Quick & Easy Creamy Lemon-Garlic Ravioli

Has anyone else been struggling to find inspiration for 3 meals a day every day during this COVID-19 pandemic?  I've come to realize how often we ate out or even just picked up snacks out.  Now we are basically enjoying all meals inside.

I'm a PC Insiders member and I didn't even realize we had exclusive access to something called the Insiders Project until I received an email saying they were giving free access to everyone during the pandemic! 

Well of course I had to go on and browse what they have on there - and wow! Lots of variety and lots of great looking recipes.  So of course I had to try one of them out.

I've always loved a cream sauce on my pasta, even though my kids are not big fans.  And no matter what I do, I can never really replicate my mom's cream sauce, and any that I've found online are not what I would consider keepers.  Well tonight the pasta was enjoyed by all and my husband actually said "Wow! This is a keeper!" Now that's saying a lot because I'm pretty sure my kids inherited their dislike for cream sauces from him.  He started talking about all the different ways we could use this sauce in other dishes.

This amount was perfect for our family of 4, and it came together very quickly.  Once I popped the frozen ravioli in the boiling water, I got started on the sauce.  It has very little prep involved as well - grate the cheese, mince the garlic and zest the lemon.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, but I never measure and always use till I think it looks good. Of course, you could use any pasta you want, but for some reason I love ravioli in a cream sauce.

Ingredients:

400g bag frozen cheese ravioli
2 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup cream
zest of one lemon
sea salt to taste
1 tsp dried parsley
(1 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place frozen ravioli in a salted (large) pot of boiling water. Cook until the ravioli is al dente (approx. 8-10 minutes).  Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water, and drain the ravioli.

2. While ravioli is cooking, melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Be careful not to brown or burn the garlic.  Stir in cream, lemon zest, dried parsley and salt.  Simmer until the sauce is reduced by half, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add drained ravioli and 1/2 cup pasta water.  Increase heat to medium-high, then cook, stirring often until the sauce thickens and coats the pasta, approx. 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and gradually grate the Parmesan cheese over top, stirring occasionally.  Stir in lemon juice and season with black pepper.  Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Lemon-Ricotta Biscuits

I seemed to have a lot of ricotta and lemons lying around and I've always loved the combination of the two.  And muffins are a big hit in our house and pretty quick to whip up, so I went on a search for something to bring all these together.

I found this recipe for Giada DeLaurentiis that she bakes in a muffin tin but has the texture of a biscuit. I made some tweaks to fit the ingredients I had and it was delicious. 

Keep in mind that the batter is much thicker than one for muffins and it won't rise as much as a muffin while it bakes, so you can fill the tin up almost to the top. 

These taste heavenly warm, with some butter or jam. 

Ingredients: 
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plus 1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
zest from two lemons
1 cup ricotta (if you don't have quite enough, you can use some plain yogurt in place)
1 large egg
freshly squeezed lemon juice from one lemon
splash of vanilla

Directions:
1. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.  Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt in a medium bowl to blend.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup sugar, butter and lemon zest in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in the ricotta.  Next beat in the egg, lemon juice and vanilla.
4. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended (the batter will be thick and fluffy).
5. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp of sugar.
6. Bake until the muffins become pale golden on top, about 20 minutes.
7. Cool slightly.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Pudding Cake

I love just about everything lemon.  It adds such a nice flavour to things.  So when I came across this Lemon Pudding Cake, I had to make it!  I love how it "magically" separates to be a cake on top and a pudding on top.  I made this to bring to a dinner at a friend's house and it was a hit!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs at room temperature, separated
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted
1-1/4 cups milk or half-and-half
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter a 9" square cake pan.
2. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt.  In another bowl, beat the egg yolks until smooth.  Stir in the lemon juice and zest, vanilla, butter and milk (or half-and-half).  Add the flour mixture to the egg yolks. 
3. Beat the egg whites to form soft peaks.  Gradually beat in the 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff, moist peaks form.  Fold a small amount of the egg whites into the lemon mixture first, then the remaining amount.
4. Pour into the prepared pan.  Set the pan into a large pan filled with one inch of hot water.  Bake for 40-50 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pink Lemonade Popsicles

My little one has been asking to make popsicles for such a long time, so tonight was the night.  Off to bed we would go afterwards and they'd be ready for a delicious snack the next day.  And with the temperatures they're calling for, we are going to need a frozen treat like this to cool off.

