Monday, August 8, 2011

Cheese Ravioli With Pesto

First off, let me start by saying, if I had had it my way, we would have been eating drive-thru tonight.  I had a doctor's appointment at 3:45 (more on that in a minute), made two stops on my way home, and The Dad had a softball game at 7:00.  Therefore, I did not plan a dinner.

The problem with drive-thru is, I feel guilty if I suggest it, so I kinda just hint around until someone else makes the suggestion.  No one did.  The Dad said he didn't want to eat before the game, so it would be just the kids and I.  Okay fine.  Which led to me standing in front of the refrigerator with the door open, staring and hoping for some kind of revelation to hit me.  Well, it did.  PESTO.

I can't really take any credit though.  This morning, I saw Terry's post over at These Peas Taste Funny, so I had pesto on the brain.  The recipe she posted today is your classic pesto.  Delicious, but I didn't have the ingredients for that.  So I do what I do best.  I faked it.  (I'm referring to the kitchen people)

That's the best part about pesto - you can use whatever you've got.  You don't even need basil.  Any fresh herb, or a combo, is delicious.

So tonight, this is what went in the food processor:

2 C fresh basil
2 C fresh spinach
4 cloves garlic
1 cup slivered almonds
Enough olive oil to get things movin'

 I put the garlic in the processor bowl first, then the basil, then the almonds, then the spinach on top.  I processed everything just long enough for it all to get good and chopped.




Then, with the machine running, I drizzled in olive oil until it was the consistency I like.
I prefer it pretty thick at this point.



 And that's it.

I know it's hard to believe that the cheese whore doesn't put cheese in her pesto, but I just prefer it without.
That does NOT mean I don't bury my pasta under a mountain of it when it comes time to serve it.

So for tonight's dinner, I cooked up some cheese ravioli, tossed it with the room temp pesto and a smidge more olive oil.  
I served it with grated parmesan and a drizzle of my yummy thick, sweet, aged balsamic.

To go with it, we had the most delicious Paobread, (Brazilian cheese bread), that we get at our local farmer's market. 
I'm not kiddin', these things are little balls of cheesy, chewy heaven.  
And, for those gluten-freers in my neck of the woods, they're wheat-free.

Here's dinner on my plate:






Now, can I just tell you, I am SO glad I didn't eat fast food tonight.
This dinner was SO good. 
I talked about how good it was, and made yummy noises, the entire time I was eating it.
At one point I was laughing hysterically because of the way the kids were looking at me while I went on and on and on about it.
We killed every last noodle.  
Favorite dinner in weeks.
Thanks Terry!

OH!  As if this post doesn't include enough of my rambling, I had my baby check-up appointment today.  All is well on the home front.  I'm officially into my second trimester.  13 weeks and 4 days to be exact.  So I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time.  Awwwwww.  Baby sounded good and The Mom got an excellent report, so we're good to go for another four weeks.

10 comments:

  1. Glad all is well with you and baby. I'm addicted to pesto. I started planting basil a few years ago and there was no turning back. I make small batches during the summer and freeze it so I have pesto year round.

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  2. Glad your appointment went well. You and my SIL are both 13 weeks (and change) along! When is your due date? Her's is early February..like the 8th I think.

    Do you make your own ravioli? If so, I want that recipe. :)

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  3. Awwwwww, the little heart beat. Nothing is better than that. :)

    Thanks for the pesto shout out. Of course you did something amazing and unique with it (you always have these great twists to things). I love ravioli and am now seriously craving it. Maybe that will be lunch today. Mmmmmmmm.

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  4. Dang, that ravioli looks good. Can you add 'smell' to your blog? I'm craving ravioli now and its lunchtime here. My ravioli usually comes from a can 'cause I don't cook. Oh well. Congrats on the baby checkup, btw.

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  5. That looks so good....so does that Paobread!

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  6. Okay...that looks SO GOOD! Congrats on the baby news too!

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  7. Love the variation! Which reminds me I need to make pesto tomorrow!

    I wish we had that type of cheesy bread here. It looks good.

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  8. @Shasta: Blogger TOTALLY needs a smell function!
    Thanks Allison! You should try to hunt some of that bread down. It's really, really good!
    @Barb: Enjoy your pesto tomorrow! We're havin' it again tonight! :o)

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  9. Looks delicious. The perfect dinner as far as I am concerned. Yum. Come over and visit us. We have some wonderful Southern recipes this month.

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  10. Thank you so much for sharing this at Recipe Sharing Monday. I hope to see you back tomorrow :)

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