Cheese Spinach Ravioli

Cheese Spinach Ravioli

The following email was sent to me as a viewer challenge.  


"Samantha,
I have a cooking challenge for you.  As a lover of Ravioli I am wondering if you can make a healthier cheese ravioli that also tastes good.  I hope this does not require you to make your own pasta, but perhaps you could figure out some creative way around that too?  I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

I tried, viewer, to make homemade ravioli, but it was a disaster.  Just so you know, I will not give up and I'm going to try to conquer it in the next few months.  Since I wasn't able to get the ravioli working in time for this post, I had to switch to lasagna noodles kind of last minute.  Even though I was extremely disappointed, I think it turned out alright. 

8 oz lasagna noodles

 Filling

• 1 1/2 C low-fat ricotta cheese
• 3/4 c shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 c frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1/4 c. chopped onions
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• dash of salt and pepper

Alfredo Sauce:

• 2 C fat free milk
• 1 C chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

Preheat oven to 350°F. Boil water for lasagna noodles. Cook until noodles are tender and drain.

In a small nonstick skillet, saute the chopped onions and chopped spinach.  A lot of flavors come out, that I really like, when sauteing the two.

Combine all the filling ingredients into a food processor (oh, how I love my food processor!) including the spinach and onion mixture. Process the ingredients until well blended. To start the ravioli process, you will need a sharp knife to cut through the pasta. On one sheet of lasagna, place one tablespoon of mixture per ravioli. You can fit three tablespoons of mixture on one sheet of lasagna. Next, place a new sheet of lasagna on top of your completed one. Cut into three squares. Continue process until mixture is done. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium heat. Whisk until the sauce thickens.

Lastly, take the ravioli out of oven and drizzle the Alfredo sauce on top. To add more flavor, I sprinkled reduced fat feta cheese--Brandon's favorite.

Here's his review:

Corn and feta cheese black bean burgers

Corn and feta cheese black bean burgers

• 1 15oz can black bean, drained
• 1 15 oz can corn kernels
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C onion
• 1 C Panko breadcrumbs
• 4 oz crumbled reduced fat feta cheese
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp roasted red pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• a dash of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Meanwhile, combine half a can of black beans, onion, and all the spices in a food processor. Blend until no chunks. In a mixing bowl, pour in remaining ingredients and stir in food processed ingredients. 

Start forming patties out of the mixture and arrange on a baking pan.  Refrigerate burgers for 30 minutes before baking them.  Bake for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy your burger on a wheat bun with your favorite cheese. Sweet potato fries are a great side too!  Brandon would've reviewed this but as soon as he saw burgers in the fridge (and found out they had feta cheese in it) he couldn't wait to eat them.  He showed me his famous magic trick of making them disappear before I even had time to get the camera out.  I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it, although he did say that the corn was a surprise.  I'm not sure what that means. 

I am really excited about the upcoming weekend. Brandon and I are celebrating our birthdays in Nashville and we are planning to go to our favorite restaurant (MAGGIANOS!!!).
I get way too excited about eating great food. Also, we are planning to visit a local farmer's market. I should have some extra pictures for next weeks blog.

Do you have a favorite restaurant that you would drive miles just so you could eat that one special dish?

Broccoli and Cauliflower Mac Cheese

Broccoli and Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

Serves 8

• 12 oz boxed macaroni
• 16 oz frozen package broccoli and cauliflower, thawed
• 1/4 C onion
• 2 C fat free milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 C reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 Tbsp parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Boil water for pasta and cook until tender. Drain pasta.
3. Puree the broccoli, cauliflower, and onion. Set aside.
4. On the stove-top, combine all the ingredients along with the pasta. Stir on low until all ingredients are well blended.
5. Pour mixture into a 9 X 12 pan and cook for 30 minutes on 400F.
6. Remove pan from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Lastly, sprinkled your desire amount of Parmesan cheese on top of pasta.

Brandon's review:

I give this meal 7.6 smacks or maybe 7.65....okay, okay 7.66.....which if we round up then we get 7.7 smacks and seven is a holy number so this mac and cheese was righteous!

Taco Soup Nachos

Hopefully you have  leftover taco soup from last week and by tonight I'm sure you don't want to heat up another bowl.  You probably want to try something different, but also want to get rid of the all that extra taco soup? What a dilemma!  Well don't worry, I have a plan for you....

