FRIED RAVIOLI {Recipe}

I totally forgot that I wanted to share this recipe with you all.  I made this a few weeks ago and photographed some of the steps.  This is something I make for special occasions or when I just feel like making my kids REALLY happy.  They LOVE these things, and to be honest, so do I!  They are super yummy!

Here are the ingredients: Ravioli (cheese), marinara (for dipping), bread crumbs (I like Italian ones), parmesan cheese, flour, and eggs.  Oh and you need oil to fry them in.  I use Canola Oil.

Place your ravioli in a zip top bag and dump some flour on them.  Seal the bag and shake it up to coat them.  Some might be stuck together but that’s ok.  When you go to get them our just separate them and dip them in the flour at the bottom of the bag.

Crack a few eggs in a pie pan and place your bread crumbs and parmesan cheese an another.  Use a fork to beat up your eggs.  Hope they don’t sue you.

Dip your ravioli in the eggs, then throw them in the bread crumbs.  I like to do four at a time.

Place coated ravioli on a baking sheet to await frying.

When you fry them make sure to use a DEEP pot and only fill it 1/3 of the way full.  The oil will bubble up when you add ravioli, especially on the last few batches when it has lots of bread crumbs in it.  I fry 5 or 6 at a time depending on which pot I am using.  Fry them to a dark golden brown.  You know they are done when one of them opens and cheese starts to ooze out.  Drain them on a paper towel and then serve with warm marinara sauce for dipping.

Recipe: Toasted Ravioli

From the Kitchen of: Emily Nelson

Yield: 16 oz.

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz. pkg. cheese ravioli, fresh or thawed
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 c. flour
• 1 tsp. garlic salt (optional) I didn’t use it above but it does make it yummy…I guess I forgot!
• 1 c. plain breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or just use Italian Breadcrumbs instead)
• 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
• vegetable oil for frying

Directions: Mix water with eggs and beat well; set aside. Mix Italian seasoning with the breadcrumbs.  Add parmesan and garlic salt.   Measure flour in a bowl. Heat oil in a deep fryer or medium saucepan to 350° for deep frying. Dip ravioli in flour (or use zip top bag to coat), then egg, then bread crumbs. And carefully place in oil. Fry until golden, remove from oil and set on a paper towel to drain.  You can fry a few at a time, using a slotted spoon to remove them quickly when done.  Serve with your favorite marinara sauce.  This is a great appetizer.

FRIED RAVIOLI {Recipe}

I totally forgot that I wanted to share this recipe with you all.  I made this a few weeks ago and photographed some of the steps.  This is something I make for special occasions or when I just feel like making my kids REALLY happy.  They LOVE these things, and to be honest, so do I!  They are super yummy!

Here are the ingredients: Ravioli (cheese), marinara (for dipping), bread crumbs (I like Italian ones), parmesan cheese, flour, and eggs.  Oh and you need oil to fry them in.  I use Canola Oil.

Place your ravioli in a zip top bag and dump some flour on them.  Seal the bag and shake it up to coat them.  Some might be stuck together but that’s ok.  When you go to get them our just separate them and dip them in the flour at the bottom of the bag.

Crack a few eggs in a pie pan and place your bread crumbs and parmesan cheese an another.  Use a fork to beat up your eggs.  Hope they don’t sue you.

Dip your ravioli in the eggs, then throw them in the bread crumbs.  I like to do four at a time.

Place coated ravioli on a baking sheet to await frying.

When you fry them make sure to use a DEEP pot and only fill it 1/3 of the way full.  The oil will bubble up when you add ravioli, especially on the last few batches when it has lots of bread crumbs in it.  I fry 5 or 6 at a time depending on which pot I am using.  Fry them to a dark golden brown.  You know they are done when one of them opens and cheese starts to ooze out.  Drain them on a paper towel and then serve with warm marinara sauce for dipping.

Recipe: Toasted Ravioli

From the Kitchen of: Emily Nelson

Yield: 16 oz.

