Recipes

Whipped Pineapple Parfait with Hood Cottage Cheese

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Pineapple lovers – this one’s for you. This Whipped Pineapple Parfait using Hood Cottage Cheese is SO simple, requires no baking, and is a perfect treat for any season. The best part about this recipe is that you can get creative with it. You can serve it in individual parfait cups or as one large trifle. #Versatility

Ingredients:

  • Four cups Hood Cottage Cheese with Pineapple

  • 1 cup Vanilla Wafers, crushed

  • One-8oz can crushed pineapple

  • Two-3oz packages pineapple-flavored gelatin

  • 8oz whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

  1. Blend cottage cheese in a food processor until smooth.

  2. Add in gelatin, crushed pineapple, and whipped topping. Blend until combined.

  3. In your parfait cup or trifle bowl, add a layer of crushed wafers

  4. Pour a layer of the cheese mixture over the wafers.

  5. Next, add a layer of crushed pineapple. Repeat this process.

  6. Garnish with whipped topping, Vanilla Wafers, and anything else your heart desires. You can really get creative here!

  7. Enjoy!

*Note: this dish can be served immediately but for best results, let it chill for 30+ minutes before serving.

My Summer Dessert Staple: No-Bake Cheesecake with Hood Country Style Cottage Cheese

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Friends, say hello to my new summer dessert staple: No-Bake Cheesecake using Hood Country Style Cottage Cheese. This cheesecake is light, creamy, packed with protein (thanks to the cottage cheese) and is an absolutely perfect treat for summer! Did I also mention it requires NO BAKING? #Win

Another thing I love about this cheesecake is that it can be served with almost ANY topping you wish. I tried it with both a homemade blueberry compote (delicious) and also with diced strawberries and chocolate syrup (equally delicious).

Now, let’s get to the recipe itself!

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

  • 1 1/2 cups of smashed Ginger Snap cookies

  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 6 tablespoons of butter

  • 3 cups of Hood Country Style Cottage Cheese

  • 1 cup granulated sugar

  • 1 cup whole milk

  • 2 eggs

  • 2 pouches of gelatin

  • Orange zest

  • 1 cup of Half and Half or whipping cream

  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

For the blueberry compote:

  • 1 cup of fresh blueberries

  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice

  • 1 teaspoon corn starch

  • 3/4 cup sugar

Directions:

To make the cheesecake:

  • Preheat oven to 350

  • Mix smashed ginger snaps with granulated sugar and cinnamon and stir together

  • Add melted butter and mix

  • Pour into a flat springform pan that is 10 inches in diameter. Apply pressure to create an even layer covering the bottom of the pan

  • Bake for 5 minutes and set aside

  • Blend Hood Country Style Cottage Cheese in a blender

  • Combine sugar, milk, salt, two egg yolks and gelatin in a medium saucepan and continuously stir on low until combined, dissolved, and thickened. Sprinkle in orange zest.

  • In two separate bowls, whip cream and egg whites

  • Combine gelatin mixture with finely blended Hood Original Cottage Cheese and mix well

  • Fold in whipped cream and whipped egg whites

  • Pour filling into the baked crust refrigerate for 24 hours

  • Serve and enjoy!

To make the blueberry compote:

  • Combine blueberries, lemon juice, corn starch and sugar in large saucepan and stir on medium heat

  • Stir until mixture thickens and the berries have popped

  • Drizzle over cheesecake and enjoy!

To make the strawberry topping:

  • Slice fresh strawberries and place on top of the cheesecake

  • Drizzle cheesecake with chocolate sauce

  • Enjoy!

Happy eating friends!

Cacio e Pepe

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I am by no means re-inventing the wheel here with this recipe, but since so many of you requested it - here you go!

INCREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

  1. Cook pasta per the instructions on the bag. I like to cook my pasta al dente, meaning a little bit firm to the bite.

  2. Drain pasta and add butter, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and pepper. Stir well.

  3. Serve and enjoy!

 
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The Magic Macchiato

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The story behind this absolutely DELISH macchiato is actually a funny one.

