Strawberry Ricotta Sweet Treat

Today the temperatures in Perth soared to well over 44 degrees celsius – that’s over 100F in the old money – and everyone just about melted.  Plants wilted and died, pets panted and everyone stayed indoors as much as possible.  I don’t mind the heat but even I was a tad uncomfortable today.  Didn’t stop me going out like a madman and heading for the shops though.  I needed beads and jewellery supplies and also needed to get my invitations for my birthday bash printed.  I probably could have waited until a cooler day but hey, where would the fun be in that?  Besides, the roads were quiet, as sensible, less heat-tolerant people stayed home.

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This afternoon I had a talk with hubby (soon to be ex hubby I suppose – hate saying that but have to come to terms with it) and it made me feel so much better about things.  Not because we are going to get back together – we’re not – and not because I think deep down he still loves me – he doesn’t – but because I stood up for myself and told him how much he had hurt me.  I made him apologise to me.  I don’t care if the apology was sincere or not – I just needed to hear it; its sincerity is irrelevant to me at this point.  I needed to show him that, hurt and damaged as I am, I’m not beaten.  I deserve better and expect it for myself from now on. He’s not a bad guy and I don’t wish him any harm, I really don’t (although I was glad to see he had put on weight – which is nasty of me but I think I’m allowed at least one smug moment).  I want him to be happy and to figure out who he is.  I just don’t need to be around while he does it. So, I feel that, in the end, I am stronger than
I thought and maybe I can get through this and come out the other end smiling and resilient.  Maybe.

So, this evening, feeling the need for a sweet treat and not wanting to completely destroy my diet, I rummaged around in the fridge and cupboard to see what I could rustle up.  I purposely keep my fridge pretty bare so that I am not tempted by easy (i.e. fattening) foods and it was pretty slim pickings in there.  I did, however, have some leftover low-fat ricotta, one sad little English muffin, some maple syrup and a punnet of frozen strawberries (I froze a batch of them last time I went shopping – they go off so quickly and I don’t like to waste them so I froze them after eating the best ones, thinking I could use the others in smoothies or whatever and it didn’t matter if they were a bit over-ripe).

Long story short, I mixed a little bit of syrup into the ricotta with a bit of cinnamon, spread it over the toasted English muffin and topped it with the frozen strawberries (which were delicious – they might be my new favourite thing!) and drizzled the whole lot with maple syrup to finish.  Oh yummy!  Tasted so delish and was reasonably healthy, satisfied my sweet cravings and didn’t leave me feeling guilty the way I would have done if I had given in and picked up some ice cream from Baskin Robbins (’cause you know that’s what I was thinking of doing).  It was cooling and sweet and super tasty.  Perfect!  A nice change and something I will make again if I desperately need something dessert-like in a pinch.  Try it yourself :)

 Please excuse bad photo – it was late at night and I had no decent lighting – had to take the shot inside the fridge and the strawberries kept keeling over – they were very uncooperative!  :)

Stay cool everyone (on this side of the globe – everyone else try and stay warm!) :)