I woke up this morning instantly thankful for three things.
1. We once again have a substantial layer of snow on ground and it looks beautiful.
2. I get to spend the day cooking at my parent’s house.
3. Yesterday.
I had a really fun, really full day yesterday. If I spent every day in a similar fashion I would be extremely happy but also extremely tired. My brother is currently home from Colorado so I am spending as much time as I can with the family, I have been here since Monday night.
I woke up in the morning on a mission. My mission? Homemade ravioli. I love making ravioli but it is very time consuming, so I only make it a couple times a year. Please excuse my horribly subpar photography skills, I simply had to share these pictures because ravioli makes me so giddy and happy and bubbly and smiley and I will stop embarrassing myself now.
Flour, salt, egg yolks and water about to be turned in a sticky mess.
Sticky mess of dough.
Ten minutes of intense kneading produces silky smooth dough.
Rolled that dough until my arms were aching, does anyone want to buy me a pasta machine? You will receive instant best friend status.
64 sausage and spinach stuffed raviolis
The end result after boiling in salt water and dumping in marinara sauce.
To round out the meal I made two loaves of savory monkeybread and a marinated Italian salad.
I invited my grandparents to come up and eat with us and as soon as they arrived and my brothers came back from basketball practice we all sat down together to eat. I love making food for anyone and everyone but there is a special joy that only comes from spending all day in the kitchen to create food for the people you love most.
Right after we ate, my brother (the one home from Colorado) and I headed out to do some babysitting. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. My three little friends jumped on him, poked him in the eye, begged him to do games over and over again and were their adorable, high-energy selves.
Putting three children to bed is always a challenge especially when two little boys share a room and do everything in their power to keep each other awake. I ended up sitting on the floor between their beds telling them a long story until they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore. Telling stories to children until they fall asleep is one of the best things ever.
Then my brother and I hung out, laughing at stupid TV shows until their parents came home. It was great. I finally fell asleep at 12:30, super tired but super happy.
Well I have another day of cooking ahead of me, I better get a move on it! Have a great last day of 2014!
Here are the recipes I used.
Savory Bubble Bread
I doubled the amount of cheese and spice mixture, my family loves extra flavor. I don’t have a bread machine so I used my normal technique for making rolls.
Spicy Italian Salad
I used red wine vinegar because who keeps tarragon vinegar in their house? No one. I also threw everything except the romaine lettuce in the dressing early on in the day so it could get some nice tangy flavor throughout.
Ravioli
I always end up using more eggs yolks then this recipe calls for but it explains the process very well.
that ravioli looks amazing glad it turned out so well!
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There are a few left in the fridge, if you want to drop by!
*edited to add that there are none left anymore, sorry
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Why do you need a pasta machine? That ravioli looks awesome you ARE a pasta machine!!!-thanks for the recipe-gonna try it out to maintain my cooking reputation. If you really want oneI’ll buy you a pasta machine if you put my 2 boys to bed-the evening routine at our place would even try the patience of Satan I suspect…
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It is too funny, here I am trying to strengthen my upper body by doing pushups but rolling out pasta is a much better workout. My arms are more sore today than they have been from any pushups I have done the past few weeks. Maybe I should just make pasta a couple times a week, I think my family and friends would approve of that workout plan.
But your offer of a pasta machine is too tempting so I am booking a flight and heading across the pond, I will be there shortly.
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I love ravioli and those look great! I love that you put meat in there instead of just cheese. 🙂
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Yeah, my brothers don’t like regular store-bought cheese ravioli, the texture can be gritty and pasty but they go nuts for these sausage filled ones.
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