Hiatus this week

Spring / early summer is one if the busiest times of the year for Mary. She works at her family's garden nursery, which you should check out here WWW.redcedargardens.com. And I'm traveling this week, so I'm sorry to say that we don't have a recipe for our blog for this week! Be sure to check back next week! Here's a picture of what I'll be eating later :-) Life is sweet, go enjoy it! Dee

Cake mix cookie bars

I had a craving for something sweet the other day, and I didn't have a lot of time to stir up and bake a couple dozen cookies.  So, I whipped up these super easy cake mix cookies, and made them into bars. 

In less than 30 minutes, I was able to feed my craving with this super 'chocolatey' cookie bars.  And, one of the best things...you only need three ingredients!

 

If you haven't had cake mix cookies before, these are super easy and very good.  They are great because they are like a blank slate...you can add whatever you want to them and make all kind of concoctions.  

This time...like most times....I had a chocolate craving.  So I started with a chocolate cake mix...any brand works, and added chocolate chips and then thought...hey why not add some white chocolate chips, too.  Then to get more chocolate, I added some chocolate fudge sauce on top...this is optional, but why not!

Here's the recipe:
1 box cake mix (I used chocolate for this recipe)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Topping:
Chocolate ice cream topping - the kind in a jar.

Mix well...you can mix together with a wooden spoon, or use a mixer if you prefer.  Grease a 9x13 pan and press mix into it.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 18 - 20 minutes or until the edges are cooked...this leaves the middle a little gooey, which is the way I like them...you can cook longer if you like them more crisp.

Let the cookies cool and then drizzle chocolate ice cream topping on top (caramel would be good too!).  Cut into squares and enjoy!  

They are really good with a scoop of ice cream on top!

Happy baking!
Dee

Ravioli - Fill 'er up!

Warm creamy cheese and salty prosciutto wrapped in a tender pasta and covered in a perfect marinara or creamy sauce is something that you would expect to get from a four star Italian restaurant....or at one of our dinner club dinners!

What a beautiful setting!  Kathy always outdoes herself.

Ravioli has always been one of my favorites.  I think it has something to do with the hidden treasure of filling in the middle of these tasty pasta creations.  

If you've been reading the blog the past few weeks, you know that in April, Kathy hosted our dinner club and chose to make Ravioli.  Carol made dessert, which was the post last Sunday (see archives), Kathy made the pasta for the ravioli and used that pasta to also create an appetizer of fried ravioli...last week's post (also can be found in the archives).   

So for the ravioli for dinner, Mary made two sauces, a marinara and a cream sauce with pesto; Linda made the cheese filling and I made the meat filling.  Ricki also made a salad that was very tasty, but we gave her a hard time because she bought her salad dressing...however it was really good salad dressing, champagne vinaigrette!  

When we showed up to Kathy's house, she had the dough made, and was starting to roll it out.  Once it was rolled out to the proper thickness, we cut it into rectangles, approximately 2"x3", but you can just eye-ball it.  Then put them on a floured surface - we used waxed paper on a cookie sheet. 

Linda stuffed half the ravioli with the cheese and prosciutto filling...

and I filled the other half with the sausage and spinach filling.
 

Before you put the filling on the pasta, brush the edges with an egg wash to keep them together.  Place the filling on one end and fold the other end over top.  Press the edges together or use a fork to crimp the edges together.  

Place in boiling water until they float...usually 8 - 10 minutes. 

Sausage and Spinach filling

Cheese and prosciutto filling

Here are the recipes for the fillings:

Prosciutto Ravioli by Giada De Laurentiis; Food network


1- 15 ounce container whole milk ricotta cheese
1 - 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped
2 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Ravioli dough  (for this blog - see Monday 5/7/2012 post for recipe)


Whisk the ricotta, spinach, prosciutto, egg yolk, salt and pepper in medium bowl to blend together.  Place 1 Tablespoon of filling on dough.  Fold dough over and pinch edges together or use a fork to seal.  

Cook in boiling, salted water, in small batches.  Cook until tender about 8 - 10 minutes. 

Meat and Spinach Ravioli by SherDurkee on AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (I used sausage because I like the taste better)
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
5 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/4 Tablespoons dried parsley
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 pinch black pepper
 
Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in the beef (or sausage). Cook and stir until the beef is crumbly, evenly browned and no longer pink.  Drain and discard any excess grease.  Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 - 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Transfer the meat mixture to a bowl.  Add the Parmesan, parsley, bread crumbs, olive oil, egg, garlic salt, and pepper and mix well.  Run the filling through a grinder until smooth (or puree in a food processor until smooth).
3. The filling can be kept in the refrigerator for up to four days or in the freezer for up to three months. 