My mom (aka my BFJ partner-in-crime in the kitchen) and I wanted to whip up the super popular Instagram-trending Dalgona Coffee, but unfortunately failed because we did not have the right ingredients. With our Dalonga flop, however, we accidentally created something magical. When we realized we were onto something, we recreated the recipe, refined the ingredients and BOOM - macchiato magic.

We were actually SHOCKED at how delicious this turned out…it’s like a homemade Starbucks drink without the $8 price tag. Because it was so good, we decided to share the quick and easy recipe.

Note: a frother and espresso machine are required for this recipe, but DON’T let that intimidate you or turn you away! My mom and I did some research and found some really affordable ones from Amazon (the long-term savings here make the little upfront investment worth it). You can find them linked at the bottom of this page.

INCREDIENTS

  • One Nespresso pod (any flavor)

  • 2 tablespoons sugar

  • 3/4 cup milk

  • Shaved dark chocolate

DIRECTIONS

  1. Brew one Nespresso pod.

  2. Combine brewed Nespresso shot with sugar and froth for 2-3 cycles.

  3. Fill glass with ice. Add milk.

  4. Add frothy espresso.

  5. Top with shaved chocolate.

 
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Rolo Salted Pretzels

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I was inspired to post this recipe after seeing a similar peanut butter pretzel sandwich recipe on Instagram (via one of my favorite food bloggers @kalejunkie). Rolo Salted Pretzels were my go-to snack in high school. I don’t really know where or how I got my hands on this recipe - I think my best friends mom made it up because she used to make these for us ALL the time! These bite-sized babies are SO easy to make and are dangerously good...

INCREDIENTS

  • One bag of Rold Gold Original Pretzel Twists

  • One bag of ROLO candies

  • 2 cups chocolate morsels

  • 2 TBS butter

  • 1 TBS olive oil

  • Falksalt Crystal Flakes *I use this salt on EVERYTHING. I am truly obsessed with it and am linking it below for those interested.

DIRECTIONS

To make the Rolo pretzel sandwiches:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Place pretzels on a lined baking sheet (they will not expand in the oven, so you can cram as many of them on the baking sheet as possible).

  3. Place a ROLO on top of each pretzel with the larger side down.

  4. Bake in the oven for 3-5 minutes.

  5. Remove from the oven and quickly add a second pretzel on top of each ROLO, creating a ‘pretzel sandwich’. Let cool and set aside.

To make the melted chocolate:

  1. Place chocolate morsels into a microwave safe bowl. Add butter and olive oil.

  2. Microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring in-between each session.

  3. Stop microwaving when the chocolate is creamy and lump-free! It will take a few minutes.

The final touch:

  1. Drizzle melted chocolate over pretzels using a fork.

  2. Immediately sprinkle Falksalt over pretzels.

  3. Enjoy! *I like to keep the pretzels in the fridge in-between munching so they stay cool and harden a bit.

Triple Chunk Cookies

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Okay, I sincerely apologize for the delay getting this recipe up, but here it is. Behold: our triple-chunk vanilla, butterscotch and chocolate chunk cookies. I grew up eating these cookies and they were (and still are) such a fan-favorite in the Di Capua family household.

The recipe comes from my mom (I’ll give credit where credit is due!). Truthfully, it’s just a simple enhancement of the original chocolate chip cookie recipe, but our secret is all in the chips.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup vanilla chocolate morsels

  • 1/2 cup butterscotch morsels

  • 1 cup chocolate, semi-sweet morsels

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flower

  • 1 tsp. baking soda

  • 1 tsp. salt

  • 2 sticks butter

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar

  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract

  • 2 large eggs

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a large bowl, combine vanilla, chocolate and butterscotch chips.

  2. Preheat oven to 375.

  3. Combine flour, baking soda and salt.

  4. In another bowl, combine and beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add eggs.

  5. Beat in flower.

  6. Stir in the chips!

  7. Scoop onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes.

  8. ENJOY!

 
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