Meatless Monday: Ricotta Has Many Uses

I made this cake for Father’s Day. I’ve made it many times and have shared the recipe in this blog before. 

The original recipe for Blueberry Ricotta Squares comes from a cookbook compiled under the direction of my cousin Kris Bregani for the Greenfield, New Hampshire PTO.

Over the years I have tweaked it, substituting almond meal for half the flour and butter for the shortening. [Butter is trending right now. “Ending the War on Fat” is the cover story of the most recent Time, and a delectable curl of butter is the cover’s star.

You can copy the cake recipe from last summer’s post. After the cake is cool I cover it loosely and store it in the fridge, but it is easy to warm a square up by zapping it for a few seconds in the microwave [on a microwave safe plate].

This is still a cake, with lots of carbs from sugar. But is high in protein, and thus makes a delicious special occasion breakfast treat. It’s way better for you than a Danish.

No matter what container size of ricotta you purchase for this cake, you will have leftovers.

You could use it to top a dish of pasta, but I have another idea…

Combine your extra ricotta with an equal amount of nut butter. Blend well with a fork and add local honey to taste. This make a delicious spread for toast, and a great alternative to the classic P,B & J Sandwich. The idea comes form Recipes for a Small Planet, by Ellen Buchman Ewald, published in 1972. One testimonial on the cover claimed that this volume “makes all other cookbooks obsolete.” I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a good one.  

Happy Monday. Have a great week!

On Mondays I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”