All the pasta, salad and dessert tasted great!  Both fillings got great reviews, but people said they really liked the flavor of the spinach and meat filling.  If you have time, grab some friends and make some ravioli yourself.  You can even use wonton wrappers if you don't want to make the pasta; and you can add Nutella as a filling and have a dessert ravioli too (Great idea, Linda!)!

 

Happy Eating!

Dee

Dinner Club - Fried Ravioli

Fried pasta with cheese and a yummy marinara sauce...what could be better?!  Well, sharing it with great friends, of course!

For our Dinner club meeting in April, Kathy was our host and choose to learn how to make ravioli...as you will remember from our previous blogs, we are learning a cooking method for each dinner club meeting.  So, Kathy made the pasta ahead of time...since it has to refrigerate, and used it to make an appetizer of fried ravioli with marinara sauce. 

Now anything fried is good, but fried ravioli is one of my favorites, and Kathy's did NOT disappoint!  It was such a scrumptious concoction, that I almost filled up on it before getting to the dinner.


To make ravioli from scratch is quite involved, but it's worth the work, plus you can make extra of the dough to freeze and use again later the the other fillings that will be in another post later this week...I love dinners like that!

Here is the recipe for the ravioli dough:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tablespoons water

Mound the flour and salt together on a work surface and form a well.  Beat the teaspoon of olive oil, 2 eggs and water in a bowl.  Pour half the egg mixture into the well.  Begin mixing the egg with the flour with one hand; use your other hand to keep the flour mound steady.  Add the remaining egg mixture and knead to form a dough.

Knead the dough until smooth, 8 to 10 minutes; add more flour if the dough is too sticky.  Form the dough into a ball and wrap tightly with plastic.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Ravioli filling recipe:

• 1 - 8 oz container ricotta cheese
• 1 - 4 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup provolone cheese, shredded
• 1 egg

Combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, provolone cheese and egg.  Mix well and set filling aside while the pasta is rolled out after hour of refrigeration.

Recipe how to fry the ravioli:

• oil for frying
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Roll out the pasta to the ravioli thickness (Kathy's pasta roller was set for a 2...I think) and cut into rectangles - approximately 1 1/2" by 2 1/2 - 3".  Make an egg wash of 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water and brush over half of the rectangle.  Place a scoop of filling onto the ravioli (make sure to  not overfill) and fold the pasta over and press to seal.  Use a fork to go around the ravioli and crimp the pasta shut.  Continue to do this until you have made all your ravioli.

Heat 1 inch of oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, and heat to 325 degrees.  In a bowl, whisk together egg and milk.  In another bowl, combine panko, plain bread crumbs, basil, oregano and kosher salt.  Dip each ravioli into the egg/milk wash and then in bread crumbs.  Then repeat the process to double coat the ravioli.

Once the oil reaches 325 degrees, fry the ravioli in batches until golden brown (about 3 minutes).  Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a paper towel lined plate.  Allow to cool several minutes.  Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Serve (or place in a 300 degree oven to keep warm until your guests show up).

Marina recipe:

Best Marinara Sauce Yet - from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 (14.5 oz) - cans stewed tomatoes

1 - 6 oz can tomato paste

4 tabelspoons chopped fresh parsley

3 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1 Tbl brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

6 Tbl olive oil

1/3 cup finely diced onion

1/2 cup white wine

1 Tbl butter

Directions:

In a food processor, place stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped parsley, miced garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Blend until smooth.

In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the finely chopped onion in olive oil for 2 minutes.  Add the blended tomato sauce, brown sugar, butter and white wine.  Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

The Damn Cake!

Ok, I said I would post a few more blogs this week with the recipes from dinner club, but I'm running behind as usual.  See, for dinner club, everyone is supposed to bring a copy of their recipes, which I forgot this time; but then...I also forgot to grab a copy of the recipes as well.  Geez!   So I'm just now getting to the first recipe, but it's a good one that's worth the wait!

