Cheese Ravioli In A Creamy Red Sauce With Peas and Proscuitto

When the current issue of Food Network Magazine hit my hot little hands I could not wait to browse through it. It was deemed the "Italian Issue" and it had page after page of mouth watering recipes. Three of them caught my attention right away, especially the dish on the cover: Cheese Ravioli in a Creamy Red Sauce with Peas and Prosciutto.

I immediately tore out the recipe and added it to my 3 ring binder. I could not wait to try out this recipe.

Tonight I made this dish and boy it did not disappoint! It is a rather filling recipe that takes only 15 minutes from start to finish. Perfect for those busy weeknights where you need a quick and healthly recipe to feed your hungry family.

The original recipe is for 1/2 pound of pasta which will feed 2 people. If you want to make this for a family of 4 to 5 just simply double the ingredients that I mark with an *

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves chopped *
2 ounces of Prosciutto *
1/4 cup Heavy Cream *
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 pound Cheese Ravioli *
1/2 to 3/4 cup Frozen Peas that have been blanched (use 3/4 - 1 cup for 1 pound pasta)
1.5 tablespoon Tomato Paste *
1/2 cup Pasta Water *
Parmesan Cheese (fresh grated, not the sprinkle type)
Directions:

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Remember if you leave the lid on the water will come to a boil faster.

While water is coming to a boil chop garlic and Prosciutto. Prosciutto can be found near the deli section of your grocery store by the speciality cheeses and other deli meats that are pre-packaged.

In skillet, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO over Medium-High heat and begin to cook Prosciutto. Cook until crispy. *it is best to use an all metal skillet for this*

Once the meat is crispy, add the pasta to the boiling water and begin to cook acording to package directions. Typically 7-9 minutes. *please note this recipe is for fresh pasta so everything will come together at the same time. if using frozen allow for more cooking time before cooking the meat*

After the meat is crispy, add in the garlic and cook 1 minute.

Add in the tomato paste and cook 2 minutes, stiring frequently.

Laddle in 1 cup of pasta water and stir. Simmer until reduced by half - about 3 minutes.

Add in 1/4 cup heavy cream and stir. Simmer until the sauce is thick.

Add in the blanched peas.

Drain cooked pasta and add to the skillet. Mix well. Take the pasta off of the heat and cover to let set for 3-4 minutes.

Plate the pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese. You can find freshly grated Parmesan in your grocers cheese section.'

Serve with a garden salad or garlic bread.

The only thing I am going to change to this recipe next time is adding pepper to the sauce. It needed a little freshly ground black pepper



Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I signed up to bring 38 sugar cookies for two seperate class parties. I found a new sugar cookie recipe this past Christmas on Creating Post It Notes that has a lot of vanilla flavor and bakes up soft! Using a regular sized cookie cutter you will get 5 dozen cookies. I stopped at 50! My hands couldn't take any more rolling, cutting, and sprinkling.

Before I post the recipe, I wanted to offer a few tricks to bake up the best sugar cookie ever:

1. Do not over bake. When the edge of the cookie is lightly brown, it's time to take them out. With this recipe do not be concerned if the cookie is still a light color. It just means it will be nice and soft.

2. Chill your dough. For the first batch this past Christmas I chilled the dough over night. That was way too long! For this batch I chilled the dough for 5 hours and it was perfect.

3. Work in small batches and keep the rest of the dough chilled.

4. Never over use left over dough. I only reuse it once before I toss it. It will become too dry and brittle.

5. Use as little flour on your board as possible. You want the cookies to taste like vanilla and sugar crystals, not flour!

So with all of that said, here is the recipe:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp milk
6 cups all-purpose flour

• Cream the butter and shortening in a mixing bowl until smooth.
• Add the sugar and cream until fluffy.
• Add one egg at a time, beating between each addition.
• Add the baking powder, extract, salt and milk all at once. Mix well.
• Add the flour, one cup at a time.
• Chill until cold and firm
• When rolling out your dough, do not roll too thinly. Use as little flour as possible when rolling.
• Do not overcrowd your cookie sheet. Give these cookies room to expand a little without fear of bumping into a neighbor.
• Preheat your oven to 375*.
• Cookies will be done baking between 7-10 minutes. Pull from the oven just when the edge start looking slightly brown and cool them on a cooling rack. Don't be afraid if they look too blond. That means they'll be perfectly soft!

Here are the cookies I made this past 4th of July with the same recipe:

Working With What You Have

I am the type of cook who is always looking to reinvent recipes to come up with new ideas based off of the core ingredients. This is really helpful when you forget to stop at your local grocery store to pick up two main ingredients for dinner. While my weekly menu may have said 'Chicken Tortilla Soup' my pantry certainly didn't contain all of the necessary ingredients to make this meal. Oops!

So instead of scratching soup off of tonights meal, I decided to come up with a new soup recipe based off of one that my mom used to make. It was a hit!

