cheese – Ruth E. Hendricks

The Gift of Cheese

My neighbor had some lovely extra items from a party she hosted. She brought them to our house. We enjoyed sampling the cheeses, accompanied by red grapes, pepper strips and celery sticks she gifted us.

Thank you Kelly.

I started looking up cheese and saw that many people can’t eat hard cheeses and some get migraines and cheese can cause painful indigestion for others. Lactose intolerance affects some people, too. Ouch.

I like cheese and probably consume too much of it as I find it satisfying and delicious. But it has high fat content!

Do you have a favorite cheese?

Cheese info here

“Cheeses come in eight varieties including blue, hard, pasta filata, processed, semi-hard, semi-soft, soft and fresh, and soft-ripened”

Click here for Cheese recipes from Wisconsin

And an article Is Velveeta Real Cheese?

And another for debate

September 21, 2025 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: cheese, food, kitchen, photography, postaday 19 Comments

Throwback Thursday at the Thrift Shop

A fondue pot.

I was thinking throwback and they were definitely popular in the seventies but….

turns out Fondue pots are still sold in kitchen stores and online and there are even electric models.

You might have one on a dusty shelf or in the basement. Or in current use.

There’s a fondue restaurant Melting Pot in Pitttsburgh.

Here’s a cheese fondue recipe

Here’s a chocolate fondue recipe

No double dipping! there are Rules of Fondue

Do you “fondue”? Did you ever?
Does this make you want to fondue?

August 13, 2025 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: cheese, chocolate, fondue, fondue pot, photography, postaday, recipe, thrift shop 11 Comments

Apple Pie and Cheddar Cheese?

Apple pie with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese?

Yes or no?

Here’s an article about this polarizing combination

Most popular in New England these days. Not in the South

“Cheese, specifically sharp cheddar, has been served with apple pie in the U.S. as early as the 1800s. But the combination was likely born in England in the 17^th century; a tradition of using dairy-based sauces in pies evolved into an affinity for topping pie with cheese instead”

Perhaps you’re an a la mode pie eater with a warm slice and vanilla ice cream.

Or an abstainer.

A rather large slab of cheese. Faor the photo.

October 10, 2023 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: apple pie, cheddar cheese, cheese, food, kitchen, photography, pie, postaday, preferences 16 Comments

Spinach Pie Recipe – No Crust

This recipe is from a woman named Becky in 1980. It has been a family favorite since then. Somewhere I have the original recipe card.

Spinach Pie

Butter a 9″ glass pie plate. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a large bowl mix together:

2 10 oz packages Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed, drained and squeeze out as much water as possible

4 Eggs

1 16 ounce container Cottage Cheese, (I like the small curd)

2 Cups of shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese ( I have added a bit of shredded Gruyere or fresh Parmesan on occasion)

Salt and Pepper to taste. The cheese is salty to me so I don’t add much salt.

Pour into the buttered pie plate. Bake for 45 minutes or until knife in center comes out clean.

Let rest a bit before slicing so the wedge holds shape nicely.

January 24, 2021January 25, 2021 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, food, PhotographyTags: 1980, cheddar cheese, cheese, cooking, cottage cheese, dairy, eggs, food, photography, postaday, recipe, spinach, spinach pie, spinach pie recipe, vegetarian 11 Comments

Look What Steve Bought at Bloomfield Groceria

We were sad when a local neighborhood business on Cedarville Street, Groceria Italiana, closed their doors last summer..

But here’s the good news!

It has recently reopened as Bloomfield Groceria. It’s really close to Steve’s work so he picked up this wonderful ravioli and brought it home.

We are thrilled they are in business under new proprietors.

Especially after tonight’s dinner of their delicious Spinach and Cheese Ravioli. I sautéed baby spinach- you can see it peeking out underneath.

And I grated some fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano on top. I asked Steve if he could to pick up mushroom ravioli for dinner next week.