This recipe is for the cake that Carol brought for dessert, who also forgot to bring a copy of her recipe.  After several attempts to get the recipe off Pinterest, Carol was successful and able to send the recipe out via email.  The title of this blog is named after the title of Carol's email when she sent the recipe... the Damn Cake...only called that because of her tryst with technology.  The cake was delicious!  It has a great combination of strawberries and lemon; plus it has yogurt in it that makes it very moist!

This recipe comes from another blog www.aspicyperspective.com, and has some good recipes to check out! The pictures for this article are all from aspicyperspective.com, since they were so beautiful!

This was a perfect cake for a Spring evening.  Not only does it look pretty and 'Springy' with the strawberries, but it has lemon in it, which makes it refreshing.  Plus, I'm a sucker for any cake with lemon in it!

Close up picture to make your mouth water... 

So, here's the recipe for this wonderful cake... Enjoy!

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 room temperature eggs
• 3 Tbl lemon juice (divided)
• Zest of one lemon
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 8 oz plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
• 12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced
• 1 cup powdered sugar

1.  For the dry ingredients:  sift 2 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda

2.  For the wet ingredients: cream together 2 sticks of butter (1 cup) and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.  

3.  Add 3 room temp eggs one at a time to the wet ingredients.  Stir in 1 Tbl. lemon juice and zest of one lemon.

4.  Combine the Dry and Wet ingredients together and add 8 oz. of plain greek yogurt. 

5.  Toss 12 ozs fresh strawberries (diced) with 1/4 cup flour and gently mix into batter.

6. Prepare a bundt pan by grease and flour.  

7.   Bake at 325 degrees for 60 mins.  Check with cake tester, and when it comes out clean, the cake is done.  

8.  Let cool for 20 mins, and then invert on plate to serve.

9.  Combine 2 Tbl of lemon juice with 1 cup powdered sugar and drizzle over the top of the cake.  

10.  Enoy!!

Until next time...which should be soon with another recipe from Dinner club!

- Dee

Dinner club introductions

Oh boy, it's time for dinner club again!  We get so excited because there is always great conversation, great drink and absolutely fabulous food!

A couple of years ago, Mary and I had an idea to start a dinner club, and were able to get it started last year.  We created a wonderful group of six women who love to cook...and more importantly, appreciate great food!

Do you have a group of 'foodies' that you think would like to try having a dinner club?  If so, we highly encourage you to try it!  After your first dinner, you'll be hooked!  We've had a successful year of dinner club, and we have learned a lot!  Here are the 'guidelines' we follow for our Dinner Club that has worked out well for us, so grab a group of friends, and try creating a dinner club!

1. We limited our Dinner club members to six people, so we meet every other month.  You may be able to include a few more people, but too many people may make it hard to coordinate.  No matter how many are in your group, we highly suggest that they are fun (or slightly crazy, like our group), love to cook and try new recipes, and give honest feedback.   
2. Each person should host dinner club once a year...well, that works out well for us with six members.  Whoever hosts the dinner club gets to decide what the theme will be for that month and make the main dish.  Usually it works out where we can assigned a course to the other members - salad, appetizer, side dish, bread, dessert; but we did do a few themes (like soup), where we didn't have different courses...even though the chocolate soup was wonderful as a dessert!
3. The recipe you make must be a new recipe that you haven't tried before - this is hard sometimes, but thankfully, there are a lot of comments on websites to give an idea if the recipe is worth a try or not.  This is the hardest one to follow, and a couple of people have broken the rule a couple of times!   
4. Enjoy the wonderful food and be prepared to be overly stuffed!  

Our group of women are a very eclectic, but fun group!  We each come from a different background, ages and stages in our lives.  When Mary and I decided we were going to do a food blog, we knew that we would need to include the food club meetings and recipes.  So, every other month, you'll get to see our recipes and read about dinner club antics in the blog. 'Yay!'  

Well, since we're going to include our group, we should probably introduce you to the extraordinary ladies!  Well, you've already been introduced to Mary and me in the past few weeks, so here's the rest... First, there is Ricki (Mary's Mom) who when you add wine has an incredibly infectious laugh.  Then Carol who is a lifelong friend of Ricki's, has great stories of how they misbehaved when their kids were young...bad girls!  Linda and Kathy work w/ Mary and Ricki at their family garden nursery, and are two ladies that are quite possibly the kindest women we know and are incredibly creative! The diversity of this group is what makes it so fun!

The food club for April was about making ravioli (the picture above is fried ravioli) hosted by Kathy, so there will be an extra blog this week with the details and recipes, so check back soon!