Tortellini

This week I took the plunge and made my first ever batch of homemade pasta. And it wasn't nearly as scary or hard as I was afraid it would be. Good upper body workout for sure. But not really tricky. Thought I'd share the recipe so you can try it too!

1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 bowl cold water

That's it! Sounds easy so far, right? Ok, so here's the instructions that go with it:

Pour the flour onto your clean counter top. Add the salt, mix it in, then mound the dry ingredients up and make a well in the middle. Crack your egg into the well, then slowly work it into the flour by making swirling motions with your finger. Add a tbsp of oil and start pressing with your hands, trying to form a cohesive dough. It will probably be crumbly and grainy. Here's where the bowl of cold water comes in. The recipe I found calls for "1-2 tablespoons of water until your dough has the right consistency". Personally I find that hard to judge by the tablespoon full, and I'm a rather tactile person, so I like to just wet my hands and work that moisture into the dough, and repeat until it finally sticks together and just forms a smooth dough that doesn't crack when you fold and knead it. The recipe says knead 5-8 minutes, but I figure by the time I get my dough to the right texture I've already been working it over for a few.
If you have a pasta machine, here's where it gets easier. If not, grab a rolling pin and get ready for the upper body work out part. The dough is springy and likes to shrink back on himself. You'll have to roll, and roll, and roll to get a sheet of dough anywhere close to thin enough. You can cut the dough any way you want at this point, I chose to use a drinking glass to cut out circles, then stuff them, fold them, and then call them tortellini. You can make whatever kind of pasta you like!

I stuffed mine with cheddar, ricotta, parmesan, asparagus and onions, but you can stuff nearly anything into pasta and have it turn out delicious. In the future I'll try to roll the pasta a little bit thinner, but I'm so glad I finally tried it. And there will be a next time.

Avocado Pasta

This pic is from the first time I made it, with bacon and shrimp

I have a new favourite pasta recipe!!

The sauce:
-1 whole avocado, peeled and pitted.
-1-2 tbsp of oil (to help your blender/processor out. use more for firmer fruit, less if nice and soft)
-juice from 1/2 lemon (and some zest if you want to get all fancy)
-1-2 cloves garlicsalt and pepper to taste
-the recipe calls for fresh basil but I didn't have any.(yet!)
whip it all up and set it aside to let the flavours mingle. It will be quite thick.

For the rest:

I like something like rotini or shells because they seem to hold sauce better. Use somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 bag of pasta, depending how saucy you like it, and how many veggies the sauce has to coat as well.. Lately I find I use about equal parts of vegetables and pasta. Tonight, it's green beans and broccoli (thrown in to cook with the pasta in the boiling water), and then zucchini and mushrooms tossed in after the pasta's drained. I also like it with raw baby spinach, and minced red onions look really lovely against the green of the avocado. I like to sneak as many veggies into my diet as I can. You can add left over cooked chicken, shrimp, ham, bacon (I have tried bacon and shrimp so far) or just leave it like that. Stir in the sauce and eat- yum. It's creamy and rich.. hits the spot like the ultimate comfort food but way less calories than alfredo or something. Eating leftovers the next day I prefer to eat it cold like a pasta salad.

Pizza Chez Mia

I got the BEST pizza crust recipe from Jenna Woginrich over at Cold Antler Farm, and tried it out on my favorite guinea pigs, my family, last night. It was light, it was fluffy, it was easy to work with... And most of all, just the right texture and taste for an awesome pizza. I don't believe I've ever gotten takeout pizza that tasted as good. I made two pizzas, and they got devoured, and then I made two more to satisfy the hungry mob. For now I'm using store bought toppings, but I can see myself canning up some pizza sauce next summer for sure!! Maybe learning to make mozzarella as well? Who knows. All I know is this has replaced takeout for me when it comes to pizza.

1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour

Take one cup of warm water (leaning towards hot) and pour it into a bowl, add all the contents of a yeast package inside. Mix and let stand for 5 minutes (add a tsp of honey if you want). Once the yeast has set, add your salt and veggie oil and then add cup of flour at a time as you mix it in.

Next, knead into a dough and then set it aside for a few minutes while you slice up your cheese and tomatoes. To finish it off, take your dough and make it into a circular crust shape that fits the bottom of your skillet (or your cookie sheet, pizza stone, or right on the grill). Add your toppings annd bake at 400 until crust slightly browns and the cheese melts.

Thank you Jenna!! Personally I found that I only needed just over two cups of flour, not the full two and a half cups. Each ball of dough yielded two moderately sized, thin crust pizza, it probably would have made one great full size pizza, but I have picky family members who wanted different toppings. Enjoy!!

Applesauce Raisin Cookies

I made these cookies yesterday, using applesauce that I made myself earlier in the year. Making something with my own two hands is so deeply rewarding anyways, but having made one of the basic ingredients from scratch as well is just darn special.

The cookies turn out puffy with sort of a cake-like texture, and the taste inexplicably reminds me of banana bread. Maybe it's the walnuts. Either way, this strikes me as the kind of "cookie" I wouldn't feel bad about sending along in kids' lunches. They aren't incredibly sweet either, but SOO moist and tasty.

