My husband is a meat man.  He likes potatoes- but for him it is all about

the meat.  Not fish, not pasta, not veggies.

But really- he needs less red meat.

So I’m going to try one meatless meal a week.

Tonight it was homemade ravioli with mushroom and onion, sauteed in browned butter

and crumbled sage.  I got the recipe for the  sauce and kind of used the noodle ingredients-

you know, flour salt and eggs? – here. It is an Alton Brown recipe from off of Food Network.com.

But he had a sausage center, and this is supposed to be meatless, so I substituted the filling

for a mushroom and onion mix that I sauteed onions and mushrooms and added salt and a sprinkle

of sage.    After it cooked down about 10 minutes, I added a half cup of plain yogurt and 1/4 cup

of Romano cheese.

3 cups flour

3 eggs

3 Tablespoons water

1 teaspoon salt

1 good slug of olive oil (about 3 Tablespoons )

Put the dry ingredients in a bowl, create a well, and whip up the eggs and the other

wet ingredients in a measuring cup and pour into the well.  Mix the flour into the

egg mixture, a little at a time, until your dough is holding well together.  Then dump the

entire mess onto your counter or bread board and knead the lump of dough for 8 to 10

minutes until it is smooth.  You may not use up all the flour, but that is fine.   Flatten

into a disc , put into a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for about an hour.

Then, spread flour on your counter and roll out VERY THIN!

And in a rectangle- make sure it is very thin.

Now cut into small squares.

Make up a egg wash-whip an egg up with some water and

spread onto one line of squares.

Place a small amount of mushroom filling- about a teaspoon- in the center of the eggy square.

Place the square in the next row on top and smooth around the

filling and then seal the  edges as you push the air out from the center.

You can leave the edges plain or use the tines of a fork to help seal the edges.

Have a pot of salted boiling water ready on the stovetop.

And drop the ravioli into the water one at a time- don’t overfill the pot- and let them

cook for about 7 to 10 minutes.  Have a skillet with browned butter(1/4 cup) next to the pan of boiling

This is my very favorite part of the whole recipe!!!

Because right after you brown them a little- your meal is ready to EAT!!!

AND-Frank said he liked it. 

He didn’t love it- but he liked it- and that is pretty amazing.

This is the best morning cake I’ve ever eaten.

We bought a huge basket of fruit off of a truck in Onancock and had plenty of apples to eat up- so I ended up

making this cake 3 times- that’s right THREE times- in the 2 1/2 weeks we were down here over Christmas!

I can imagine it only gets better over time- but it was always gone before I got back to have another slice!

Make sure you make it in a round metal cake pan- the first time I made it was in a square glass pan and the

caramel on top didn’t brown or spread into an appetizing looking  topping!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

6 TBS. unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour, AP

1/2 tsp cinnamon, plus extra to sprinkle on apples

1/2 tsp  cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 large apples, peeled and cut into slices

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Melt 4 TBS butter in small pan over low heat, add brown sugar and stir.

Allow to bubble for 2 minutes and pour into bottom of 9" pan and spread- set aside.

Peel and slice apples and arrange on top of prepared pan, sprinkle apples lightly with cinnamon.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Warm the milk in a small pan, add butter and melt.  Let cool slightly.

Beat eggs, add sugar and beat for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves- add to flour , then milk, making a smooth batter.

Pour over apples in pan.

Bake for 45 minutes, then cool in pan for a full 15 minutes.  Turn over onto serving plate.

Great served with lightly whipped cream.

I made this version in a glass square pan- good, but pale and not enough caramel on top.

The third version had glazed pecans added after baking.

Change up the spices to your liking- I would leave out the cloves and use nutmeg.

Or allspice.  The only spices I would keep constant are the cinnamon and the cardamom.

If you try it, let me know what you did, and how it turned out !

They cook up like waffles- only much thinner and crispier.

They are crunchy and aromatic and taste like anise.

You make them two at a time- so it takes a LONG time to make 3 1/2 dozen.  It takes

twice as long to make 7 dozen and you burn a lot if you get involved in multi-tasking.

But when everything goes right and they come out golden and delicious- they can

be addicting.  My husband ate 5 while we were talking about the upcoming wedding

of our nephew the other day.  He had his hand out for the sixth and I asked him to

slow down- he was eating them faster than I could make them!

So- here’s the recipe I used.

3 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 tsp anise extract

1 tsp  vanilla

1/2 cup melted butter

1 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

small pinch of salt

Beat the eggs and sugar together until  all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is

just a little stringy.  Add vanilla and anise extract ( you can leave out the anise if you

prefer just a vanilla flavor).  Add just a bit of the melted butter, beat it in well and then

add the rest of the butter.  Sift together the flour and baking powder and add !/4  cup at

a time with your mixer on low so that the flour doesn’t jump back up at you.

Add salt at end and give it one more mix. 

Preheat the pizzelle iron- waiting until the red light turns green and then lightly oil and

place one largish teaspoon of batter ( it will be rather stiff) into the center of the round.

Close down lid and wait until the light turns red and then back to green and open top- about 2 minutes.

Place on wire cooling rack until stiff and cooled and then stack them up!

I only paid about $12 for the iron a couple of years ago- it was a good investment!

It was Thanksgiving today in America!

I made my usual sausage and walnut stuffing.

And 4 dozen dinner rolls.

And a pumpkin pie.

But it was also the 36th anniversary of our wedding for my husband and myself-

and I had my heart set on this-

a Berry Meringue tart!

I got the recipe here at cityhippiefarmgirl’s  blog.  And I’ve been thinking about it

ever since.   Meredith was here for our celebration and since her next stop is Canberra,

Australia, I decided to make a version of the Pavlova for her.

Pavlova’s are a distinctly Australian ( and New Zealand) treat and they usually don’t

have a pastry shell.  But Brydie’s looked so good I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

I started off with a short pastry crust- I made a regular pie dough ( 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 stick

cold butter, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 cup ice water) and then I rolled it out and place another stick of

unsalted butter in a thin layer on the dough.  Then I folded it in thirds, and then folded

it into thirds again and refrigerated it.  When it was cold I took it out and rolled it out and

placed it into a deep dish pie plate and baked it after scoring the surface with a fork in

quite a few places.

When it cooled I mixed together whipped cream and marscapone cheese and about 1/4

cup sugar and put a light layer of this on the bottom of the crust.

Then I made meringues-

and placed them on top of the layer of cream and cheese.

And then I piled the rest of the whipped cream mixture on top,

added the berries and sprinkled sugar over the top.

It was delicious!  I cut the tart into 10 pieces and the adults all

had a piece.  Most had never had Pavlova before- and they loved

it!  I am making this again.  Maybe for Christmas.

The blackberries and strawberries made a stunning display- and were perfect together.

Because this is my new favorite dessert!

Thanks, Brydie!