Romantic Dinner for 2! PART THREE: Homemade Ricotta Cheese, Pine Nut, and Spinach Stuffed Ravioli

These guys were my pride and joy of the evening. I have wanted to make my own ravioli for SO SO long now! I saved them for Valentine's Day! I have never been happier with something I've made than with these guys! I cheated and used Won Ton Wrappers instead of true pasta dough, but, it still counts, right? See what you think!

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped (And I mean FINELY)
1/2 pound baby spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
8 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Flour for dusting
1 (12-ounce) package won ton wrappers
1 egg, beaten with 1/2 tablespoon cold water
2 tablespoons butter

For any of you who are unfamiliar with shallots, they look like this. VERY similar to onions. I ordered mine from myproduceguy.com. They deliver FRESH produce to your door! Very exciting. They gave us a dozen red roses for free just for ordering around Valentine's Day!

Here we go, hang on tight!

First, you want to saute your shallots in a large skillet in oil for about a minute over medium heat. Then, start adding your spinach in batches and let it wilt.

Unwilted:

 

Good to go:

  

Once all spinach is wilted, remove from heat and put into a medium-sized bowl. Allow it to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate it for 20 minutes.

Once cooled and ready, remove from refrigerator and place in a sieve. Squeeze all excess liquid out of the spinach leaves. If you don't have a sieve, then just take balls of it in your hands and squeeze out the liquid that way. Once dry, chop up the spinach, place it back into the bowl and mix with ricotta cheese, 6 T of pine nuts, 2 T Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

Ta da! You have your ravioli filling. I wish you could smell this right now!

 

At this point, you want to lightly flour your counter, and lightly flour 2 baking sheets. Have your egg-wash mixture ready to go and a pastry brush (or clean paint brush) nearby.

Take your Won Ton Wrappers and lay about 6 out on your surface. Paint the edges with egg wash

 

Take a small spoon and scoop a drop of filling into the center of each wrapper

 

Take 6 new wrappers, and place them right over top. Seal the edges (Leaving no air bubbles inside) and place on your baking sheet Repeat until all wrappers are used up.

 

I had about a tray and a half, with lots of leftover filling. At this point, cover them with a damp towel and refrigerate until ready to cook. You can also freeze them at this stage, and then cook them right out of the freezer if you want to. 

I saved my leftover filling. I plan on stuffing it into some chicken next week. Check back to see how it goes :) 

About 2 hours later, I was ready to cook. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add raviolis. Stir GENTLY to keep them from sticking to each other. It would be okay to do them in batches if necessary.

Meanwhile, bring butter to a frothy simmer over low heat in a large skillet. As ravioli finish boiling, drop them into the butter. Once they are all in the skillet, add the remaining Parmesan and Pine Nuts. I added some salt and pepper here as well.

 

I heated up some plain pasta sauce to serve over top (and underneath) 

 

Sprinkle with some grated Parmean, serve, and enjoy. These were SO delicious!

Romantic Dinner for 2! PART TWO: Roasted Butternut Squash Chipotle Bisque

So, our second course of the evening was a squash soup that I had made before. We both liked it, so I took the safe way out instead of trying something new! It's a little involved, but nothing fancy or tricky that you can't handle .. do I ever give you stuff you can't handle?

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash

2 T Olive Oil

1/2 cup celery chopped

1/2 cup carrot chopped

1-1/2 cup onion chopped (one medium-large onion)

4 cups chicken stock

3 cloves garlic minced

2 tsp chipotle pepper seeded and minced

Pinch of tyme

Pinch of sage

Directions:

Slice your squash in half lengthwise, reserving seeds, and discarding pulp (like a pumpkin) - and place flesh side down in a greased baking dish. Pierce all over with a fork:

 

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until VERY fork-tender. It should come out soft and very orange:

 

While the squash is cooling, begin sauteing your onion, carrot, and celery in the oil

 

I let these cook about 5-7 minutes until soft (Not brown!) Then add your garlic and cook about 1 more minute. Then, add your broth and start scooping the flesh of the squash into the pot as well. Bring to a simmer and cook 30 mintues. Meanwhile, begin to toast your squash seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until dry and crunchy. Add salt and set aside.

 

It will be chunky, and that's okay! FOR NOW! Add in your thyme and sage. I also added some salt and pepper. Once it has finished simmering for 30 minutes, get out a blender or food processor and start pureeing the soup in batches. Once all of it is pureed, pour back into your pot and keep warm.

