Homemade Pasta

January and February have been such busy months.

We've almost been out of town more than we've been in town, which is really rare for us. Luckily they've all mostly been fun trips, but regardless, they still get you out of routine, change your pace of life, and overall make things feel a bit unsettled.

Since January 1st, Archie and I together have been gone for four trips, and Archie has had 2 trips for work. It's been cutting into my blogging time (and cooking time), so things are a bit crazy.

I also started Weight Watchers in January, which has overall been a really great thing. It has taught me a lot about food in general, which I thought I knew, but didn't! It's been a really slow process for me - because my body thinks I have the metabolism of a 60 year old, not 29 year old, and it's really unfair. Especially when your husband does it too and the weight just FALLS off of him. I know that men obviously lose weight easier, so I'm trying not to get discouraged, but really!! I run everyday some weeks in training for another half marathon, and gain weight - he does nothing but the long runs on Saturday and loses 3! ha. :) Overall, I feel healthier, and my clothes are fitting more loosely, so that's what is really important!

As I promised, I wanted to give you guys the recipe for my homemade pasta that I learned in Florence. The pasta is so good! And it's really and truly the easiest thing - you can even make a big batch and dry it for later. The recipe does call for "00" flour, which my friend Jen found for me at a local Italian market - but you can also use semolina flour, which can usually be found in grocery stores. The "00" just makes it a bit lighter.

The biggest tip to remember with this pasta is to roll it out super thin. Probably thinner than you think, and you'll be okay. I've made this (with Jen) since I've been home, and we didn't roll it out thin enough, making the past a bit thick. Which is okay when you're having a bit hearty meat sauce, but maybe not so much if you would be pairing it with something lighter.

You also can cut the pasta into whatever size you want - thinner for a spaghetti/angel hair and thicker for fettucinni or thick cut pasta.

Home Made Pasta

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Ingredients (Per Person - just multiply the ingredients by the number you will be serving):

100 grams of flour (3 1/2 ounces)

1 large egg

1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

1. Measure out the flour using a kitchen scale if available and sift onto a large work space.

2. Using your hands, make a large "well" or circle in the middle of the flour - pushing it all out to the sides.

3. Crack eggs into the middle of the well and drizzle the olive oil on top.

4. Using a fork, begin to beat the eggs until yolks have broken up and SLOWLY begin to work in flour into the egg mixture. You only want to get a little bit of flour at a time, and beat until each addition of flour is completely worked in.

5. As mixture gets thicker, continue to beat in more flour until you are unable to use a fork because it's too thick.

6. At this point, begin to use your hands and incorporate the flour, kneading the dough to mix in all flour.

7. Continue to knead the dough working it with palm of your hand, down towards the counter. Flip the dough around and fold the top half over pushing again towards counter. You want to use this same motion to knead the dough. Continue kneading for about 10-15 minutes or until dough is completely smooth - NO cracks left in the dough.

8. Form the dough into two large balls and wrap in plastic wrap, leaving out to sit for approximately 15 minutes.

9. At this point, roll your balls into large flat discs until about 1/4" thickness - very thin. If you need to break your balls into smaller more manageable balls, that's fine.

10. Fold the pasta over on itself in about 1" folds. Cut the pasta to desired thickness, and unroll from folds.

11. Place pasta in boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes or until al dente. Really watch it, because it will cook pretty fast.

12. Serve with your favorite sauce and enjoy!

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Hearty Italian Meat Sauce

I'm mostly posting this recipe because my mother's been begging for it...

And I'm a slacker....

And I have good intentions... I really do!

But then I've been getting home from work exhausted, force myself out for a run, make dinner and crash!

So, sorry mom! I'll do better this time. I promise! :)

I made this with her when she came for a visit for 24 hours back in November. She was on a quick layover on her way out of the country to visit my sister, and we had to savor every minute we could get. I, unfortunately, couldn't get off work, so we really only had the evening together. I wanted to make it count - so of course the thing that I wanted to do together was cook. I wanted to get our hands together in the kitchen, one of the places that means the most to me, in order to enjoy every minute with her. I hadn't seen her since my trip to Italy, and the best way to tell some of the stories of the things we did is not over the phone, but in the reliving of what we did. The sweetness of the tomatoes and licorice smell of the basil brought me right back to the middle of Florence and the Centrale Market. It was the best way to let her know exactly what happened on the trip and for her to even experience a tiny piece of it herself - at least from my perspective.

