Ricotta Bake

My wife LOVES Italian food, PARTICULARLY pasta - and a big plate of lasagna sends her into ecstasy. So she was tickled when I discovered this dish, which was originally built in a casserole, for a dinner she and I could enjoy together. Now I find it MUCH more convenient to divide the portions into a non-stick muffin tin to make it easier for me to keep track of portion sizes 

One of the secrets for post-bariatric success is to prepare dishes that can be enjoyed by your family and still meet your nutritional needs.  This is certainly one of them.  I still prepare it 9 years out and add a bit of meat crumbles in the sauce.


Ingredients:

8 oz good ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg, beaten
Italian seasoning to taste
salt and pepper to taste
11 tablespoons No-Sugar-Added Pizza/Pasta Sauce 
1 to 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Lightly grease (Pam is fine) 1 regular muffin tin. 

Mix Ricotta, Parmesan, beaten egg and spices in bowl. 

Divide mixture evenly into the muffin tin - about three tablespoons into each - ending up with eleven portions.



Spoon 1 tablespoon of the pizza/pasta sauce over each portion and sprinkle with the cheese. I love cheese and ended up using about 1 1/2 cups over all.



Bake at 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on how dark and bubbly you want the cheese.



The result, quite tasty. 

Cook's Notes:

• As you get into solid foods, you can add meat (beef, lamb, sausage, etc..) or veggy crumbles
• For easy cleanup I recommend a silicone muffin tin instead of metal - even over metal  non-stick
• Buy good ricotta..  Many cheap brands are "grainy".  Personally I prefer the fresh ricotta that they make at my local Italian deli, but Trader Joe's has a nice one - or in the grocery, I pick up Polly-O
• Feel free to add a tiny pinch of cayenne to point up the heat factor
• I use crushed tomatoes with added spices as my pasta sauce, so I can control the added sugar content.
• A friend (thanks Erieka!) pointed out this would work well with pesto, spinach and pre-cooked chicken.  She was RIGHT!!!