 

At this point, stir in your 2 teaspoons of chipotle pepper for a little kick. Ladle into bowls, top with toasted seeds, and serve! Last time I made this, I stirred some chipotle pepper sauce into a half cup of sour cream and served a dallop of that on top along with the toasted seeds.

However you top it off, just enjoy it :) Its a good, warm, winter soup. Its healthy, but not at the cost of taste!

Romantic Dinner for 2! PART ONE: White Bean and Feta Salad

This was an extremely easy salad that I threw together. I had 2 bags of dried white beans in my pantry and wanted to use them up. All you would need is about 1/2 can of white beans (I used Cannellini Beans). You don't have to arrange the salad the way I did, but for a romantic looking dish, try it out!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of canned white beans, drained and rinsed (or cook your own dry beans)

6 oz of mixed spring greens

1.5 T Olive Oil

1 T Balsamic Vinegar (Plus some for drizzling)

1/4 t Dijon Mustard

Salt and Pepper

1 pint grape tomatoes

2 ounces Feta Cheese (I used black peppercorn feta)

1 T Sliced fresh Basil

Whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper together

 

Place greens in a large bowl and pour dressing over them. Toss WELL. Get the dressing all over the salad! Then, divide among 2 plates (we had leftover salad, it could have made 4 small salads). I sliced about 7 tomatoes in half and edged the plate in them. I placed the sliced basil in the center of the plate, and then put the salad in the center of the ring. I drizzled some balsamic over the tomatoes, then topped the greens with the beans and feta.

 

So easy! Such a good "Starter" or side dish with any meal! Enjoy :) And look for Parts 2, 3 and 4 of this Valentine's Meal!

Carrot Cakes!

Well, this morning, we woke up to a beautiful snow-covered day. I wish I had taken pictures by the river yesterday, because now its too icy to go get some good shots. Here's the best I could do:

The mail building. HAH. Anyways, I had ordered a pancake pan with some leftover wedding gift cards to Crate and Barrel, and thought it was a perfect morning to make silver dollar pancakes. Look at this guy!

So anyways, I made Carrot Pancakes. You could adapt this recipe to make chocolate chip, blueberry, banana, pumpkin, etc. Here is the BASIC recipe:

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1-1/4 cups milk (I used skim)

2 tablespoons EVOO

1/4 t vanilla

Optionals:

2-3 carrots (plus a pinch of nutmeg and 1/2t cinnamon)

or

2 bananas (plus a 1/2t cinnamon)

or

1 cup blueberries

or

1 cup pumpkin

or

chocolate chips (These can go in any pancake of course!)

So, you'll want to mix together all of the dry ingredients. If you are making carrot pancakes, you will need to peel them, and throw them in a food processor with the nutmeg, cinnamon, and milk and blend until smooth. You don't want chunky pancakes, do you? It will yield a frothy orange mixture.

Add wet ingredients and milk mixture. Stir and combine well. Obviously if you don't have the pancake pan, just heat a griddle or a skillet and ladle the size of pancakes you want. Lucky for me, i had the pan

There they are! Little orange carrot cakes cooking up! I haven't mentioned it yet, but these are very healthy! No added sugar and they are very sweet due to the carrot and vanilla.

It will yield about 18 pancakes if you make them small, probably only 6-8 if you make larger pancakes!

We had plenty for 2 of us, with leftovers. Pour on some syrup, or whatever you put on pancakes. Honey would go well on these, but my husband prefers the sugar-free syrup on his!

Enjoy :) And try a different version of these pancakes! If carrot isn't your thing, you have many options!

Pasta Primavera - A Real One Dish Dinner!

A few confessions before I start the recipe. I searched EVERYWHERE to find a healthy version of this recipe. My mom made THE BEST Pasta Primavera growing up, but- a real good recipe has heavy cream, lots of parmesan cheese, etc. After looking through the basics of the recipe as well as looking at what was in my refrigerator, I came up with this recipe! Second confession, I didn't try too hard to capture good photos because I was SO hungry and just wanted to eat. WE LOVED IT. Having leftovers tomorrow night!

Here's a close up!

A Very Flexible Recipe

1 pound whole wheat linguine (or spinach, or any fun flavor you find!)

1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips

1 pound chicken, cubed (optional- this can easily be a vegetarian dish)

 8 oz button mushrooms, sliced

2 small zucchini, sliced and then quartered

2 medium sized carrots, peeled into ribbons (use a vegetable peeler for this)

1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in halves

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup 1% milk

1 T all purpose flour dissolved in 3 T water

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Optional: Fresh Basil, Parsley

You can replace ANY of the vegetables you don't like with broccoli, onion, summer squash, asparagus- any veggie works in here! I promise!

