Summer Squash & Ricotta Tart

Need a perfect dish that would work as a brunch item, or dinner?  Well, I’ve got one for you!  I know recently I’ve done some tarts and frittatas (such as: gluten-free tomato tart, tomato leek & brie tart, squash blossom & bacon frittata), but they are so easy in the summer!

And now that it’s (slowly) cooling off, don’t spend too much time in the kitchen and enjoy the last of the summer vegetables.  Make this tart!  If you’re not a fan of squash or zucchini, feel free to swap for anything else that’s colorful!

Summer Squash & Ricotta Tart
Adapted from: Cooking Light (July 2012, pg 180)

Crust:
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water

Filling:
1 zucchini, sliced thick
1 yellow squash, sliced thick
1 tbsp olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp & pinch of salt
1/4 tsp & pinch of pepper
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/4 cup basil, chopped

Add the flour, salt, and baking powder into a food processor.  Pulse about 2 times to mix the ingredients.  In a small glass mix together the olive oil and water, then slowly pour it into the flour mixture with the food processor on.  Process until the dough is crumble.  Take it out, and knead it for about 1 minute on a floured surface.  Then shape it into a disk and wrap it up with parchment paper.  Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

In a large bowl combine the yellow squash and zucchini with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, stir together ricotta, thyme, lemon juice, egg, black pepper, and salt.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.  After the dough is chilled, unwrap it and press it into a 9 inch tart pan.  Spread the ricotta mixture over the dough.  Then arrange the zucchini and squash slices over the tart (there will be a couple of layers).  Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

Allow to cool, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and basil.  Cut into wedges and serve.

Kale Lasagna

Sometimes during the weekends we like to make a dish that will last us several days.  When I saw a recipe for kale lasagna (without ricotta) I added it to our list.

As I’ve mentioned before, ricotta and I do not have a wonderful relationship.  Therefore, I try to find ways to substitute it.  Last time we made lasagna, we used tofu as the substitute- check it out here!  This time the substitute was cottage cheese.  I feel like I should have thought of that long ago, yet I didn’t.

Now, if you’re not a fan of kale- feel free to use spinach or any other greens.  Personally, I do not like meat in my lasagna.  I feel like it’s an already heavy dish- and by adding meat, it’ll give me a stronger food-coma.  Since all recipes can have some tweaking- this one is the same.  If you’re a meat lasagna fan, definitely add a layer of it somewhere in there.

This is the pre-bake picture.  I loved the contrast between the green kale, red tomatoes and white cottage cheese.  Yum!

Kale Lasagna
Adapted from: Kalyn’s Kitchen

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
10 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
28oz chopped tomatoes
6 cups of kale, roughly chopped
2 cups of cottage cheese
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, shredded
box of lasagna noodles
2 cups of mozzarella cheese, grated

In a large pan, heat up olive oil.  Add onions and saute for about 3 minutes, or until they are soft.  Then add garlic, mushrooms, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes.  Saute all of the ingredients for about 5 minutes.  Finally, add the tomatoes.  Simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes.  Once the sauce has cooled, pour into a food processor.  Puree the sauce, depending on how smooth or chunky you would like your sauce to be.

The next step is to blanch kale.  Take a large pot and boil water.  Add the chopped kale into the boiling water for about 3 minutes.  Have a bowl of cold water ready, and once the kale is cooked add it to the cold water.  Keep the kale in the cold water for about 3 minutes, and then drain the kale.

In a separate bowl, mix together cottage cheese, beaten eggs and grated Parmesan.  Finally, add the drained kale.  Mix all of the ingredients.

Spray a 9×12 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.  Lay lasagna noodles at the bottom of the pan.  Pour a layer of the sauce onto the lasagna noodles.  Then put down a layer of the cottage cheese-kale mixture.  Finally, sprinkle 1/2 of a cup of mozzarella cheese.  Continue putting the layers until you have used up all of the ingredients.  The top layer will be lasagna noodles covered with a layer of mozzarella cheese.

Preheat the over to 375°F.  Cover the dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 60 minutes.  Then, take off the aluminum foil and bake for another 20 minutes.  Let the lasagna cool for about 5-10 minutes before cutting it and serving.

Delicious Strawberry Cake

Yes, we had 10+ lbs of strawberries.  What did we do with all of them?  We ate some…for breakfast, for lunch, for snack and for dessert.  Yum!  Making your own whipped cream (using whipping cream) is highly underrated.

Strawberries Part 2: Clearly, you can only eat so many strawberries, so I had to think of other ideas.  Next was a strawberry cake from Smitten Kitchen.  Of course, a lot of times when I bake, it depends on what we have in our cupboards.  So, there were a couple of changes from her recipe, but she’s right- the cake is delicious.  And yes, everyone should make it…and enjoy it!  Details follow the picture.

My friend M*, who has an amazing blog (I want to make sure she doesn’t mind me sharing) suggested a wonderful recipe.  Unfortunately, I can’t eat ricotta, so I was unable to make it.  So yes, I need her to make it so I can drool over the beautiful pictures she takes.  =)

Strawberries Part 3: freezing them!  First we wash them, dry them with a paper towel (or let them air dry).  Next, we take off the green stems.  Most of the strawberries we picked were a little large, so I cut them in halves (but you can keep them whole).  Lastly, they should be arranged on a cookie sheet (keeping space in between).  Cover with Saran Wrap, and stick them into the freezer overnight.  The next day, put them all in a ziplock bag.  Now you have some delicious strawberries to make smoothies!  (we’ll have to add the recipe how we make ours)

Strawberry Part 4: So I had some more strawberries left.  I had looked a recipe on making jam.  Although I was hesitant to try it, I am in the process.  I’ll let you know how it turns out (cross your fingers!).

Strawberry Cake
Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

6 tbsp butter, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp rose water*
1 lbs strawberries (cleaned, no green stems, quartered)
cooking spray
powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Spray a 10-inch pie dish with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy.  Add egg, milk and rose water and mix until combined.  Add the flour mixture slowly, mixing until it is smooth.

Pour the pie filling into the pie dish.  On top, arrange the strawberries.  They should be very close together, and in one layer.

Bake the cake for 10 minutes in 350°F, then reduce the temperature to 325°F.  At that temperature bake for the next 40 minutes.  Let it cool, and then cut into wedges.  Once cooled, sift powdered sugar on top!

*Smitten Kitchen used vanilla extract, but we had none…so I gave it a try!  And it was delicious.  So I think either will work.  If you think of a third option, definitely let me know.