Girls Dinner

My sisters Jenny and Kate, and I had a girls dinner while our boys were out. Kate and I cooked two recipes we got from a cooking class that we took at Thanksgiving Point (the classes are total gems).

 

Italian Ziti

1 lb. sausage

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 red pepper sliced

1 large can fire roasted tomatoes, diced

1 cup tomato sauce

3 Tbsp. basil

2 tsp. oregano

2 handfuls of chopped spinach (good way to sneak greens past picky eaters)

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

1/2 cup parmesan

15 oz. ricotta (or you can use cottage cheese)

12 oz. ziti pasta

Saute onion and sausage in pan with olive oil. Add garlic (be careful garlic can burn easily) add the pepper, tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, oregano, and spinach. Then mix in the cheeses. Spray a gratin dish and pour ziti mixture in. Sprinkle with more cheese and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 min.

We also made a lemon pudding cake but it was so yummy it was gone before we could shoot any pics.

Lemon Pudding Cake

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (you can use powdered buttermilk, it keeps longer between use)

1 cup sugar, divided

4 large yolks

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 

1/2 lemon zest

1.2 cup all purpose flour

1/4  cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

pinch of salt

3 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a square glass baking dish. Beat egg whites until they form soft peaks add 1/2 cup of sugar and beat till peaks are stiff but not dry. Remove whites and put in a separate dish. Then beat buttermilk, the other 1/2 cup of sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, flour, butter, and salt in a mixer until smooth. Fold buttermilk mixture into whites in parts. Pour batter into dish and set that dish into a larger baking dish and pour water into the larger dish until water comes up the side half of the way. Bake until top is evenly browned- about 45 min. Cool completely before serving. We served it layered with whipped cream and raspberry sorbet. YUMMMMMMY!

We also whipped up a fruit salad reminiscent of my mom. 

-Mix chopped fruit and berries

-Then grind your choice of mint leaves, cardamom, ginger, or lime, lemon, or orange zest with 1 tablespoon of sugar

-Mix in sugar mixture with fruit and put in fridge

-The sugar will pull out the juices from the berries and create a yummy flavorful syrup for your fruit salad.

It was definitely Nora approved.

We then watched the season finale of the Office. Which all I have to say is "Come On!".... so close.