Maple Baked Ricotta

The trees in New England are looking great right now!

I love ricotta.  It isn't unusual for me to purchase ricotta, forget about using it, then decide I need to use it right away before it expires.  I need an EASY recipe for doing this!

The last time I had this problem, about a week ago, I researched and found a recipe for caramelized ricotta pudding.  Seemed easy enough.  Except that when I went to caramelize the sugar, something went wrong.  It didn't get caramel colored, and instead of being a nice gooey mass at the bottom of my custard cups, it was a solid brick of white. 

Enough of that.

The ricotta custard itself, however, was quite tasty. 

Hmmmm.....why not just bake the ricotta like a custard or pie filling, and leave it at that?  If I added a bit of flour, and used the right amount of eggs, it would be nice and firm to cut and serve in squares. 

The twist in this recipe comes with using maple syrup as the sweetener.  If you don't have real maple syrup, the kind from real maple trees, try substituting honey and call this Honey Baked Ricotta. 

I can see this as a dessert, but also a breakfast item, or a snack.

Maple Baked Ricotta


Preheat the oven to 350.
Spray an 8x8" square glass baking pan with GF cooking spray.

Take one 15-oz package of ricotta, and
place it in a mixing bowl with
1/4 cup of REAL maple syrup,
2 Tbs gluten free flour,
3 eggs, and
1 tsp vanilla.

Blend with a hand mixer until nice and smooth.

Pour the mixture into the pan.

Dust it with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Bake 30 minutes.

Cool.  Refrigerate.

Cut into 6-9 squares.

Serve drizzled with more maple syrup. 
(And maybe some whipped cream, like we used!)

Hubby really loved this.....we each had two helpings!

Travel Trailer dining with style!

The Hot Handle family has had a very busy spring and summer, as evidenced by the lack of posts from that time.  The summer culminated in a two week road trip from New England to Albuquerque and back, to bring our son to grad school at UNM.  We had already been thinking of purchasing a small travel trailer, and the idea of this trip got us to actually do it.  It's only 18 feet, but very comfortable inside.  It has a small propane stove which was perfect for quick skillet dinners.

We picked up local foods and used an all-purpose lid with my 10" cast iron skillet.  We carted along our own olive oil and an all-purpose mesquite spice mix.  It turned out to be a little spicier than I expected, but no one complained. 

The basic recipe (no measuring!) goes like this:  Heat up a glop (probably two tablespoons) of olive oil.  Add about 3/4 pound of meat and an onion.  Cook and stir it up a bit.  Add vegetables.  Add a little of your spice mix, until it "looks right" to you.  Cover pan and let it steam until it's all cooked through.  Uncover and cook until any excess liquids have evaporated, if necessary.  Serve.  Sprinkle with parmesan, if desired.   

I had a rule:  no leftovers were allowed.  This proved to be no problem.

In Virginia, our dinner consisted of chicken tenders, an onion, a green pepper, and snow peas.

In Tennessee, we had beef, onion, potatoes, and sugar peas.

In Arkansas, we whipped up smoked pork with onion, potato, and black-eyed peas.  (This is what the guys are enjoying in the above photo!)

In Oklahoma, we stirred together kielbasa, onion, potato, and cabbage (just a pre-shredded package of cole slaw mix). 


Once in Albuquerque, we dined three nights at a wonderful Italian restaurant that serves excellent gluten free food:  Paisano's.  I can't thank this place enough.  It was awesome. 


Now home, we are continuing the travel trailer skillet dinners, since they were so delicious.  Below is a photo of one I recently made, with chicken sausage, onion, potato and a package of frozen chopped spinach. 

If you want to find out more about our travels and life at UNM in Albuquerque, please check out John's blog:  http://hdhijinks.blogspot.com/

Oh, one last thing to tell you:  we stopped - twice - at a Lodge Logic factory outlet along route 40 in Tennessee.  Couldn't resist.  I splurged and got myself the clear tempered glass lids for the 10 and 12-inch skillets.  Hey, how often am I in Tennessee?

Happy cooking!

Gluten Free Ricotta Squares!

I have had quite a run of working nonstop.  Last weekend I finally had a chance to look at what has been in my refrigerator.  You know:  The stuff you realize must be used NOW, or never.

I had two pounds of whole milk ricotta, originally intended for some sort of lasagna.
(Ha.)

John and I pulled it out.  It wasn't beyond the sell by date by much. 
We opened it, inspected it, tasted it, and googled it. 

No reason not to use it!

I totally re-worked an old recipe for ricotta squares.  Two cups of wheat flour plus a cup of chopped nuts?  No way - just two cups of almond meal.  Two-thirds of a cup of margarine?  Forget it....1/2 cup of real butter!  A few more adjustments beyond that, and my first recipe didn't look much like the one I created.  Better yet?  It was gluten free.

