Month: May 2020

Ravioli with Red Sauce

Ravioli with red sauce is a pretty common meal. In fact, it is probably the most common way to eat ravioli. While it’s true I’ve seen recipes for casseroles or slow cooker meals with these cheese stuffed pasta, I have found nothing more iconic than ravioli with pasta sauce. Yesterday I posted this recipe for ravioli. I made these that night with red sauce and a couple nights later made what my post will be for tomorrow, fried ravioli. I found my biggest flaws with making fresh homemade ravioli with red sauce to be excess water from boiling and quantity of sauce. For that reason, I adjusted to recipe to include a time to strain, so your plate doesn’t have a puddle on it like mine did. I also adjusted the recipe to remind you to limit your red sauce. These are homemade ravioli; you shouldn’t be hiding them under a mountain of sauce. You also want the full flavor of these homemade gems. You put the effort into making them, make sure everyone can see and taste they are homemade.

  1. Bring large sauce pan of water to a boil. Add 2-3 large pinches of salt and stir. In a smaller sauce pan, bring spaghetti sauce to a light simmer.
  2. Add ravioli to pot of water. Boil ravioli for 3-5 minutes until the ravioli float. Remove ravioli with a slotted spoon, set on paper towel to strain for 5 minutes.
  3. To sauce, add 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning, 1 Tbsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp onion salt.
  4. Plate your ravioli, top with 1 tsp of sauce per ravioli, less is more. Top with parmasean or parsley.
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Homemade Ravioli

Homemade pasta is an easy task and is the sign of a real chef. You can buy frozen, but it is easy and quick to make your own. I’ve been meaning to make my own pasta for years. I’ve seen so many cooking shows where they make the “nest” of flour, make a hole in the center, add some eggs, and slowly mix to become a beautiful pasta dough. Though I have every intention of living my dream and making it that way, I also have a stand mixer and I wanted to make this dough quickly, so next time I make a homemade pasta (or so I say). This recipe made enough pasta for about a pound of pasta. As ravioli, it made 22, but it could easily make 24-25 if you had a pasta roller and could thin it out more evenly. I made a simple cheese mix with what I had. If you wanted more flavor variety, you could add spinach, some herbs, or other veggies/purées. The egg was essential to keep the ravioli closed, however you should press all the edges together as well. These ravioli were very delicious, and the flavor was so unique because they were homemade. This dish will easily impress any guest.

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, 2 Tbsp oil, and a pinch of salt. Use a dough hook, and beat over low speed till it comes together.
  2. Once the dough has come together and fully formed, knead dough on floured counter for a minute, then wrap in saran and let sit for 15 minutes.
  3. While dough is resting, mix together 1/4 cup cottage cheese and 1/4 cup mozzarella for your filling. In another container, add one egg and beat till fully mixed.
  4. Flour a large work surface. Begin rolling out pasta dough, rotating the dough by a quarter turn every couple passes. Roll out the dough as thin as you can by hand, less than 1/8th inch if possible. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch squares using a sharp knife.
  5. Begin placing about 1 Tbsp of cheese filling onto every other square. Brush egg wash on the outer edges of the squares without filling.
  6. Place the egg wash square on top of a cheese square and pinch the edges closed. Dust lightly with flour and place on baking sheet. Repeat this step until all ravioli are formed.
  7. At this point, you can begin boil them immediately, 3-5 minutes until they float. You can refrigerate them well sealled for up to 2-3 days, or place them into a freezer bag and keep them frozen for 1-2 months.
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Tortellini Alfredo

This tortellini dish is filling. The chives and lemon bring some unique tang to this dish that makes it an adventure to eat. The sauce I used is Aldis brand Alfredo. It’s an OK sauce, but it is very thick and doesn’t have much personality but heavy. To make the sauce better, I thinned the sauce with milk, added garlic powder, and added chives and lemon juice at the end. The tortellini I got was Weis brand and it was a 12 oz bag. This meal makes 4 hearty sized portions.

  1. In a medium sauce pan, add 1 jar of alfredo sauce, and one jar of milk. Heat till simmering over medium high heat.
  2. Once simmering, add 1 package of frozen tortellini. Add 1 Tbsp garlic powder and stir. Cook for 10 minutes or until tortellini is cooked. Remove from heat, add diced chives and 3 Tbsp lemon juice. Stir and serve.
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New Kitchen Vent Hood

I knew I would eventually need a range hood after the day I spent frying food: doughnuts, french fries, and chicken nuggets. The smoke and smell was quite unpleasant after several hours of frying, and the microwave fan wasn’t doing anything to help. I’ve had my eye on range hoods since then. With the new stimulus check, we decided a range hood would be a good thing to invest in. Beyond that one experience, I often steam up the whole house when I boil water, and I would like to be able to vent without having it stay in the room. Also with the microwave above my oven, I don’t have much room when I use my bigger pots and I would like to have a bit more head space there. I also have a nice smaller microwave from when I was in college that I could start using once I got a range hood.

The space the range hood would have to fit was 32 inches. I searched around a bit and found a 30 inch stainless steel hood that was under $60, linked here (not sponsored). The listing for the item is a bit messed up on home depot, however the link above was what I ordered and I received the 30 inch hood and not the 24 inch hood.

For now, Josh and I have decided to not vent. We’d like to get the line run before winter, but we have lots planned for this summer, so we’ll see if we get there. To remove a microwave range, you should look up your model of microwave, but we only had to remove the 2 mounting screws on the front. Once the two screws were removed, we had to lift up the back of the microwave to pull it off it’s mount. Of course we unplugged it first, and cleared the hole around the plug, so it could slide out once the microwave was down. Then, we removed the bracket attached to the wall. We had to make spacer blocks for the hood, since we wanted it to be level. We mounted the hood with 4 screws like suggested, and it was already in the configuration for vent-less when we opened the package. Mounting was difficult because it was heavy and gets heavier the longer you hold it. We also found the mounting slots to be weak and flimsy, so we screwed it into the wood by going straight through the thin sheet metal of the hood. We also used a large drill bit to drill a new hole for wires in the cabinet. This hood does not come with a plug, and they expect you to hardwire it in. However, Josh has lots of extra parts, and since he had a cable from an old laptop charger, he was able to wire on a plug and plug it in where the microwave was before. It was a bit of a long night, however, I’m extremely pleased with my new hood and am so happy to have the extra head space and bright light. We are far from finished with this project, but I’m very pleased with how it is now.

Before and After

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Grilled Lemon Pepper Tilapia

A healthy option for your cookout is grilled tilapia. Tilapia is a fragile fish, so it should be cooked in a foil packet. Thicker fillets of fish can be cooked on the grill, but they usually require skin and very thick cuts, such as tuna or salmon. I used lemon pepper as my seasoning for this dish. I’ve used it with tilapia in the past and it is very good. If you use an acid in your foil packet, I do recommend adding something to cancel some of the acidity, such as a little sugar or baking soda.

  1. Heat a grill on high heat for 5 minutes. Reduce half the grill to low, close the lid and heat grill to 400 F.
  2. Get a 12 x 12 inch piece of aluminum foil. Place thawed tilapia on the foil and cover with pepper. Seal up and roll the ends. Leave the center open, add 2 Tbsp lemon juice and a pinch of sugar. Roll the center closed.
  3. Place the packet over a mild heat area, between the high heat and the low area. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately.
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