Not only did I come up with a new recipe, I also got to try out my new Martha Stewart Red 5.5 Quart Dutch Oven! Macy's had their dutch ovens on sale and if you wore red you got an additional 20% off your purchase. I ended up saving $70.80!

I noticed that I had to cook my onions longer than I did in my metal pot but the soup turned out great! I am looking forward to making a german recipe for Mike this week in my dutch oven. You brown the meat and then finish cooking everything in the oven. That is a big plus to owning a dutch oven. They are own safe up to 450 degrees!

So here is my new soup recipe. I am still trying to come up with a catch name so for now we will call this "Tomato (Chicken) Noodle Soup."

Ingredients:
Swanson 48oz Chicken Broth
1 small white onion - finely diced
2 garlic cloves - finely chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes
3-4 tablespoons tomato paste
Heaping cup of elbow noodles (uncooked)
Salt
Pepper
Rotisseri Chicken - shredded
2 tablespoons veg oil
1 can of beans (I used white) - rinsed and drained

Directions:
Thinly dice onion. Place dutch oven over medium heat. Pour in 2 tablespoons. Add in onions and cook until soft, stirring often.

Add in 2 cloves garlic, cook through.

Add in 3-4 tablespoons tomato paste. Stir until melted and blended in with onion.

Pour in chicken broth, stirring as you go. Mix well.

Add in drained beans.

Add in shredded chicken.

Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat 30 minutes.

Remove lid and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Bring back to a boil.

Add in noddles and cook 15 minutes or until done.

Serve with muffins.

**Chicken is one of the ingredients I forgot to pick up today, so ours was meatless and very good. But next time I will add in the shredded chicken.**

Better Than Chili's Steak Fajitas

Why go to Chili's when you can make your own mouth watering, tender, sizzling, super yummy steak fajitas at home? With a little prep and some down time to allow the meat and veggies to marinate, you will certainly be serving a crowd pleasing recipe!

This recipe is fast to easy to prep and fast to cook which makes it a must serve on busy family nights.

I like to prep my cheese, veggies and meat during lunch time while the kids are away at school so all I have to do before dinner is cook everything. The longer you marinate your meat, the more tender it will be!

Here is my version of Food Networks Steak Fajitas:

Marinade: mix 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup veg oil, 1/2 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon dried or ground oregano, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon round black pepper, and two chopped garlic cloves.

Ingedients for Fajitas:
Flour or Wheat Tortillas (we really like the Carb Balance or Wheat Tortillas)
1/2 large white onion, thinly sliced
1 small red and 1 small yellow bellpepper, sliced
Top Sirloin Steak, thinly sliced
Salsa
Sour Cream
Lime, sliced into wedges
Shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheese
Avacado

Prep: Shred cheese into a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the onion and bellpepper into a bowl and pour a little of the marinade to lightly cover the veggies. Mix well with your hands. Cover with plastic wrap. Place the sliced streak into a Glad Ziplock bag and pour in remaining marinade. Squeeze out all of the air and zip locked. Massage marinade into meat well. Place veggies and meat in fridge on bottom self and let stand at least 2 hours.
Time To Cook:

Slice avacado or make into guacamole and place in fridge.

Slice lime into wedges and place back into fridge.

Heat large skillet and medium skillet on stove over medium heat. Add the marinated steak into the large skillet and the veggies into the medium skillet. Stir frequently. The Steak will be done before the veggies, so remove from heat but leave in skillet.

Once the veggies are soft and somewhat caramelized, add in the already cooked steak to heat through.

Place into a heat resistant glass bowl.

Everyone will be able to make their own fajitas using the tortillas, cheese, sour cream, avacado, salsa, lime, and fajita meat.

As a bonus this marinade is also great on chicken and steak shish kabobs!



Heading To Germany

As I was browsing through my October Food Network Magazine I spotted an article on some favorite German dishes to serve for Octoberfest. Mike spent 5 years in Germany on a now closed Air Force Base and grew up with classic German recipes. He misses the flavors and smells so I immediately tore out the recipe for Sauerbraten. It seems like a good starting recipe to try. Not a lot of fuss and no new techniques.

With some early prep while the kids are in school, there isn't a lot of fuss with this recipe. You cook the marinade, let it cool down, and then add it over the meat in a ziplock bag. I suggest you have some assistance with this!

And after it has marinated for 3 days, you just have to prep the veggies before you brown the meat and place it in the oven.

You will see the ingredient list and probably go WOW, but really it's a simple meal to make. I really like that it bakes. You don't have to constantly stand over the stove to check on dinner.

Ok so here is the recipe that I have tweaked just a bit.

