Okay, so you know that I really like the idea of the June Cleaver, Leave it to Beaver mom (I know she is fictional and it is silly to think that way). Well, I want to broaden my cooking skills. That shouldn't be too difficult since my fanciest meal is hamburger patties and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Last night I made pasta from scratch. I am talking all the way down to making the noodles. This recipe was sooooo easy. I got it from Giada off the Food Network. All you do for the noodles is mix 2.5 cups of flour with 1 cup of really hot water. Roll it into a ball and cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes. The filling is 3/4 cup Ricotta Cheese, 1/3 Parmesan Cheese, touch of salt and pepper and 1/4 cup parsley (you can also add shredder rotisserie chicken that you get from the grocer). Then you divide the dough into four even sections and roll each one out separately. Then you cut it into 2" by 4" sections, put a spoon full of filling in the middle and fold the dough over the filling and take your fingers and pinch all the edges closed. (You are making ravioli) Plop them into boiling water and wait until the rise to the top. It only takes about 4 minutes for them to cook. Then the sauce is 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of chopped basil. Pour over the top of the pasta and toss.
Mine unfortunately turned out a little like dumplings. I didn't get the dough rolled out thin enough. I will definitely be trying this one again.
Tonight's meal wasn't so great. We had frozen Salisbury Steak, homemade mash potatoes and roasted veggies. One terrific thing is that I actually got Matthew to eat. I chopped the steak into little bite size pieces and put each one on a toothpick. It was like little kabobs. He ate every bite of a whole steak!!!!! I will now be serving all of his food on toothpicks. Thanks so very much Lacy for the tip.
