
Warning it is pure food porn. Read at your own risk
"Oh... nothing. Just feeling a bit peckish." I said in my best received pronunciation keep-calm-and-carry-on voice.
Truth was I wanted a dessert. Something so sinful it would count as a double cheat.
It was December 2014. I just came back from my 1 month highly charged carb trip in India and I wanted something creamy sweet like ice cream or berry cheese cake. My higher brain region defeated was just shaking its metaphorical head and was about to surrender to the urge of immediate gratification until something from my long-term memory signalled for my immediate attention. I remembered a cranberry parfait recipe a female fitness model came up with and she posted it on a body-building website sometime in 2012.
Now professional body-builders need to be good in loosing body fat before competition which they call the cutting phase. She was able to eat that dessert almost every day during her cutting phase and it helped her to endure a very plain calorie restricted diet. So I decided to come up with a primal version. She used low-fat cream cheese and stevia for her creamy dessert. I decided to use Italian ricotta cheese from Marks and Spencer. Ricotta is usually made from whey from sheep's, goat's or buffalo's milk and therefore most likely grass-fed. It has a naturally light sweet flavour is low in fat in comparison to other cheeses.
This dessert has stuck with me until now. There are sometimes still times when I want to indulge especially when the menses are close. If I wanted to I could have a serving every night without wrecking havoc on my body fat percentage. Good thing that was never necessary.
Frozen Berries Vanilla Ricotta and Cinnamon Cashew Nuts
a là Lory MartinPrep time:
Rest time:
Total time:
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese from Marks and Spencer
1/2 cup Frozen mixed berries
1.5 Tbs Dry roasted cashewnuts
1 generous pinch of Vietnamese ground cinnamon
2-4 drops of vanilla extract, the non alcoholic flavouring kind
- Toss frozen berries with remaining 1-2 drops of vanilla in a small bowl. Let stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes.
- Add cashews and cinnamon in a mortar and crush the cinnamon into chunky pieces
- Scoop the ricotta into a small rice bowl or short wide mouth glass. Top with cinnamon cashews, then with berries and serve.