Mushroom Ravioli

Recently I was watching a cooking show and they made some homemade butternut squash ravioli and it gave me quite a hankering for my favorite mushroom ravioli. I could not resist trying to make some of my own right away and luckily I had some mushrooms in desperate need of use.

I used a GF all-purpose mix for this, but you can easily swap it out for regular flour, or even just go buy some pasta sheets that are ready to go. These turned out well enough for my first try, the mushroom filling especially, but I will definitely be working on perfecting the pasta recipe.

8 oz. mushrooms (any blend you like)

1 shallot, diced (or onion)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp thyme

2-3 T fresh parsley, chopped

3-4 T ricotta*

1 T parmesan

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 T white wine*

pinch of salt

1 egg

Chop up the shallot, garlic, and mushrooms. Heat some EVOO in a hot skillet and add the shallots and garlic. Let it sweat and soften. Add the herbs and mushrooms and saute until soft. Allow to cool in pan then add the ricotta and parmesan. *I didn’t have any ricotta so I put in about 1/4 cup of parmesan.

For the pillows, mix flour and salt together. Add egg and wine. *I found that using a GF flour required about 2 tsp more wine. Knead dough by hand for 5 minutes.

Roll out the dough very thin, but not so thin you can’t pick it up. I noticed with the GF dough that it broke quite easily once I put the mushrooms in and started shaping the pasta pillows. I cut out large squares, put a spoonful of mushroom filling on half of them, topped them with the remaining squares, then used a glass to cut the circles, which helped seal the edges.

Get your pan over medium heat, extra mushroom mixture and juices. Add a T of butter and let it brown gently. Add a splash of white wine and deglaze the pan. You should have a nice buttery sauce.

Boil the ravioli for about 3 minutes. Drain just for a moment because water does get into the ravioli as they cook. Then gently place in the pan with the browned butter. Give it a quick saute to heat them through and make the outsides a little bit browned.

Plate the ravioli and top with pan butter and remaining mushroom mixture. Sprinkle some chopped parsley over it all. Enjoy!

Here is another recipe using pasta flour:

200g (7.5 oz) pasta flour*

1 egg

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

water

This is where a kitchen scale comes in real handy. The recipe uses metric measuring, which I am not familiar enough with to convert to cups. But 200 grams does come out to about 7.5 ounces, give or take, which is .88 cups. So you can see how once you convert to ounces it’s just time to stop converting and start measuring. Scales are extremely handy to have and you can buy a good one at any kitchen store for under $20.

Place the flour on your work surface and make a well in the center. Add the salt, egg, and egg yolk, and then just a little water. You can add more water in very small amounts as needed. Mix together to form a dough and knead for a few minutes until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Homemade Eggrolls

I love eggrolls. It is the only time I will knowingly and willingly put pork into my mouth. But I’ve wanted to make my own for some time now, and I’ve found that truthfully it’s just not that hard.

Eggroll wrappers can be found in the produce section of just about any grocery store. It’s usually next to the tofu and über expensive glass jars of salad dressing. After I made my Cannoli Tarts I had plenty of wrappers left over to try this experiment with. I was not disappointed and I don’t think you will be either.

This recipe calls for water chestnuts, which I do not like at all, as well as ground beef. You could easily brown up any kind of ground meat or even dice up some chicken finely and add it in. I went strictly carrot and cabbage and didn’t even bother with the celery, which would have been a fine addition.

This recipe yields a lot of eggrolls; about 26. Adjust the measurements to your desire.

3/4 lb. ground meat

1 large head of cabbage

1 small celery rib

1 medium carrot

1/8 cup water chestnuts, optional

2 packages eggroll wrappers

1/8 cup soy sauce

1 tsp onion powder, divided

1 tsp garlic powder, divided

1/2 tsp sesame oil, always optional but always divine

3/4 cup water

1. Brown the ground meat; drain well. Season with half the garlic and onion powders. Add sesame oil and half the soy sauce. *If you are not using any meat, still use the sesame oil in your veggie mix. You won’t regret it.

2. Shred the cabbage, celery and carrot. *Or cheat like me and buy shredded bagged cabbage and carrot match sticks. Chop the water chestnuts. Add remaining seasonings and water. Cook in a large pot until cabbage wilts down and is fork tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Taste and add more seasonings, salt, or pepper to taste. Add the ground meat and combine well.