Step One: IF YOU ARE USING CHICKEN!

I diced mine up, sprinkled some salt and italian seasonings on them, and then cooked them in a skillet until they were done, then I let them simmer in about 1 T water and 3ish T Balsamic Vinegar. Meanwhile, get to the veggies!

Have all your vegetables chopped/sliced/peeled etc. so that you can just GO! I used a wok, but if you have a VERY large skillet :) That would work too!

Use a little olive oil or cooking spray to coat your pan. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute until softened. Toss in zucchini and pepper and cook about 3 minutes. 

Add your tomatoes and mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes until soft.

Next, add your flour dissolved in water, and cook about one minute. Add chicken stock, milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken up.

You may want to start cooking the linguini at this point.

Next, add in your carrot ribbons and diced up chicken. Mix and allow to cook together.

If using basil and parsley, add it here and let it start to wilt down

Drain your pasta, but BEFORE adding it to the veggies, put the 1/2 cup of cheese in so that the hot noodles melt the cheese immediately. Stir together.

3 Words Left For You: PLATE IT UP!

Sprinkle a little extra parmesan cheese on top of your plate and ENJOY :) It is absolutely delicious. This probably could serve 4-6 people EASY. Or serve 2 and give you a couple leftover lunches/dinners!

SO SO GOOD! Try this as soon as you can. And feel FREE to chose vegetable that YOU like or have in your refrigerator!

Super Bowl Sunday, all Slimmed Down!

Burgers? Fries? Pasta Salad? Chips and Salsa? You want it all on Super Bowl Sunday, right? Well you got it! Some are recipes, some are just go to the store and buy it! Here's a diary of Mom and Myself cooking up a football sized dinner for our guys!

Turk-en Sausage Burgers

Thats right! Turkey and chicken sausage burgers. YUMM-Y!

All you do is mix one pound ground turkey with one pound of chicken sausage. (Chicken sausage can be any FRESH uncooked chicken sausage. Available at Fresh Market and Whole Foods. We used Green Pepper and Onion Chicken Sausage!)

Add 1 Tablespoon of Mayo with Olive Oil (Hellmann's makes it!)

Add about 1 cup of finely diced onions

Salt and pepper to taste

Form into patties and allow the burgers to sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour. We made them pretty thin so they would cook up faster!

Grill about 5-7 minutes per side, or until cooked through. (You may want to place them on wax paper while shaping them so you can just flip them over onto the grill- they are a little sticky!)

Mediterranean Chicken and Orzo Salad

Dressing:

1 T dijon mustard

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3/4 t salt

1/4 t black pepper

3/4 cup olive oil

1/2 t dried italian seasoning

Orzo:

1 pound of orzo, cooked

1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved

1.2 cup black olives, coarse chopped

1/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled

2 pkgs (5 oz each) italian style pre-cooked chicken, bite size 

2 T chopped parsley

Whisk all ingredients for dressing, except olive oil and italian seasoning. Add those 2 slowly after others are blended. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Mix other ingredients. Pour on 3/4 cup dressing. Fold together GENTLY then drizzle on remaining dressing

SERVE!

Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries

Yes, I've done fries before, but these had a definite kick to them! We did a 3 large potato recipe, just change your spices according to how many sweet potatoes you use!

3 large, skinny sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fries

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1.5 tsp chili powder

3 tsp brown sugar

3 tsp salt

3 tsp adobo sauce (From the chipotle canned peppers)

3 T EVOO

I put all the fries in a large bowl and tossed them until WELL coated in the oil and seasoning. 

Once coated, line in a single layer (probably 2 baking sheets) and bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Flip them over (and switch trays top to bottom if necessary) and cook 10 more minutes.

Serve :)

OH YEAH! Even Jack-man liked these french fries, and he's a picky french fry eater

CHIPS AND SALSA!

We obviously STARTED the evening with this, but i can take no credit for the recipe nor the chips, so i'm ending the blog with it!

Go to www.sizzleandspice.blogspot.com for the salsa recipe. Go to Whole Foods for these AMAZING chips! We devoured both bags!

These are 2 bags for 4 dollars- organic- baked- yummy chips. They come in MANY MANY flavors!

Dip anyone?

Killed off the salsa too!

Just because we love him, here's me pushing my little nephew around in a too-small tupperware. That kid will let me try almost anything if it involves pushing/pulling/flipping him.

A Few Highlights from a Strange Week....

