Bulgarian Pepper Casserole

Sunday night's dinner: Bulgarian Pepper Casserole. I enjoyed putting this meal together, even though the casserole wasn't my favorite.

I started by cooking some brown rice on the stove. In a separate pan, I sauteed peppers and onions with oregano and basil. Garlic and feta cheese were added to the pan once everything was softened.

I whipped some ricotta cheese in a big bowl and mixed in the peppers and brown rice.

The top of the casserole was dotted with tomatoes, sliced garlic, and olives (only half since somebody doesn't like olives!). Overall, the casserole was OK. It was an interesting combination of ingredients!

Ricotta Cake

I made Ricotta Cake this weekend for Charlie's birthday. Charlie is an avid ricotta fan, his love for this cheese is apparent whenever we make lasagna or calzones. I was surprised that Charlie had never had ricotta in dessert form prior to this weekend. When I found this Moosewood recipe, I knew it was the perfect chance to introduce it to the birthday boy!


Two pounds of fresh ricotta cheese, eggs, white sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, almond extract, fresh lemon juice, and lemon rind... all blended up until smooth.


Not gonna lie, I was totally excited to use my new Microplane grater for this project. The grater is amazing! Doesn't pull up any pith and the small plane makes grating more manageable.

After combining everything, I baked the cake, watched the World Cup, cooled the cake, studied some schoolwork, chilled the cake, checked my email, cross my fingers, popped the cake from the spring form pan, sipped hot coffee, and decorated the birthday cake with freshly picked blackberries and raspberries. Of course, no birthday cake is complete without a smattering of candles:

Happy birthday, Charlie!

Ricotta Gnocchi with Mondo Bizarro Sauce

Ricotta Gnocchi with Mondo Bizarro Sauce... that name is ridiculous, so let's just call it MB sauce. Traditionally, gnocchi is made with potato, but this recipe traded that out for ricotta. It made for a slightly bumpier texture of gnocchi. The MB sauce was similar to pesto, but had spinach and fresh tomato in it too. Overall, the dish was a little bland but thankfully shaky cheese and salt came to our rescue.

Spinach Ricotta Pie

I made Spinach Ricotta Pie for a Super Bowl Party. Creating and assembling the pie crust a day in advance was a time saver. The filling has fresh spinach, ricotta, sharp cheddar cheese, onion, spices, and Sunday morning sleepies in it. Sour cream and a little paprika were spread on top right before baking. The pie was rich and creamy and was a wonderful accompaniment to my vodka cocktail. Go football teams!

Calzones with Spinach Cheese Filling

Last week, Charlie and I made Calzones with Spinach Cheese Filling. The crust was crunchy and light and the filling was perfectly cheesy and full of leafy spinach flavor. Calzones are a labor intensive endeavor but being able to eat the finished product is particularly fulfilling reward.

We started by making Moosewood's basic calzone dough. It was simple enough: yeast, a little sugar, water, salt, and flour. The dough had to rise for about an hour and during that time we prepared the filling. Onions, garlic, spinach (We used chopped frozen, which was thawed and pressed dry on paper towels), spices, and lots of salt and pepper came together on the stove. We then mixed this with ricotta, mozarella, and parmesan cheeses. Next, we assembled! To start, Charlie rolled out the dough.Then we filled each circle of dough with spinachy cheesy goodness. Crimping the edges and getting each pocket to stay sealed was a little challenging and the oven got a liiiiiittle smokey in the final moments of baking... but overall, we did well!Calzones with Spinach Cheese Filling, a little marinara sauce for dipping, apple slices, and a fresh green salad. Perfect!