Still not feeling all that well, although slightly better then yesterday. The thing now is that my eyes are completely puffed up from tearing so much yesterday, so it’s really not a pretty sight! Not a day to go outside… Anyone has an instant cure for puffy eyes (really, really puffy that is!) I would love to know! So I still had some ricotta in the fridge plus lovely honey tomatoes that I had bought previously and figured would make a great lunch together with the focaccia bread that was also leftover from friday’s Italian meal (still had to be baked).  So when I went downstairs to start preparing lunch I was greeted by a loudly screaming cat.

We have three cats, all of which are very old. The youngest one, who was the one screaming, is called Gizmo and will be 17 years in may. The middle one is 19 and the eldest of the threesome is 21 years old. So it’s a bunch of ancient cats together.

Gizmo has a thyroid gland problem, so she needs to have one pill each day. In the beginning that was a total disaster. As any catowner knows, cats are rather smart and she knew quite soon that if she got something nice like chicken or tunasalad, there would be a bitter tasting thing inside. So she either ate around it, spit it out or did anything to prevent it going down where it was supposed to go. I am not sure at what point it changed, but we are now at the third set of 100-pill boxes, so she must have had around 250 pills by now (minus the ones she managed to spit out) and we have found the perfect mode. She actually reminds me that she hasn’t had her medicine yet, by very loudly screaming while sitting on the table near the fridge. She comes running when I shake the little pillbox even! The trick is that I hide the pill inside tunasalad (which she loves) and then balance the bit containing the pill on my finger. I first let her have some of the tuna from my left hand and then hold her the balancing but on the right finger. One lick of her tongue means the tuna almost “collapses” into her mouth and she has no other option but to swallow. Because it goes so fast, she has no time to eat around the pill as it goes down before she notices it. Plus I always make sure that there is something left on my finger and – little greedy monster that she is – she cannot resist that so swallows that too… Fingers crossed that it stays that way cause with cats you never know!

Anyway, after having given her the medicine I popped the ricotta in the oven along with some lovely honey tomatoes that are very sweet especially after having roasted in the oven for about 20 minutes. I seasoned the tomatoes and the ricotta just with pepper and salt and added some fresh basil on top after removing it from the oven. I am slightly disappointed on the look of the ricotta as it still looks the same as when I took it out of the container. I would have hoped it started looking a little more appealing after coming from the oven but it didn’t. For next time I will probably season the ricotta inside as well, mix it up a little more and then roast, rather then doing it as I did now. Maybe adding some other herbs during the roasting process would also increase the flavor. Rosemary or oregano maybe?

It did taste very well and was certainly very filling. It’s hardly worth calling a recipe, but in case you want to try it:

Put ricotta out of it’s container in a baking tray with some tomatoes. Add any type you like, I used honey tomatoes as I love their sweet taste, especially once they are roasted. Did you know that tomatoes are actually one of the few vegetables that are actually higher in nutrients if you process them? I read it somewhere once… can’t remember why or where though.. haha… Anyway, just wanted to share that bit of information. Sprinkle both the tomatoes and the ricotta with some olive oil, add salt and pepper and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes. Spread it over a nice crusty bread such as I have done here with the focaccia or eat any other way you like.

Now… it was a bit too much for one person, so I had some leftovers and while cleaning up the kitchen it was still on the table… Gizmo decided she had earned a little of the ricotta as well!! I do have to confess that ever since she got that thyroid problem she is very spoilt by us. We try and maintain her weight which is hard with this particular illness, so she gets all sorts of treats to keep her at the same weight. And it is working too! Last time we were at the vet she was pleasantly surprised to find that she has not lost any weight since last time (she’s only about 3 kilo) which is quite good in this condition. So the spoiling helps… and that is why I let het eat a little so I could take a photo and then removed the plates and threw out the remainders…

If you don’t have cats or don’t like cats, you will probably find this all probably very disgusting, but if you do have cats I am sure you can relate!