Tortellini Soup

It was just supposed to be Little Dude and I for dinner tonight, so all I planned to make was this:

It’s by Allessi and I found it at Schnucks ($2.59).  While it says it’s 4.5 servings, we all know how that goes with packaged food. But it would have been plenty for just the two of us. Until, suddenly there was four of us for dinner instead of two.  So, while the title of this blog entry is Tortellini Soup, it’s actually more like Whatever I Had in the Kitchen Soup.  After taking stock (haha)  of what I had on hand, here is what I used:

1 Packet of Alessi Ravolini in Brodo, 5 carrots, 4  potatoes, 1/2 an onion, 7 cups water, 1 cup vegetable stock, 1/2 a bag of frozen cheese tortellini, 1 chicken bouillon cube, 1 small lemon and a handful of spices.

I started by looking at the Alessi packet.  It calls for 5 cups of water just on it’s own so I increase it by 2 cups and added the 1 cup of veggie broth I had on hand to make sure I have enough liquid for the rest of my (un)planned ingredients. I add a bay leaf and the bouillon cube. I bring the pot to a boil and then add my chopped carrots, potatoes and onion. I let them boil until the carrots and potatoes are almost tender. About 10 minutes.

Next, I added the Alessi packet, my 1/2 bag of tortellini and a dash of the following: garlic powder, red pepper flakes, basil, oregano, thyme and salt. I reduced it to a simmer and covered the pot for another 10 to 15 minutes. When the Alessi mini ravs and the tortellini were ready, I finished it by using a trick I learned early on in this soup making journey and really enjoy:  I squeezed the juice from the lemon in just before serving.

Yumm-O, filling and I didn’t have to go shopping! Big Kid rated this a 8 or 9 out of 10 and Little Dude rated it a 7 or 8.  Despite the 7/8 rating, Little Dude was the only one to ask for a 2nd helping. I’d say that’s success.

Lesson learned: Now, before you start making your soup, here’s what I would change. Instead of starting with the broth and boiling veggies, I would have started the way recipes have taught me. (duh) Start with putting a bit of olive oil in the pot, warming it and then adding the 1/2 onion and a few cloves of minced garlic.  Then, proceed as I did. Honestly, with what I had to work with and my limited knowledge of food and spices, that’s about all I would change.  If you’re shopping ahead, you could also reduce the sodium significantly by using homemade stock or store bought low sodium broth and not using a stupid, but helpful, boullion cube.

With what I had on hand, I turned a “4.5 serving”  meal  (yeah, right) for 2 into a honest to goodness 6 serving meal.  Since there are four of us that means DH and I have lunch tomorrow. Woo hoo!

Happy Pantry Hunting!

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

My family and I are still hanging out over at Cheap Healthy Good and I couldn’t resist trying the Bruschetta Chicken Bake from her list of recipes. Bruschetta is one of DH’s favorite foods!

For this one you’ll need: Boneless chicken breasts, basil, 1 cup of shredded motz, 1 can of (no salt added) diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup of water, 2 cloves of garlic (unless you’re like me and use 3 or 4), a box of stuffing (Stove Top or similar. We used generic from the dollar store.)

Preheat the oven to 400. In a mixing bowl, combine the dry stuffing mix, water, garlic and diced tomatoes (including the liquid). Mix and set aside. Chop up the chicken in to chunks. (We used 3 breasts.) Evenly spread the chicken in the bottom of a casserole dish. (I think I used an 8×8.) Her recipe says to top the chicken chunks with 1t of dried basil. I had fresh basil and probably used closer to 1 to 2 T. ( Mmmmmm….smell the basil. So good!) Then sprinkle your shredded motz over the chicken and basil. Finally, top the whole thing off by spreading the stuffing mixture evenly over the top. Pop that baby in the oven for 30 minutes and d.o.n.e!

We served this with a side of broccoli and jello. Yeah, jello. DH forgot we were out of fruit and we typically serve each dinner with a side of oranges, pineapple, whatever. We were out. I guess he felt like the boys plates looked naked without their usual side of fruit so he gave them jello.  I passed.  Little Dude seemed pleased as punch about his new side dish, though. At one point I had to take his serving away from him so he would stop playing with it and eat his chicken and broccoli.

Lesson learned: This was easy, easy, easy and yummy.  Aside from a few stray tomatoes on Little Dude’s plate (he’ll eat them but isn’t a huge fan), there wasn’t a bite left on the table. I’m glad I didn’t skimp on the basil, since I feel like that’s what gave it it’s bruschettaness. Bruschettaness is now a word. You’re welcome. Happy Scrabble playing, ya’ll!