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz. pkg. cheese ravioli, fresh or thawed
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 c. flour
• 1 tsp. garlic salt (optional) I didn’t use it above but it does make it yummy…I guess I forgot!
• 1 c. plain breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or just use Italian Breadcrumbs instead)
• 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
• vegetable oil for frying

Directions: Mix water with eggs and beat well; set aside. Mix Italian seasoning with the breadcrumbs.  Add parmesan and garlic salt.   Measure flour in a bowl. Heat oil in a deep fryer or medium saucepan to 350° for deep frying. Dip ravioli in flour (or use zip top bag to coat), then egg, then bread crumbs. And carefully place in oil. Fry until golden, remove from oil and set on a paper towel to drain.  You can fry a few at a time, using a slotted spoon to remove them quickly when done.  Serve with your favorite marinara sauce.  This is a great appetizer.

BLACK BEAN & CORN SALSA {Recipe}

This is a delicious salsa that can be eaten with tortilla or pita chips.  It is also great on tacos or alongside any other Mexican food as a salad.  The recipe is a conglomeration of several recipes I have tried.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Black Bean Salsa

From the Kitchen of: Emily Nelson

Yield: about 6 cups

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. sliced green onions (about 3)
• 1 small bag frozen corn kernels
• 2 cans canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 c. chopped tomatoes (or however many you like)
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• the juice on 2 lemons and 2 limes
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 large yellow or white onion, diced finely
• 2 avocados, diced
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil

Directions: Mix all ingredients together. Serve with chips or whatever you want. It is delicious. NOTE: Do not add black pepper even though it might seem like a good idea.  It ruins this salsa, in my opinion!

BLACK BEAN & CORN SALSA {Recipe}

This is a delicious salsa that can be eaten with tortilla or pita chips.  It is also great on tacos or alongside any other Mexican food as a salad.  The recipe is a conglomeration of several recipes I have tried.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Black Bean Salsa

From the Kitchen of: Emily Nelson

Yield: about 6 cups

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. sliced green onions (about 3)
• 1 small bag frozen corn kernels
• 2 cans canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 c. chopped tomatoes (or however many you like)
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• the juice on 2 lemons and 2 limes
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 large yellow or white onion, diced finely
• 2 avocados, diced
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil

Directions: Mix all ingredients together. Serve with chips or whatever you want. It is delicious. NOTE: Do not add black pepper even though it might seem like a good idea.  It ruins this salsa, in my opinion!

OREO TRUFFLES on a STICK {Recipe}

These are very simple to make and VERY yummy.

Grind up your Oreos with your food processor. If you don’t have one you can place them in a Ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

Put your crumbs in a bowl and add a block of softened cream cheese.  Use a mixer to combine. (NOTE: I tried combining the crumbs and cream cheese with the food processor.  It worked but then it made everything too warm and I had to chill it before I could roll it into balls.)

Shape dough into 1” balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  (I used my cookie scoop to scoop out some dough and then used my fingers to divide that in half to get the perfect sized balls.)

Chill your dough balls in the freezer while you melt your chocolate.

I used Ghiradelli candy making chocolate I had picked up at Sam’s club at Christmas time.  You can use chocolate chips, but may end up with some white spots on the chocolate after it hardens.  No biggie if you are just making them for your family but if you want them to be really pretty I would suggest using candy chocolate.

Give your chocolate a rough chop.

Melt your chocolate.  I have this VERY handy chocolate dipping pot.  If you don’t have one melt according to package directions in the microwave.  I do not recommend using a double boiler or a bowl over boiling water.  I have had too much chocolate ruined by one drop of water getting into the bowl. 

Remove balls from the freezer and insert lollipop sticks.  Working quickly, dip truffles in the chocolate coating, tap them on the side of the bowl to remove excess, and place back onto parchment.  If using sprinkles, add them before the chocolate hardens.  If they slip off too much dip a couple more before adding sprinkles to the first on so the chocolate sets a bit more and then your sprinkles will stay put.

Allow to harden.  If using chocolate chips you will need to place them in the refrigerator to get them stiff again.  I placed mine in the baking cups after they were hardened just for decorative purposes.

Recipe: Oreo Truffles

Yield: about 40

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz package Oreos
• 1 8oz block cream cheese, softened
• 16oz. chocolate, melted

Directions:  Crush Oreos into fine crumbs and mix with cream cheese.  Roll into 1” balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Chill while you melt the chocolate for dipping.  Dip the balls into melted chocolate, shake to remove excess, and place back on parchment lined baking sheet.  Add sprinkles, if desired.

