Spinach Pesto Ravioli's

Who doesn't love fresh homemade pasta?  Fresh homemade pasta is like nothing else in this world and when you pair it with fresh spinach pesto you just can't go wrong!  I will admit homemade pasta is time consuming but if you make it with your family or a group of friends it is fun and the time just flies by!

Here we are starting the dough.  This could be done in the Kitchen Aid but we wanted to do it by hand this time.

 Here is my spinach pesto.  I used fresh spinach (about a pound), garlic,olive oil, roasted walnut oil, salt, pepper and some parmesan cheese.  Whirled it around in the food processor and it was done.  This was super tasty on crackers.  Yes, I was snacking.  :)

 We rolled the dough out using my Kitchen Aid pasta attachment and then we made the raviolis.  I used 1 egg, a small container of ricotta cheese and about 1/2 the pesto for the filling. 

We let these dry for about 2 hours while we made a our sauce.  It was very simple I just used 2 cans of tomato sauce, a spoonful of pesto and some roasted garlic red pepper seasoning.  We then put together a salad with spinach, romaine, green onions and tomatoes.  The bread sticks were store bought but I will make them next time.

Ready for the best part of this?  This meal cost under $20 and fed 5 people.  The fresh flavors of this wake up your taste buds and make you smile.  Make this and your family will love you!

30 Days of Handmade Gifts Blog Hop

                                                         

Minature Pies, Boxes and an Ornament

I have been super excited about this hop.  As a matter of fact I came up with too many ideas for it.  That is unusual for me since I am usually working on my project at midnight the day of the hop. This time the ideas just kept on coming.  After seeing all the great projects that have been shared so far I decided to go with a baked gift but I couldn't stop there... so you are also getting a cute little box to put your baked goods in and a little ornament.  :)

Let's get started with the pies. This recipe makes 24 super cute little pies which is enough for 4 gifts if you can stay out of them long enough!  I couldn't :)

Mini Pecan Pies

1/2 cup butter softened

3 oz cream cheese softened

1 cup of flour

1 egg

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp. butter melted

2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325*

To make the pastry beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and then stir in the flour.  Press about a tsp. of pastry into a mini muffin pan forming a crust.

Now we will make the filling.  Combine egg, brown sugar, and melted butter.  Stir until smooth and then add the chopped pecans.  Use about a tsp. of filling per pastry cup. 

Now bake these little beauties for 25-30 minutes.  The crust will become golden and the filling will be puffy.  Let cool in pan briefly and then place on cooling rack.  See how easy that was! 

Oh my goodness!  Look at the ooey gooey yumminess.  I wish I could share how good this smells.  Well, I wish I could share some of these mini pies but most of them were consumed in the...  um... taste testing process... :)

Now for the perfect little pie holder box.

The directions for the box can be found here. For this box I used double sided paper and some little wired ribbon but then I got to thinking what about adding a little something extra?  So I created a ornament with paper rosettes for the box topper.

I used the same paper for the rosette that I used for the box.  I used (2) 12"x2" strips, (1) 12"x1" strip and a 1 1/4" circle with a little bit of wired ribbon for the hanger.  I hope you enjoy these projects and they inspire you.  Please leave a comment and let me know.  Tomorrow I will be sharing a variation of the mini pie.  Mini Brownie pies.  Oh yum!  Have a great day!  :)

How about some carrots?

Who doesn't love carrots?  Carrots are good and good for you.  Carrots taste great in lots of foods.  I think carrot cake is a wonderful thing.  Carrots are pretty much a staple around here but at some point you get carroted out!  You can only eat carrots for so long and then you get carrot overload... well maybe not if it's carrot cake with pineapple, pecans and cream cheese frosting but I digress.

I was looking for a new carrot idea today and my friend Donna had some great ideas.  After lots of searching I settled on carrot butter.  The family was a bit skeptical but they are completely sold after trying the finished product.  I can honestly say I will never look at carrots the same way again.

Yummy, wonderful, lovely goodness! 

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

I have to admit that I went overboard buying pumpkins.  Not just a little overboard but off the deep end overboard.  I have about 150 pounds of pumpkins.  Crazy right?  Lucky for me I am finding out that pumpkins are very versatile.  I knew I could can or freeze the pumpkin but what I was really looking for was some "out of the box" ideas and boy oh boy did I find some.

I started off with the basics.  I cleaned out my pumpkin and steamed it.  After it was steamed I peeled it and then mashed it.  I took about 6 cups and made pumpkin butter.  Basically, I cooked the pumpkin goop with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and a pinch of all spice until it was thick and yummy.  It took about 3 1/2 hours to get the consistency I wanted.  Then, I made pumpkin walnut muffins.  Just a basic muffin but they turned out really good.  Having covered the basics (I hate pumpkin pie) I ventured out.

First, I tried mashed pumpkin with butter, salt and pepper.  It was really very good and very filling.  After I realized that pumpkin could be savory we went a little crazy...  Pumpkin and black bean tacos.  Oh my goodness they are very good.

