Pink Slime, Blogger, Easter Lamb,

Having given everyone a heads up about a programme coming on on Thursday evening about Pink Slime, I then completely forgot to watch myself. It was essentially covering the States of course, and I know that one defense against banning pink slime was the hundreds of jobs which would be lost. I heard Nebraska mentioned, don’t know if that means that Nebraska is the State where all of the pink slime is manufactured. Suffice to say, I would certainly never have ground beef products in the States and if I wanted ground beef I would make sure I bought meat and had it ground for me. Matt figures its actually only the cheaper ground beef, I am not so sure. As of last report, Canada does not permit this processing of beef, I hope they don’t do so in future. You may find this article on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution site interesting.

For some reason yesterday morning, Blogger wasn’t allowing me to post comments on other people’s blogs. I tried several times to do so but kept getting error messages. Dragon’s Kitchen had two great blogs and I love to read Sia’s Over Coffee Blog. I had comments to make, but Blogger said ‘no way’. Dragon’s Kitchen had a post about roast lamb which we love and will be cooking for Easter as is traditional in Europe, particularly in Greece. I am sure you know of the old tradition of bringing up a lamb in the household and then ‘sacrificing’ it for Easter. I personally could not do that, but many of the old families in Greece still practice that tradition. This picture is half of a two page spread I have in a Time Life cookbook, showing the men supervising the cooking lambs in the village street whilst their wives stay at home and get on with the rest of the preparations. Sound familiar? Then Dragon’s Kitchen had a roast duckling recipe. I think duck is one of my all time favourites and because duck is horrendously expensive here, as is goose, not one that we indulge in very often. You can almost guarantee that when we go out for fine dining that will be my choice if its on the menu.

The Queen has just been given another great grandchild by Peter Phillips and his Montreal born wife Autumn which pleases the family very much. The baby is 13th in line for the throne. Her father is the son of Princess Anne and her ex husband Mark Phillips. Of course everyone is anxiously watching Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to see if she is going to produce an heir to the throne. Bit difficult when her old man is on assignment though. I assume, but don’t know, that she would have had medical check ups before the wedding, or maybe they just hope for the best.

This looked appealing – Matt loves cheesecake so I might try this in the near future.

Ricotta Cheesecake

Source: Splenda

Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 cup (250 mL) graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter, melted

Filling:

2/3 cup (160 mL) golden raisins or candied peel

1 container (475 g) ricotta cheese

8 oz (250 g) light cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup (160 mL) SPLENDA^® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated

3 eggs

1/2 cup (125 mL) light sour cream

3 tbsp (45 mL) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp (15 mL) grated lemon rind

1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla

1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt

Directions

In bowl, stir graham cracker crumbs with butter until moistened; press onto bottom of greased 9-inch (2.5 L) springform pan. Place pan on large square of heavy-duty foil; press foil up around side of pan. Bake in 350°F (180°C) oven until firm, about 8 minutes. Let cool.

Filling: In heatproof bowl, cover raisins with boiling water; let stand for 10 minutes to soften. Drain and set aside. (If using candied peel, omit soaking).

In food processor, purée together ricotta cheese, cream cheese and SPLENDA^® Granulated until smooth. Blend in eggs, 1 at a time. Blend in sour cream, flour, lemon rind, vanilla and salt. Fold in raisins. Pour over crust.

Set foil-wrapped pan in larger pan; pour in enough hot water to come 1-inch (2.5 cm) up sides. Bake in 325°F (160°C) oven until set at edge but still slightly jiggly in centre, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove pan from water. Run knife around edge of cake; remove foil and let cool on rack. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours. Remove side of pan.

Have a great weekend