Spinach Ricotta Spread with Parmesean Chips

I feel like Monday arrived super fast this week, didn't it?

Or do I always say that? I know I typically feel that way.

I spent the weekend picking up some maternity clothes (more on that soon) and spending time down the shore. We are trying to soak up these last weekends of summer as they seem to be flying by! How was your weekend?

Meanwhile, it's that time again for the Secret Recipe Club reveal day! Hooray!

I really do love the Secret Recipe Club because it's so fun to branch out and try new recipes, not to mention the opportunity to find a ton of new blogs!

Each month, The Secret Recipe Club, run by the lovely April, pairs a blogger with another blog. The blogger then chooses one recipe to cook or bake and reveals it as a surprise on a designated day. I like. A special thanks also to Debbi @ Debbi Does Dinner Healthy for playing hostess in Group C!

I was thrilled to receive Feast on the Cheap as my blog assigment for this month. A gorgeous blog written by mother-daughter team Mary Anne and Mariel, I had such a tough time picking a recipe because they all look so fantastic! 

I chose their Spinach-Ricotta Spread on Crispy Parmesean Squares as my recipe for the month. Since my cooking has been limited lately (read: virtually nonexistent), I thought this beautiful recipe was perfect due to its simple yet delicious nature. And right I was. I changed up the parmesean chips a bit. Since I'm lazy these days, I chose to make my quick baked tortilla chips sprinkled with parmesean cheese, rather than rolling out pizza dough...though I'm sure that would really put this recipe over the top!

I also served this spread as a dip, rather than spreading on individual chips. It was just a snack for Shaun and me, so I found it to be much easier this way, and then I was able to save the rest for another day!

Spinach-Ricotta Spread with Parmesean Chips
*Adapted from Feast on the Cheap
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
15-oz container of part skim ricotta
1¼ cup + 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 8 inch tortillas
1 Tablespoon butter 
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Salt & pepper
Cooking spray

To make the chips, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut up 2 tortillas and lay on a wire rack placed over a baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp parmesean cheese. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until crispy.

In a skillet, melt the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Add the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the ricotta and parmesean cheese. Stir together until melted and bubbling. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with parmesean tortilla chips.

Shaun and I really loved this dip. It came together in a snap and I could see us eating this on many a football Sunday to come!

So there you have it. Another great Secret Recipe Club recipe! Thanks to Mary Anne and Mariel for sharing!

Questions of the Day:

What are your favorite dips or spreads?

What did you do this weekend?

Secret Recipe Club: Cherry Cake

Oh hi!

Happy Monday! I'll be spending most of the day in the car, driving to and from a meeting in Connecticut. Shaun and I spent the weekend having a delicious dinner with great friends at Minetta Tavern and hanging out down the shore on Saturday and Sunday. A great summer weekend, in my opinion!

I'm excited today because it's Secret Recipe Club reveal day for Group C! This month, I received Mother Thyme as my blog assignment. If you haven't spent some time on Jennifer's blog, well, you really need to. Her photos are gorgeous and her recipes all look incredible. When I stumbled upon her recipe for a simple cherry cake, I knew it had to be mine.

Each month, The Secret Recipe Club, founded by the lovely Amanda, pairs a blogger with another blog. The blogger then chooses one recipe to cook or bake and reveals it as a surprise on a designated day. I like. A special thanks also to Angie @ Big Bear's Wife for playing hostess in Group C!

So this cake. I really liked this cake. It was incredibly easy to make. I used frozen cherries, rather than fresh (because, really, who has the patience to pit all of those cherries? If I did that, most of them would end up in my mouth), which I think worked nicely. Oh! And I also didn't have any sour cream on hand when I went to make the cake, so I just subbed in buttermilk instead. I think the sour cream would have made it more fluffy, but for me, the buttermilk worked just fine.

This cake was moist and not too sweet with just a hint of tartness. I made this for my birthday celebration last Sunday and I think it was a hit! 

Cherry Cake
*Adapted from Mother Thyme

1 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 C sugar

1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 C buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

12 oz. frozen whole sweet cherries, pitted

1 tsp confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8" springform pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) cream together the sugar and butter. Pour in buttermilk and mix until blended. Add in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients just until combined.  

Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cherries on top of cake batter and lightly press them into batter.  

Bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool completely. Remove sides of springform pan and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.  

Eat up!

So that's my SRC recipe for July. Not too shabby, right? I'd happily eat this for breakfast or lunch today ;)

Hope you all have a great week!

Questions of the Day:

What's your favorite way to eat cherries?

Do you ever bake with them?

Chocolatey Beet Cake for Secret Recipe Club

So I owe you an apology.

For not keeping up with the blog, for not cooking and for just not being inspired lately. I feel like I've been saying this a lot over the last few weeks, but well...it is what it is.

I arrived home from a week (!!) in Las Vegas on Friday evening. In case you haven't been to Vegas before (or haven't stayed longer than 2-3 days), a week is a looooooooong time to be in Vegas. When a week feels like one really long day, it just gets very old very fast. All in all, it was a successful week, but I'm not going to lie...I definitely could use a couple more days of recovery time!

Oh and then there's this pretty chocolate cake. You're wondering how that fits into the story, right?

Upon arriving home, I realized that Monday (ahem, today) would be the Secret Recipe Club reveal day for Group C! And so I knew I had to get cooking fast in order to make one of the delicious recipes from Witchy Kitchen, my blog assigned for this month. Carrie writes Witchy Kitchen and has made it into a vegetarian blog. She loves cooking and has an adorable daughter. Her blog is simply lovely, so please be sure to head over and check it out!

Each month, The Secret Recipe Club, founded by the lovely Amanda, pairs a blogger with another blog. The blogger then chooses one recipe to cook or bake and reveals it as a surprise on a designated day. I like. A special thanks also to Angie @ Big Bear's Wife for playing hostess in Group C!

So the cake.

When I spotted this cake on Carrie's blog, I knew I had to give it a try. I had heard of making cakes with beets and always wanted to try it. With her gorgeous photos and beautiful video, it was enough to seal the deal. So for Father's Day, I made this pretty little beet cake! It smelled of heavenly chocolate, making our entire apartment smell heavenly too. And it was incredibly moist. And delicious.

And you'll notice there's no frosting to speak of. I kind of like it that way. Let the cake shine! Not to mention that I absolutely adore that Carrie used powdered sugar on top. So beautiful, so chic. It looks like it got a nice, fresh dusting of snow. Yum.

Chocolatey Beet Cake
*Adapted from Witchy Kitchen
1 1/2 C dark brown sugar
1 C butter, at room temperature
4 oz semisweet chocolate, melted
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C beets, pureed (about 2 cans)
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

Grease a 10" springform pan with cooking spray w/flour (e.g., Baker's Joy).

Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the brown sugar and butter. Add melted chocolate and combine. Add one egg at a time, mixing until completely combined. 

Add vanilla and beets and mix well. At this point, the batter will look a little funkdafied. It's ok. Keep going.

Sift flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt together. Add to beet batter and mix.

Pour into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Slice and serve with powdered sugar sprinkled all over the top!

 

Thanks to Carrie for this great recipe!

Questions of the Day:

Do you ever sneak in some vegetables when baking?

I love carrot cake and zucchini bread!

How did you spend Father's Day?