Valentines Day | Mommie Cooks!

Andes Mint Chocolate Cake

February 13, 2012 By Julie 28 Comments

I must admit that Valentines Day sneaked up on me this year. It wasn’t until last night that I realized how close we actually are to the big event and what little work I had done so far to prepare. Heck, in this house the school party preparation alone is a multi-hour endeavor.

As a result, my Sunday evening was officially sucked into the Valentine vortex of cards, cookies and candy. Cards for the boys classes, candy for the school time masses, cookies for the parties and a holiday dinner menu to plan and prepare for said mom and dad. All that being uttered, I couldn’t let the holiday madness escape my grasp without leaving at least one sweet treat in it’s wake. It is, after all, a day to celebrate love. Love of family, love of friends and most notably, love of dessert.

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Prosciutto and Mushroom Ravioli with Basil Browned Butter Sauce

February 14, 2011 By Julie 35 Comments

The boys and I celebrated Valentines this weekend by indulging in a truly special and incredibly delicious meal. It was a feast fit for a king (or four kings as the case may be) that required ample time, patience, and love to put together. Alex helped roll out the pasta and cut out the shapes. He really wanted to make dinosaur ravioli, but I somehow convinced him that hearts would be more suitable for the occasion. When it came time to stuff them, I put out on APB to my facebook fans and asked them what they would like to see in a ravioli. I received 13 fabulous and completely unique responses. In the end I decided to go with a variation of what Melanie suggested:

Melanie: Mushroom, shallot, sage, proscuitto, ricotta – simple butter sauce would be all you’d need to top it and maybe some fresh grated romano??

Definitely a rockin’ delicious choice. Thank you so much Melanie for the inspiration!

Before I move on to pasta rolling however, I have a little (exciting!) housekeeping to attend to. First up, I wanted to share with you all that the (hopefully) final redesign for Mommie Cooks is nearing completion! I am beyond excited about the new layout and I hope you will be too. Look for the change to take place sometime between this Wednesday and Saturday. This design has been a long time coming; I actually first started the process back in August if you can believe it!

Next in line, this mommy blogger has a blogoversary coming up! Believe it or not, my first year blogoversary will be on the 24th of this month (coincidentally the same day as my birthday) and we are going to celebrate with some fun giveaways. So be sure to stop by in the upcoming days to see what fun items I’ll be sharing with you all.

And last but certainly not least, If you’ve ever been interested in the art of chocolate molding, then you’ll want to stop by my local NPR station’s food blog, WFAEats and check out an article I wrote on just such a topic. I did a lot of “research” for that topic and found it to be a very tasty endeavor.

Enough jabbering. Its time to get back to the good stuff, who’s ready to roll some ravioli?

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Cajun Lobster Pasta

January 26, 2011 By Julie 38 Comments

Valentines day is fast approaching and while many people prefer to go out for dinner to celebrate the occasion I, simply put, am not one of those people. Don’t get me wrong, I love dining out at restaurants; just not on Valentines Day. It’s crowded, it’s expensive, and the menus are usually fixed prixe and limited in honor of the special day. I don’t blame restaurants; it crazy out there on the day of love! You gotta do what you need to do to survive the night.

That’s why, after a few years of braving the crowds and the mediocre food, Scott and I made the decision to stay home on Valentines Day and do it the way we wanted to do it. For the past 10 years, we’ve made it a tradition to have a carpet picnic; just the two of us. We create a wonderful meal, set up a small table by the fireplace, and allow ourselves to eat slowly and truly enjoy one another’s company. It sounds so simple, but trust me, when you have a boatload of small kids running you in circles all day, the option for a nice meal enjoyed slowly and deliberately doesn’t happen all that often.

There are so many wonderful dishes that can be made to celebrate the day. This is one that Scott and I truly enjoy. The lobster gives it that bit of indulgence that you crave for a special meal, but it’s still easy to put together and serves up quickly so that you can spend more time at the dinner table and less time behind the stove.
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