Ingredients

1 cup shortening

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups thick applesauce, drained

1/2 cup cold, brewed coffee

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

cream shortening and sugar together. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Stir in applesauce and coffee. In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients together. Add to applesauce mixture and blend thoroughly. Chill at least 2 hrs. Heat oven to 400 deg. F. Lightly grease cookie sheet. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake 9-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Cream Cheese Cookies

Ok so what kind of christmas would it be without baking a bunch of cookies? Today I found a GREAT recipe for cream cheese cookies at easy-cookies.com. It made 5 dozen cookies, they came out of the oven an hour and a half ago, and there's less than a dozen left! I'd call that a hit! I've also put a new section on the side bar, and tagged all recipe posts so that you can find them easily for quick reference. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Cut Outs

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 T cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar and salt. With a mixer on med-low, add butter. Then add in the cream cheese and vanilla. Beat the dough on low until a ball forms. On a lightly floured surface, shape the dough into a ball. Divide into 2 pieces and form 2 flat disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk at a time until it's 1/8" thick. Cut dough into desired shapes and lay on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375* for 7-9 minutes or until firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer and let cool.

Grandma's Casserole

A week ago I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with my mom and Grandma at grandma's house. She made the most fantastic casserole for lunch, and now that she's given me permission to share the recipe, I though I'd let you all in on the next best thing to hit your french whites.

Creamy Ham Casserole

2 cups broccoli chopped

1/2 green or red bell pepper diced

1 cup shredded cheese

1 1/2 cups cubed ham

1 1/2 cups fusilli cooked

1/2 cup miracle whip

1/4 cup milk

an extra 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Mix first 5 ingredients in a 6 qt casserole dish. Mix miracle whip and milk

together. Toss with the rest. Sprinkle cheese over the top and bake at 350

for 20 minutes uncovered.

Apple Rhubarb Crisp

Here's the recipe as near as I can tell it from the rhubarb crisp I made on the weekend. I didn't follow a recipe, I kinda made it up on the fly, and I'm notorious for not measuring these things. We did have a really deep dish pie plate, so if it's looking like far too much fruit to you, that could be why. It will cook down in volume though, so being full is ok, just have a cookie sheet under it.

The fruit:

approx. 6 medium stalks rhubarb, sliced like celery

7 apples (we used a mix of granny smith and red delicious. Just what we had on hand.) peeled, cored, sliced

sweeten to taste if your rhubarb is bitter and your apples tart. We found we didn't need to add any sugar at all.

crisps are very forgiving and most fruits do well together. This time, we also had about 3/4 of a cup of blueberries in the freezer we wanted to eat up. We tossed them in too.

The crisp:

2 cups of quick oats

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter/margarine

sprinkle the crumbly mixture over the fruits in a pie plate, bake at 350 for an hour or until golden brown and bubbling

p.s. Happy Birthday Zack!!

Muffins and Earth day

Happy earth day everybody! Here in Southern Ontario the sun is shining, the spring flowers are up, and even my herbs are starting to green up. Being good friday everything is closed, so any earthy projects like helping my parents build their new garden are gonna have to wait for another day. Mom and I did start 3 flats of seeds this morning though, and I'm gonna sprout some bird seed for the wild birds we have around here. How are you celebrating Earth day?

I also baked banana oatmeal walnut chocolate chip muffins today. Here is the recipe I used:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup milk
2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup margarine, melted and cooled
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cup bananas mashed (4-5)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup walnuts

1. Combine oats and milk. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. To soaked mixture, add melted margarine, eggs, vanilla and bananas.
4. Add wet mixture, walnuts and chocolate chips to dry ingredients and stir only until flour is moistened.
5. Fill greased muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Makes 24 muffins.

They turned out light and fluffy and MOIST!!! I hate dry muffins. The whole family loves them. Hope yours will too.

broc-o-slaw

Yesterday I made the most delicious coleslaw, and today I thought I'd share it with you. It's a great way of using tired, over wintered vegetables to remind us that spring is on the way.

First, take a nice big head of cabbage. I like green, use what you like though. Remove the stem and outer leaves, and then chop, grate, mince, shred, or do whatever it is you do to reduce cabbage to teensy bits. Next do the same with a nice stalk or two of broccoli. I usually cut off all the fuzzy green bits, and grate the stalks. Add anywhere from 1/2 a cup to a cup of raisins, keeping in mind that they will make the coleslaw sweeter. If you like a spicy bite to your coleslaw, dice up a small cooking onion to toss in. For the sauce I mix together:

aprox 1 cup of mayo. I used miracle whip this time

1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar

1/8 cup vinegar

you can also add a squirt of dijon mustard for a bit of a giddy-up

Mix all that in a small bowl, then pour over your broccoli and cabbage mix and give it a good toss. Easy, right?

That cabbage was grown in ontario dirt and survived the winter just like the rest of us. The broccoli was grown in a hot house. Still in ontario though. The raisins were grown in quebec of all places, but at least they were canadian. They were dried in ontario. None of the sauce was local, but I am learning to make my own vinegar, and I bet you could try using maple syrup or honey as a sweetener. None of the ingredients were particularly expensive, yet I've got a GIANT bowl of slaw in the fridge that will last us all week or more. I'm an easy girl to please.