Wednesday, August 3, 2011

No to Running, Yes to Ravioli

Exercise: Both today and yesterday 60 mins elliptical, 20 mins strength. Lots of sumo squats, my thighs and butt are screamin'. I also walked 40 mins with a friend this morning so I'm looking forward to TV time and sitting down.

I started watching Mad Men on Netflix while working out and although I find it totally entertaining I was totally surprised by how dark it is and the amount of smoking...and drinking...and the pregnant ladies smoking and drinking! But the sets and costuming are pretty effin' superb. Sorry for that brief TV tangent.

Little Man has been sleeping fairly well, through the night but sometimes up early. I'm thinking that in the next few weeks I might be able to run regularly again but I need to be fairly certain he'll stay asleep. I would run with him right when he wakes up but my darn jogger tires keep popping. I run around this park and lake in my neighborhood that is known for having a lot of thorns. I wish I knew what plants they came from so I could avoid the suckers. Music Man got some thorn proof tires and even put in a gel barrier but still I get flat tires. Oh well.

Little Man is also eating more these days which is such a relief to me but now I have to be much more careful about the food he eats. I want it to be healthy and nutrient dense but the things he really likes are pizza and pasta. So I've decided to make my own.

I always make my own pizza so he's used to brown rice or whole wheat crusts, rice and light or goat cheese and tons of veggies. But the pasta is a little harder. There are some great whole wheat alternatives for penne and rotini but that's about it. So I made some whole wheat ravioli filled with ricotta, light mozzarella and spinach. He ate them for dinner last night and breakfast and lunch today. I thought it might be overkill to feed him that for dinner again. Instead I gave him some penne with broccoli, ha! not much of a change.

So if you have a pasta maker, awesome, if not, you can still make fresh pasta.

(oops, only pic I took of finished product)

Whole Wheat Ravioli

DOUGH
2 c WW flour
1c AP flour
1t salt
3/4c water
2 eggs ( I used 1/2 c egg whites)
1T evoo

FILLING
2 c fresh spinach
1/2 c ricotta
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t nutmeg
s & p to taste

bowl with water for sealing

Mix dry ingredients, make a well, and stir in egg, then slowly add in water until you get a nice firm dough that you can roll in a ball without sticking and is not too dry. If you have a stand mixer throw in all ingredients except the water and mix on low. Slowly add water until you get the consistency you like.

Let the dough rest for 30 minutes and then roll out on parchment paper. If you have a machine you can stop here, if not continue rolling out the dough. If you think it's thin enough, roll it a little more, the thinner the better.



Mix the filling in a separate bowl, you can just pour them all in at once and mix


I used a small biscuit cutter to form my ravioli rounds but you can use squares and fold over to make triangles or press together to make squares, whatever you wish. Cut out as many pieces as possible and fill with 1 t filling. You can take the leftover dough and re roll it to make more ravioli or be lazy like me and simply cut it to make yourself some fettuccine. Seal ravioli by rubbing water along the edges and then press with fingers or crimp with fork.

Bring water to boiling on high, then reduce to medium high and cook the ravioli for 5-6 minutes. Once they come to the surface they just need a few more minutes to cook.

Drain and munch!



(I mixed the leftover filling with coconut milk and extra spinach for my sauce)

Recipe was adapted from Big Oven

1 comment:

  1. There is this really good pasta called Mara's Pasta www.maraspasta.com that we got free samples of when we were in Napa. The stuff was the best packaged whole wheat pasta I have ever had (we got penne and spaghetti). Unfortunately, they only sell the stuff up there :( I do want to try and make my own pasta one of these days when I have enough time :)

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