3. Cool mixture in refrigerator or freezer to at least room temperature.

4. Follow directions on package on how to roll the eggrolls. *I do this near the sink where I can wet my fingers as I work. On a cutting board or other clean surface, lay out each wrapper and gently wet all over. This will make it a bit more pliable. Just don’t get them too wet.

5. Use about 1 heaping spoonful per wrapper. Pull up bottom corner, roll once, pull in each side, careful not to tear the wrapper, moisten the top and finish rolling. Seal the edges with a bit of the water.

6. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towel and serve with soy sauce.

Chocolate Pretzles

You might be thinking this is too simple to be a real post, but nobody ever said a recipe had to be difficult for it to count. Sure, you can just go buy some Flipz for that prepackaged and processed junk your body loves and will thank you for (not), or you could satisfy your sweet tooth with a litte homemade chocolate dipped pretzles of your own.

Since Christmas we have seriously cleaned out the junk and as promised I have not made any desserts so far this month. But that didn’t stop me from craving something chocolate and there was nothing in the house that would do. Then it came to me during one of my staring-into-the-fridge moments. I had leftover Ganache (believe it)! All I had to do was heat that up and submerge a few pretzles into it, place them on a sheet of waxed paper, and set them in the fridge to harden.

Viola!

I will say this however, unless you’ve got extra ganache laying around the house, don’t bother. A package of chocolate bark would do an even better job (though then you’d be dealing with preservatives and addtives…so there’s that).

Another idea is to sprinkle holiday-themed candies on them before the chocolate hardens. Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner some cute little pink, white, and/or red sprinkles would be darling. Hey, I think I may just do that

Reindeer Cookies

Gifts in a Jar idea

This is my Christmas version of the Cowgirl Cookie Mix in a Jar.  I certainly am not claiming any ownership here because I am sure this has been done before. But what’s so great about this cookie mix is that it is so versatile – all you have to do is change the color of the M&M’s. And lucky for us the M&M Company keeps us all in holiday colors

Reindeer Cookie Mix in a Jar

1 & 1/3 cup flour (1/2 unbleached & 1/2 whole wheat)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup quick oats

3/4 cup M&Ms

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup white sugar (I used organic)

13 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Combine the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Get your other ingredients measured and ready.

2. Layer the ingredients like this:

First: Flour mixture

Second: Oats

Third: M&Ms

Fourth: Chocolate Chips

Fifth: Brown Sugar

Sixth: Regular Sugar

Seventh: Chopped pecans

2. Make sure you really pack each layer down.  If for some reason it doesn’t all fit, it’s better to leave out the nuts than something essential like sugar. The ingredients should go all the way to the top of the jar.

3. Decorate the jars with a handmade label (or a label made using a desktop publisher), some fabric and ribbon or cord. Here I used some craft paper cut about 6 inches square, some double-sided tape to hold it in place on the lid, and some pipe cleaner garland with Christmas bells. There really is no wrong way to decorate your jars.

4. Make sure your labels include the directions for baking. They are as follows:

Add 1 slightly beaten egg, 1/2 cup butter (melted in the microwave), and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. It’s a tough batter to incorporate all the ingredients at once so you may need to use your hands.

Roll the dough into 1 -inch balls (I use a 1-inch scooper/melon baller). Place on parchment paper-covered baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Yield: about 3 dozen cookies.

So if you have a special occasion coming up or just need a cute gift for someone, consider customizing this cookie mix, layer it in a quart-size bell jar, and wrap a ribbon around it. Don’t forget to include directions because your recipient will need to know what wet stuff to add.

Here are a few ideas:

Pink M&M’s (Breast Cancer Awareness – Usually found around October) for girls birthday, bridal shower party favors

Purple or other dark colors (M&M’s puts out dark colored shells in dark chocolate) for boys birthday, groom’s party favors

Pastel M&M’s (Found around Easter) for baby shower, Easter-time, child’s birthday

Red & Blue M&M’s for 4th of July, Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, or as a gift to someone in the Military (or a Vet)

Red  and/or Pink M&M’s for Valentines Day, Sweetest Day, or an anniversary

Green M&M’s for St. Patrick’s Day

Orange and Brown Reese’s Pieces for Halloween

As you can see there are lots of possibilities and occasions for a gift like this.