That night, we made the meal together, talked and laughed, and moved out to the back patio with Archie. He made us a fire in my fire pit, and we sat at my little vintage patio table, savoring each bite, knowing we only had a little bit of time.

The meat sauce itself is so simple - using fresh ingredients from the Centrale Market when we were in the class in Italy. And even though I don't have a Centrale Market close by, I have tried to preserve the freshness as much as I can - basil from my back yard, meat from the local butcher, all adding up to make such tastiness, and causing there to be even more memories surrounding my yummy little Italian meat sauce.

P.S. - I apologize for the pictures of the final meat sauce not being so great - by the time the meal finished cooking it Italy, Jen and I were supposed to be on a train 10 blocks away in 20 minutes (plus meeting up with our husbands!). I'll work on getting a better picture. :)

P.P.S. - The fresh pasta (made by hand!!!) recipe to come shortly. You'll be surprised at how easy it is. No pasta roller needed!

Italian Meat Sauce (By: Chef Giovanni, Florence Italy) - serves 6

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Ingredients:

6 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6 cloves garlic

1 red onion

1 tsp chili pepper flakes

1 lb good quality ground beef

1 lb Italian pork sausage, casings removed (I used the sweet kind since there was already a kick from the chili pepper)

2 cups red wine

1 lb. can whole, peeled tomatoes

1-2 whole basil leaves per serving (approximately 6-12 leaves)

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Chop onion into small diced pieces and mince garlic

2. Place olive oil in pan and heat up. Place the onion, garlic and chili flakes into the heated oil and continue cooking until caramelized.

3. Place the pork sausage and ground beef into pan. Mash with a fork until all pieces are broken down, and meat is cooked through. DO NOT DRAIN!! I know.. weird, but don't do it.

Fresh from the butcher!

4. Add the 2 cups wine (plus another little drizzle if you like the taste ;) ), and allow to reduce by half - about 10-15 minutes depending on how high your heat works.

5. Drain juice of tomatoes into the pan and crush the whole tomatoes with your hand, creating pieces of smaller tomatoes. You can use a fork to make any a little smaller if they are still too big. Place basil in pot. Allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes. Serve with fresh, warm, homemade pasta!

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Memories

There is something about food that always seems to bring up memories. It's probably one of the things I like best about food.

Lots of people know me by my love for cooking, my love for food (not sure that's a good thing! ;)), and being the one who always wants to try a new recipe.

But really, at the heart of the matter, I actually always go back to the standbys. The foods that mean something to me. Yes, they sure are good, but they have heart behind them.

I'm sure right now you're thinking... she is insane. It's just food we're talking about here. But it's not!! The smell of orange cinnamon rolls can instantly remind me of being a child in my grandmother's kitchen in the summer. She would always make us orange rolls - and to this day, I have orange cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. The kind from the can!

The taste of corn tortillas reminds me of my summer mission's internship in Mexico - and our favorite restaurant "The Hill". Their tacos with the cheese that you pulled with your fork was remarkable - but even more so was the amazing opportunity to share God's love with this country.

The cold and creamy taste of butter pecan ice cream instantly takes me back to my living room in high school. Watching television late at night with my dad after getting back from a basketball game on the bus was the perfect night treat. Both of us mostly sitting in silence from sheer exhaustion, but the time spent together was priceless.

And then there's these - Bacon wrapped water chestnuts. One of my favorite recipes of all time. Are they good? Absolutely! But I tend to think they are mostly as good as I think they are because of the memories they bring up. This is one of the first recipes I learned how to make from my mom. In fact - it's her recipe. I'm sure you could find some adaption of it pretty easily on the internet somewhere, but none of them taste quite like these.

It's the first recipe I mastered on my own, brought somewhere and got a really good response. They became my standby for a while - the only thing I would make because I knew I could make them well! Obviously, I've branched out since then.. but I remember my roots, and I remember standing by my mom as she taught me each step. And every time I taste one, the crunchiness of the water chestnut and the tanginess of the barbecue sauce, it reminds me of home!