SAUERBRATEN

Ingredients:

3 cups low sodium beef broth (2 for marinade, 1 for day of cooking)
1 cup dry red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon by Gallo or Yellow Tail)
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 medium onions cut into chunks (only cut 1 for marinade, cut the other day of cooking)
5 garlic cloves (3 crushed for marinade, 2 chopped for day of cooking)
2 tablespoons thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1 3 to 4 pound boneless beef chuck roast (mine was 2.9lbs)
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 medium carrots, cut into nice bite size chunks
2 stalks of celery, cut into nice chunks
2 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons crushed gingersnap cookies
Salt
Pepper

Marinade:

Combine 2 cups of broth, the wine, vinegar, 1 onion, crushed garlic, thyme, bay leaves, pepper, and cloves in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Place beef in a large ziplock bag and pout marinade over.

Marinate meat for 2-3 days. Message meat and rotate every day. -You should double bag. Mine leaked a little on the 2nd day-

Cooking:

Preheat oven to 350*

Remove meat from marinade. Pat dry and season with salt.

Strain the marinade and set aside

Heat the dutch oven over medium heat.

Add the olive oil

Brown the meat 10-12 minutes on each side and then transfer to a plate

Add the carrots, celery, and onion  to the pot and cook 7-10 minutes (until slightly softened)

Stir in the chopped garlic and cook 1-2 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and cook 2 minutes

Stir in strained marinade and 1 cup beef broth. Bring to a simmer.

Add the meat back to the dutch oven, cover, and cook in oven for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Remove the meat and transfer to a plate.

Whisk in gingersnap cookies and simmer until thickened.

Abby really enjoyed this meal and even had seconds of everything. Her favorite was of course the carrots. The original recipe called for 2, but that was certainly not enough.

If there are leftovers (we didn't have any as my piece of beef was rather fatty - ew!)  this would certainly make a great beef sandwich! Or even beef tacos. I really like dinners where I can get two for the price of one.

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as we did! I am going to be making this again next week. I just hope the gingersnap cookies last until then.

Happy cooking!



Take Two On Two For One Dinners

I have posted a recipe for both Apricot Pork and Pepper Steak. Today I want to show you an option for the left overs.

Typically I only use half of the top sirloin but two nights ago I cooked the entire steak so I wouldn't have to worry about the following nights dinner. All I ended up having to do was cook instant rice, refried beans, and reheat the pepper steak with a little smoked paprika added. The end result is bean, cheese, rice, beef wet burritos that have a similar taste to those at the Mexico Cafe.

For the extra piece of pork I made BBQ Pork Sandwiches with tater tots and corn. You can take canned corn and turn it into a wonderful side dish. I like to drain out the liquid, add 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and cook the corn. Towards the end I add in a pinch of salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and dried parsley. The parsley adds a bit of sweetness to the corn along with the real butter. It is definately a hit in this house!

So there you have it, two more ways to take previously posted recipes and create a new family favorite

Apricot Pork Tenderloin *Two For One Dinner*

With a sometimes very busy weekly schedule, I love when I can get two meals out of one night of cooking!

My mom gave me this recipe awhile ago and it is a hit with the family. The pork is so tender that you can cut it with your fork and there is a lot of flavor.

What is great about pork tenderloin is that you get two pieces of meat in the package. I cook both pieces the same and slice up one for that nights dinner and save the other for another meal. So far I have made pork tacos, pork burritos, pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, pork enchiladas, and pork tortilla soup with the left over piece. I also occassionally just reheat the other piece and serve it with different sides than the night before.

So this meal will give you a lot of versatility!

Tonight we had the pork tenderloin with chicken broth white rice, greens beans with red bellpepper, and jellied cranberry sauce. 

Here are the recipes...

Apricot Pork Tenderloin

Marinade: in a ziplock bag add 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon dry mustard, 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, salt and pepper.

Add your pork tenderloin to the bag and marinate 3-4 hours.

Cooking: Preheat oven to 325*. Remove pork from marinade. Place pork on a rack (I place my cooling/cooking rack on a foil lined cookie sheet to catch the drippings) and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours. I rotate the pork once half way through cooking so the pork ends up crispy on both the top and the bottom.

Remove from oven when cooked and let set 5 minutes to let the juices settle. Slice at an angle.

Apricot Sauce: in small pot mix 10-12 spoonfulls of apricot jam, 2 tablespoons chicken broth, and 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce. Heat over medium heat, serve on table with pork.

Chicken Broth White Rice

Measure out remaining chicken broth. Pout into medium pot, add a little pepper and bring to a boil. Add exactly that amount of quick white rice to pot, stir, remove from heat, cover and let set 6-7 minutes. Remove lid, fluff and let set another 2-3 minutes. Garnish with green onion.

Green Beans with Red Bellpepper

Bring medium pot of water to boil. Add in cleaned, snipped green beans and cook until fork tender. In skilled add in chunk pieces of red bellpepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Begin to sautee while green beans cook. Drain green beans and pat dry. Add to the skilled and sautee with red bellpeppers until the skin on both starts to brown/blacken some. Sometimes I will squeeze a little lemon juice over them and add some lemon zest.
I hope you enjoy tonights dinner as much as we did!

Tomorrow night I am making pulled pork BBQ sandwiches with the left over pork tenderloin along with corn and tatertots.