Sweet ‘n Spicy Brown Sugar Body Scrub

Gifts in a Jar idea

This was super easy to make, and I had all the ingredients on hand so it only took a few minutes to put it all together. All you need to finish this last-minute gift idea is a jar, some ribbon, and some kind of label to stick or tie on.

Notice the lack of label on mine? Yeah. Stupid printer.

Anywho!

Sweet ‘n Spicy Brown Sugar Body Scrub

1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup EVOO

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp nutmeg

1. In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients. Break up any lumps in the brown sugar. I used my mixmaster to do my mixing. It’s also best if your spices are all powdered and not granules. This mixture will fill a 16 oz. jar.

2. To use: place a tsp or two in your hands and gently massage in circular motions on skin. Leave on for several minutes. Scrub will tighten the skin. Rinse thoroughly. Apply a bit of soap to remove extra oils.

DIY Gift Jar Round-Up

We’ve all seen the wall pics and posters and advertisments all over the place that talk about buying LOCAL for Christmas instead of shopping at big stores that carry items made in China. In fact, I even discussed this in a post called Birth of a New Tradition. No Chinese, Please last year around this time. Here’s a refresher:

Most of them seem pretty simple. You go out and get some gift certificates to a local restaurant or hair salon, etc. (And in this tough economy people truly do appreciate gifts like these.) But for the crafty, DIY-type gifts, you my be feeling, well….not so crafty. But these are super easy to put together and can be (and should be) made in bulk so that you have enough handy for those moments when a small something is needed such as a hostess gift, Secret Santa, teacher gifts, or as party favors. For a bigger, more personal gift, try creating a basket with several different jars.

What I love about the gift jars is that there are no rules, so it doesn’t have to be food related. You can make a yummy brown sugar body scrub and pair it with a body brush, or make a sewing kit (yes, I’ve seen those- so cute! Click here for that one.) So here are a few ideas:

 

I made a bunch of these for my church bakesale. It was super easy. I created my own labels/directions using a desktop publishing CD. Add a little ribbon and you’ve got something gift-worthy.

Dry Cream Soup Mix by The Home Heart

  Cowgirl Cookies @ Bakerella

These Marshmallows are the perfect addition to a steaming mug of hot chocolate. What else possibly signifies the winter season better? Package in cellophane bags and tie with a cute, festive ribbon, and you’ve got a great gift. Pair it with some cocoa and you’ve got a gift basket.

Cocoa Candy Cane Marshmallows @ A Field Journal

Cinnamon Honey Butter @ Tidy Mom

Peppermint Stick Cocoa @ My Recipes

Friendship Soup @ All Recipes

Chcoclate Chip & Oatmeal Quickbread @ Sunset

Cinnamon Vanilla Sugar Scrub @ Tidy Mom

S’more Kits @ Twig & Thistle

Polka Dot Pumpkins

Each year I buy different kinds of pumpkins to decorate my front porch or steps or what have you. In our last house we had great big steps that led up to the door and a small flower garden in front of the porch, so I took mini pumpkins and gourds of all sizes and colors and created a small pumpkin patch. Sorry I don’t have any pictures to share though. This picture below is a simple stack I did this year.

In years past I’ve done the cliché bale of hay in the yard (I still think this looks good if done right), decorated with pumpkins and Mums and even a scarecrow or something cute. And I often get great decorating ideas from magazines, my favorite of which is Better Homes and Gardens.

Now I’m not a real big DIY person. Mainly because I just lack the skills and when I do a DIY craft it usually looks cheesy like I’ve done it myself. But about 7 years ago I found a super cute way to dress up moon pumpkins and it was really easy. It has become one of my favorite and standard decorating ideas and I’m sharing it with you today.

What you’ll need are at least three different colored pumpkins and an apple corer, and possibly a hammer to help get the corer through tougher pumpkin skin. Make as many holes as you want, but take care not to mess up your dots. Also make sure that you’ve made the same number of holes in each pumpkin and then divide the dots evenly between each pumpkin, filling up the holes as you go.

The ones I did this year are fairly simple, each with only about 6 dots, but you could do as many as you like- the entire pumpkin if you want. But remember that these pumpkins will rot much faster, especially if the weather is still pretty warm, which it is here in NC.

Cute, right?!