to make baby food, but the  Champion Juicer has dozens of small blades that quickly and efficiently homogenize the food into a very smooth consistency. Another time saving tip is to use your home made baby food as a base for family meals, like soups.

Tips, tricks, and time savers when making baby food

Saving time is important to modern families and by using the same ingredients to make meals that work for baby as well as all other family members, you will reduce your time spent picking up groceries as well as in the kitchen.

To save time when making squash, roast the squash whole. Cutting a large, hard squash in half is challenging! Skip this step and simply place a whole, washed butternut (or other winter) squash in a baking dish and roast it in the oven at 425 degrees F. Just remember to pierce it with a few fork holes, which allows the squash to vent while cooking. There is no need to preheat the oven. A medium squash that weighs roughly two pounds will take about 90 minutes to cook.

If you are freezing leftover pureed foods, freeze them in ice cube trays.  This saves time when you want to use them again because it makes them easily accessible and you will only have to take out and defrost what you need. You can use these pureed cubes in so many different dishes for both your baby and the older members of your family, including in potato latkes, to enhance the flavor and nutritional value of store bought tomato sauces or salsa, in mashed potatoes, or as the glue for vegetarian bean burgers.

If you’re making your own baby food, you don’t always have to think vegetables—fruit is a healthy and nutritious option for your baby, too! Pureed fruit can be given to a baby and then mixed with plain yogurt and frozen in ice pop molds or silicone squeezable molds as a snack for yourself and your older children.  Or, if you make a fruit smoothie for yourself, freeze the leftovers as pureed fruit for your little one.

Using baby food ingredients to feed the rest of your family 

Foods you feed baby do not have to be different from the foods you feed yourself and the rest of the family! For example, when making a chicken and butternut squash meal for baby, think about ways you may like to enjoy these foods as well. Add chicken slices to a delicious chicken Caesar salad, or roast the chicken and butternut squash and serve over whole-wheat pasta or wild rice. Use the mashed butternut squash as a base to make a delicious butternut squash soup or as a creamy base for risotto or macaroni and cheese, which will allow you to cut back on the normal fatty ingredients without sacrificing texture or flavor. Add slices of grilled chicken to both dishes for a healthy, lean protein.

How to use the Champion:

To make baby food with multiple ingredients, be sure to alternate each ingredient for an even consistency. Many babies enjoy the mixed texture that results from two or more foods together. You can also run the finished product through the Champion Juicer once more for an even smoother texture, perfect for younger babies.

Now enjoy making chicken and butternut squash puree for baby and butternut squash soup with chicken for your whole family to enjoy.

Basic Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

•       1 teaspoon olive oil

•       clove garlic, minced

•       ½ cup sweet onion, chopped

•       ½ cup carrots, chopped

•       ½ cup celery, chopped

•       1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped (or 1 teaspoon ground dry sage)

•       1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary)

•       ½ teaspoon sea salt

•       1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

•       3 cups vegetable broth

•       1 15oz can of pumpkin

•       1 ½ lbs butternut squash (peeled, seeded, cubed)

Directions:

1.     In a large stockpot, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat, until onion begins to caramelize.

2.     Add carrots, celery, butternut squash and herbs through the Champion juicer for smoothest consistency. Alternately, use a standing blender or food processor to puree.

3.     Then transfer to pot, mix in sea salt, pepper and vegetable broth.

4.     Bring all to a boil and simmer for 20-25. Garnish with additional herbs if desired and enjoy.

Squash and Chicken Baby Food (appropriate for babies 7 months or older)

1.     Fit the blank screen (or use homogenizing body) onto the juicer body. Peel and de-seed a medium butternut squash.

2.     Cut into chunks and bake at 375° for 40 minutes.

3.     When making boneless, skinless chicken breast for your family put some aside for baby! Cool and cut into chunks.

4.     Alternate chicken chunks and squash chunks through juicer. For a finicky baby, run mixture through again for a smoother texture.

Time-saver tip: bake the butternut squash whole and peel after it’s cooked. Don’t forget to prick with a fork to allow the steam to escape.

Ingredients:

•       1½ cups of the butternut chicken puree

•       2 cups chicken broth

•       1/8 teaspoon cumin

•       1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

•       ¼ teaspoon black pepper

•       ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.     Stir until thoroughly heated and serve.

2.     Both the baby food and the soup recipes above work for zucchini, squash, cauliflower, broccoli, roasted red peppers, sweet potatoes, and peas as well.

Melissa Halas-Liang, MA, RDN, CDE is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator with a Masters in Nutrition Education who is a nationally recognized childhood nutrition expert. She is founder of SuperKids Nutrition Inc. where she is “saving the world, one healthy food at a time.” Read more about her Super Crew children’s books and discover how good nutrition can help you live your best health potential through her on-line courses blog, Melissa’s Healthy Living.