OREO TRUFFLES on a STICK {Recipe}

These are very simple to make and VERY yummy.

Grind up your Oreos with your food processor. If you don’t have one you can place them in a Ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

Put your crumbs in a bowl and add a block of softened cream cheese.  Use a mixer to combine. (NOTE: I tried combining the crumbs and cream cheese with the food processor.  It worked but then it made everything too warm and I had to chill it before I could roll it into balls.)

Shape dough into 1” balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  (I used my cookie scoop to scoop out some dough and then used my fingers to divide that in half to get the perfect sized balls.)

Chill your dough balls in the freezer while you melt your chocolate.

I used Ghiradelli candy making chocolate I had picked up at Sam’s club at Christmas time.  You can use chocolate chips, but may end up with some white spots on the chocolate after it hardens.  No biggie if you are just making them for your family but if you want them to be really pretty I would suggest using candy chocolate.

Give your chocolate a rough chop.

Melt your chocolate.  I have this VERY handy chocolate dipping pot.  If you don’t have one melt according to package directions in the microwave.  I do not recommend using a double boiler or a bowl over boiling water.  I have had too much chocolate ruined by one drop of water getting into the bowl. 

Remove balls from the freezer and insert lollipop sticks.  Working quickly, dip truffles in the chocolate coating, tap them on the side of the bowl to remove excess, and place back onto parchment.  If using sprinkles, add them before the chocolate hardens.  If they slip off too much dip a couple more before adding sprinkles to the first on so the chocolate sets a bit more and then your sprinkles will stay put.

Allow to harden.  If using chocolate chips you will need to place them in the refrigerator to get them stiff again.  I placed mine in the baking cups after they were hardened just for decorative purposes.

Recipe: Oreo Truffles

Yield: about 40

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz package Oreos
• 1 8oz block cream cheese, softened
• 16oz. chocolate, melted

Directions:  Crush Oreos into fine crumbs and mix with cream cheese.  Roll into 1” balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Chill while you melt the chocolate for dipping.  Dip the balls into melted chocolate, shake to remove excess, and place back on parchment lined baking sheet.  Add sprinkles, if desired.

LITTLE MAN BABY SHOWER {Party}

Well, the shower went off without a hitch.  I will admit it was a TON of work for me….much more than I anticipated.  I was exhausted by the time the party started!  But I think all the guests had a nice time and enjoyed themselves and hopefully my sister was happy and felt loved. 

So, I am just going to post a ton of pictures from the shower.  I had some trouble taking some of the pictures due to the time of day and lighting in the room.  Hopefully you will still be able to see all the little details.  In the coming days I will post recipes for the food.  Enjoy!

How to make this printable HERE

I wanted to do something a little different with the cupcake toppers than I have seen before.  So instead of just scalloped circles I did scalloped squares and pinked circles, each in 3 different colors.  I love how they turned out! HERE is my tutorial on making cupcake topper graphics.

Cupcakes made by my sister Melinda.  We use an icing coupler to pipe the frosting because we could never find a big enough tip.  The coupler is the little white thing that makes it so you can switch out the tips on your pastry bag.  You have to find one without a little notch in it though.

CUPCAKES!! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Garland inspired by THIS party.

The onesies were made with heat transfer vinyl I cut on my Silhouette.

GARLAND VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

These hanging garlands spun around slowly all night.  Here you are seeing the back side of several of the circles.  I connected the shapes using clear fishing line and clear tape.

This was a fall colored wreath that I had spray painted white.  I added the ribbon and fabric rosettes to match my color scheme.  The twinkle lights gave a nice effect during the shower.

FOOD TABLE VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Vinyl mustaches on plastic cups.

Stamped paper plates…how to HERE.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa (Made by my sister Molly)

Homemade Chips (made by my sister Molly)

Italian BOWTIE Pasta Salad (Made by my sister Laura)

Cucumber Water (SUPER refreshing!)

Oreo Truffles

Pretzel “Cigars”

Bowtie Sugar Cookies (made with a homemade cookie cutter)

Triple Dipped Strawberries (made by my sister Maggi)

Baby Caleb all dressed up + the favors.

Chocolate mustache molds can be found at Bake It Pretty

Four of my cuties in disguise!