Be Back Soon!

I've noticed that I rarely seem to have a time in my life where I had the perfect balance of things to do. Just enough to keep my busy, but not too much that I don't still have an hour or two to myself. It's a nice thought, but usually I'll go through a major dry spell of very few responsibilities other then knowing what's going on at PerezHilton's website, or I have so much to do that my eyes start to cross a bit trying to stay organized. Right now I am dealing with the latter.

I really don't mind being so busy. It makes time go by quickly and I enjoy feeling fulfilled. But I am bummed that I don't get as much time to keep up on blogging, as well as checking in on fellow bloggers. And since I'm kind of an all-or-nothing type of girl, I'm going to take a couple weeks off to hopefully get organized so that I can come back in full force.

The great thing is that when I do come back, hopefully I'll get all sorts of great ideas for fall food since it's now upon us! So, enjoy the next few weeks, and I'll see you soon!

Beef Ravioli in Basil Cream Sauce

Hello friends! Julie from Sporadic Cook was so sweet to feature me on her blog today. I'd like to return the shout out by sending you back to her place to check out her mouthwatering pictures and recipes. She almost always posts more then one thing, and each is delicious as the next. Thanks Julie!

A few weeks ago I had a couple of friends over for some homemade ravioli. My friend Angela and I had been talking about making them for weeks, so it was fun to finally see it happen.

Isn't she adorbs!

We wanted to do a beef ravioli in some sort of cream sauce, and I kid you not when I say that we really hit the jackpot with this recipe. The beef ravioli was hearty and flavored perfectly, and was the perfect companion for this INCREDIBLE cream sauce. So rich, infused with tomatoes, mushroom and green chiles, and easy peasy to make. If you're not ready to make your own beef ravioli, then go and buy some and make this sauce. You'll love it!

Beef Ravioli
Found at Food.com

Ingredients

FILLING:
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/8-1/4 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 cup onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon pepper

DOUGH:
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup water

Directions
(Check out my ravioli photo tutorial here.)

1. Make the dough first, this can be done a day in advance. Before you use the dough, it needs to be at room temperature.

2. First, brown the beef in a skillet and drain all the fat. Set aside to let cool.

3. In a food processor add the garlic and onion chop very fine.

4. Now add the cooked hamburger and process very fine. Add the cheese, parsley flakes, basil, oregano, salt and pepper; mix very well in the food process bowl. Refrigerate until ready for use.

5. To make the dough for the ravioli, divide it into 8 pieces making sure the dough is stiff.

6. Roll 1 piece at a time on a floured surface as thin as possible. If using a pasta machine or Kitchen-Aid pasta roller, roll it into 1/16 of an inch or so.

7. Using a ravioli tray, add a little flour across the tray to keep them to sticking to the tray. Put the first piece of dough across and fill each ravioli with the mixture.

8. Now put the second piece of the dough on top of the tray. Use a rolling pin to seal the sides of the ravioli. Flip the tray upside down and the ravioli will fall out.Seal with an egg mixture! (Now that is 1 egg and 1/4 cup milk whisked).

9. To cook, bring to a boil 4-6 cups of water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. 10 Boil for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Basil Cream Sauce
Found in Food.com

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 lb mushroom, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 (10 ounce) cans diced mild tomatoes and green chilies, drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Melt 2 T. butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and next 3 ingredients; saute over medium-high heat 6 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Stir in diced tomatoes and green chiles, basil, and cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in Parmesan cheese; add salt. Stir in ravioli, tossing to coat

Banana-Butterscotch Upside-Down Chocolate Cake

I recently bought this book, because if there's one thing I need, it's a cookbook dedicated to nothing but chocolate cakes, am I right?



I haven't made too many things out of it yet, mostly for the sake of my never-ending diet, but it did come in handy when I had a few bananas that were reaching the end of their lives. What is it about those last two or three bananas? We are never able to finish off that bunch. But when you get something like this as a result it's hard to complain too much. It was fun to make a cake so different like this, and my favorite part was the butterscotch sauce. The recipe is a bit extensive, but it's still a surprisingly easy cake to put together. Enjoy!

Banana-Butterscotch Upside-Down Chocolate Cake
By Chocolate Cakes

Ingredients

BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup golden corn syrup (I just used light)
3 large ripe but firm bananas, cut into 1/2 inches

CAKE:
1 cup cake flour
1/3 cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk


Directions

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 350. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan with side 2 inches high. Line with a piece of aluminum foil long enough to extend over opposite sides of the pan.

2. To make the butterscotch sauce: In a medium saucepan, cook the cream, butter, brown and granulated sugars, salt, and corn syrup over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter and sugars are melted. Increase the heat to medium-high, bring the sauce to a boil, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Pour the sauce into the prepared pa n, tilting the pan if necessary to spread it evenly. Arrange the banana slices in rows over the sauce, placing them close together. Set aside.

3. To make cake, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and granulated and brown sugars until smoothly blended, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each is blended smoothly into the batter and the batter looks creamy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the buttermilk to blend it into the batter. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth. Scrape the batter evenly over the bananas. Gently smooth the top.

4. Bake just until the top feels firm when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake, but not the bananas, comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack. Carefully remove and discard the foil. If any bananas stick to the foil, replace them on the cake. Cool the cake thoroughly on the wire rack for about 1 hour. Transfer the cake to a serving plate.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose when trying new recipes. This chocolate peanut butter mousse cake was unfortunately a loss for me. The cake was too dry, the mousse was too sweet and the ganache was a bit bitter for my taste, such a bummer because it was SO MUCH WORK! Oh well, live and learn right! Here's hoping for a win on my next cake!