Wild Mushroom Ravioli

I was watching a cooking show today ( which I dont really do often, there are very few that I enjoy) one that I do is Barefoot Contessa- I think Ina is wonderful and I really enjoy her simple style of cooking. She was using Wild Mushrooms today, which in turn made me want to make something using Wild Mushroom...so I concluded with Ravioili of Wild Mushroom





I like to make my ravioli different shapes just to change the look...The filling I made is more Asian style so I made the ravioli look like little wantons!





I topped mine quite simple- good quality olive oil, Fresh parmessan cheese and Fresh herbs!

Feels Like Fall

I woke up a few days ago to something Floridians don't get that often...cool weather! We don't really have Winter here, most of the time our Christmas morning could be spent hanging out by the pool tanning. To me, nothing reminds me of fall more than the house filling up with the aroma of Roasted Chicken and Vegetables while leaving the windows open to let the cool air in. I love days like this, so I took advantage and made a huge Roasted Chicken Dinner for me and my sister....


Sweet Potatoes, Fresh Green Beans, Chicken Breast with ribs (bones) and skin Roasted with garlic, lemon, salt, pepper, onions, green peppers & homemade gravy to top!

Sunday Breakfast...

I woke up this morning looking around my very empty kitchen trying to figure out what I could whip together for breakfast...a grocery trip is definitely on the to do list! I noticed I had a handful of bananas that were on there last leg...I decided to make banana bread, I tried a new recipe I found on the Bon Appetit website that a reader submitted after winning an award in her hometown for her Banana bread. I decided to make muffins out of the batter and they turned out great! What makes these different is the added honey to the batter & brown sugar/cinnamon crumble that is added on top right before baking. Its almost similar to coffee cake...enjoy!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5x3-inch metal baking pan. Whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk next 5 ingredients in large bowl until smooth. Add dry ingredients; stir to blend. Transfer batter to pan. Mix 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and brown sugar; sprinkle over batter.
Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool bread in pan 30 minutes. Turn pan on its side; slide out bread, being careful not to dislodge topping. Turn bread right side up and cool completely.

Mom's Birthday

With all of the surprise birthdays my mom has helped us out with...we still somehow slipped this one by her! I wanted to keep the party small, just a few good friends & family...for the food I wanted to make it more chic/fancy but at the same time casual enough so people weren't intimidated. We ended up with a great selection and my wonderful grandmother made her famous meatballs and shrimp dip. I had a selection of gourmet mini burgers- blue cheese with caramelized onion & aged white Cheddar with caramelized onion, and because its now fall I slipped in some brie cranberry & turkey mini sandwiches. I did all the burgers & Brie sandwiches on profiterole rolls that were homemade, its such a simple recipe and they take no time at all. If your not familiar- this is what they call choux paste & the puffs it makes are what they use for cream puffs, you can also make them savory by adding herbs or cheese to them, in this case I made them mini burger buns! We had orzo Greek salad with chicken, herbs,salami & feta cheese. Tomato brucshetta & of course the cake! I made a dark chocolate spice cake...I basically added pumpkin pie spices to the mix which can add a great amount of flavor & change the whole cake into something a little more fall tasting! My sister made her cupcakes as usual but this time added edible flowers to the top so they look very shabby chic, they turned out great! For any of these recipes please e-mail me & ill be happy to send them or post them! Enjoy the pictures...

These burgers were so easy, you can sear them off early in the day & right before your guest arrive top them with cheese & onions and stick them under the broiler. They are so small it only takes a few minutes to get a perfect med- med/rare!


and here is what they look like in the mini buns......I always put signs by the food so guests know and they don't feel like they constantly have to ask.


















When I make my Bruschetta , right after I grill my bread I rub a garlic clove on each piece while its warm...you will start to smell the garlic then you know its melting into the bread. I only rub a bit on it and it just gives more flavor. The bread can be grilled ahead of time just make sure you spread them out on a big plate or sheet pan so they do not get soggy! I also mix the Brucshetta early in the day to.

I always say I like to have some sort of pasta salad for various reasons, you can make a huge batch for cheap & still make it fancy and delicious, its a easy way to fill up a large crowd of people, and if everyone is drinking its something they can fill up on before heading home! I love this version- orzo is a pasta that I think is very under-used, people always forget about this elegant pasta that can make a regular pasta salad look fancy. This Greek salad is so yummy and easy to make, you can add olives if you would like - I knew most of the people at the party did not like them so I omitted them from the dish.



These cupcakes were my mom's favorite-coconut, usually we just put shredded coconut on top but whole foods has these great edible flowers you can buy in a package-very shabby chic!
The Cake was covered in Fondant & painted Tangerine & Pink, I was going to paint flowers but had a minor mistake- that's the great thing about fondant is you can just improvise! I decided to make the whole thing tangerine & pink with a bow on top- like a gift!









All together the night was a success- my mom was surprised & we all had a great time! For any of the recipes, please e-mail me or comment & I will be more than happy to post them..... I wish I had pictures of the amazing meatballs my grandmother made but those were the first thing to go! Once one person said something, they were gone!