March Madness!

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Well, okay....anyone that knows me probably knows that I'm not a big sports fan.  I am about as far away from athletically inclined as they come.   Brackets?  What? Are you hanging a shelf on the wall??? What else would you need brackets for??  So.....I don't know much about March Madness.  But, I DO know a thing or two about cake...and I believe this first one will fit under the March Madness category:

I made this cake for our longtime family friend and neighbor Denny and Sandy Pettigrew.  It was for their daughter's birthday.  It is iced with buttercream and all of the decorative pieces including the bow, ribbon, Jayhawk, and lettering are made from fondant. 

Here's a sampling of the many other college/sports/team related cakes that I've made in the past.

...for E-Palm's birthday last year.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Happy 21st Megan!

Happy Birthday Nathan

The following three pictures were for graduation parties.  I hand-made the pieces on top to represent the sports that these graduates were involved in.  I made them from fondant and then painted the detail on with a paintbrush and food coloring.

Baseball

Tennis

Cross Country/Track

That just about covers my knowledge of sports, so now we'll move on to some other cakes I've made recently.

Superhero Cakes are always a fun choice for a young boy's birthday party.  Here are two that I have made recently.

...and Tractors are also a fun choice for the young and young at heart.

I made this one using color flow icing and the hay-bales are fondant.

My great-niece celebrated her 5th birthday this weekend and, of course, "Hello Kitty" was on the guest list:

We had strawberry cake iced with buttercream.  I made Hello Kitty and the hearts from fondant.

We also had some matching chocolate cupcakes...

...iced with buttercream and decorated with fondant hearts.  So cute!

While we're on the subject of cute girly girl stuff, here's a super-cute First Birthday cake that I made recently.

What could possibly be more girly than Minnie Mouse??!!  The entire cake is iced in buttercream and the lettering, silhouettes, bow and ears are all made from fondant. 

The top tier is also covered in fondant in order to achieve the look of the Disney "ear-hats". 

I made the ears and bow about two days ahead of time so that they would be dry and stand firm.

 

You can't have a first birthday without a smash cake for the guest of honor:

These cakes were so much fun to make!  I loved how they turned out.

The last cake that I have to feature this week is a baby shower cake that I made on the same day as the Minnie Mouse cake.

This is the second bow that I have made from fondant.  The first one turned out fine, but this one is alot better!  Perfecting my technique, I guess. :)  I used a different method to make the loops and it really improved the final product.  This entire cake is iced with fondant over a thin layer of buttercream.  Everything you see here is edible.

I'll leave you with a sweet little fact this week:

Did you know?

 According to Harper's Index, the estimated amount of glucose used by an adult human brain each day, expressed in M&Ms is 250.

I better go pour myself of a bowl of M&Ms right now!  I've got a long ways to go to reach that goal!

Move over Buitoni!

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A couple of weeks ago I decided to make something that I have never attempted before....Ravioli!  I love ravioli and so does my family.  I have always purchased it premade - either fresh or frozen.  I always get the cheese-stuffed variety and prepare it a few different ways. 

We like the old stand-by -- boil and cover with spaghetti sauce.  We also like to make Alfredo sauce and mix with the raw ravioli, add some chopped chicken breast (cooked), and put half of this mixture in a baking dish.  Cover with some good melting cheese (I like the Mexican blend that you can purchase preshredded).  Put remainder of ravioli mixture on top and then add another layer of cheese.  Bake until it's bubbly in the center and the cheese is starting to brown.  Yummmmm.  It turns out best if your Alfredo sauce is a little bit thin because the ravioli will soak up some of the liquid.  If you purchase pre-made Alfredo sauce, just add a little milk to it.  Throw together a Caeser Salad and some garlic bread and dinner is ready....super easy. 

One other way that we enjoy it is called "Toasted Ravioli".  Mark and I had this dish (completely by accident) when we were on our honeymoon.  We went to a little Italian restaraunt in the Branson area.  Apparently neither one of us were really paying attention when we ordered the ravioli that it said "Toasted" in front of it.  We were a bit surprised when our meals showed up!  But, the more we ate it, the more we liked it....and decided that we wanted to figure out where to get more or learn how to make it.   Fast forward a few years and Giada de Laurentiis was hosting an episode of Everyday Italian  featuring "Italian Street Food" and one of the recipes that she prepared was....Toasted Ravioli.  YEA!

.....and it was sooooo easy to make.  Hooray!

So here's how to make it:

            Toasted Ravioli

   Ingredients:

Ravioli (fresh or frozen--if using frozen, thaw first)

Buttermilk

Italian Bread Crumbs

Oil for deep frying

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Dip Ravioli in buttermilk. Coat with bread crumbs.  Deep fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Be sure to flip them over part way through frying to cook both sides.  Remove from grease and sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese.  Dip in Marinara or Alfredo (or whatever other sauce you like).  Enjoy!

I usually purchase a big package and bread them all up, cook what we want right then, and put the rest in the freezer.  Then I have them all ready to go next time without having to bread them.  While they do need to be thawed to coat them with breading, they do not have to be thawed before frying.  Pull the breaded ravioli out of the freezer and stick 'em right in the hot grease.  They just take a little longer to cook.

Soooooo, that brings me to making the actual ravioli.  I was making a bunch of pasta up to get rid of the surplus of eggs that my chickens are providing for me.  I just decided to try my hand at ravioli on a whim....why not???  

Here's the recipe for the filling that I used:

  1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese

  1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

  1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

  1 cup provolone cheese, shredded

  2 eggs

  1 tablespoon dried parsley

Mix it up and set aside.  This recipe make alot of filling...you may want to cut it in half.

I rolled out my pasta, brushed it with an egg wash and put small spoonfulls on it spaced about 1 inch apart.  I then folded the pasta over the filling and pressed the air out from around each one.  I then used a knife to cut them apart.   Here's what they looked like at that point.



After that, I crimped the edges with one of my fondant tools...but this step could be done with a fork.

After crimping, I placed them in a large pot of boiling water.

 I brought the water back to a rolling boil and cooked them for about 8 to 10 minutes. 

When they were finished cooking, I drained the water, plated them and topped with Spaghetti Sauce and shredded Parmesan Cheese.

They turned out sooooo good.  Quite tasty, indeed.  My whole family LOVED them!  I will definitely make them again.....and now I totally want one of these:



...or one of THESE:



I reeeeally want this attachment for my mixer now!  ...but the first picture is probably a little more likely to fit into my budget. 

I haven't tried making Toasted Ravioli out of my homemade kind...but after a few more times of making it and perfecting my technique, you can bet I'll try it!
I'll let you know how that turns out.  :)

March is National Noodle Month...seriously...I didn't just make that up.  I did, however, discover that fact after I had composed this entire post. 

Don't believe me????  Check it out:

http://www.foodreference.com/html/html/marchevents.html

It's also National Sauce Month....which goes quite nicely with noodles....coincidence? I think not!