Everyday Nutrition: Ricotta Part One: Making Ricotta

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Ricotta Part One: Making Ricotta

A few weeks ago Dominicks had milk on sale for $.99 per gallon. This seemed like a great deal and the perfect excuse to try my hand at cheese making, something I had been wanting to try for a while.

In my excitement I came home and in the midst of a million other holiday projects decided to try and make mozzarella. I read the recipe (eHow Mozzarella), gathered my ingredients and set to work. The first part of the recipe seemed pretty easy and then needed rest time so I figured I would be fine starting the recipe a few hours before I was supposed to head out to a Holiday party. Wrong! So, I find myself in my party dress, ready to head out the door and notice that my "cheese" is still nothing more than milk in a pan when it should have been much more solidified.

Luckily for me the party was right across the hall. I figured I would just let the "cheese" continue to sit over a low heat and check on it every once in awhile and headed out the door with my signature sangria and cookie plate offering.

An hour went by, no cheese, another hour and still no cheese. In the midst of going between my condo and my neighbor's I managed to meet another party guest who had made cheese with his grandmother and offered to come take a look. Together we decided that it just needed more time and low and behold, about 12 hours after starting the process I had what looked like cottage cheese!

This was great, except that I did not intend to make cottage cheese. In the end, my recipe turned out to be Ricotta, I honestly have no idea why, but it actually turned out quite good and I ended up with about 6 cups of fat-free ricotta which tastes really good and only cost a little over $1 to make!

The moral of the story? Try this recipe. If you make mozzarella please share your secret! Otherwise I would recommend skipping all of the hassle of trying to make a formed cheese and going straight for a easy ricotta recipe such as this one from epicurious.com.

What will I do with 6 cups of fat-free Ricotta? Stay tuned for Ricotta Part Two!

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Welcome!

My name is Kristin and I am a Registered Dietitian living in the heart of Chicago.

Everyday Nutrition is a blog set out to show how nutrition can be easy, fun, creative and most importantly part of everyday. Some posts will be nutrition and health focused where as others may be more indulgent to show that in moderation any food can be part of a healthy lifestyle.

I have worked in a variety of settings including home health care, women, infant and children's nutrition, diabetic wellness, rehabilitation as well as community health promotion.

I feel that nutrition is one of the most important components of a healthy lifestyle, but in addition to nourishing our bodies food has to make us happy, fit our budget and must be adaptable to daily changes we may face.

I like to think of myself as a realistic Dietitian and strongly believe in the following:

1.) There are no "bad" foods. Eat in moderation and don't deny yourself. Eat healthy 80% of the time and splurge the other 20%, not only will it help you stick to a healthy eating plan but you deserve it!

2.) The more visually stimulating your meals are the more you will enjoy them. A low-fat item will taste better if it looks appealing so add some creativity into your meals and save calories while eating healthy.

3.) Save money where you can so that you can afford healthy foods or match sales with coupons to pay less for those foods. I hear patients say all the time that healthy foods are expensive but it is possible to make healthy foods part of any budget.

4.) Eating is a numbers game, keep your "calories in" and "calories out" the same and you set yourself up for weight stability over time. Know that you will be eating a larger dinner? Make sure to hit the gym in the morning or scale down breakfast and lunch portions to compensate.

5.) Nutrition does not have to be difficult! Eat a balance of foods, avoid high calorie high sugar items and make sure to have a large glass of water at each meal, it can be that simple. I often tell patients to eat as their mother taught them growing up, going back to basics helps ground us in good health.

Thanks for stopping by and please check back soon for updates!

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RECIPES:

This section is dedicated to everything cooking! It includes sections such as:
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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Ricotta Part One: Making Ricotta

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