Here’s an Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article written by Bob Batz, Jr., about the new Bloomfield Groceria

https://www.post-gazette.com/local/neighborhood/2019/03/25/Bloomfield-Groceria-Italiana-Italian-grocery-store-Cedarville-Little-Italy-opens/stories/201808050006

April 23, 2019April 23, 2019 by Ruth Categories: foodTags: Bloomfield, Bob Batz Jr, cheese, cooking and eating, food, grocery, iPhone photography, Italian cooking, kitchen, neighborhood, photography, Pittsburgh PA, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, postaday, ravioli, spinach 12 Comments

LUNCH

Cherry Tomatoes courtesy of Deb and Sy

October 2, 2017 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: apple, cheese, cherry tomatoes, crackers, food, home, iPhone photography, kitchen, lunch, photography, postaday 7 Comments

Penn Macaroni Cheese Counter the Sunday Before Christmas

Penn Mac is what everyone calls this place.

While I was in the Strip Districtat the Polish Deli, procuring Pierogies for Polish Christmas Eve, I walked down Penn Avenue.

This crowd caught my eye.

Shot through the glass with a cell phone as I opted to leave the camera home while I ran last minute errands around town.

All their cheese is excellent.

December 21, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: cheese, Christmas, food, Penn Macaroni, photography, Pittsburgh Photography, postaday, shopping, Strip District 8 Comments

Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

We’re holing up.

Waiting for the predicted snow.

Not quite a burrow but definitely staying close to home.

It’s probably going to impact Thanksgiving travel plans for many in this neck of the woods.

I’m avoiding all stores with crowds- as everyone rushes to get milk and the last roll of T.P.

There’s urgent hype on the car radio as I drove home from school and I hear from a friend that reports on TV are insistent.

So I went to the Bryant Street Market to get a pound of coffee beans and spied Donatelli’s Mushroom Ravioli in the freezer.

Came home and baked the dozen in some vodka sauce from the pantry (don’t ask) for 45 minutes and pretty soon there was a meal worthy of a winter night that feels like February instead of November.

In the dining room. What made the meal though?

The grater was in service again tonight. This time for the Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese. Steve added the beer and we had spinach salad. The candles made it seem warmer.

November 25, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: bake ravioli, cheese, family, food, HIghland Park, mushroom ravioli, neighborhood market, Parmigiano-Reggiano, photography, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, Snowstorm, weather, winter meal 12 Comments

Please Do Not Climb on Top of Cheese

Anna and I were on FaceTime Wednesday evening and she asked me what I was going to blog tonight.

I didn’t have a plan, I said. She said to tell her when I was posting it so she could be the FIRST one to see it.

So I am choosing a summertime August afternoon from their recent visit. Before school started.

Storybook Forest in Idlewild Park. Ligonier PA.

The grandkids in the cheese. Well, three of them that is. The fourth, Maura was looking at her siblings peeking out of the holes.

And then tonight as I uploaded, I saw the sign on the side which I had not seen before.

Anna said “the cheese stunk.”

Stunk like what?, I asked.

She said “I don’t know, it just stunk. Like elephants.”

(Maybe it stunk but we had a great day!)

And a portrait of cousin Parker in the cheese

September 11, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Childhood, PhotographyTags: amusement park, cheese, family, grandchildren, Idlewild Park, Ligonier PA, photography, postaday, StoryBook Forest, summer vacation, travel 11 Comments

Parmigiano Reggiano Soup Bones

The only problem is that they are resting in my DIL’s fridge in Ohio and I am back in Pittsburgh. The temperature going down to nine and I am thinking SOUP!

I just got a kick out of the label from their market. Soup BONES?

I had never heard the rinds called soup bones and it struck me funny. I use a rind in my minestrone and it really adds to the body of the soup flavor. Any be any soup will do.

and a prettier shot with the lid off

January 2, 2013January 2, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and EatingTags: cheese, cheese rinds, Columbus OH, cooking, family, food, kitchen, photography, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, soup bones, travel 6 Comments

Tag: cheese

The Gift of Cheese

Like this:

Throwback Thursday at the Thrift Shop

Like this:

Apple Pie and Cheddar Cheese?

Like this:

Spinach Pie Recipe – No Crust

Like this:

Look What Steve Bought at Bloomfield Groceria

Like this:

LUNCH

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Penn Macaroni Cheese Counter the Sunday Before Christmas

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Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

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Please Do Not Climb on Top of Cheese

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Parmigiano Reggiano Soup Bones

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