Homemade Feticini & Pumkin Raviol

Some times I wonder what is going on in my head! My bike rides home are so invigorating that I arrive home energized and ready to tackle something too large for a weeknight dinner. This particular night I decided to pull out the pasta maker. You can just imagine what lay ahead! I got home around six and Dave must have been kayaking, surprise, surprise! Long story short we didn't eat until quarter to 10 and Dave was really not pleased with the mound of dishes in the sink. Our usual agreement is one cooks the other cleans! That night he got the bum end of the bargain. I really enjoyed myself and all in all that is what counts! I wish I had gotten a picture of my sous chef. George kept nibbling on the fettuccine that was hanging all over the kitchen to dry! It was really cute, he would just meander up to the counter and take a bite of the pasta drooping down to his big old head! What a mess it was! I ended up having to sweep and mop the floor. What started this hole adventure was the discovery of a ravioli maker at work. I had wanted to make pumpkin or squash ravioli and this was the perfect excuse. Well long story short the ravioli mold didn't let go of my ravioli so I had to make them by hand and threw out the entire mold with caked on ravioli. I was really disappointed with it but proceeded to pull it out of the trash can in the morning and have vowed to try it again. What can I say I'm a glutton for punishment! So here is the recipe I "followed":

24 oz can of pumpkin
4 T or there about of real VT maple syrup

2 T brown sugar
1/2 t Cinnamon

8oz. goat cheese

salt/ pepper

Note: after I added all these ingredients I went back and kept adding a little more of each. It was too bland and I believe you just have to keep tasting it until you get it the way you like it.

The sauce:

evoo

2 C Chicken broth

2 shallots

2 T corn starch

dried cranberries

walnuts

chopped spinach

salt/ pepper

Soft Taco Night

Tuesday night was the only night of this week that we will be eating at home. We've been really way too busy and need to slow down but each night we had a great time where ever we are! So on Tuesday I decided that we needed to use up some ground turkey. I really wanted to make turkey burgers but wasn't in the mood to get my hands all slimy. I really needed to vacuum and start/finish my book club book which I wanted to do on my back deck while I threw the tennis ball a thousand times to George! I had a lot to accomplish that night. Needless to say, I sat outside for about 20 minutes and read with a nice glass of wine but it was buggy and my neighbor was staining his deck and Saly kept walking over it! So we moved inside. Dave was kayaking and wouldn't be home until 8:30 or so. I started making dinner and then tried to read while watching some stupid show on Tori Spelling. I got wrapped up in that and didn't end up reading too much. Productive!

Turkey Soft Tacos

1 lb. ground turkey
1 t evoo
1 small onion diced
3-4 garlic cloves minced
14 oz can tomatoes (I used sauce since this is what I had on hand)
1 t chili powder
1 1/2 t cumin
1 1/2 t coriander
1 t kosher salt
1/4 t red pepper flakes
1/4 water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
small soft tortillas

saute onion in medium skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes then add turkey and garlic. Season meat with salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander and brown. Add tomatoes turn heat down to low. Heat mixture until thickened and add just enough water to get to a good consistency. You may not need to water but I think that I let it reduce too much. Season with pepper flakes and add cheese. Heat until melted and serve with tortillas and avocado salsa.

Avocado Salsa
1 ripe avocado
10-15 cherry tomatoes halved
1 clove minced garlic
salt/ pepper

mix and serve.

Yummy Deliciousness

Oh these were so good. Warning, not good for you! But still really good. I was worried that they would be too spicy but they weren't at all. I brought them to book club last night for our co-ed summer party and they were the first thing to go. They are just as good at room temperature as they are right out of the oven. I'd say that they are a little labor intensive but well worth it. From washing to cutting to filling and baking it took about an hour. Oh, incidentally, the book we read was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It was so good! It ranks up there with Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follott. Right now they are my two favorite books of 2008. Our next book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I'm looking forward to this one as well. Enjoy the poppers!

Jalapeño Poppers

20 jalapeños
Reduced fat cream cheese
Bacon
Wooden Tooth Picks

Cut each jalapeno in half and remove seeds and ribs. The more you remove the less heat. I wore rubber cloves to do this. Using a spoon scoop cream cheese into each jalapeño half. Cut bacon into thirds and wrap each stuffed jalapeño in a piece of bacon and secure with a wooded toothpick. Bake at 375 on a wired rack over a baking sheet. It took about 25-30 minutes to crisp the bacon. After this time I flipped each one over and broiled until the bottoms were crisp (1-2 minutes). I was worried that the cream cheese would fall out but it stayed in!

