Barbara Simoes

Here's a recipe for Lemon Ricotta Cake. You can use regular sugar if you prefer, I just try to avoid it.  Also, I was wondering if you can freeze the cheese?

Lemon Ricotta Cake
Prep Time 10 minutes  Cook Time 50 minutes  Total Time 1 hour
Servings 9  Calories 212 kcal

• 1/2 stick soft butter (2 oz)
• 1/2 cup Sukrin :1 (Swerve Granulated or Lakanto Classic)
• 4 large eggs (cold) (one more egg if not using baking powder)
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese (cold)
• 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest (zest from one lemon)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 cup almond flour (whisk before measuring)
• 4 tbsp coconut flour* (whisk before measuring)
• 2 tsp baking powder** (see directions for version without baking powder)
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. Cut a piece of parchment to fit the inside bottom of an 8 x 2 inch round pan. Spray or butter the pan and add the parchment. Measure the dry ingredients into a small bowl and whisk to remove any lumps.

1. Cream the butter, vanilla, and sweetener until completely blended. Add one egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, beating until throughly combined.
2. Working by thirds, mix 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the batter. Add and egg an mix. Repeat with the remaining ingredients finishing with the last egg.
3. Gently spread the batter into the prepared cake pan with an offset spatula. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let the cake cool for 15-20 minutes, then run a knife around the pan to loosen the cake. Flip out onto a rack to cool completely.
4. Wrap any leftover cake in cling film and leave out on the counter for 3 days (unless it's hot and humid) or refrigerate. Warm slightly before enjoying if refrigerated. Serves 9 at 3.5 net carbs per serving. See post for topping ideas.
**If Not Using Baking Powder:
1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. Cut a piece of parchment to fit the inside bottom of an 8 x 2 inch round pan. Spray or butter the pan and add the parchment. Measure the dry ingredients into a small bowl and whisk to remove any lumps.
2. Separate 4 eggs, putting the whites into a medium bowl to be whipped to soft peaks. Whip the whites to soft peaks.
3. Cream the butter, vanilla, and sweetener. Add the egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the ricotta cheese, then the whole egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Add the dry ingredients, mixing until combined.
4. Working by thirds, fold the whipped egg whites into the cake batter. The batter will be thick. Gently spread the batter into the prepared pan with an offset spatula. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let the cake cool for 15-20 minutes, then run a knife around the pan to loosen the cake. Flip out onto a rack to cool completely.
5. Wrap any leftover cake in cling film and leave out on the counter for 3 days (unless it's hot and humid) or refrigerate. Warm slightly before enjoying if refrigerated. Serves 9 at 3.5 net carbs per serving. See post for topping ideas.
Recipe Notes
* You can sub 3 tbsp of oat fiber (or whey protein isolate) for the coconut flour or use 1/3-1/2 cup more almond flour as a sub. Using subs never achieves the same result or texture as using the original ingredients stated in the recipe.
I always use cold eggs and liquids in my baked goods. The erythritol makes things cold as it melts, so I don't bother having the ingredients sit out on the counter. The exception is butter and cream cheese. I soften in the microwave just before beginning a recipe.
Nutrition Facts
Lemon Ricotta Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 212Calories from Fat 153
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g26%
Total Carbohydrates 7g2%
Dietary Fiber 3.5g14%
Protein 8g16%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Me too!  It was not easy cutting the tree basically in half after getting a stick in the mail, but all of the trees survived and are doing well a good 5-6 years on. Many have started producing fruit, so I'd say, "Go for it!"

Nancy, I was just thinking, if the "wet zone" is going to be problematic, both in its scale and its position, is there a way to lay a literal gutter or French drain that would collect the water that you could then trench with more gutter dug into the ground that would re-route the water to where it is needed or at least shuttled out of the way.  Maybe you could create a small pond area where you could grow some watercress, or what have you, or just let it be for wildlife or as reserve water source for when you need it. Maybe it's just trenched down the hill.  I don't know if you have mosquitoes, black flies or bugs that are problematic like we do, but barring that, there is that permaculture premise that says to see all problems as solutions!--I think it's my favorite principle; I've come up with lots of "solutions" here!

I will be doing a similar thing out my back door (which faces north). Right next to the porch on each side of the walk, I have huge rhododendrons, but past them, on either side of a sidewalk that leads to the driveway, there was only grass.  It was always very lush because that area holds moisture, but it was a pain to mow.  It is now covered in cardboard and then woodchips on top of that.  It didn't have enough time to break down the grass below, so I'm letting it just be as is this season.  

