Yummy, Tangy Macaroni Salad

Spinach Ravioli with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

This recipe uses frozen spinach ravioli. But you would never know it once you toss them with this sauce made of cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and cream. Here’s what you’ll need for this:

Frozen Spinach Ravioli. You can also use the refrigerated type. Just choose a spinach ravioli that looks like it has thin pasta and is more yellow than white-these tend to have a more homemade flavor and texture (cue my Italian Grandmother rolling in grave).

Cherry Tomatoes. 1 pint-halved

Fresh Basil. About 10-12 leaves chopped,( chiffonade)

Garlic. 1 TBSP, minced

Heavy cream, ½ cup & Half and Half, 1/2 cup

Olive oil. Enough to coat bottom of pan

Salt and pepper. 

Fresh Parmesan cheese. Approx ½ cup grated. Plus additional for serving

1.  Boil your ravioli according to package directions in salted water and a dash of oil-drain and set aside-reserve a bit of the pasta water in case you need it to 'loosen' your sauce at the end
2. Coat a deep saute pan with olive oil and heat on medium flame if you are blessed with a gas range, or medium 'temp' if you are cursed, like myself, with an electric stove
3. Add halved tomatoes to pan, sprinkle with kosher salt, and cook just until they start to release some juice
4. Add garlic and saute, taking care not to burn the garlic- Not a pleasant flavor
5. Add in your cream and half and half-stir-and cook slowly- do not boil
6. Add in shredded Parmesan cheese-cook sauce slowly allowing it to come together and thicken
7. Add in basil-stir-taste-adjust seasoning with salt and pepper
8. Add your pasta to the sauce-sprinkle them with a bit of parm cheese BEFORE you gently fold pasta and sauce together-this is an Italian trick to make the sauce really stick to the pasta. I also believe it is just another excuse to use more cheese, which I am all for.
9. Plate ravioli and serve with additional parm cheese and fresh basil.

This recipe is so good you will want to lick the plate-I do it every time. Enjoy!

Heirloom BLT wraps with Lemon Mayo

I always think BLT’s are a great way to keep eating the meat of the Gods, AKA bacon, in the hot summer months. I lightened up this classic by using wheat wraps instead of bread and a lemon mayo. Here’s what you’ll need for this concoction:

 Bacon.  About 3 strips per wrap

       Shredded Lettuce. One handful per wrap

Heirloom Tomato. 1 medium tomato should do ya

                             Wheat wraps. Obviously one per wrap

Lemon. One large lemon-juice and zest.

Mayonnaise. 1heaping TBPS. -I like this mayo made with olive oil.

Salt and Pepper. 1  generous pinch of each.

1.  Cook your bacon to desired crispness- I prefer my bacon on the crisp side for a BLT.   Remove bacon from the grease - set aside to drain on a paper towel.
2. While your bacon cooks mix together the lemon, mayo, and salt and pepper
3. Cut your tomato into wedges
4. Shred your lettuce-I prefer to chop mine into strips
5. Spread the lemon mayo onto your wrap
6. Layer your lettuce, bacon, then tomato wedges on top
7. Wrap it up and eat it.

I find the lemon mayo really makes this.  It’s one of my favorite things to put on a sandwich or wrap in the summer-it really brightens up all of the flavors and makes the salty delicious-ness of the bacon even better.

Enjoy!

Friday NIghts In

Friday nights are a favorite night of the week in our house, I'm sure we're not alone here.  We do Friday nights in around here, and we almost always order up a bunch of goodies from the pizzeria, have a few cocktails and watch a movie.  Pretty classic, but we like it that way.
This week I'm switching it up though (yesterday we crammed way to many things into our schedule and ended up ordering Friday's dinner last night...).
The cocktail: a cucumber gin "mojito".  I've heard this called an English Mojito, as it is based on the Cuban mojito but uses gin instead of the more commonly used rum.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz gin (I had it with Hendricks), 
• 2 spoons sugar
• 5 lime wedges
• 6-8 mint leaves
•  3 slices of cucumbers
•  splash of club soda

Recipe: Peel cucumber. Muddle mint, limes, cucumber, sugar. add gin. Fill glass with crushed ice, stir, add a splah of club soda if you like it fizzy. Garnish with cucumber peel and mint leaf.
Drink it...carefully.  This stuff is so refreshing it literally goes down like water :P YUM.

Dinner: Homemade basil, prosciutto, and mozzarella pizza.

Ingredients:
Sauce: (or you can save time with a simple canned marinara)

• 1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4 large basil leaves, shredded
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Toppings:

• fresh mozzarella, sliced (quantity up to your preference- I had around 12 slices)
• 4 large basil leaves, shredded
• 2 slices prosciutto, chopped into smaller pieces

Directions: I use a store bought crust: dough and I aren't really friends.  Ladle the sauce over the crust, top with prosciutto, basil leaves, and mozzarella.  Bake at 350 until the crust edges are golden and the cheese is all melty.

Can't wait to enjoy this with my favorite Friday night date.

When You Just Can't Eat Take-Out one More Time (this week...)

This was one of those weeks where there seems to be no time for cooking. At all.  However, after about four days in a row of fast food and take out for breakfast and dinner, not to mention some serious bloating, I decided I needed some real food. (thank you "home supply store" attendant for bringing the bloat to my attention: "How old is your son? Oh and another on the way?" NO, but thanks for noticing my food baby.)  Here's what I made this week.  I went with two roasted "one dish" meals, which I find to be low maintenance and high flavor and one egg white dish for breakfast.

.

Bacon wrapped chicken with Sweet Potatoes,Green Beans, and Rosemary  ready for roasting. Just place peeled and halved or quartered sweet potatoes in the bottom of the casserole dish drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper and toss (I like to add a sprinkle of chili powder on my sweet potatoes at this point, but it's good with or without) .  Next, wrap each chicken leg quarter in a slice of bacon and tuck in a sprig of rosemary and a slice of lemon underneath (you can skip the bacon if you want to reduce the fat here and it will still be good, but the bacon makes it great.) Sprinkle with pepper. Place chicken on top of potatoes, cover with foil and bake for about an hour or until  juices run clear when chicken is pierced.

One hour later, ready to eat

My version of the western omelet: Egg white, red pepper, ham, parsley and cheese frittata, with a side of bacon.  (I use the term frittata loosely as I don't actually finish this in the oven, mainly because all of my pans have rubber handles that will catch on fire and burn my kitchen down).  Cook bacon until desired done-ness and drain on paper towel.  Set aside.  While bacon is cooking, chop red pepper, parsley, and ham.  Discard almost all of the bacon grease in pan, but reserve about 2 tbs.  Heat pan on medium, add red pepper and ham, cook until pepper is tender-crisp and ham is lightly browned. Add in egg white = to 4 eggs. Cook low and slow running spatula around the outside edges occasionally to bring uncooked egg to outside of pan.  When eggs are loosely set, shred in cheddar cheese and sprinkle in parsley.  Let cheese melt, cut into quarters, and serve with bacon.

The frittata recipe above wrapped in a flour tortilla with a side of bacon.  Great if you have to take it to go. You can also reserve half of the frittata in the fridge, heat it and make it into a wrap the following day.

This is my famous pot roast (requested by everyone who has ever eaten it at my house) made with fingerling potatoes, mushrooms, rosemary, red wine and...well, this is a secret recipe! BUT if you leave a message for me in the comment section I will send it to you :)