tomato

“Mom, you haven’t blogged in a while…” the comment was innocent, but accurate.

I haven’t blogged in a while.

I took the summer to regroup. I would say summer is normally a time to get stuff done. In a way, and I did get stuff done. Just not the writing stuff.

Every now and then our lives get full. Ok, most of us have full lives…a lot of the time…most of the time…, OK all of the time. Go. Go. Go.

Many nights I sit and promptly fall asleep in the chair. I am super fun. My alarm goes off early and all of the stuff has to get done before work, then work stuff, then family stuff, then supper stuff, then more house stuff. You know the drill. I am not one to let things go undone. Things need to get done. It’s how I roll.

Except.

Except, by the end of the school year this time around, I was weary in my core. This year was tougher for some reason. Across the board. We weathered a few major storms at home. I got sick, like a lot. Our school year had a lot of transitions. I looked out at my gardens this late winter/early spring and thought, “I’m not doing it this summer.”

Now, if you follow my Instagram feed you know, I dig in the dirt and take pictures of my flowers. So, something was definitely wrong.

I wouldn’t call it depression. I would call it exhaustion?

Soul tired. Have you every been soul tired?

Yeah, its kind of ugly.

SO this summer, when the graduation party was over and friends  were hanging out in the dining room, and swimming, and having fun being kids and the world slowed down a bit, I chose to stop. I chose to embrace the break.

I listened to books (I love audible and free audio library books/apps). I went to the gym, or walked outside as much as possible. I worked outside. I played the dumb game I am addicted to on my phone. I watched bad television. I cooked with no blogging agenda. I had meals with people I love from long ago, from work, from book club, from life.

I just stopped with the overwhelming get everything done immediately mindset. For a little bit.

I’m not going to lie. A lot of the checklist got done. I just did a gut check before I did it. And, it happened after I worked out. After I took care of myself. Guess what? it was all waiting for me.

I researched. I took out a million cookbooks. I listened to successful bloggers podcasts. I filled my soul.

Because even soul’s get hungry, and one year in, mine needed nutrition.

Now, we are back to school and life is the treadmill again but I am different.

I’m choosing joy and not the drama of the day-to-day. I’m working hard to love more. Including me. I’m exercising daily. I’m drinking Kale Smoothies. (Yeah, I know…). I am saying NO to stuff. No to the stuff that can wait. It’s all going to be ok.

I did cook all summer. I didn’t bake as much (more on that later) but with the abundance of tomatoes I found this perfection of a recipe from www.foolproofliving.com. So beautiful. So the essence of all that summer savory tarts should be, and hello, ricotta.

I tweaked the recipe in that I added fresh basil and oregano the crust. (Summer research paying off). I used multi colored cherry tomatoes because I have them in every container I can put them in. (Hooray for small tomatoes that excel all summer long). I used high quality balsamic, because it’s an indulgence to buy pretty olive oils and balsamic vinegar on road trips instead of trinkets. Life is good.

The crust is easy to prepare in advance (even though it looks like a lot of steps it really isn’t) and is baked, and awaits the filling. The filling is quick to make. Assembling on site is a matter of spread filling, top with tomato topping, drizzle. If ever there was a recipe that looked hard but secretly isn’t…you have it here. 

Now, if you don’t like ricotta or tomatoes…why are we friends? Seriously. Ricotta is so, so lovely. Tomatoes are mouthfuls of summer. (One of my children loathes tomatoes. The other despises ricotta. So I know the jury is out readers. But just not with this gal).

For my educator friends, my mommas of school aged children friends, and anyone else impacted by the academic calendar, the year is just beginning. We have full hearts and our hands our busy. Our students/children and staff/colleagues need us strong and calm. Souls filled. Imagination ready. Inspiration accessible. Make sure in the midst of the “stuff” you remember to take care of yourself and feed your souls and minds as well as your bodies. And make this tart. You won’t be sorry.

As always, I hope you love this recipe, and thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe.

Tomato Ricotta Tart in an Herbed Crust

Print Recipe

This gorgeous summery tart takes an herb infused crust, filled with lemony ricotta, and topped with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.

• Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com from www.foolproofliving.com (minor changes in crust)

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Herbed Dough:

• 3 tablespoons almond flour/meal
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, cold, cubed or grated
• Handful of basil and oregano leaves, roughly chopped (will pulse with dough ingredients to become pulverized in food processor)
• 2–4 tablespoons ice-cold water, depending on how much it takes to come together

For the Filling:

• 1 generous Cup Fresh Ricotta, at room temperature
• 4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
• ½ cup grated Romano or Parmesan Cheese
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest (I used one lemon)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

For the Tomato Topping:

• 2 cups tomatoes, (I used a combination of multicolored cherry tomatoes, halved)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ½ Teaspoon freshly Ground Black Pepper
• ¼ Cup leaves of fresh Basil, loosely packed
• 2 tablespoons fresh Oregano leaves
• 1 tablespoons Pine nuts (optional)

Instructions

To make the dough:

1. Combine almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt in a food processor.
2. Add Fresh Herbs.
3. Cube or Grate Butter and add to the food processor with flours, salt, and herbs.
4. Pulse the cold butter into flour/herb mixture.
5. Slowly drizzle the cold water into food processor while pulsing, gradually adding as much water as you need to make the dough come together.
6. Turn dough out into a piece of plastic and shape it into 4-inch disk. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until ready to use.
7. When ready, remove chilled dough from the fridge. If it is too cold to roll out, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes. Uncover before rolling.
8. Using a rolling pin, roll it into 11-inch circle on a well floured surface.
9. Place the dough into 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom (or a pie pan)making sure the dough is evenly distributed throughout the pan.
10. Using your fingers be sure to push the dough in the corners of the pan.
11. Prick the bottom of the tart all over with a fork.
12. Place pie pan/tart pan with dough in the freezer for 15 minutes. (Don’t use glass or you will have to let it sit out before you place in hot oven).
13. Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees.
14. Remove the pie/tart pan from the freezer.
15. Place a sheet of parchment paper on top and fill it with dried beans (or pie weights).
16. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and parchment paper and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
17. Let it cool on a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before filling.

Ricotta Filling:

1. Using a mixer with the silicone/rubber spatula attachment, combine Ricotta, Cream Cheese, and Pecorino Romano in a bowl.
2. Fold in the lemon zest and juice.
3. Season it with ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper.
4. Refrigerate until assembling tart.
5. Half or quarter the tomatoes and place it in a bowl. Stir in the olive oil, salt and pepper.

When ready to serve:

1. Remove the tart from the pan (unless it is in a pie plate) and place it onto a large dish.
2. Spread the ricotta filling evenly over the top smoothing the top with a spatula.
3. Top it with tomato filling, garnish with basil, oregano, and pine nuts (if preferred).
4. Drizzle balsamic vinegar, garnish with pine nuts if you desire.