Budget Breakdown: Bag of frozen chicken breasts on sale: $5 (we used about 1/2 of the bag), generic brand stuffing: $1, shredded cheese $2 (only used 1 cup), can of diced tomatoes $1. Spices already on hand. Roughly $1.40 per serving before the brocc and the sad little side of jello.

Now off to buy some fruit!

1 Chicken, 4 People, 5 Dinners, $35

There are two things that happen every year, roughly between Christmas and Valentine’s Day: My waist size goes up and my husband’s paycheck goes down.  Every year, around these 6 weeks, it forces us to get creative with cheap, healthy meals and this year is no exception.

DH came across the blog Cheap Healthy Good. Bingo! Last week we took on her chicken challenge which suggests you can actually make a 7lb chicken last for five dinners and the grocery bill for your dinners will be under $25. It sounded too good to be true, but we were game for giving it a try. Here’s how it went in our household.

First, we started off by using the grocery list she provided.

SHOPPING LIST
(* means the blogger already had it in her pantry or fridge. $ will mean I did. The prices noted are from the original 2009 blog.)

1 7-lb Oven Stuffer Roaster chicken: $6.92 (Um, yeah. You can so not get a whole chicken for this price.)
1 lb thick carrots: $0.67
1-1/2 lbs red or Yukon gold potatoes: $1.42
$2 lemons: $0.80
$*1 or 2 tablespoons salt: $0.04
$*3 teaspoons olive oil: $0.11
$*2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil: $0.36
$*2 tablespoons vegetable oil: $0.18
*2-1/2 medium onions: $0.30
$*9 garlic cloves: $0.30
$*2-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin: $0.05
$*1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon: $0.01
$*1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning: $0.02
*Pinch ground cloves: $0.01 (I skipped it)
$*1 teaspoon crushed red pepper: $0.05
$*1/2 to 1 tablespoon curry powder: $0.07
*1 cup bottled salsa: $0.99
$*1/3 cup golden raisins: $0.79
*1/4 cup raisins: $0.42 (I skipped it)
*1/4 cup slivered almonds: $0.73 (I skipped it)
$1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts: $0.35
1 large bunch fresh cilantro: $0.99 (I skipped it)
*1 14-oz can black beans: $0.67
1 can large white beans: $1.39
$*1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas: $0.67
*1-2/3 cup uncooked brown rice: $0.95
1 seeded jalapeño pepper: $0.25 (I skipped it)
1 cucumber: $0.80
6 scallions: $0.67
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger: $0.32
1 can (4-ounce) chopped green chilies: $1.49
$*2 cups chicken broth: $0.60 (You do not need to buy chicken broth when you start your week by roasting a whole flippin’ chicken! I made my own.)
$*1 pound spaghetti or Chinese egg noodles: $0.80
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter: $0.21
*1/4 cup soy sauce: $0.38
*2 tablespoons dark brown sugar: $0.06 (I skipped it)
*1 tablespoon rice vinegar: $0.24
*1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (we used low-fat, and it was okay): $0.28 (I used Greek)
*1/2 cup grated low-fat Monterey Jack or white cheddar cheese: $0.50

PS – She forgot to add frozen peas to the list. You’ll need them for yours.
TOTAL: $25.86 (It would have been $26.86 if she hadn’t forgotten her peas.)

Keeping in mind the original blog post was in 2009, our grocery bill was $33.

Night 1:   Roasted  Chicken and Veggies.

Even though I’d never roasted a chicken before, I’d say this was about as easy as it gets.  We seasoned the chicken and stuffed it with lemon. Roast at 350 for an hour or so, then up the oven temp to 400 and add the potatoes and carrots.  When the little temperature thingy pops out of the bird, it’s done.  I wish more foods came with one of those poppers.

Yum! The chicken was moist and delicious!  We didn’t alter the drippings in the pan at all and used that as our gravy.  The most difficult part about this dinner was resisting the urge to go back for seconds of that yummy bird! But I knew I couldn’t.  I couldn’t sabotage my chicken stash on the first night of the experiment. And it was ok. Really. We all had plenty to eat. (Cottage  cheese was served on the side.)

Night 1 Part 2: Chicken Broth:  Strip the bird naked. As naked as you can get it. Put what’s left of the bird in a stew pot and cover with water. According to my Grandma, then you add whatever you have left in the fridge to season the broth. For me that was fresh parsley, onion and celery. I also added the lemon juice we took out of the chicken’s behind. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for a least two hours. Scoop off any white (fat) that boils to the top. Strain and freeze. Viola! Broth! Thanks, Grandma!

