almond bread

for some reason i thought it would be a good idea to jump back into exercising after 10 days of no activity (i blame the state of maryland because they insist on having a 10 day long fair). by jump back into i mean a 1 hour personal training session with my favorite mac trainer, G at 1pm yesterday followed by 60 mins of yoga with weights today at 6:30am and (yes, there's more) 1 hour of boxing today at noon with G. yeah, so note to self, don't do 180 mins of high intensity exercise within 24 hours. i am praying i can move tomorrow. it already hurt to lift my arms up to wash my hair in the shower. not a good sign.

ok, enough complaining. many ibprofen later, i am ready to bake - my reward for grueling workouts. this time, almond ricotta bread. it was originally supposed to be vanilla ricotta bread but i didn't have a vanilla bean. while it may not seem imperative to the recipe i think it will add a lot of flavor and since i didn't have it, i changed it to almond.

Almond Ricotta Bread
(14 servings - 150 calories per serving)

1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c part skim ricotta
3 eggs
1/2 c agave nectar
2 tsp almond extract

preheat oven to 350. sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. in separate bowl whisk together ricotta, eggs, agave, and almond extract. add flour mixture and mix till incorporated. pour into greased 9" loaf pan.
bake at 350 for 15 mins. lower temperature to 325 and bake for 25-30 more minutes until tooth pick comes out clean. top will be slightly browned and will pull away from sides of pan.
slice into 10 slices when cooled.

enjoy a slice after dinner as dessert or for breakfast with berries on top.