Pumpkin Black Bean Tacos

Diced steamed pumpkin
Black beans
cumin
garlic
onions
chili powder
pepper and salt
oil/butter

Melt butter or heat oil in large pan.  Throw everything in and fry until the pumpkin is crisp but tender.  Stuff into hard taco shells and top with salsa, cheese, sour cream.  The pumpkin reminds me a lot of fried potatoes.  This seems to best the first day so only make as much as you are going to use for one meal.  The pumpkin seems to absorb the seasoning so after you season be sure to taste and adjust accordingly.  Let me know what you think if you try this. 

Tomorrow I will have another pumpkin recipe.  :)

Spiced Vanilla Bean Pear Sauce

This sauce is super yummy and rich.  I am imagining whole grain waffles with this spooned on top.  Of course, if I want to do that I will have to stop snacking...   I compiled about 3 recipes into this one. 

Spiced Vanilla Bean Pear Sauce

About 8 lbs of pears cored (I don't peel or chop my pears.  I used an apple corer)
About 1 cup of water
1 big Tablespoon of lemon juice
Fresh ground nutmeg to taste
Ground clove to taste
Ground allspice to taste
1 vanilla bean scraped
About 1 cup of brown sugar (feel free to adjust the sugar to your taste)

Throw your pears in a large sauce pot with the water and lemon juice.  Cover and let cook until very soft.  I use an immersion blender and blend until very smooth.  Add your seasonings and sugar and let cook slowly
until it is very thick. 


You can see how thick it is at this point.  It has been cooking for about 4 hours on low.  Be careful because this does pop and those pears are hot!  From here you can either cook it down more for a pear butter or you can stop at this point and you can either cool it and refrigerate or you can can it. 

I like to can it in pints because that size works great for our family and we don't end up with leftovers.  I can mine in a boiling water bath for about 20 minutes but I recommend you checking either a canning book or the internet for specific directions especially if you are new to canning.  Either way I hope you will try this and let me know what you think.  I got 5 pints out of this and I think I would have had 6 if we had stayed out of it. It really is very pretty and I think on a snowy day this winter it will be perfect.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day blog hop

Ahoy there and welcome to Gill's Pirate Day blog hop.  You should have come here from Anita's blog.  If you just stumbled on my blog then you will want to start the hop at the beginning with Gill.  I will have the full list at the bottom of the post just in case you get lost.  Please make sure to visit all of the blogs and leave a comment.

When I heard about this hop I knew exactly what pictures I wanted to use.  My little guy loved to play pirate and I have lots of pirate pictures.  I did a 2 page LO. 

I love, love, love this paper.  It has a great texture and is just too stinkin' cute!  I cut the photo mats and then burned the edges.  I added some pen lines and red stickles on the pirate's sash.  It was a real simple LO but I love it and so does my little pirate.  Your next stop is Jessica.  Thanks for hopping! 

1. Gill http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/
2. Maria http://justgetscraphappy.blogspot.com/
3. Alethea http://lilodesigns.blogspot.com/
4. Valerie http://canonburycreations.blogspot.com/
5. Jacki - http://cardsbyjacki.blogspot.com/
6. Kari http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/
8. Beckie http://beckiedreyer.blogspot.com/
9. Lisa http://lisagarrow.blogspot.com
11. Anita http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/
12. Jenn P http://jennscrap2.blogspot.com/
13. Jessica http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/
14. Linda www.thefruitofmyhands.blogspot.com
15. Paula http://scrapyourworld1.blogspot.com
16. Haidee http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/
17. Leslie - Rahye http://www.leslierahye.blogspot.com/
18. Jackie http://jackiesscrappinpad.blogspot.com
19. Corri www.buglvr.blogspot.com
20. Liz www.tryin2craft.blogspot.com
21. Lisa P http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
22. Vicki http://paperandprims.blogspot.com
24. AJ - http://fistfullofglittercardsbyaj.blogspot.com/
25. Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/

Summer Blog Hop Day 2

It's is day 2 of our little hop and I didn't get as much done as I would have liked so I don't have a new project for you but.... I do have an MTC cut file give away.  You should have gotten here from Meighen but if you just happened by you can start at the beginning of the hop with Jill.  Here is a picture of the cut file that I am offering.  I hope you like it and can find some uses for it!

To get this file all you have to do is click here.

Here is the line up just in case you get lost.
Jill ~ http://thescrapoholic.blogspot.com/
Debbie ~ http://craftydeb-ddscrafts.blogspot.com/
Sarah ~ http://simplyshaddock.blogspot.com/
Jackie ~ http://jackiesscrappinpad.blogspot.com/
Abby ~ http://www.scrapbookaholicbyabby.com/
Nancy ~ http://blog.fancywithnancy.com/
Jenny ~ http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Meighen ~ http://scrappin3rdeeschik.blogspot.com/
Jenn ~ http://jennscrap2.blogspot.com/  you are here
Gill ~  http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/

Thanks for hopping along and have a great day!  :D