Creamy Baked Mac n Cheese

Yup.  Winter.

Cold, damp, snowy winter.  And unless you ski (we don't) or snowboard (we tried) or snowshoe (not yet) - the cold days tend to lend themselves to making good, home-cooked comfort foods.

I'm surprised I'm not 700 pounds.  Good genes, I suppose.

And on the make this time was a nice, creamy mac n cheese that sticks to your ribs and has left-over qualities that go beyond just finishing off what's in the fridge to save from tossing them!

So, grab some noodles, grab some cheese.  And if you're like me - grab some friends to share this wonderful meal with!

Tomato Cream Sauce

When I have pasta either in our out, I tend to lean towards the cream sauces.  I adore a good, rich cream sauce.  It makes my mouth happy!

So, when I attempted the homemade pasta and ravioli, the best thing that came to mind was CREAM SAUCE!  But no just any cream sauce.  A nice tomato flavoured creamy sauce that just holds onto the pasta is glorious layers.

So, I adapted my regular cream sauce recipe a bit and made it a bit different, because different is good!  Got to keep them guessing, you know!  And Mr. Hungry - he eats almost anything (remember the mashed potatoes) so it was a fun experiment!

This is a quick and super easy recipe that will WOW you and anyone else you choose to feed!  Probably 15 minutes from start to finish!  Just enough time to cook your pasta and toast some bread for garlic bread! 

Mediterranian Chicken Ravioli Filling

I had the pleasure of making a trip to the grocery store over the weekend all by myself.  Now, I love shopping with the kids - it helps them get interested in different foods and flavours and, it's fun!  Except for the days I go with Loo Lee, and she just happens to get 'lost' and they have to go into lock-down mode until we find her.  Those are not fun days.  And yes, there have been more than one!

But every now and then it's nice to just go alone and take all the time in the world to SEE what I've been missing on the weekly jaunts to the store for the bread, milk, cereal staples.  That's what I had.  An kid-less trip to the store JUST to find stuff new and interesting to cook.  No time limits.  No endless questions.  Just time to look and see what's out and about!

And, I found some really great looking Mediterranean marinated chicken breasts on sale.  SCORE!!  Saving money on that chicken meant more money for chocolate bars.  A ha!! 

The chicken was already prepared on skewers, so probably destined for a BBQ grill or a hot pan and to be paired with rice and veggies....but not tonight!!  The experimenting was about to begin!

Homemade Pasta for Ravioli

OK, call me silly or call me crazy.....but I did it.  I really, REALLY did it.  And you know what - it worked!  It REALLY worked.  I was surprised.  I was amazed.  I was....a bit disappointed too.

What is it you ask??

I finally got up the nerve (and thankfully nearly a full day) to try to make my own pasta dough.  I really wanted to try for a long time, but given my history with wasting flour and water on pastry - I knew it would be a battle.  And battle I did!!  From start to finish.

And honestly, until the Kitchen Aide Fairy (yes, I believe in fairies and Santa, get over it) drops a pasta roller attachement into my kitchen cupboard - I will not (repeat often, NOT) be making pasta for ravioli ever again.  Done.  Stick a fork in me, turn me over and pass the salt and pepper.

Done.

I just don't see how to get the dough thin enough.  Really - that's it.  I rolled for ages.  Mr. Hungry rolled too.  There was not getting it the right way!!  My dough was too thick.  And it caused problems.  And had it been thinner - this story would have a different ending.  I know it!

But, since I learned early in school (or was that at home....can't remember) that 'sharing is caring', I will share my experience with you all.  Remember.  There will be no laughing.  There will be no pointing and shouting loser, loser, LOSER.  You'll only hurt my feelers.

Prawn and Cream Cheese Ravioli with White Wine Cream Sauce

I have, over the years, nearly made myself crazy thinking, dreaming, drooling over stuffed pasta recipes.  I've seen thousands and in my sleep - ate thousands!  Do you see colour when you dream??  I sure do!  And surprising enough, I can taste things in my sleep too (go ahead, call me strange).

Did you know that once you mix up the fillings you can put INTO pasta with the sauces you can put ONTO pasta - you'll probably have as many options as there are stars in the sky!  The possibilities are endless!!

So yes, I've been dreaming of making my own filled pasta.  Now, I'm not yet ready to tackle the pasta itself (my beautiful blue Kitchen Aide can work with an attachment that lets me roll pasta and I'd rather use that than do it all by hand beause I'm afraid of a pastry fiasco like I've experienced before) just yet.  Mr. Hungry and I decided that we'd attempt some over the weekend and (let's be honest here, right) it went well but ONLY after I changed my plan of attack!




Prawn and Cream Cheese Ravioli with
White Wine Cream Sauce


I first tried this recipe using fresh Olivieri Lasagna Sheets, which to my brain meant it was pasta and pasta would STICK to pasta.  Did not work.  At all.  I tried the right out of the package, soaked for a few minutes and soaked for a few more minutes.  Nothing I tried would make them darn things STICK together.  *sigh* 


Thankfully Mr. Hungry was hungry enough (yet still interested enough) to run to the store and make an emergency purchase so we could make our meal (we had these the same night as the Roasted Garlic and Peppers with Goat Cheese Baguette) with as little screaming as possible.  Me screaming.  He saved the day, but don't tell him that!!


So here it goes!

Spaghetti Night

So I wanted to make spaghetti.  Lots of spaghetti.  Enough spaghetti to feed the whole neighbourhood AND more!

Isn't that a good looking pot of spaghetti?

OK (let's be honest here), I wanted to make spaghetti to feed us, some friends and (because we're a working family) some to put in the freezer for a quick meal.  I usually make things like this in huge bunches, because coming home and heating something yummy is far better than hot dogs and grilled cheese - although the kids never complain when it's hot dogs and grilled cheese.  But then, some days neither do the adults!

So, prepare to witness the biggest pot of spaghetti EVER.  Massive.  And honestly, I'd have made more if I had a bigger pot.  *Note to anyone interested in what to get me for -insert holiday here-, I want a pot.  A big, huge, like-grandma-used-to-use pot.