Happy 4th! Enjoy some popsicles!

I hope you're enjoying Independence Day and that it's bright and sunny wherever you are. We have had perfect beach weather but we and all of our friends refuse to hit the beach (and freeway!) with all the tourists in town. We made our own fun at home with some yummy popsicles. These are melon pops and they're delicious! We used a galia melon which looks like a large cantaloupe but tastes like a honeydew.

To make the pops:
1/2 galia melon, cut into chunks
1/4 c sugar
1 lime, juice

Blend all the ingredients together in a blender until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 4 hours. Enjoy!

-- Recipe adapted from Pass the Sushi

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

So delicious! So easy. And the leftovers... so tantalizing!

Crab and bleu cheese ravioli with roasted red peppers {Recipe}

For Christmas dinner we made this bleu cheese crust for our steaks and we had some leftovers that we couldn't let go to waste. Thomas came up with the brilliant idea of making ravioli, crab and bleu cheese stuffed ravioli. Yum! (He says ALL of his ideas are brilliant, I'm going to have to disagree and I totally can since this is MY blog! But I will give him this one, brilliant.) We started by making our own pasta, which is fun and easy especially if you have the pasta roller attachment for the KitchenAid mixer. We also made some roasted red peppers to tuck inside to give a little crunch. Check it out:

PASTA RECIPE:
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt

Combine these three ingredients and knead for ten minutes. Add more flour if your dough is too sticky or a little water if the dough is too dry. Form the dough into a ball and let rest under a kitchen towel for 15 minutes. Divide the dough and run it through a pasta roller. Work until dough is thin, translucent and about 4" wide.

CRAB FILLING:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb crabmeat (lump is best)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped onion
5 1/4 ounces Boursin cheese
1 cup half-and-half cream
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bleu cheese, crumbles
fresh ground pepper

Heat saute pan to med-high. Add garlic and onions and cook for approx 1 minute. Add crabmeat and cook for approx another minute (until heated through). Add the Boursin cheese and melt slowly. Once melted, add the half and half and simmer on med-low until liquid is reduced to a creamy sauce (2-4 minutes). Add the parmesan cheese and bleu cheese. It will thicken nicely. Season with pepper as you like.

ROASTED RED PEPPER:
1 sweet red pepper

Turn on gas cook top flame, place pepper on grates and allow the skin to blacken. With metal tipped tongs rotate pepper until all sides are blackened. Place pepper in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the pepper to rest for 10-15 minutes. Peel charred skin from pepper and rinse clean. Coarsely chop the pepper.
NOTE: if you don't have a gas cooking range you can do this step on the grill, or substitute canned roasted peppers.

RAVIOLI:
Cut the finished pasta sheets into 4" squares, drop 1 tbsp of the crab mixture on to each ravioli square. Add a few pieces of the chopped roasted red pepper, brush corners of pasta dough with a bit of water, fold dough over filling to form a triangle. Makes about 45 ravioli pieces.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Cook fresh ravioli for about 2 minutes or until the begin to float. Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil and garnish with any remaining red pepper. Enjoy!

Happy Christmas

That's what we had with these toasty warm early morning cocktails. A little butterscotch schnapps, vanilla vodka and espresso topped off with a hefty helping of steamed milk. Maybe you should stop by our place before your next family dinner.

Pizza party!

We do a weekly pizza night with our neighbor friends. We each cook two pizzas and then get together and chow down. Tonight was a fabulous find by Sortachef, a prosciutto with porcini mushroom pizza that will definitely be added to our list of favorites.