Please do not mind my photo of the popsicles.  I couldn't find my moulds for the life of me, so we had to improvise.  What you see is a result of placing the mixture in a parchment lined loaf pan, putting in a popsicle stick through when they were pretty solid and then cutting them into 8 pieces afterwards.

Ingredients:
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest (I always use a bit more!)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)
1/2 cup and 2 tbsp sugar
1-3/4 cup water
handful of frozen or fresh raspberries
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. In a blender or food processor, combine the lemon zest, juice and sugar.  Pour in water.  Add the raspberries and salt and blend until the mixture is smooth and pink.

2.  Pour into your popsicle moulds, dividing evenly among the moulds.  Cover and freeze until solid, at least 5 hours.    If you are using sticks, insert them into the moulds when they are partially frozen and will stand on their own, about 2 hours.  Continue to freeze them until solid.

If you're liking me and you can't find (or don't have) moulds, there are several workarounds.  As I mentioned above, you can line a loaf pan with parchment paper that overhangs on all sides and pour the mixture in.  The directions above didn't work too well for me as the mixture was still pretty liquidy 4 hours after it was placed in the freezer.  So what I did was at that time I placed the popsicle sticks in, went to bed and woke up in the morning.  Of course I couldn't pull out the block, so I cut it into 8-10 squares in the pan.  Then I was easily able to remove it from the pan and put them back in the freezer as individual pops.  If yours freezes up faster, then slice them individually  after 3-4 hours.

You can also use paper cups or individual glasses and follow the steps above for inserting the popsicle sticks.  When ready to eat, you may have to let them sit at room temperature for up to 5 minutes so they can be easily removed.

Alternate flavour: Instead of raspberries, add 2-3 strawberries (fresh or frozen) that have been hulled.

These had quite a tangy flavour, but they are really quite good and refreshing on such a hot day!

Mushroom Risotto & Grilled Chicken

Tonight's dinner came together in about an hour.  I have been wanting to make this for some time now and my nonna gave me chicken broth on Sunday, so it gave me the perfect opportunity.  You can use whatever broth/stock you have on hand.  First get the stock heating up, set up the chicken to marinate and then get on to the rest of the risotto recipe!

It turned out so delicious that we scarfed it down, almost forgetting to take a picture.  And we had to stop ourselves from eating it all up tonight so we'd have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

1 pkg (227g) sliced mushrooms (put more if you like)
5-6 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6 tbsp butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1-3/4 cup arborio (risotto) rice
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or do a mix of Parmesan and Asiago)

Directions:

1. Bring the stock to a boil in a pan, then reduce the heat and keep simmering gently over low heat while you cook the risotto.
2. Chop the mushrooms into smaller pieces.   Heat 2-3 tbsp butter in a frying pan.  Add the mushrooms and fry for 1-2 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes; remove from heat.
3.  Heat the olive oil and 2 tbsp. butter in a large, heavy-bottom pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, until softened.
4. Reduce the heat, add the rice, and mix to coat in oil and butter. (If it seems really dry or sticking a lot, add some more butter or oil.) Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes, or until the grains are translucent.
5.  Add the wine and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute until reduced.
6. Gradually add the hot stock, a ladelful at a time.  Stir constantly and add more liquid as the rice absorbs each addition.  Increase the heat to medium so that the liquid bubbles.  Cook for 20 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy. (You may find that the rice is cooked, but you still have some stock leftover; that is okay.)
7. Add the mushroom/garlic mixture when you have about one ladleful of stock left. Season with salt and pepper and add remaining stock if necessary.
8. Remove pan from heat and stir in 1 tbsp butter and the Parmesan cheese.
9. Serve immediately and grate some Asiago cheese over top.

Grilled Greek-Style Chicken

Ingredients:

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
The juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp dried thyme **
1 tsp dried parsley **
1/2 tsp dried oregano **
1 tsp garlic powder **
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine lemon juice and spices in a medium bowl.  Place chicken breasts in bowl to marinate in the juice and seasoning.  Let it sit for at least 5 minutes, but longer is better. (Discard the juice when you cook the chicken.)
2. Meanwhile preheat your grill over medium-high heat.  (I like to use my Griddler indoors, but a BBQ is always great.)  Spray the grill with cooking spray or oil.
3. Cook on the prepared grill until the breasts are no longer pink inside and juices run clear, about 10-15 minutes per side.  If you are using a grill like the Griddler and closing the lid, you will probably only need about 10 minutes, but will cook the breasts in 2 batches.