What recipe or food do you have the conjures up the most memories?

Mom's Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

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Ingredients

1 lb bacon (cut in thirds)

2 small cans water chestnuts (break in half and stack on top of each other)

1 cup ketchup

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tbs. lemon juice

toothpicks

Preparation

1. Cut bacon into thirds.

2. Wrap bacon around stacked water chestnuts and secure with a tooth pick. Place on baking tray in line leaving space between so they don't stick together.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Pour off the grease.

4. In a microwave safe bowl, mix together sugar, ketchup and lemon juice. Heat just until warmed in microwave (about 30 seconds).

5. Pour over water chestnuts evenly, trying to avoid the toothpick if possible (it will burn).

6. Bake an additional 30-35 minutes until bacon is crispy.

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Featured

Hello there,

Go on... check me out over here today. You know you want to! :)

There's a small little write-up feature about The Cooking Vent over there, and wouldn't it be oh so nice of you to drop on over and check me out!

Pocketchange by Become.com shows a lot of different bloggers in features for "Best of the Web"- Be @ Home section, and they asked if they could write a bit about me.

Thanks for showing some love and stopping on over.

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Peppermint Oreo Truffles

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

We sure did around here. It was a relaxing day that was filled with a lot of blessings... and eating!

We weren't able to be with our family this year, but Skype and FaceTime has really made a difference in technology - and I was able to have conversations with family and friends from all over the world (Washington, South Carolina, and even China) via FaceTime and it was almost like being together - almost. My dad called on FaceTime from the terminal of the Atlanta airport on his way to visit family out of the country. He turned the phone around to show me the airport, and it was completely dead! I guess not many people fly internationally on Christmas day. Made it nice for him, he was getting on a 14 hour flight and there were lots of extra seats - Leg room, baby! ha

How was your Christmas? What did you do? I hope it was filled with blessings and love from your family, and hopefully your were able to set aside a time to quiet yourself and reflect on this season.

We spent some time with a great group of friends yesterday, enjoying the day together - and had a lot of fun. We decided to forego the large Christmas dinner idea so that nobody was spending the entire day in the kitchen, and went for a large pot of white chicken chili, salad, and yummy appetizers. Everybody pitched in and brought appetizers, dips, desserts, etc and we pretty much ate all day. It was divine! :)

One of the things I brought were these yummy peppermint Oreo truffles. They are so so good. They stay moist in the middle from the cream cheese, and they have just the slightest hint of peppermint flavor - not too overwhelming like a lot of peppermint flavored goodies. You could always increase or decrease the amount of peppermint candy used if you wanted to change it - or even omit it all together if you don't like peppermint. These are a great way to use up those candy cane Christmas tree decorations, and would make a really great New Year's Eve goody to bring for your parties. Hope you enjoy!

Peppermint Oreo Truffles (Adapted From: Kraft Recipes)

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

~ 12 peppermint candies, divided

1 package Oreo cookies

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

12 ounces dark (bittersweet) chocolate chips

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Here's your lineup of what you'll need

Preparation:

1. Place cookies and 8 peppermint candies in a food processor, pulsing until completely crushed.

2. Place cream cheese in food processor with crushed cookie mixture. Pulse until it makes a batter, and all cookie crumbs are combined. Place mixture in fridge for 20-30 minutes or until chilled.

3. While chilling, place remaining peppermint candies in a ziploc bag and crush into smaller pieces with a meat mallet or rolling pin (you'll want bigger pieces, not fine dust)

4. Place chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a microwave-safe bowl, and melt in 30 second increments until completely smooth and melted.

5. Roll chilled cookie mixture into 1" balls and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

6. Dip rolled cookie mixture into chocolate using a small fork, covering entire ball with chocolate. Take out and tap fork on edge of bowl a few times to tap off excess chocolate. Top with remaining peppermint candy pieces immediately after dipping before the chocolate dries.

7. Continue dipping process with all of the balls. Place in refrigerator to harden approximately 30 minutes.

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