Tag: ricotta cheese

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Main Dish

Get ready for ‘summer’ all the hot weather with this pasta

Lemon ricotta pasta is a fabulous summer dish, featuring a light flavor of lemon combined with creamy ricotta and parmesan. It can be customized with a variety of proteins or eaten as a vegetarian dish.
Lemon ricotta pasta is a fabulous summer dish, featuring a light flavor of lemon combined with creamy ricotta and parmesan. It can be customized with a variety of proteins or eaten as a vegetarian dish.

After spending a few days out at Camp Mennoscah last week, hanging out with a rambunctious group of 8-year-olds and sweating profusely, I decided I wanted something light and refreshing when I went to cook dinner back at home.

I spent way too much time going through recipes online, convinced that there had to be something that fit the bill that wasn’t just a normal, old salad.

As it usually does, the Internet finally provided me with exactly what I was looking for: a light, lemony pasta dish.

I had to change it a bit, since our local grocery store didn’t have everything I needed, but since I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to shop locally for my food, I was definitely still buying my supplies there. And the good news is it was still absolutely delicious.

This comes from the blog “Olive and Mango.” You can find the original post at https://www.oliveandmango.com/lemon-ricotta-pasta-with-arugula/. I substituted spinach in my version, because I couldn’t get arugula, and I also added extra ricotta and some chicken.

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Lemon Ricotta Pasta

Lemon ricotta pasta is a fabulous summer dish, featuring a light flavor of lemon combined with creamy ricotta and parmesan. It can be customized with a variety of proteins or eaten as a vegetarian dish.
Course Main Course
Keyword fresh lemon, fresh spinach, grated parmesan cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, penne pasta, red chili flakes, ricotta cheese, rigatoni pasta, summer pasta, vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces tubular pasta ex. penne, rigatoni
  • 15 ounces whole milk ricotta
  • 1 cup freshly grated parmesan plus more for serving
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cups baby spinach or arugula
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • red chili flakes for serving (optional)
  • cooked chicken shrimp, etc. (optional)

Instructions

  • Cook the pasta in a stock pot according to the package directions. Reserve one cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.
  • In the same pot, off the heat, add the ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and stir them well.
  • Whisk in about 1/2 cup of the pasta water, stirring until the sauce is smooth. If it’s not as loose as you’d like, add more water, a little at a time, until it’s to your desired consistency.
  • Add in the spinach/arugula, and stir to coat and let it start to wilt.
  • Stir in the pasta (and any cooked protein you’re adding), and coat it with the sauce, as well.
  • Serve immediately with more grated parmesan and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

With the cheese sauce and pasta, you would think this dish was super heavy, but the lemon flavor made it taste really light and summery.

We opted to add chicken to our pasta, but we discussed how great it would be with some seared shrimp, a grilled steak or even some grilled salmon. It would be an easy one to customize, and if you’re looking for a vegetarian dish, it was awesome without the meat, too.

Between this great pasta, a few loads of laundry and some quality time in air conditioning, I’m pretty sure I’m fully recovered from my time at camp.

And now I know exactly what to have on the menu when I do it all again next year.

This piece first appeared in print July 3, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Lighten up and try a new lasagna recipe this week

This lightened up version of homemade lasagna still packs in tons of great flavor, despite using lower-fat ingredients.
This lightened up version of homemade lasagna still packs in tons of great flavor, despite using lower-fat ingredients.

I know that most of the recipes I share with you in this space are “sometimes” foods.

From pasta-laden, full-fat casseroles swimming in cheese to decadent desserts with more sugar than a bag of Pixy Stix, I know the temptation is real.

But we all need some recipes that look and sound a bit sinful but actually aren’t as bad as they seem. That’s where this week’s dish comes in. As soon as I saw a lightened version of lasagna, I knew I needed to try it and hoped it would be as good as it looked.

Good news: it was.

This comes from the blog “You Brew My Tea” by Katie Hale. You can find the original post at https://www.youbrewmytea.com/lightened-homemade-lasagna-dish. I added way more herbs/spices and changed the amounts of some of the other ingredients in my version.

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Lightened Homemade Lasagna

This lightened up version of homemade lasagna still packs in tons of great flavor, despite using lower-fat ingredients.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword basil, cottage cheese, garlic, green bell pepper, ground turkey, lasagna, light recipe, low-fat, mozzarella, onion powder, oregano, oven-ready lasagna, red bell pepper, red pepper flakes, ricotta cheese, tomato paste, tomato sauce, turkey sausage

Ingredients

  • 1 pound lean ground turkey breast
  • 1 pound Italian turkey sausage
  • 1 red bell pepper diced
  • 1 green bell pepper diced
  • 1 medium yellow onion diced
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 3, 15- ounce cans tomato sauce
  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
  • 1 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
  • 2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese shredded, divided
  • 12 oven-ready lasagna noodles

Instructions

  • Heat a stock pot or Dutch oven with a lid over medium heat. Add the turkey and sausage and saute until it is fully cooked, crumbling the meat as you go.
  • When the meat is almost totally cooked, add in the bell peppers and onions and saute for another five minutes or so.
  • Add the garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, oregano, salt, onion powder, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir well.
  • Leave the burner on medium and place the lid on the pot. Let the sauce simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • While the sauce simmers, combine the cottage cheese, ricotta and one cup of the mozzarella into a bowl. Stir to combine.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Spray a deep nine-by-13-inch pan with cooking spray.
  • Remove the sauce from the heat, give it another good stir, and start assembling your lasagna.
  • Place four noodles on the bottom of the casserole dish. (I had to break one of mine to get fill coverage. It doesn’t have to be perfect.) Spread one-third of the sauce over the noodles, and then dollop one-third of the cheese mixture on top of the sauce.
  • Repeat twice more.
  • After the final layer, add the final cup of shredded mozzarella.
  • Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot with some crusty bread.

We really, really enjoyed this. It wasn’t as decadent as making a full-fat lasagna (especially because I love making Paula Deen’s version), but it was still really good, and just like with regular lasagna, we thought it was even better when we reheated the leftovers the next day. I loved the bell pepper flavor in the sauce.

We also put several pieces in the freezer for quick meals down the road, and those have defrosted and reheated well, too.

I’m still going to keep normal lasagna directions in my recipe box for special occasions, but this one is going to go on a card right next to it. I can never give up my “sometimes” foods, but recipes like this certainly help in between.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 3, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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