Taco Nachos

serves two

• 14 tortilla chips
• 1 C. taco soup, drain excess liquid
• 1/2 C fat-free refried beans
• 1/2 C reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese

-Preheat oven to 375°F 
-Spray a pan with non-stick spray and arrange chips on the pan. 
-Next, spread the refried beans on top of the chips and sprinkle cheddar cheese. 
-Lastly, pour the taco soup evenly over the chips. Bake at 375°F  for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve the nachos with lettuce and sour cream.

Enjoy your leftovers with a twist.

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 14 oz vegetable broth
• 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 15.5 oz can kidney beans, drained
• 15 oz can pinto beans, drained
• 15 oz can home-style corn
• 1/4 c. chopped onions
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 packet ranch dressing mix
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a crock-pot. Stir until well blended. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or low for 8 hours. Once the soup has cooked, serve it with cheddar cheese and sour cream. Enjoy!

This taco soup is perfect for those days when you come home exhausted from work and don't feel like going to a lot of effort to fix dinner.  Just throw it in the crock-pot in the morning before work and when you come home you'll have a stress-free dinner waiting for you.  I love crock-pots! 


What does this dish, the previous post and the next post have in common?

They are all meals that Brandon has eaten before and according to the rules that he made up, he can't review a meal he's already eaten.  Apparently it takes away from the reality of the situation.  He does enjoy this dish though, but I'm not sure how because he only enjoys drying it up with about two packages of saltines.   So no videos for a while; sorry to disappoint folks.


Don't forget that I'm still taking viewer challengers.  Email me at samwilliams929@gmail.com

Stay tuned for next week as I show you leftover ideas for the taco soup...

Spinach Hummus

Spinach Hummus

(2 cups prepared)

• 1--15 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 5 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 2 Tbsp fat free cream cheese
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp ground paprika
• 1/4 tsp Mrs. Dash lemon pepper

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients except for the feta cheese. Blend until smooth and creamy. Place the mixture into a mixing bowl and stir in the feta cheese. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Don't forget the Triscuits (they are Scrum-diddly-umptious)!  I'm having a hard time putting them down and even typing this up with one hand so that I can finish off the bag of Triscuts with the other :)


This week, I'd like to introduce a viewer challenge...





...that was sent to me by email this week:

"Samantha,
I have a cooking challenge for you.  As a lover of Ravioli I am wondering if you can make a healthier cheese ravioli that also tastes good.  I hope this does not require you to make your own pasta, but perhaps you could figure out some creative way around that too?  I look forward to seeing what you come up with."


I'll see what I can do.  Hopefully, I can get this recipe a-cookin' and have it up for all to enjoy soon.  If you would like to commission a challenge, send me an email at samwilliams929@gmail.com

Have a great week!

Sweet corn and bean casserole

Sweet corn and bean casserole

serves 8

• 14.75 oz can of creamed corn
• 15.25 oz can of whole kernel corn, drained
• 15.5 oz can of great northern beans, drained
• 1 box of Jiffy cornmeal mix
• 8 oz fat-free sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups reduced fat cheddar cheese
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp fat-free milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except for 1/2 cup of cheese. Mix until well blended.

3. Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray and pour the mixture into dish.
4. Bake on 350°F for 1 hour. Next, take the casserole dish out of oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese on top and bake for another 5 minutes.
5. Let cool for a few minutes and serve.

This casserole was extremely easy to prepare but Brandon and I were both very impatient while waiting for that dreaded one hour of baking (so impatient that we both burnt our tongues!).
Here's Brandon's review:

And now......"hold your applause and drop your drawers" it's time for my review!  (I'm sorry, Oh Brother Where Art Thou is one of my favorite movies.)

Anywho,
As I said in the video, my aunt makes one of the best Corn Casseroles I've ever had.  She introduced me to the dish and I've never had one better or even equal to hers than now.  I remember trying to get Sam to cook my aunt's recipe and it never worked out quite right.  It never tasted the same.  Now, she's created one that is creamier, cheesier and more delicious-er (?) than I would have imagined.  I guess she just had to learn how to be creative and make it her own.  I give this meal 9.2 smacks.  Mmm mmm good!