dinner diva background

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Lentil Soup with Knockworst

Ingrediants:

16 oz. bag of lentils
4 cloves of garlic
1 bundle of green onion
2 lg. celery sticks (diced)
2 lg. carrots (diced)
3 potatoes
1 dash of nutmeg
Salt & Pepper to your taste
Maggie 20 Squirts or to your taste
4 slices of bacon fried and crisp then crumple into small pieces

Prep:
Clean & Rinse Lentils
Add Celery, carrots, green onions and garlic into a pot of 12 cups of water
add 3 full pinches of salt and pepper to your taste & dash of nutmeg
Add Maggie - 20 squirts or to your taste
cook to a boil
Simmer for 1 hour
Add Diced potatoes the last 20 minutes
add cooked slices of bacon (crumbled)
stir and let set for 10 minutes

*Add sliced Knockworst to your bowl of soup!! Ready to EAT!!!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Hi

Hey girls!!! Just posting to making sure I know what I am doing. Would you believe I have NEVER done a blog....this is brand new for me.

Happy day to all!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

January 3 Dinner Divas- Ravioli

Dough


Ricotta Filling 1


Ricotta Filling 2


Beef and Spinach Filling


Sausage Filling

  • 3/4 lb loose sweet Italian sausage link (or casings removed from links)
  • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese (If you prefer a less sharp cheese, freshly grated Parmesan cheese may be substituted for the Romano)

Directions:

  1. 1
    MAKING THE FILLING: Ricotta Filling#1: In a large bowl, blend all filling ingredients together until smooth, set aside filling until needed.
  2. 2
    Ricotta Filling#2: In a large bowl, blend all filling ingredients together until smooth, set aside filling until needed.
  3. 3
    Beef and Spinach Filling: Brown beef and veal in butter with the whole clove of garlic.
  4. 4
    Remove garlic and let meat mixture cool.
  5. 5
    Mix spinach, parsley, eggs, cheese and nutmeg into cooled meat until well blended, set aside filling until needed.
  6. 6
    Sausage Filling: Brown sausage in frying pan, drain fat and allow sausage to cool.
  7. 7
    When sausage has cooled, mix in eggs and cheese, set aside filling until needed.
  8. 8
    MAKING THE RAVIOLI DOUGH: Sift flour and salt together.
  9. 9
    Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour.
  10. 10
    Drop eggs into the flour well, using your hand or a fork, break the yolks and beat eggs slightly.
  11. 11
    Combine the eggs and flour together, gradually adding enough warm water to make a stiff dough.
  12. 12
    Knead dough well, until smooth; cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
  13. 13
    Cut dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board, into a very thin sheet (about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick).
  14. 14
    FILLING THE RAVIOLI: Drop about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of filling about 1 1/2 inches apart all along the dough.
  15. 15
    When the sheet of dough is fully dotted with dabs of filling mixture, cover filling with other sheet of dough.
  16. 16
    Using your fingers, gently press dough between each dab of filling to seal it.
  17. 17
    Cut ravioli into squares with a (zig-zag edged) pastry cutter, or very sharp knife.
  18. 18
    DRYING THE RAVIOLI: Allow ravioli to dry for one hour before cooking.
  19. 19
    COOKING THE RAVIOLI: Drop ravioli into 6 to 8 quarts of boiling, salted water and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until dough is tender.
  20. 20
    Remove cooked ravioli from pot carefully with a skimmer or a large slotted spoon, and drain well.
  21. 21
    Place drained ravioli on a serving platter in layers, alternating layers with your favorite sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese between each ravioli layer.
  22. 22
    Serve hot.

Pot Roast

I marinated the pot roast in the slow cooker pot roast packet mixed with water.
Dump the vegetables in two hours before you take it out.