Saturday Short Subjects: Have a Second?

1. Click here. 

2. Visit for a second or two.

3. Be blown away! 

How our world has changed in thirty years!

The site was built with designly.com, a startup whose product is a “site builder anyone can use.“

Have a great Saturday!

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: Not Your Usual Blueberry Cake

Native blueberries are in season, and cool nights have returned. What a perfect time to bake a blueberry cake!

I turned to a favorite recipe — Blueberry Ricotta Squares — submitted by Gail Arnold for the Greenfield Village School Cookbook, compiled by the PTO of the Greenfield, New Hampshire Elementary School, under the direction of Kris Bregani (my cousin) in 1997.

Over the years I’ve tweaked Gail’s recipe a bit. I’ve swapped out the shortening for butter. I’ve made certain to use low-fat ricotta, and the other day I substituted almond meal for 1/2 the flour, to lower the carbs and increase the protein.

Here’s my most recent version of her recipe.

BLUEBERRY RICOTTA SQUARES

9 generous servings (as a breakfast treat)

12 servings as a dessert

Preheat over to 350° F.

Lightly grease a 9x9x2 cake pan.

INGREDIENTS

Bottom Layer:

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup almond meal

3/4 cup sugar

1-1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 c. milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Top Layer:

1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries (washed and drained)

2 eggs

1-1/4 cup low-fat ricotta cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

• In a small bowl, combine flour, almond meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• Add milk, butter, egg and vanilla. 
• Beat with an electric mixer at low speed until well blended. 
• Then beat for one minute on medium speed.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pan and spread evenly.
• Sprinkle blueberries evenly on top of batter.
• Break the remaining two eggs into a mixing bowl [You can re-use the one from the batter.] and beat with a fork. 
• Add ricotta, sugar, and vanilla. 
• Spoon over blueberries and spread evenly.
• Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes. Test at 55 minutes; a cake tester inserted at the center should come out clean.

Cool before serving, and store leftovers in the refrigerator. Ricotta Blueberry Squares are delicious warm or cold. They also freeze well if tightly wrapped.

Please remember that any cake is best in moderation. Despite my tweaks, these Blueberry Ricotta Squares are still high in fat and sugar. They are, however, packed with protein from the eggs, ricotta (35 grams), and almond meal (14 grams), making them a perfect once-in-a-while breakfast treat, far better than a cheese Danish. 

Have a great week. Eat well. 

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday 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.”

Saturday Short Subjects: “Lost” Tourist Finds Self on Icelandic Tour

I have a growing list of places I want to see someday. One of the more exotic destinations is Iceland — the Land of Fire and Ice, inspired in part by the dramatic images appearing in the flashbacks of Hallgrim Ørn Hallgrimsson, the protagonist of the edgy Danish drama “The Eagle,” which we have been watching on Netflix these hot, summer nights.

After one particularly gripping episode, I decided to google “Iceland” to get some basic travel information to bookmark and store away for future reference.

Near the top of the search list was a link to a contest in which the prize was an all-expense-paid trip for two to Iceland! Closer reading revealed that the winner would be the person who submitted the best travel story from a trip to Iceland taken within the past year. As “Tourist of the Year” the winner and a friend would have the opportunity to “relive” his or her adventure. That ruled me out.

What, I wondered, had inspired such a contest?

The next paragraph on the Iceland Naturally homepage revealed the answer: “The contest was inspired in 2012, when a tourist to the country was mistakenly reported as missing [August 30, to be exact]. Not recognizing her own description, she joined the very search party that was looking for her, and only many hours later did it occur to her that she was the missing woman.”

Here is the link to a story with all the details — “Tourist in Iceland Spends Weekend Finding Herself.” 

The woman had stepped off the tour bus [apparently the best way to get around the country to see the sights] at one of the destinations, and while taking a break, had also changed her clothing. Apparently the driver [and the other passengers] had not recognized her when she stepped back onto the bus.

What, no buddy system!?! 

The police chief in charge of the rescue effort stated, “The people on the bus had not been counted correctly.” Luckily they were spared the expense of a helicopter search due to bad weather.

It’s going to be difficult to top that travel memory!

The contest winner will be announced in December, 2013. 

The next time everything in which you are involved seems totally screwed up, take a deep breath and remember this story.

Have a nice weekend.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).