For an extra burst of flavor, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over each breast.  For extra juiciness, place a dollop of butter on the breasts as you cook them.
**I never really measure my spices.  I just sprinkle them in until it looks like there's enough!**

Puff Pancakes

I think the more I cook / bake - I realize I really truly love breakfast food. There's just something about the weekend and having time - I'm not in a rush to get to work and I feel more relaxed.  Clean up is rarely as big as dinner and my daughter can really help me get breakfast together.

This morning we made Puff Pancakes.  I saw this recipe while getting out a tried and true recipe and vowed to make it the next morning (meaning THIS morning).  It was so simple and a great recipe to include a toddler on.

What's great about this recipe is that it uses one bowl and two pans - and it bakes in the oven.  So while it is baking, you can clean up or get ready for the sit-down.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
freshly grated lemon zest (from most of a lemon if you have it) as well as a few tbsp of the juice
Icing sugar (for dusting)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Generously butter two 8-9" pie pans.
2.  Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl on low speed for a few minutes.  Add the flour, 2 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat only until smooth.  Beat in the milk, butter, salt and lemon zest/juice. (The more lemon you add, the more lemony it tastes, so I always add a bit more!)
3. Evenly divided the batter between the two pie pans, evenly pouring it throughout.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for another 5 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with icing sugar.  Serve immediately.
6. Top with whatever you like (syrup, jam, Nutella, cinnamon-sugar, etc).

My daughter loves syrup and always says "more syrup."  She would drink the syrup rather than eat the food.  We finished our syrup yesterday so today's puff pancake had to have a different topping: we used homemade Canadian wild blueberry jam and it was just perfect!  My husband put Nutella - another great choice.  The lemon flavour with the pancake was so good, it reminded me of the lemon-sugar crepes I had in Paris!  Speaking of crepes, this pancake was almost like a crepe but a little bit thicker.  It's the perfect in-between of a pancake and crepe - for those days where you can't decide which one you'd like!

I cut each pancake into 4 large slices and it served my family of 3 just fine.  It could easily have fed 4; we just liked it too much!

By the way - it was so much fun for my daughter to see how it puffed up in the oven! And of course we were just so excited to eat them that I completely forgot to take a picture of at least one all dressed up with its toppings!

Both pancakes right out of the oven.

Close-up of one.

Sprinkled with icing sugar (my daughter did the lower one!)

Close up

Raspberry & Lemon-Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Tomorrow is Greek Easter. I'm not Greek, but I did choose Greek people to be my daughter's godparents, so I guess we are honorary Greeks tomorrow. Easter is a big deal for Greek godparents (or so I've gathered from the stories), so my husband and I are very excited to take our daughter to her godparents' house tomorrow to celebrate her first (Greek, second ever) Easter with their family. I've already told her that she is so lucky to be able to celebrate Easter twice in one year. She gets to wear her Easter outfit that they got her again and that's awesome because she looks so adorable in it!

Anyways I've totally gone off topic. I'm supposed to be focusing on food here. And the reason for this blog entry is to share with you the recipe I will be bringing to their house tomorrow. Despite being told I don't have to bring anything, I want to. It's the least I could do to show my gratitude to them for being such awesome godparents and welcoming us into their family for this important holiday and always.

So I decided to make this coffee cake. I've made variations of it before and have always received good reviews. I almost couldn't find my recipe today, but after much searching it appeared. I can't remember where I got it, except that I remember it was from a book I took out of the library. So here it is....

FOR THE TOPPING:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE CAKE:
1 3/4 cups all- purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups fresh raspberries (approx.)
2 tbsp icing sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10" round springform pan.

2. To make the topping, stir together the flour, sugar and zest. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

3. To make the cake, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until well blended. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the sour cream mixture. Beat until smooth and fluffy, a couple of minutes.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Cover evenly with the raspberries.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the berries.

5. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 40-50 minutes (my oven always takes almost 50 mins). A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes.

Remove the sides of the springform pan. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

TIPS: As the recipe is, you really shouldn't put lemon in the title. What I always like to do is add the juice of the zested lemon to the sour cream mixture. It shouldn't come to more than 1/4 cup. If the mixture is a little runny, you can always add another tbsp or so of sour cream. Continue with the recipe. I've also made this recipe with blueberries and it turns out just as phenomenal. Dusting the cake with icing sugar is also purely optional.