The Little Sushi Den

What a night! We decided to open up the Little Sushi Den on Friday while Pete and Jenny were here. We had so much fun rolling way too much sushi. Here are some pictures of the night. I'm not sure if a recipe is really needed for this dinner since it is pretty self explainatory. I know Jenny & Pete thought it was going to be a lot harder then it really was.

I guess the only rules you need to comply with are:

• Spreading just enough rice on the paper so that it just covers it. If you put too much it just overpowers the ingredients in it.
• Make sure you always keep your hands wet so that the rice doesn't stick.
• Wet the roll to seal it.
• Cut your vegis really thin. Everything should be matchstick size. You don't need as much as you think!
• Wet your sharp knife before each cut.
• If you're going to do an inside out roll cover the bamboo roller with suran wrap first.

We used:

• sushi rice
• carrots
• cucumbers
• avacado
• cream cheese
• shrimp tempura (from costco)
• wasabi
• ginger

Ahh, if only we were back in St. Martin!

Unfortunately we are not and it doesn't really look like we are going any where like that soon! Oh well, I just thought I would post this since its raining here and I wish I was somewhere in turquoise water! I'm not sure if the rain bothers me since its only in the afternoon and the weather has been so nice here. In fact it is getting really dry. We had two fires in the county this weekend. One was on our course! Some juveniles decided it would be fun to set fire to some bushes. Hmm, let's think about this one... Pine beetle killed trees and no rain equals devastation to the entire county. Smart.

Fried Rice Makeover

We made this with the leftover sushi rice from Friday. I definetely think this was the best one we've made. In the past it has alwasy seemed to tast like a stir-fry rather then the good old fried rice. I obviously think this dish is way healthier then takeout. I don't even want to think about what really goes into the real dish. A moment on the lips, forever on the hips!

Chicken Fried Rice

3 C cold cooked rice
1 T vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts diced
1/4 t Chinese five spice
3-4 T soy sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t celery salt
1 t vegetable oil
1 small onion diced
1 C frozen peas
1-2 carrots diced
1 C sugar snap peas
4 T soy sauce
2 eggs beaten


Heat oil in wok on medium high. Add chicken cook 2 minutes then add soy sauce, garlic powder, celery salt and five spice powder. Cook chicken until done and remove to bowl with sauce. Add egg and scramble, remove. Add remaining oil and cook vegetables for 5 minutes. Add cold rice and toss to combine. Turn down heat to low and add remaining soy sauce, eggs and chicken. Cover wok and cook until rice is heated through.

Pizza Party!

Good thing I started running again! We ate like kings this past week and my body is definitely feeling it! But since the point of this blog is to get some meat on Dave's skinny little body I think we can chalk this up to a successful fattening up! Was it bouldering or golfing that made us so hungry? I can't remember? But what ever it was we decided that making three really large pizzas was in order! Here are some pictures of Pete and Jenny in action.

The pizza was really good. We made a Thai Vegetable Pizza and a Barbeque Chicken Pizza. Hmm the Thai one is a keeper!

Thai Vegetable Pizza
pizza dough
yellow peppers, red peppers, mushrooms, shredded mozzarella cheese

Sauce: I've done this two ways and it was a toss up as to which was better. The first time we made this we used leftover szechuan noodle sauce from the barefoot contessa cookbook and added a touch of Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki and the second time I made it I mixed the following:

1/2 C Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki
3 T smooth peanut butter

1 T Sriracha chili sauce
1/2 t vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic

2 t white vinegar

2 T honey

2 T tahini

2 T soy sauce

Puree all ingredients in food processor until smooth. The end result should be a sauce with a slightly thicker consistency. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 475. Roll pizza dough out to desired size and lightly cover with sauce. Top with cheese and vegetables and cook for at least 12-15 minutes. Dave and I disagree on the doneness of pizza. He likes his a little softer then I do. So meet in the middle but I suggest watching for the cheese to begin lightly browning. Make sure you let it rest for at least 3-5 minutes before cutting into it or the cheese will ooze off.

Barbeque Chicken Pizza

pizza dough

barbeque sauce

cooked shredded chicken

pineapple chunks

diced red onion

mixture of shredded moz and cheddar

Mix chicken with a small amount of bbq sauce to coat. Roll out dough a spread with a thin layer of bbq sauce. Top with cheeses, chicken, pineapple and red onion. Cook on pizza stone for 12-15 minutes.