Tomato Basil and mini Ravioli soup

Even though it is summer time I had this mini ravioli in my cupboard that needed to be used so I decided to make a soup with Ravioli. I found the soup recipe online at www.ourbestbites.com and it seriously was the easiest thing ever. I didn't call for funny ingredients or anything which I loved. I had the soup simmer for 30 minutes then threw it in the blender and then added them together at the end on a big bowl. When you first see all of the soup in the bowl with the ravioli you think you made enough to feed an army, but it is so good I only have a little bit left. My husband who is very picky about things in his food, absolutely loved it! I would make it over and over again it is that good. 

Photo Class

Ok gals this is not a food post but a plug for Nicoles photo classes. I just finished the online Photoshop class and it was fantastic. Definitely going to sign up for another one. Thinking I might need the tabletop photo class so the food pictures look better - You won't regret it. http://nicolesclasse.blogspot.com

Crepes

I’ve made these Our Best Bites crepes a few times and crepes were a staple in my household growing up! I love them so much! So I decided to make them again (they are surprisingly an easy week night meal). I heart breakfast for any meal. These are sweet crepes (like if you munch on one by itself its mucho sweeto) but if you omit the 3 table spoons of sugar then you can make SAVORY ones!!!! I will be doing this soon. I am thinking chickeny and cheesey. Also, Our Best Bites ladies recommend eating these hot off the pan with butter and maple syrup…Yes please!

Okay well here it goes. First you combine all the ingredients in a blender and whip it up on low (easy) Then you heat the pan to a low-medium heat (the recipe calls for medium-high…in my opinion this was way too high and was making my crepes get too crispy). Then the hardish part where you pour and twirl. You know how we call first borns throw away pancakes…well when you first make crepes there are a lot of throw away crepes. It’s an art I have not perfected, but they are delicious even if they are a little wonky (thank you Otis). Once they are cooked on both sides I like to stack them using wax paper to separate each one (they save in the fridge amazingly this way). Then the amazing part…slather some nutella on then drop some sliced bananas and strawberries, rolled up and pour on some of Our Best Bites Strawberry Sauce.

Awesome part of tonight was I had the Strawberry Sauce in the freezer (freezes for three months) from a past meal. Now this is me multitasking because my sweet guy prefers that I stand while I eat. Also, Jillian as you can see I was definitely a baby and did nothing different with my hair. The end.

Quick & Easy Noodle Stir-Fry

Carter had his shots today so Missy was here rocking a sad little boy and we decided to try this new recipe. It's from Our Best Bites and did not dissappoint. We worried that it might be light on sauce so we doubled it but that wasn't necessary.

Also this is a great recipe to be healthy with whole wheat pasta because the sauce is tasty and you won't notice. You could definitely add alot more veggies than the recipe calls for. Julienned carrotts would be great, yellow squash etc. We stir-fried chicken which was great but all agreed that shrimp would have been better (next time definitely doing shrimp)

Here are the changes we would make to the recipe -

1 1/2 times the sauce

use 1 tsp ginger (we only added 1 tsp. this time and it was plenty)

throw the garlic in at the end because we like my veggies more cooked and didn't want to burn it

cut the brown sugar in half (it was a little sweet)

add more veggies

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/09/quick-easy-noodle-stir-fry/

Monkey Bread

So I made this super delicious monkey bread from the Our Best Bites Cookbook. Unfortunately I only took one picture, and it's not a very good one, but this was so delicious! It was easy and Mike loved it! it's hard to stop with just one serving though, so consider yourself warned!!

Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok, these are so not healthy. And definitely not part of anyones diet. Except for maybe Papa's. Which is the 9,000 calorie diet. Man, I'm jealous of that diet.

Anyways, I found the recipe on Our Best Bites. Check it out ourbestbites.com

It's kinda the cookie basics and after mixing it all together, you get this....

Voila!

Oh my gosh. It's seriously delicious. I would even put it out there that I like the dough better than the cookies. The toffee just adds a nice extra crunch in the dough.

When you bake the cookies, I think the toffee loses a little of the crunch, but they are still amazing. I didn't put the white chocolate chips in though. Next time I might try them. Make sure you watch these puppies while they are baking, because they tend to go from doughy to burnt in 1.2 seconds. But in the end this is how they turn out....

Don't let them sit on the cookie sheet for too long, or the toffee will make the cookies stick to the pan. So let them cool a rack after a few minutes.

Enjoy!



Grilled Pizza

A few months ago Jill told me that she had grilled pizza and it was delicious. So for dinner tonight I grilled pizza using the method on Our Best Bites Blog - Jill was right! We loved it. If you like a crisp thin crust pizza with great flavor this is something you should definitely try.

We tried a couple of different combinations. This one is Pesto Sauce, chicken (I boiled the chicken and then chopped it small and tossed it in some Pesto Sauce), sauteed sliced yellow squash, fresh sliced tomatoes all topped with fresh mozzarella cheese. We loved this and it was light and fresh tasting.

The other pizza we tried was a barbecue chicken pizza. It had BBQ sauce, chopped chicken, caramelized onions, Gouda cheese and then topped with Parmesan cheese. This was really good too. The caramelized onions really gave it a lot of flavor.

Of course Chris wanted his plain pepperoni and we cooked it in the oven - why mess with what he already knows he loves?

Definitely give this a try. Jill was right - delicious