Zesty Ravioli Skillet ~ Pampered Chef recipe

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream (I used almost a cup)
4 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach
6 oz grated Provolone cheese
1 TBS olive oil
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves (diced, unless you have a garlic press)
2 14.5 cans diced tomatoes w/ onions
1/2 tsp salt (I used about a tsp)
1/2 tsp black pepper (I used 3/4 tsp)
1 24 oz package small frozen cheese ravioli (I used 2 pks of ravioli)
Halved grape tomatoes

Measure cream. Wash spinach, drain well. Grate the cheese. Set these ingredients aside.

Add oil to large skillet, heat over med./high heat for 1 - 3 minutes or until shimmering. Add jalapeno to skillet, cook and stir for 1 minute. Press garlic into skillet. Cook and stir for 15 - 20 seconds.

Add canned tomatoes and salt & pepper, cook and stir 1 - 2 minutes. Add ravioli and stir to coat. Cook uncovered for 4 - 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in cream. Cook uncovered for 1 - 2 minutes. Sprinkle spinach over ravioli, put lid on pan and cook for one minute or until spinach starts to wilt.

Remove skillet from heat, top with Provolone cheese, cover and let stand for 1 - 2 minutes. Garnish with grape tomato halves.

**I cooked mine longer b/c I added more ravioli, cream and spinach.

Nothing planned for this week

Things have once again been crazy busy, so we haven't really had a chance to plan our meals. Gene left this morning and will be gone for the week, so it's just Kate and I this week for dinner. Just bought a van full of groceries on Saturday, so we won't starve. Hopefully, we'll come up with some yummy and healthy ideas. :) I woke up very early this morning with the "stomach crud" so dinner is the last thing I really want to think about right now. I had hot tea and saltines for lunch and so far, they are not settling well...so we'll see. Kate will most likely eat the left overs from last night. Katie and I made a new Pampered Chef recipe, Spicy Skillet Ravioli, and let me tell you it was fantastic! I will post the recipe for it before I put the laptop away. :)

Short menu for this week...

Mon. 10/12 ~ bacon & cheese quiche

Tues. 10/13 ~ Turkey burgers & sweet potato fries

Wed. 10/14 ~ Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad

Thurs. 10/15 ~ Fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, veggies

Gene is making quiche tonight and I am canning and pickling. It smells good...can't wait until dinner is done! Aside from the fried chicken (which I have only ever made ONE time before, the rest of the meals for the weeks are pretty simple. I'll be at the shop Wed. night for our monthly card swap and will be gone Fri., Sat. and Sun. for the scrap booking retreat in Old Forge. Wed. and Thurs. nights I plan on baking, baking, baking...have to make lots of goodies for the retreat.

Yummy cookie recipe and a new yummy snack "recipe"

I did a little baking over the weekend. There's nothing I love more in the Fall/Winter time than pumpkin flavored sweets!!! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin whoopie pies, gooey pumpkin butter cake and now Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies. The recipe is on the Libbys website, but I will post it here. These little cookies are not too sweet, so Gene and Kate really enjoyed them...I did too (and Kate's friend Sarah really chowed down LOL).

Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. Beat sugar and butter until well blended. Gradually add flour mixture. Mix well. Drop about 1 1/2 - 2 rounded tsp. (original recipe calls for rounded TBS, but I made mine smaller...perfect bite sized cookies!) onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 15 - 18 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Drizzle with glaze.

Glaze: 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3 TBS milk, 1 TBS melted butter, 1 tsp vanilla. Mix until smooth

While scrapping with Erin and Nikki at Nikki's house not long ago, Nikki treated us to a yummy treat that she called Snowman Popcorn. It is a bit sweeter than those popcorn balls you get in the stores this time of year, but not too bad. I made some last night and the three of us chowed down on it! It's easy and yummy!

Snowman Popcorn
Preheat oven to 400 - 425 degree. Grease cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Pop one bag of microwave popcorn (I like the butter flavored). Once done, pick out all unpopped kernels. Put in a large mixing bowl. In med. sauce pan, melt down 1 small jar of marshmallow fluff on med. low heat. When you are able to pour it, pour it over the popcorn. Mix well, trying to coat all of the popcorn. Spread evenly on baking sheet. Bake for about 10 - 12 minutes. Keep an eye on it, you don't' want to burn it. Once the marshmallow starts to turn a little bit golden brown, take out of the oven and let cool for a bit. Break up into pieces. Eat and enjoy!!! the golden brown pieces taste like toasted marshmallows. So yummy!!!

Oct 4 - Oct 11

Sun. Oct. 4th ~ Chicken Fajitas

Mon. Oct. 5th ~ Spanish rice

Tues. Oct. 6th ~ Roast in the crock pot w/ onions and baby carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy

Wed. Oct. 7th ~ Spaghetti, garlic bread...a veggie of some sort, maybe salad...not sure yet

Thurs. Oct. 8th ~ Fried Chicken, roasted potato fries, creamed corn

Fri. Oct. 9th ~ Mom's yummy pork chops

Sat. Oct. 10th ~ I will be in Massena with Erin, so we'll grab a bite at the crop we're going to, Gene and Kate will probably have left overs

Sun. Oct. 11th ~ Gene and I are going out to dinner w/ friends