Night 2:  Food Network’s Sesame Noodles with Chicken

Just as the recipe suggests, I put a pot of water on for the noodles and while it’s doing it’s thing, I started on the Peanut Sauce. When making said sauce, make sure to not skip over the first sentence in the recipe. I had peanut butter everywhere. Whoops. Other than a sticky mess, I made this recipe just as suggested (ok, you’re right, I doubled the garlic) and omitted the brown sugar. It was not missed in my opinion. 

This one got especially high marks from the kids. Duh. I was cooking with peanut butter. DH enjoyed it  and commented that he’d even enjoy this without the chicken.  It got high marks from me because I added extra red pepper flakes to my bowl.  And, well, because I was cooking with peanut butter. We all agreed this was a keeper. In fact, I made this again for myself the following day for lunch sans chicken.
DH was right. I didn’t really miss the chicken.

Day 3: White Chicken Chili

This recipe says it’s 2 to 3 servings and I need at least four and I’m feeding kids so I made some minor modifications to this recipe. I skipped the jalapeno for starters. Especially after reading the horror story that accompanies the recipe. I also skipped the cloves just because there was no point in buying something I don’t use often and the cayenne because I didn’t realize I was out. They were only called for in small amounts anyway. I also doubled the beans and tripled the garlic. (It’s a pretty safe bet with anything I make that I’m going to at least double the garlic. I don’t know. I think of garlic cloves like pack animals. Garlic cloves just seem happier when they have company.)

I was a little nervous about this soup once I added the green chilies.  The kids went downstairs and DH actually left the house for 20 minutes because the cooking chilies were bothering everyone’s eyes. I’d say that would make most people nervous about what’s for dinner! But once I got the lid on the pot, all was well again. And I must say, this was my hands down favorite meal of the week. What made this soup so awesome?  The damn green chili peppers that were stinging everyone’s eyes! Go figure. This is one meal you definitely want to eat rather than wear. 

I garnished mine with a small dollop of Daisy which was a great compliment to the tangy peppers. Everyone else garnished with a sprinkle of cheese.

This, without a doubt, will get made in this house again. I’m less than a week out from making this and I already want it again.

Night 4: Cooking Light’s Chicken Picadillo

First of all, this recipe calls for a pound of chicken. For the sake of this experiment, there was no way I could use a pound of chicken so I used 1.5 to 2 cups. Other things I changed in this recipe: My usual routine with garlic cloves, skipped the almonds because DH won’t eat them, skipped the cilantro because DH and I both have the gene that makes it taste like soap, and I used the raisins as a garnish because I don’t really care for them that much. And that last thought pretty much summed up the entire meal for us.

We ate omelets. But, because we did actually make a dinner using our bird and we didn’t add to our grocery bill by eating the omelets, I guess it still counts for something regarding this experiment. Something like dog food.

Night 5: Cook’s Illustrated Curry in a Hurry  (recipe listed towards the bottom of the original blog)

How I modified this recipe: My curry is really mild, so I doubled it. I didn’t measure my ginger so I probably used more of than 1T. I just finished off what was in the house. I left out the raisins and cilantro for reasons already mentioned and I used Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt. (I really love Greek yogurt!) I also still had a few carrots left over from the first night so I finely chopped two and added those in during the recipe’s second step. This was also the first time since seasoning the whole chicken that I added a pinch of salt to anything, which I found pretty amazing. We served this over brown rice, but if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t. I’d just make a bigger pot of this yumminess and eat it by itself.

It was delicious!  It also easily made 6 servings rather than the 4 it says. DH and I both had left overs for lunch for the first time all week. Which, if there was a downside to this project, lack of left overs was a biggie.

So there you have it! Thank you, Birdie! I feel like we ate really well.

Lessons learned: This family of four made a 7lb bird last 5 dinners. Who knew? We spent less than $35 for the week on dinners and all of our meals, with the exception of the one that included peanut butter, I can feel pretty good about calorie wise.  I also didn’t encounter my biggest fear: being really stingy with the chicken in each recipe just to get through the week.  We found some new recipes that are keepers and we ate well on the cheap.  I’m pretty impressed.

The morning after we finished with our bird, DH and I were watching TV together when we spotted a commercial for a grocery store in the city. It was advertising an offer for 2 free chickens if you spend more than $50 on Thursdays. “Where is that place? We could eat like kings!”