The look on my family's faces told me I was right on.  Very blog-worthy. 



Gluten Free Ricotta Squares
(Serves 12-16)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Put 2 cups of almond meal/flour into a bowl.
Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar
and 1/2 cup of butter (softened).

Use a pastry blender to make little dinky morsels of butter
mixed in with the dry ingredients.

Press ~3/4 of this mixture into the bottom of a 9 X 13 glass baking dish.
Put it in your preheated oven for 10 min, then let it sit for 5 min.
(Leave the oven on!)

Meanwhile, in another bowl,
mix 2 pounds of whole milk ricotta,
four eggs,
a cup of sugar,
about a teaspoon of lemon extract,
about a teaspoon of grated lemon peel, and
about a teaspoon of vanilla.

(Seriously, I didn't measure the flavorings, I just guesstimated!)

Pour this mixture over the pre-baked (and partially cooled) crust.
Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture over the top of the ricotta stuff.

Pop it all in the oven again.
Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the ricotta comes out clean.

Let it cool pretty much, then refrigerate.

Cut into squares.
Top each serving with a little whipped cream. 
Observe the faces as your family bites into this!

Now:  Aren't you glad you check my blog?

Listen More, Talk Less

Most of us have heard this advice:  Listen more, talk less.

It goes along with the idea that we have two ears and one mouth,
so we should listen twice as much as we talk. 

Yesterday I couldn't talk at all.

It started on Wednesday when I felt a cold coming on. 
On Friday night, we were driving home from a family gathering.
It all went downhill on that ride home.

The next day, the only way I could talk to my Dad on the phone was to have hubby put it on speaker mode, and I pantomimed or whispered information to relay to him. 

I always think it's rather ironic when the speech-language pathologist can't talk. 

We went to a fundraiser on Saturday afternoon.  I toted along a pad of paper and the above cover page.  This only worked so well.  Communication isn't a one-way street. 

My voice improved slightly in the afternoon.  That was nice, but I felt a little guilty about going against the standard advice for "vocal rest." 

On the way home, we stopped for dinner.  My voice was declining again. 
Restaurants tend to be notoriously loud, so talking to hubby, who was seated right next to me, was impossible.  All my comments had to be made by writing.

It made me very grateful for reading and writing skills.

Today I am better, kind of croaking like a frog.  Hopefully I will be able to go to work tomorrow and lead my charges in their speech and language sessions. 

So what did I learn from this?

• Sometimes it's good to not talk, as in leaving a dumb remark alone.
• We really do need to talk, and communication impairments are somewhat isolating, even if the rest of your body is functioning okay.
• It's a lot more fun to sing along in church than to stay quiet because you're croaking. 
• Be thankful for your voice!

"Pins From Lynn"

I'm lucky to have an awesome family all around. 

As is noted earlier in this blog, my Mom passed away in early 2012. 
She was a cool lady.

Anyway, she left behind an impressive array of whimsical pins.
Flowers, birds, bees, animals, snowmen, butterflies, dolphins....
I and many others would purchase pins in our travels to give Mom as gifts.
She herself picked up many pins on vacations, or when seeing something special.

You never saw Mom not sporting a pin on her left lapel.

With all these pins, I had an idea.
Perhaps friends and family would like a pin or two.
We decided to have a "pin party," titled, "Pins From Lynn."

Friends and family were invited to come yesterday,
have cookies and coffee or tea, and select a pin. 
Mother's Day weekend seemed to be an appropriate time to do this in her memory.

A box was available for a free will donation
to help area patients undergoing cancer therapy.

We collected a good sum!

People really seemed to like the idea,
and I got to see some relatives and friends that I wish I could see more often.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.
I hope you like this idea, too.

Brownies for Cinco de Mayo!

The recipe can be found here.
It uses Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie mix, and Cinnamon Chex cereal.


These are delicious!

If you want to see a rainbow, you gotta have rain.

Hubby and I decided to go for a walk last night.  I looked out and saw that the back porch was wet, but it didn't seem to be raining at the time.  I had partially cleaned up from dinner.  I'd finish after we returned.  We should seize the moment!

After grabbing jackets, we headed down the street, looping around the cul-de-sac. We were homeward bound when we looked at the sky.

"I wonder if there's a rainbow,"  Hubby mused.  We looked around and, sure enough, a faint rainbow was in the sky, opposite the sun.

As we watched, the rainbow became clearer.  We could see all the colors, even the violet.

All I had was my cell phone, so I took photos with it.  It worked!

We stood there a while, admiring nature's beauty.  What had started as a mist was turning into a light rain.

"Oh, it's raining,"  I pouted.

"Well, if you want to see a rainbow, you gotta have rain." 

So true.