This week, I was able to be at home ONE night. No cooking Monday or Tuesday, cooking while babysitting Wednesday night, and a normal meal on Thursday. Not every single dish was a success, so I'm highlighting what we/I liked!

First up, a low fat version of spinach salad, really easy, really yummy! This recipe comes from Ellie Krieger at FoodNetwork.com

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon and Apple Cider Dressing

10 oz baby spinach, washed

2 slices bacon, finely chopped

3 ounces canadian bacon, finely chopped (I used 5 ounces and omitted regular bacon)

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 pound button mushrooms (I used half a pound)

1 cup apple cider

2 T apple cider vinegar

1 t dijon mustard

Salt and Pepper

*I added a handful of honey toasted almonds, as well as a handful of craisins*

Place spinach into a large bowl. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat for about 4 minutes, or until it is just crispy. Add Canadian bacon to the skillet and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring frequently. Remove meat from pan and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Drain any remaining fat from the skillet. 

Add olive oil and onions to the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes, or until onions soften slightly. Add mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 more minutes. Put onions and mushrooms on top of the spinach. 

Add apple cider and vinegar to the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Stir to scrape up any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until cider is reduced to about 1/2 cup.

Whisk in mustard, salt and pepper, to taste. Pour warm cider dressing over the mushrooms and spinach and toss until the vegetables are well coated. Sprinkle the bacon on top and serve.

We served this guy alongside Pasta Putenesca (featured early on in this blog!)

Next up, Mexican Night. I made some homemade BAKED tortilla chips with some tortilla soup and Turkey Burrito Burgers. The soup was nothing to write home about, but I'll share the chips and burgers with you!

Chili and Sea Salt Baked Tortilla Chips

12 whole wheat tortillas (or any corn or wheat tortilla you prefer_

Cooking Spray

Chili Powder

Salt

Any kind of salsa you want to dip in, or make your own using the recipe off of sizzleandspice.blogspot.com

All I did was spray the top of a tortilla, sprinkle some chili powder, stack a new one, and repeat. Once I had all 12 stacked up, I sliced them into eighths, put them on 2 baking sheets, and baked them at 400 degrees for about 10-12 minutes, watching closely to prevent them from burning!

Take them out, sprinkle with sea salt, or any salt, and serve alongside your salsa! Healthy and delicious! Use any spice you'd like before baking: Cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic powder etc.

The bean burgers. I will post these mainly because one of my best friends has requested that I do so. I enjoyed these, however, my husband had nothing fantastic to say about them. I did make 1 error, and that was that I added too much cooked rice to the meat, so they were falling apart, and I think thats what turned him off. Anyways, the taste is very Mexican, and personally, a perfect fit after the chips and salsa appetizer!

Turkey Bean Burrito Burgers (Rachael Ray)

1 cup (and 1 cup only!) leftover brown rice

1 pound ground turkey

1-15oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

Palmful chili powder

1.5 t cumin

1.5 t coriander

1 T grill seasoning

1 T Olive Oil

Optional Toppings such as avacado, roasted garlic, sour cream, jalepeno, red oinon, guacamole, etc.

Buns are optional as well, but I opted out

Combine your rice, meat, and beans with spices and grill seasoning. Form into patties. I ended up with 7. I know, right? Who makes an odd number. Anyways, add your oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook patties 7-8 minutes on each side.

Mine fell apart in the skillet, so I baked them about 15 minutes at 375 to finish them off.

 

Yes, they resemble rice patties. Not my finest moment, but they tasted the same as they would have in perfect round circles.

Now.. here's the real reason they don't look perfect:

Trying to put dinner together with this little 1 and half year old was a trip! But worth it nonetheless! Who can resist that little boy?

Last on the list, and BEST, in my humble opinon:

Butternut Squash with Onion and Fennel

Nick and i both went crazy over this SIMPLE SIMPLE side dish!

1 medium-large butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 sweet onion, sliced into wedges

1 bulb fennel, sliced into 1 inch pieces

3 T olive oil

1 t dried thyme

1/4 t cayenne pepper

All you do is put onion, fennel, and squash in a large bowl and toss with olive oil until all veggies look well covered in oil

Sprinkle with thyme and cayenne pepper and toss again

Spread onto baking sheet in a single layer, and bake 40 minutes at 400 degrees, stirring about halfway through. I took mine out at about 38 minutes- I could tell the squash was soft and onions were starting to brown.

WE LOVED THIS! Try it :)

I know this was a random post, but I had some flops this week, and I would never want to advertise a bad tasting dish to you! That was never my goal in blogging :) So enjoy these dishes however and with whatever you choose!

Better recipes next week, I promise :)