Little Things Bring Smiles: .Valentine Inspired Dinner Party.

2.05.2011

.Valentine Inspired Dinner Party.

I'm back.

Hopefully you saw a few ideas you liked in the making it pretty portion of our dinner party last night. As I have already said, we had a wonderful night and feel all of our guests enjoyed themselves and left with their tummies full, the way it's suppose to be :) Before I post our cooking, well, our "Making our own Raviolis," let me share these two pictures and simply caption it as:

I LOVE him.

Okay, let me focus and get back to the point of this post..sharing pictures from our dinner party!

Introducing our guests:

Thanks to these smiling faces, Adam and I have felt at "home" in little Lynchburg, Virginia. The Lord has been blessing us with fantastic relationships and it is a joy to live life with them!

(not to mention I get my baby fix EVERY time we get together, see below)

Jack Manley. Yes, that is his real name..amazing, I know. This big boy can now squat, stand, and WALK at 10 months! Oh my..cannot wait to hear him say "Katie."

Liam Loper. Those eyes get me every time..and how cute is his little cranky face?! This was Liam being "fussy"--ladies, he only let out a few peeps, wrinkled his face and that was it! Such a good baby..Dear God, Yes Please!

Have I ever mentioned before how much I love babies?--Oh I have, in almost every other post, ok..just making sure ;)

Now to the ravioli part..sorry it took me long, but here it is!

Step 1: Mix 1 1/2 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of water. Get dirty, dive right in, and work those hands..knead away! (keep working those fingers for 5 min!)

Flour and water all measured out for our guests!

Step 2: After letting your dough sit for 10 min, divide into groups..it does not matter how many.

Step 3: Grab your rolling pin, extra flour and begin rolling! Roll until the dough is evenly spread and very thin. Hint: Imagine the texture of raviolis you have had in the past..if you prefer the texture of dumplings better, then roll a bit thicker.

Step 4: When your dough is nicely rolled out, grab a cookie cutter (any shape you want!) and press it in just like you're making sugar cookies :) We used heart shaped cookie cutters in honor of Valentine's Day..(cheesy I know, but I "loved" it!)

Step 5: Find a spoon and dunk it into your ravioli filling! Depending on the size of your cut out dough, place a mound of filling in the center.

(I made two different fillings for our party. 1st- Italian hot sausage and ricotta cheese. Cook meat fully and then blend it up! Thanks to my magic bullet, I had a gross looking goo after but it made for perfect, creamy filling..especially with the ricotta cheese! 2nd- Spinach, ricotta cheese, minced garlic. Using my magic bullet again, I got a wonderfully green, creamy goo that tasted delectable!)

Here are a few of my heart shaped raviolis! I used a fork to create pretty edges as well as pressing the two pieces of dough together. That nasty looking mush, yep--that's the italian sausage and ricotta cheese filling. Trust me, it tasted AMAZING!

Step 6: Create a dough sandwich over your mound of filling. Simply take a fork to press the two pieces together while adding a very homemade, pretty little detail :)

Step 7: Collect raviolis (we had probably 10 plates or more as pictured above!) Place raviolis into a big ol' pot of boiling water. Keep them in boiling water for 5 minutes or until they have all floated to the top.

Step 8: Remove raviolis from boiling water. Place your delicious, beautiful, homemade creations on a plate..

Step 9: Smother your hard work in red sauce and spice it up however you'd like :) (Our choice in the Miller house, crushed red pepper and Parmesan cheese!)

Food table all set with food! I should have taken off the crock pot lid..there's yummy red sauce inside!

Step 10: ENJOY YOUR DINNER!

Friends, I will not lie to you. When I had my plate all fixed..I did not grab my camera, but my fork!! I did great capturing all night long except to get a picture of the final result, "silly Katie" as Grace and Joy would say :) So I am asking you--if you make your own raviolis after being inspired by ours, please leave a comment with a link to your post, I would love to check it out!

Step 11: Share your meal with amazing friends, talk up a storm, laugh until you cry, and then dig in to some coffee and dessert! (forgot to picture the brownies)