Butternut Squash Ravioli

This recipe was super yummy and pretty healthy too! I love squash and so do the kids so it was perfect for us! I served it with chicken breasts and marinara.

Ingredients

• 1 large butternut squash - halved lengthwise, peeled and seeded
• 2 teaspoons butter
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 50 wonton wrappers
• 1 teaspoon egg white, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh sage leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the squash cut side up on a baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon butter in the hollow of each half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the squash with a sheet of aluminum foil tucking in the edges.
3. Bake squash in preheated oven until tender and easily pierced with a fork, 45 to 65 minutes.
4. Scoop the cooked squash into a bowl, and mash until smooth. Mix in the allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and Parmesan cheese until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Fill a deep pot with lightly salted water and bring to a boil.
6. To make the ravioli, place a wonton wrapper on a clean, flat surface. Brush edges with the egg white. Place about 1 tablespoon of the squash mixture in the middle of the wonton. Cover with a second wonton wrapper. Repeat with remaining wonton wrappers and squash mixture until all have been used.
7. Drop the ravioli into the boiling water, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Remove, drain, and keep warm until sauce is prepared.

Rainbow Birthday Cake

This is the super cute and fairly easy cake I made for Hannah’s 4th Rainbow Birthday! It was a huge hit! All the kids {especially Hannah} loved the cake and it tasted great too! I love all the colors! Please note that I used pink in place of the red layer because red wasn’t really going with our girly theme!


{Mini bunting made by me and info is available here}

Ingredients

• Vegetable shortening
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/3 cups sugar
• 5 large egg whites, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups milk, room temperature
• Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple gel food coloring
• Vanilla Frosting (5 cans)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush six 9-inch-round cake pans (or as many 9-inch cake pans as you have, reusing them as necessary) with shortening. Line bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper; brush again and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Slowly add egg whites and mix until well combined. Add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Add flour mixture and milk in two alternating additions, beginning with the flour and ending with the milk. Mix until well combined.
3. Divide batter evenly between six medium bowls. Add enough of each color of food coloring to each bowl, whisking, until desired shade is reached. Transfer each color to an individual cake pan. Transfer to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 15 minutes (working in batches if necessary).
4. Remove cakes from oven and transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto a wire rack; re-invert and let cool completely.
5. Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan. Place the purple layer on the cake plate. Spread a scant 1 cup buttercream filling over the first layer with a small offset spatula so it extends just beyond edges. Repeat process with blue, green, yellow, and orange layers.
6. Place the remaining red layer on top, bottom-side up. Gently sweep away any loose crumbs with a pastry brush. Using an offset spatula, cover the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting (also use any of the excess frosting visible between the layers). Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
7. Using an offset spatula, cover cake again with remaining frosting.
   
   

MIA

Sorry I haven't been around lately! We’ve been having lots of baked chicken, steak and pizza. However, I will return with some yummy new recipes this week!

Marzipan Apple Cookies

 {adapted from The Cookie Jar}

I found this recipe on Sweet Sugarbelle’s blog! I thought it would be a really sweet way to welcome back the teachers at Hannah and Noah’s school and thank them for being SO wonderful!

Ingredients

• 8 oz almond paste {marzipan} If you live in my area, you can find this at Market Street or Whole Foods.
• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp almond emulsion or extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Americolor tulip red gel color
• whole cloves {Spice section at any grocery store}

Instructions

1. Soften the almond paste in the microwave. About 20 seconds should do. Combine the butter and almond paste and beat until well combined. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and enough of the gel paste to tint the mixture red. Finally sift together the flour and salt and add it to the creamed mixture, mixing until a soft dough forms. If the dough is not dark enough, add more coloring.
2. At this point,use a small cookie scoop {1 1/2 teaspoon size} to make little balls. Drop them onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use your thumb to make a light impression on top of the cookie, and then insert a clove as the stem.
   
   Tip: Poke the cloves in pretty well so that they do not fall out after baking or  it’ll become a little annoying trying to shove them into baked cookies.
3. Chill for one hour.
   