Upsidedown Pizza. A family fav in 20 minutes.

I’m not sure where we picked up this idea. Most likely a parenting magazine. Ever since it’s been a family favorite and tonight is my first night making it. I hope you enjoy!

You’ll need:

1 lb ground turkey

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1 bag (1-2 cups) of your favorite shredded pizza cheese

1 can of biscuts of the uncooked variety

Optional – your favorite veggie pizza toppings. We use black olives and/or mushrooms

Brown the ground turkey in a frying pan. Once brown, transfer the browned turkey to an oven safe cassarole dish. Cover the cooked turkey with a generous amount of your fav pasta sauce. Add a layer of your favorite pizza toppings if you wish. Then, layer on a cup or two of cheese. Finally, place the biscuts about a 1/2 inch apart for the top layer.

Bake using the instructions from the biscut can. Usually 400 for 10-12 minutes. Bake until biscuts are lightly browned.

This is all that was left for DH from a 9x13 dish by the time our guys devoured it.

That’s it! Enjoy.

Tatos. Mash ‘em. Boil ‘em. Stick ‘em in a stew. Or the microwave.

Ever since the calendar flipped over to November, my Facebook page is filled with status updates about my friends looking forward to the holidays. Several are food related with even a few of my friends changing their profile photos to images of a turkey. This gets me thinking too. And now I’m craving my Favorite Aunt’s twice baked potatos.

It’s my day off so I decide to get recipe hunting and shopping out of the way early so I can spend the rest of my day off the way I should – in pajamas. I quickly find a recipe on-line, get the goods and before you know it, the jammas are back on. I waste several hours  cleaning the house and before you know it, it’s time to make dinner. I pull up the recipe again.

The recipe I have the ingredients for tells me to put the broiler on high, wrap my potatos in foil, poke them all over with a fork and to put them in the microwave for 20 minutes. I read the recipe again. And again. Even I am not *this* stupid. Good bye, recipe. (I really need to do a better job of reading more than just the ingredients list before I settle on something.)

I scrub the potatos and poke them with a fork like I’m supposed to. I think about the microwave part of the recipe and decide to give them a whirl in there for 20 minutes and see what happens.  And voila, they are cooked! Wow. That was easy. And since they were just in the microwave, there was no real babysitting to be done with the food so I was able to help with homework during that time. Bonus.

I take 5 minutes to steam some broccoli and cook  turkey bacon in the skillet.  (Bacon in a skillet would normally send a dog running to the kitchen, but mine knows I’m going to set off the smoke detector – twice – and he runs out the door at the sound of the burner being turned on.) Then I set the crumbled bacon and the rest of the ingredients on the buffet in the kitchen. Butter, sour cream, chopped green onion, salt, pepper, shredded cheddar and steamed broccoli. I give each kiddo a plate with a baked potatos sliced in half and let them choose what else goes on the potato. I serve fruit on the side.

So they weren’t anything like my Favorite Aunt’s. They certainly weren’t Twice Baked. More like Lazy  Mom Tatos or Busy Mom Tatos, depending on the day. I think the house cleaning made me not care anymore. But they were easy as pie. Well, I’ve never actually made a pie. But now I know how to make a baked potato. The kids enjoyed loading them up with goodies in their personalized way and I’ve once again used the microwave to “cook” real food. It might not sound like much, but I’ve never really used the microwave for food that didn’t come in a container in the freezer section. I  consider it a step in the right direction.

I wonder if my neighbors can hear my smoke detector. I wonder if they can do, do they look over at the driveway and see my husband’s car missing and just think to themselves, oh that explains it.

Lesson learned: I’m glad I threw out the recipe (so I didn’t have to throw out my microwave!) and felt confident enough to improvise. These were yummy and came out to $2.52 a person. I do love a good bargain.  Also, Word, my phone’s dictionary and WordPress do not agree on how to spell potato. Potatoes! Potatos!

 

Squash Week Continues: Butternut Squash & Curry Soup

This Winter, I’m going to try to make a new soup each week. Since it’s Squash Week at our house, I’ve decided on Butternut & Curry Soup. I’ve decided to try this one by Ina Garten.

You’ll need:

3-4 lbs of butternut squash

1-2 yellow onions (I used 2 and 1 would have been fine they way I prepared mine. You’ll see what I mean below.)

2 macintosh apples (3 would have been even better)

Olive oil

Curry powder

2-4 cups of broth (I used 4 cups of chicken broth. Easily made vegan by using veg stock.)

