Sweet Glutinous Ricel Ball Soup

A very famous snack in Asia, particularly in the Philippines.

Blueberry and Raspberry Tofu Smoothie

Let's go back to healthy drink, this time high protein and low in fat using tofu and soy milk. Another simple way to quench your thirst! I didn't add much honey since the raspberries are already sweet.

1 cup silk tofu (Japanese tofu)

1 cup soy milk (I used no sugar)

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup fresh raspberrie

3 tablespoon honey (or more)

1 cup ice cubes.

In a blender, combine tofu, soya milk, and raspberries. Blend until smooth, add the raspberries, honey, and ice cubes. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serv at once.

Enjoy the refreshing Blueberry and Raspberry Tofu Smoothie. You can also use sugar instead of honey.

Blueberry Ricotta Cheese

No-bake cheese cake is very popular specially summer time! I read, that July 30 was also a National Cheese Cake Day! So here I am, giving a blueberry ricotta cheese dessert a try (not a cake :-)! I still have some left-over Blueberry Sauce from previous Blueberry Mixed-grain Pancake, and that's what I used and I also made my own Ricotta Cheese.

For the cheese mixture:

250g ricotta cheese

1/4 cup sugar (or more)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

250g whipcream (all purpose cream)

Mix ricotta cheese, juice, and sugar until smooth (Add a drop of hot water, if it's too thick).  Fold in whip cream to cheese mixture. Stir gently until fluffy. Keep the cheese  in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Place the blueberry sauce on top of cheese mixture. Serve.

If desired, graham or oreo crumbs can be added at the bottom as base...

and that would be a Blueberry Ricotta Cheese Cake

:)

Link Up! The theme is... Blueberries!

Strawberries with Yogurt

These strawberries are sour, the best to mix with yogurt! Just spoon the 4 ounces non-fat yogurt into a parfait glass, then add chopped (sliced) strawberries. Serve immediately.

Food Trip Friday

Ricotta Crème Desserts

After making my Home-Made Ricotta Cheese, I've been eating Ricotta Crème for desserts as part of South Beach Diet Recipes. In the the first phase, there are five ways how to enjoy Ricotta Crème - Lemon Zest Ricotta Crème, Almond Ricotta Crème, Vanilla Ricotta Crème, Mocha Ricotta Crème, and Lime Ricotta Crème. My favorite is Mocha Ricotta Crème, I love the mixture of cheese with coffee and chocolate. The basic ingredients are Ricotta Cheese, vanilla extract, and substitute sugar + the flavor (lemon/lime zest, coffee and chocolate for mocha).

Vanilla Ricotta Crème

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon sugar substiture

Lime Zest (or Lemon) Ricotta Crème

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 teaspoon grated lime or lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon sugar substitute

*****

Mocha Ricotta Crème

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

(I used chocolate powder)

1 teaspoon sugar substitute

dash of expresso powder

Mix together the ricotta cheese and  the rest of the ingredients in a dessert bowl.
(If it's too thick, add 2 tablespoon water)
Served chilled.

yUm!

Making Ricotta Cheese

Part of the South Beach Diet is allowed to have desserts as long as low in sugar or everything is low fat. As I've mentioned in the menu guide that it's really hard to find some of the ingredients. Yesterday, Paula 's Ricotta Cheese was featured in food buzz and I got so excited! Here's the outcome, it's really fresh and I just don't know the difference between using whole-milk and low-fat milk. I used low-fat milk and all purpose cream (lesser fat than heavy cream) I think it turned out the way it should be.

1800ml low-fat milk

250ml all purpose cream

pinch of salt

3 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime

In a medium heat, boil the milk, cream, and salt stirring continuously.

Reduce heat and add lime juice, keep on stirring until curds formed.

Turn off the heat and let it set for few minutes, do not stir.

Use a muslin bag to filter the mixture, draining the curds from the liquid and set for an hour.

When the curd is ready, place it in the refrigerator to chill for another 2 hours. Remove ricotta cheese from the muslin bag and place  in containers. Now it's ready to use, the rest should be refrigerate and use within 3-4 days.

I made  4 small container of ricotta cheese for my desserts, good for 4 days!

Papaya Sherbet

Another adapted recipe from Food Magazine (May Edition) is Papaya Sherbet.

1 ripe papaya, chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice

In a blender, puree papaya with lemon juice and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into a glass bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 2 hours or until semi-frozen.  With a hand mixer, whisk papaya mixture until smooth. Cover then freeze just until set. Whisk papaya mixture again. Freeze until ready to serve. Scoop into balls and garnish with mint leaves (optional).

I also made some into a popsicle, great to cool down this summer!

Fruits-Graham Refrigerator Cake

What a coincidence because our  lesson is all about Graham Crackers. Graham crackers were invented around 1830 by Sylvester Graham. He wanted people to eat more fruits and vegetables and wheat breads that were brown instead of white. Graham Crackers were made of whole-wheat flour, and it's considered a healthy snack!

However, the modern graham crackers are no longer as healthy as before! Graham crackers are more famous in making cakes like this recipe.

I wanted to make the famous Mango-Graham Refrigerator Cake, but the 5 small mangoes I bought had too much fiber.  I only used two layers, and luckily I still have a small can of peach which I added for the 3rd layer. I didn't put much condensed milk!

The ingredients: graham crackers, mango, condensed milk, all purpose cream.

Layer some graham crackers in a flat container, spread some condensed milk.

 

Spread some all purpose cream just enought to cover the graham crackers,

layer the fruit above the cream ( I used mango first)

Cover the fruit with graham crackers, spread again some milk and cream,

Put some fruit on top of the milk and cream (I used Peach). Last, cover again

with graham crackers (graham crackers crumbs - optional)

Cover and place it in the refrigerator for an hour or more. Serve as a dessert or

just simply snacks!

I still have extra ingredients, so I made another - kiwi! I like the blending

of sweet and sour.

Happy Mother's Day to All Moms

I told  my students to surprise their mom of this quickest and easiest treat!