4. After chilling, bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
   
   

They turned out really well {for me being the one making them!} I’m NOT a baker! I just recently learned how to decorate cookies, so let’s just say I’m not the greatest. I’ve received lots of advice from my wonderful sister-in-law! So, even though she didn’t make these, I’m going to give her most of the credit! Thanks Christy! You can find her blog here and more photos of her work here. She’s AH-MAZING!!




The leaves were made with a Leaf Tip by Wilton. They take a very small amount of practice to get the hang of it, just make sure your RI is very firm. I could have thickened mine up a little more and the leaves would have been more defined.


Change the color of the dough to orange and these would make super cute little pumpkins as well!!

Free Teacher Printables found here!
You can find the itsy bitsy cookie scoop I used here
Americolor Tulip Gel can be found here

I’ve been baking up a storm, so more pictures of my decorated cookies coming soon!

Lemon-Scented Carbonara

Definitely was so hungry the night I made this that I totally forgot to take a picture! But, my brother, husband and I thought it was very good!

Ingredients:

• Salt and coarse black pepper
• 1 lb. egg tagliatelle pasta
• 3 tbsp. EVOO
• 1/3 lb. pancetta, finely chopped
• 1 bunch thin scallions, finely chopped whites and greens separated
• 1 small fresno chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 large ripe organic lemon
• About 1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
• 3/4–1 cup dry white wine
• 3 large organic egg yolks
• A handful flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped
• A couple of handfuls freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• A couple of handfuls freshly grated pecorino-romano cheese
• Shredded basil and diced yellow tomato, for garnish

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving about 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. While the pasta is working, in a large skillet, heat the EVOO, 3 turns of the pan, over medium heat. Add the pancetta, season with 1 tsp. black pepper and cook until lightly browned. Stir in the scallion whites, chile pepper (if using) and garlic. Zest the lemon over the pan, stir in the thyme and cook for 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the heat to low.

2. In a medium bowl, beat the reserved pasta cooking water with the egg yolks to temper them. Add the juice of the lemon, the parsley and scallion greens to the skillet.

3. Add the pasta to the skillet, turn off the heat and pour in the tempered eggs. Sprinkle in a small handful of each of the cheeses and toss vigorously for 1 minute until the sauce coats the pasta and is thick and shiny. Serve in shallow bowls with a little extra cheese, the basil and tomato on top.

Mediterranean Chicken Salad Pitas

This recipe is seriously amazing. I could eat these everyday and never get tired of them! Husband said they are so good he would order them from a restaurant!! :)

 
Ingredients:

• 4 pocketless pitas
• 3 cups Pulled Chicken
• 1 cup chopped Roasted Peppers, chopped
• 1 large tomato, seeded and diced
• 1 cucumber—peeled, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup minced red onion
• 2 tbsp. EVOO
• 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 4 romaine lettuce leaves

Directions:

1. Place pitas in stack in 350° oven to warm. In large bowl, combine chicken, peppers, tomato, cucumber, onion, EVOO, vinegar and 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper. Toss well. Top each pita with a lettuce leaf, fill with chicken salad and fold to enclose.
   
   ** Instead of preparing the veggies as stated above, I mixed them all together and made a salsa out of it because I like my veggies non-crunchy like. Let me tell you, it was the BEST salsa I have ever had!!!!**

New and Improved Recipe!

I changed up my chicken parmesan recipe a little bit and it’s so much better than my last one, so I had to share!!


{ I cut one end off for Noah before I snapped a picture :) }

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken breasts {I used tenderloins because we like them better}
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup parmesan, asiago and Romano cheese {shredded}
2/3 cup mozzarella cheese
1 tsp. oregano
1tsp. parsley
1 egg beaten
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Directions:

-Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Beat one egg into small bowl.

-Dip chicken in dry mixture first, then into egg mixture, and back into the dry ingredients. This makes a crispy shell on the outside of the chicken once it’s baked and it’s so yummy!

- Place on foiled baking sheet and top with mozzarella cheese.

- Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

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