Salt & Pepper

Here’s how I did it:

I cut the squash in half, and using the trick I used in the previous recipe, I filled a microwavable dish with a little bit of water, put the squash in skin side up and nuked it for about 10-12 minutes.

While that was nuking and cooling, I pre-heated the oven to 425, peeled and cored my apples and chopped them in to 1 inch cubes. I also cut my onions in to 1 inch cubes. I put a little olive oil in my roasting pan. Then threw the apple and onion cubes in to the roasting pan, mix with the oil and add a few dashes of salt and pepper. Roast for 35-45 minutes. The reason I did not roast the squash along with the apples and onions, is because I have learned in my roasting adventures that I get better results when the roasting pan is not too crowded.

The original recipe suggests putting the finished squash, apples and onions in a food processor to make them creamy. I don’t have a food processor, so instead I mash the squash and the apples and leave the onions as is. (Note: If you or anyone you’re cooking for as issues with food texture, go the food processor route. That’s not the case in our house so I didn’t sweat it.)

I bring the 4 cups of stock to a simmer and then add the mashed squash and apples and roasted onions. Simmer and periodically stir for 5 to 10 minutes. I add curry, salt and pepper to taste.  That’s it!

When Little Dude, who can be vegetable weary, asks me what is in the soup I appeal to his sweet tooth.

“It’s butternut squash, which is sweet, apples, which are sweet, and yellow onions that get sweet when you cook them.”

“What’s that?” (Pointing to the curry.)

“It’s a spice called curry. You’ve had it before.”

“Is there bread with cheese?” (He’s a dunker.)

“Yes.”

“Ok, Mom.”

And that was the end of that. Once he was served, I asked him what he thought. He said it was the best soup he’s ever had!

“Do you like having a Mommy who can cook for you now?”

“There was a time when I couldn’t imagine you cooking. Now I can’t imagine you not cooking. Thanks for adding the curry, Mom. It gives it that extra little fling!”

Well what’s not to love about a review like that?! Man, I love that kid.

PS: I’d link the actual recipe, but the one that’s listed there now, isn’t the one I used. I’m not sure what that’s all about. The original recipe had a list of suggested toppings such as sour cream, crushed nuts, scallions or toasted coconut. DH and I didn’t use any toppings. Little Dude chose a bit a shredded cheddar.

Lesson Learned: I can not believe how easy this was to make! Simple and nutritious. Lovely!

{Edit: Well lookie here. I found the link  that led me to this recipe.}

Homemade Raviloi

Sorry I haven’t been blogging much. While I’ve been away, I’ve mostly been learning about roasting vegetables and learning how to not be afraid to cook with meat. Now that we have roasted vegetables several times a week and I’m fairly comfortable with my chicken baking and meatball making, I find myself ready to move on to a challenge.

I told DH as much and he asked if I had anything in mind.

I was thinking about homemade pizza.

As in from scratch?

Yes.

The dough and everything?

Yes.

He pretty much turns up his nose. Probably a combination of the fact that 1) he takes his pizza pretty seriously and 2) the last time I tried to make something that involved dough it was my Holiday Salmonella Surprise cookies. Who can blame the guy for turning up his nose?

Once he leaves for work, I’m left with a house full of occupied children and my laptop. Time to search for recipes! I pretty quickly narrow down that I have a hankerin’ for butternut squash, but most of the recipes are for soup and I already have soup on the dinner menu for 3 days from now, so that’s out. But in the recipes for soup I get turned on by a combination I see. Butternut squash and pears. That sounds wonderful! So I search for recipes with those two ingredients and I see this. That. Sounds. So. Good!

Homemade pasta. Hmmmmm. Well, I am looking for a challenge. Yikes, though. Dough? My nemesis. I mull it over in my brain and study the recipe. I do a search to see if there are other suggestions on this recipe and I come across this blog. This chic has a pasta maker, a boyfriend who helps and she still ends up in tears. Am I crazy? I have none of those things right now.

I look at other recipes for making raviolis. They all involve gadgets I don’t have. I go to the kitchen and stare at an empty egg carton and briefly wonder if I can use some foil and scissors to turn my egg carton in to a ravioli contraption before deciding that’s stupid. I can’t believe I even considered it. But damn it, now this recipe is in my head and I want it. After a  little encouragement from my Facebook friends, I go shopping for the ingredients and my very first rolling pin. Game on, Dough Boy! Pasta Boy. Whatever. You know what I’m saying.

