Have a recommendation? We'd LOVE to hear it!
Salutations Readers!
Kalamazoo has good food.
Great food, in fact. We have made it our mission to check out all the local eateries one at a time - and more for our own poor memories than any other reason, we'll be chronicling our adventures in food here. And some places float our boats way more than others, which is why we have developed the very scientific five golden forks rating scale. Ok. It is not scientific at all. It is actually quite unscientific. But, it is something. And now, you can search all of our reviews by the forks rating. YAY!

But, wait! There's more!
Kalamazoo Foodies no longer just eat at restaurants then review them. There are recipes posted, some easy, some less easy, all delicious. There are, or will be, book reviews, the new Foodie Movie Review-y which will focus on movies about food or ones that have a lot of beautiful food in them. There are other food musings, and hopefully soon contests and so much more. But, Foodie Friends, it is all about food. Because we love it!
And, we want to hear from you!
We want to hear your comments on our recipes and reviews. We want to know where you love to eat. And, we are looking for GUEST bloggers to broaden our horizons a bit. And, if you haven't found us on Facebook, you should do that too. Like our page for other fun Foodies stuff like photos, polls, and more.

SO KALAMAZOO PATRONS - where do YOU love to eat? Because we'd love to check it out and share our thoughts here. Give us a comment below, and quickly! Our tummies are grumbling in anticipation.

A Note from the Foodies about our typical fair:
So, you may notice as you read our blog that we often order the same thing wherever we go. OK, maybe not quite, but we do often order similar things. Kristin has her caprese salads and mushroom dishes. Kate has her baked goat cheese and things with tofu. Well, readers, we wanted to let you know that this is absolutely intentional. A) We love those things, so why not order what you love? And, B) It is a lot easier to compare apples to apples than it is to compare apples to comquats. So, we like to order similar things to have a good sense of how to compare them. Just wanted to let you in on that little secret. Bon appetit!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Foodies at Home: Italian Cheesecake (Calzone di Ricotta)

Paul and I were planning a nice dinner to celebrate a special occasion, and I agreed to contribute dessert. I had recently had an Italian Cheesecake at a work function, and wanted to try it out. I found this recipe, saw how easy it was, AND saw how light it was and thought I would give it a go. I loved it!

KEEP IN MIND: This is not a traditional cheesecake. The texture will be different than what you are used to. When finding the recipe, there were a lot of negative reviews and you could tell that most of them were expecting something more like a traditional cheesecake. Just wanted to make note of that.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds Ricotta Cheese
2 cups Confectioner's Sugar
3 Eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
1/2 teaspoon Rum or Rum flavored extract (I recommend the real thing if you've got it!)
1 tablespoon grated Lemon Zest
1/4 cup fresh Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon grated Orange Zest

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease and flour one 9" springform (preferred) or cake pan.

1. Mix the ricotta, confectioner's sugar and eggs until well blended.
2. Stir in vanilla, almond extract, rum, lemon and orange zest, and lemon juice.
3. Mix by hand until creamy.
4. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Until golden brown. This may take a bit longer than 40 minutes. I think mine was more like 50-55 but we know the weather and the temperature in your kitchen can play a big role in how that goes. I baked mine until it wasn't jiggly and had a nice golden color.
6. Cool on wire rack.
7. Serve with fresh berries and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar for an extra special touch.

When I made this the first time, I put it in the refrigerator to chill overnight (since I made it a day ahead). It was still AMAZING, but I think it might have been even better if I had served it fresh from the oven. Cooled, of course, but fresher.

And, you could choose to omit any of the extracts or the citrus. They are simply to flavor it. BUT, I woudl recommend trying it with all of them in there first and then decide what you might want to back off on for the next time for your taste. I LOVED the flavor, but I think it was a little citrus-y for Paul...

But, seriously. This is SO EASY to make and is something fun and different and DELICIOUS!
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