Ricotta, Ricotta

A good weekend for me will typically include some sort of baking or cooking - I find it relaxing after a long work week, and then of course I can enjoy the food afterwards. Cooking for one can have its downsides, but I can easily cook one batch of something and have it last for a week's worth of lunches.

This weekend, I discovered my love for ricotta cheese - it's sweet, it's savory. I can use it in desserts, in lasagnas, on pasta, eat it plain. Why hadn't I ever discovered its amazingness before?

My mom is an amazing baker and cook; one of her specialties is the lemon ricotta cookie. Everyone loves them, including all my coworkers. They frequently request them, and my Mom mails them to me in big batches - they always quickly disappear. This past weekend,despite the pressure I was feeling to live up to my Mom's versions, I tried a recipe that she suggested to me use (link above). The cookies themselves turned out great, light and fluffy. My lemon glaze, while it tasted good, just didn't get as thick/glaze like as my Mom's - she said I probably didn't use enough powder sugar. However, for my first attempt making them, I was pleasantly surprised.

When I made these, I bought a HUGE thing of ricotta cheese. I'm going to be honest, I didn't even know where in the store to look for it, or what ricotta cheese looked like. So once I made the cookies, I had so much left I wasn't sure what to do with it. Did it go bad fast? How would I eat it? So, I turned to Google for "ricotta recipes," and found one for broccoli and cheese stuffed shells. And, I had most the ingredients already, it was meant to be.

These were easy, smell amazing - and I have enough for lunches for the week. Seriously, ricotta you can't do wrong. I am now on a mission to find more things I can do with ricotta, including a garlic chicken pizza recipe. Share your ricotta recipes with me in the comments!