Red Apple Cheese, Pepper Jack V.S. Trader Joe's, Pepper Jack

I've always loved cheese but during this time of pregnancy (6 months along now) I just can't get enough cheese! Digging in my refrigerator drawer to get to that last gouda babybel wrapped in the fun waxy casing is my past time these days. Serving a spread of maytag blue cheese, brie, crackers and fig jam has become a favorite starter for guests, but most of all for me. A slice of havarti cheese in my lunch sandwich has been my choice of sandwich cheese for the past two weeks... And snacking on pepper jack infront of the television is another thing I've been doing a lot of. Like I said, I can't get enough cheese.

When the cheese eating first began I was shopping at Trader Joe's and decided on a pack of Trader Joe's Sliced Pepper Jack Cheese. I went home that night and took a couple bites out of a slice and had to leave it for Husband Borscht to finish. Why was this pepper jack so waxy and thick? Shouldn't cheese be soft, moist and smooth? The next day finding myself at Wholefoods I came across the cheese section and saw a pack of sliced pepper jack cheese by Red Apple Cheese, this pepper jack looked different, tastier somehow, more real- I bought the pack of sliced cheese, took it home, tore it open and ate a slice. Oh my gosh, the Red Apple sliced pepper jack cheese was infinite times better. The cheese was soft, moist, NOT WAXY in the least bit, and tasted the way I would imagine a block of pepper jack cheese would taste like. Needless to say, it has become my new favorite sliced pepper jack cheese. And even better, it's better for you too!

If you find that the pack of Trader Joe's sliced pepper jack or other isn't quite doing it for you, give the Pepper Jack Cheese from Red Apple Farm (available at Wholefoods) a try, you just may find your craving for that pepper jack cheese taste fulfilled.

My new breakfast crush, Toasted Bagel topped with Sweetened Ricotta

I've definitely been trying a lot more things since I've gotten pregnant and since I've made my 2013 resolution to live a more exciting life in the kitchen. Just 17 days in and I can say it's definitely working to expose me to new flavors, many of which I thought I wouldn't like but actually do.

I've eaten my morning bagel with the usual cream cheese and even a spread of butter, but today I decided that I wanted a toasted bagel with ricotta cheese! Ricotta Cheese?! Yes, ricotta cheese. I was reading a cookbook the other day that had mentioned ricotta cheese on toast sprinkled with a bit of sugar- I decided to try this today.

I toasted my bagel and spread ricotta cheese on it and sprinkled it lightly with sugar. First bite... interesting. Second bite... I can see how this would be good. Third bite... I love it! I went on to spread  the two sides of the toasted bagel with ricotta cheese with a sprinkling of sugar and devoured the whole thing, with a nice cup of home dripped coffee. 

Ricotta cheese which I've only had in small quantities in raviolis and lasagnas is a cheese still curiously new to me, as with any cheese I eat I'm always a bit hesitant to eat at first. Thus, I naturally approached the toasted bagel mounded with ricotta cheese with care, but I found that the texture although a little scary at first was quite nice, smooth with just a bit of texture that actually makes it a bit fun to eat. And the taste is very mild, almost like cottage cheese, but better. With the mild taste of ricotta I can only imagine endless possibilities of how this cheese can be used as it seems to go with pretty much any flavor you decide to use with it, be it marinara sauce, berry sauce, a drizzle of honey or simply a sprinkle of sugar! 

Ricotta, my new crush.