I set the laptop up in the kitchen and go back and forth between the recipe and the notes from Wannabe. I take her up on her suggestion and decide to microwave the squash instead of roasting it. Thank you, Wannabe! It turned out perfectly and I didn’t have to worry about something in the oven for 45 minutes to check on so I could focus on the real challenge.

Dough. I make my well of flour on the counter and pour my liquid mix in the middle. I’m a few seconds in to the messy mixing process when a bunch of the liquid escapes the well. While my dog is eagerly lapping up the egg mixture I try to calculate, before it’s gone, how much liquid escaped. I’m left to guess about an egg’s worth so I add another egg. It’s such a mess at this point, I feel like there is no way this is going to turn in to dough. It’s flaking all over the place. I add a little more water and keep kneading. It says if I’m doing this by hand to give it 10 minutes, so I do. It pays off. I’ve actually made dough! See. It even looks like real dough. I wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge.

(Paranoid of another salmonella surprise, I vigorously clean the counter and wash my hands and everything else OCD style all the way through.)

I scoop out my squash and mash it in the frying pan and then dry out the mash on medium heat for 10 minutes. I peel, core and finely chop my pears. When the squash is ready I combine my squash mash, diced pear, parm and seasoning in a bowl. After a taste test, I double the chili powder and add a pinch of salt and pepper.

After the dough has been in the fridge for an hour I take it out and give it a little squeeze. It looks and feels like what dough should so I’m feeling pretty optimistic at this point. I flour the counter, unwrap my latest kitchen utensil and get to work. By this time, DH is home from work and calls from the bedroom, “Are you doing ok in there? I hear some growling.” I yell back that I’m fine. “Just rolling my dough in to submission!”

The dough will submit!

It takes work, but I manage to get it paper thin. Now to cut out my “circles or squares”. I don’t have many kitchen gadgets so I settle on the widest mouth cup in the pantry. I figure to get a decent amount of the filing in these babies they’re going to have to be sizable cutouts.

Between my kitchen counter and my kitchen table I have everything covered inflour, including a dachshund, and enough pieces cut out to make 15 raviolis.

Lollipop temporarily becomes Lollyflour.

I put a spoonful of the squash/pear mix in the middle of each one, brush the edges in egg yolk, top with another piece of pasta, seal the edges with a fork, and voila. Holy crap. It looks like ravioli. Really, really huge ravioli, but ravioli none the less. I’m stunned.

Almost there.

While I bring a pot of water to boil, I melt some butter and throw in a handful of fresh rosemary sprigs. I’m so in awe of my pasta, I didn’t measure either the butter or the rosemary.

The water is boiling and it’s my first real test. Will they stay together? They do! And then, one by one they float to the top. Is this really happening?

Because the ravs are so ginormous, I serve two each and top them with the butter/rosemary, a little bit of parm and then finally with sunflower seeds. (The recipe calls for pecans, but not everyone in the house likes nuts.)

I have to tell you, these were delicious! Absolutely, freaking awesome! No one was allowed to speak to me the rest of the night without first addressing how awesome my ravioli was.

Oh my goodness! Look how huge these babies are! Yum!

Lessons learned: We need a lengthy notes section this time!

It’s about 72 hours later and no one is sick. No more Salmonella Surprise! Hooray! Maybe, dare I say it? Are there actual Christmas cookies in my future this year?

Would I make this again? Heck yeah!  The following day, I had so much of the squash filing left over (about ½ as I was working with a 5lb squash), so I made more pasta. Having this project divided over 2 days would be an ideal way to make this recipe again without taking up a whole afternoon. The filing keeps just fine overnight. Incidentally, when I was making the pasta dough the following day, none of the liquid escaped from my well and I still found myself adding an extra egg and a little extra water to get it moist enough.

As far as making the dough using a pasta maker, I think doing it by hand was an easier method than the blogger who helped guide me. I think running the dough through a machine over and over without breaking it would drive me over the edge too. At one point I did think I might break my rolling pin, I won’t lie, but I think rolling it in to submission is the way to go for me.

For anyone who doesn’t like nuts, try the sunflower seeds. Usually I just skip the nuts in a recipe, but I patted myself on the back for thinking of that one.

DH and I both had them reheated as leftovers for lunch the following day. Still good? Yep! The 2^nd batch was delivered to the neighbors.

Special thanks to NancyPearlWannabe.com! You were such a big help in my first pasta making journey!

I’m not afraid of you anymore, Dough! <shaking fist>