Next year, it is my intention to make it an herb and flower (pollinator) garden.  I will grow things that are easy to maintain and that I will need on a regular basis.  This is where I will grow my basil, instead of taking up room in the vegetable garden.  I grow it as a crop from which I harvest almost weekly and make large batches of pesto to then freeze for easy winter meals.  Maybe some sorrel for a nice spring soup? I plan to plant dill so that when I'm canning, I will have plenty, although, again, right now, it's taking up space in the veg. garden.  I love tarragon and chives, and since I now pretty much concentrate my efforts in the permaculture fruit and nut realm, it will be nice to have some flowers nearby to help feed and draw in good insects as well as for color and fragrance--having some allysum near the walkway, for example, would provide a lovely fragrance.  Borage has that startling beautiful blue flower, while catmint blooms all season long. Some  pretty medicinals will also be planted in the new garden, so that they are closer. I might even transplant some wine cap mushroom spore. I guess the idea of planting in layers is deeply ingrained in me!  This is my view out my kitchen window over the sink, so I don't want it too wild, but I do want it full--full of color, usefulness, fragrance, life and useability.  I do have a bird bath already there, which is visited by birds on a daily basis.  It gives me a little thrill every time a bird chooses to grace me with its presence.  I guess they feel safe because they can very easily retreat to the rhododendrons from which I hear chirping all the year round!

I have a book called Make Your Own Groceries that I used to use all of the time.  I just typed in that title and Thrift Books had it and numerouse ones along that line.

I use a screen very similar to the one pictured above that my dad had built probably over 60 or 70 years ago. I place it on top of my very large orange double-wheeled wheelbarrow and then shovel on the compost from the bottom of the bin.  What doesn't get sifted through, goes back into the compost at the top. I use my hand and rub across the screen until nothing else will slip through. When I reach a level where I'm pulling out very recognizable items, avacado pits or banana peels, for example, I stop--work smarter, not harder!

Just a side note: if you buy produce, make sure to pull of those horrible little stickers.  They are plastic and will not decompose, nor do you want them to!

I have five square black plastic type composters and one crank type (which I rarely crank!).  I have them distributed around the property and mainly use them to put weeds into...which means, I don't want to use the compost in my beds, (I'm sure it never gets hot enought to kill weed seeds) but I do spread it across the lawn.  I also have a large area for dumping carts of debris out back behind a large evergreen grove.  

As far as food scraps, I keep an old tall rectangular Tupperware container on the door of the fridge.  I do this so as to not have fruit flies and the like.  It works beautifully. It's out of sight and not taking up cabinet space. I  empty it into the compost located at the edge of my covered back porch, which is very well sited as it's always easy to get to, even if we get a dumping of snow or rain. Last year, I decided that I would no longer put weeds in that one, so that I could use it in various gardens.  If I have leftover paper or natural fiber fabric left over, that gets composted too.

I thought that I would put the little stevia packets in there...When I went to sift the compost, which I do every few years, I discovered that they coat those with some sort of plastic, because I had thousands of little plastic stevia pieces that I then had to pick out.  Also, those stickers they put on fruit are plastic.  Through those out before composting to save yourself a whole lot of work later trying to pick them out. When they say plastic is in everything, it's true!

Here is a video about the eggshells and vinegar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhcb3sA3tgY

Bonus for more northerly gardeners--Keith lives in Canada, so I used to watch him whenever he put videos out; his earlier videos are great.  Now, his kids put out videos once in a while, but I really liked most of his content.  Worth poking around.

Kathleen, I use the "Grow a Little Fruit Tree" method; I found the book at our library and then ended up purchasing it.  There is a video which also covers it pretty in depth.  I found it very hard to cut that first bare root tree  to knee high, but now I am very grateful that I did!  

Yes, I have "Raspberry Shortcake" by Bushel and Berry that I got from Stark Bros.  They also have blackberries and blueberries.  I love them because they really are like a soft shrub and they don't have thorns.  I wasn't expecting that they'd send out new plants so prolifically.  I've given a number of them away to friends.

Here are a few links to videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVzDKPHni_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-teXiJXm2g
Instructions and care:
https://www.bushelandberry.com/raspberry-care

I was sure that someone would mention grinding them to a powder after baking them so that they are safe and then filling capsules for a good dose of calcium.  I used to stockpile shells and do this.  Now, I have plenty to last me for a few years.  I remember watching a 60 Minutes segment where they said that the calcium you buy over the counter is pretty worthless.  The calcium in eggshells is taken up by our bodies and is valuable.