Herbed Ricotta and Parmesan Spread

Yum

The big game is this weekend and it's time to get your game day menu ready!

We always have a small gathering of friends and while we love to gobble up the usual food or burgers, slider, or chili, we also like to have some food that can be labeled "healthier" to nibble on as well.  This could include a salad, fruit and dip or as I'm sharing today a crudité platter with Herbed Ricotta and Parmesan Spread.

A veggie platter (crudité) along with some crostini is the perfect match to this cheese spread.  It loaded with fresh herbs and cheese, an a bit of olive oil.  It's wonderfully satisfying and makes the perfect snacking platter.  The spread is very easy to put together and you can even make it up to a day ahead which is always handy when prepping for entertaining. 

HERBED RICOTTA AND PARMESAN SPREAD

Another plus to spread is that it's healthier than a dip made with sour cream and/or mayo!  A nice light ricotta is used is lighter in calories and fat.  A big plus for this dip is that if you have any leftovers (you possibly won't have any!)  can be spread on toast the next morning with a slice pear and a little drizzle of honey!  How perfect is that?  Pretty darn good if you ask me.

So mix it up with some indulgent game food this weekend along with some healthier options.  You won't regret this spread one bite!

Enjoy!







Herbed Ricotta and Parmesan Spread


15 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 Tbls fresh oregano, chopped
1/2 - 1 Tbls fresh chives, finely chopped
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 teaspoon olive oil
Optional:  Assorted veggies (I use jicama, bell pepper, carrots, and celery)  Toasted crostini

In a medium bowl add ricotta and using a hand mixer beat on low until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add Parmesan and mix to combine.  Add in the herbs, salt and pepper and using a rubber spatula mix by hand until well combined.  Add in the olive oil and mix to combine. 

Cover and chill  a minimum of 1 hour up to a day ahead.
Serve spread with toasted crostini and assorted veggies.  

Triple Berry Cream Cheese Spread

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

We took a little bit of time off to relax and celebrate with friends.  It was wonderful seeing good friends, playing in the pool, and eating all that great food!

It's hard to get back into the daily swing when we had such a relaxing holiday.  One way to do that is to make life simple, and to make our breakfast's simple too.  After a weekend of goodies it's time stop the baking and cooking for a little bit.  In doing so we decided to spend our last day of holiday with a quick and easy breakfast of fruits, coffee and tea, and fresh bagels. 

We are lucky to live near a Western Bagel store and so we picked up several varieties of bagels to enjoy.  My all time favorite is an egg bagel.  Soft and yummy, that's how I like them.  There's nothing better than fresh, soft bagels and Western Bagel has the best in Los Angeles. 

To go with our bagels I decided to whip up a special cream cheese spread.  I wanted to make it just a little bit fancier...just a little.  Which leads us to today's recipe, Triple Berry Cream Cheese Spread.  It's a blend of cream cheese, feta cheese and Smucker's new Fruit N' Honey fruit spreads.  Smucker's describes them as " Ripened fruit is naturally sweetened with honey for a simply delicious way to complement your breakfast or dress up your appetizers and desserts."  I found this new product at my store and decided to pick up a couple.  The one I used today was Fruit & Honey Triple Berry Fruit Spread.  Of course you could use this recipe with any jam, jelly, or fruit spread, I chose this one because I was curious to have a spread with honey in it instead of refined sugar.  

It's just the perfect additive to my cream cheese to jazz it up a bit for our breakfast.  It turned out so delicious, with little chunks of fruit mixed in.  Perfect on a bagel or a piece of toast.

So next time you have a simple breakfast, try this easy cream cheese spread.  You'll enjoy it's light and fruity taste, and make your breakfast extra special!

Enjoy!




Triple Berry Cream Cheese Spread


1/2 tub of whipped cream cheese
3 Tbls feta cheese crumbled
3-4 Tbls Triple Berry Fruit Spread (Smucker's - or your favorite fruit spread)

In a medium bowl add all the ingredients and stir until well combined.  Serve with bagels or toast.  Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator up to a week.

Creamy Cranberry Relish Spread

 

Every holiday needs a good appetizer.

I love to munch and I'm sure you all do to.  So there is no doubt that I love to serve a good appetizer for friends and family to eat while the dinner is be prepared.  It wets the appetite.

So today I wanted to share with you a new unique appetizer that I made the other day with my friends along with our desert marathon.  

They had wanted a fresh cranberry sauce.  So we made a relish, but I'm not really into tart cranberries all that much.  By themselves they are just too tart and all I do is pucker!

So we made the relish and yes, it was too tart for my liking.  So I decided to turn this into a spread and add something creamy to cut the tartness.  I used goat cheese which also has tang but enough creaminess to create a foil for the tart cranberries.  Perfect for a spread.

It was a winner!  Creamy, yet tart...perfect with crostini.

This relish would equally be good mixed with marscapone or ricotta, or even cream cheese.  Choose what you like, I'm sure they would all be delishh!

So a new appetizer was born and everyone loved it.  Try it this Thanksgiving and let me know how it turns out.

Creamy Cranberry Relish Spread

serves 12-15

1 orange, unpeeled and preferably
organic, scrubbed
2 bags (12 oz. each) fresh cranberries
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
1⁄3 cup peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
2 logs of goat cheese

Cut the orange (with its peel on) into 16 chunks and discard any seeds. Working in batches, combine the orange chunks, cranberries, sugar and ginger in a food processor. Pulse to chop fine, stopping once or twice
with each batch to scrape down the sides of the work bowl.

Place in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.  Remove from the refrigerator and add back to the food processor along with the goat cheese.  Pulse until well incorporated.  Serve with crostini.

Garlicky Lima Bean Spread

Need a good game day dip?

I've got the perfect one!  This dip is not your ordinary dip.  It's made of fresh and healthy ingredients so you don't get all the fat calories from it.

It's along the line of a hummus, but different in texture a little.  I found the Garlicky Lima Bean Spread in one of my favorite recipe books, "Cooking Light's Cooking through the Seasons".  This is a gem of a book.  You can see a picture of it in my sidebar under the Cookbook Corner.

This dip is a winner!  Garlicky in flavor, great with vegetables and crackers alike. You can even use it as a spread in a wrap.  Even your husband and children will love this.  It's that good!

Everyone needs a handful of great game day treats, but this would fit just as well at a nice brunch, or a holiday dinner.

I didn't take step by step pictures on this one, but I promise it is super easy to make.  You're gonna LOVE it!

Look at the wonderful green color!

Garlicky Lima Bean Spread

adapted from Cooking Light

2 cups fresh lima beans

1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

Sort and wash beans; drain and place in a medium saucepan. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Place beans and remaining ingredients in a food processor.  Process until smooth.