December Ditties - 2018 - Making Memories

Remember those gingerbread houses I talked about earlier this month and how I was apologizing to my kids because we didn't do it more often and that I felt I missed out on some memories because I was too particular about making messes and things not turning out perfectly like the picture on the box? 

Well, this year my daughters wanted to make homemade ravioli on Christmas.  When they first brought it up I had not written the post about the gingerbread houses and immediately my mind went to the mess and that I didn't want a bunch of confusion going on in the kitchen on a day when there was already going to be a lot happening with opening presents and things.  I said that "most people" made ravioli "weeks" in advance and that it was difficult to make homemade ravioli.  The girls then suggested that we do it a few days earlier and Rachel found a recipe that was not too complicated.  They talked about "making memories" and they wanted to know if their grandmother ever made ravioli from scratch.  I told them I had never seen my mom make ravioli, although she did make homemade gnocchi once and all I remembered was a lot of potatoes and flour all over the place.  I thought the girls had given up on the idea since they didn't mention it again.

Then I wrote the gingerbread house post...guilty "bad mom" feelings took over and so I told the girls they could make homemade ravioli if we did it before Christmas so that at least there wouldn't be a mess on that day.  Christmas Eve came and although our oldest, Amanda, was going to a football game with her dad, Rachel and I undertook the Great Ravioli Experiment.

Ingredients assembled and Rachel's iPad at the ready for instructions.

Good thing Rachel has all the cool tools.  Food processor for the filling.

Starting to get the dough ready.

Rolling and kneading.

 Aren't her nails pretty?  She did them herself.

Rolling out the dough was hard and I did that part.  I forgot to have her take a picture.  We do not have a ravioli press and in retrospect we needed one.  I was trying to picture the "olden days" when there were no such things.  She wanted to stop and go to Target to get one but I said we should wait until we see how things went this first time.     

Now that Rachel is an adult, we can have an alcoholic beverage while we cook...White Zinfandel is my preference.    

After I rolled out the dough she piled the filling on.

So the shapes weren't quite symmetrical and some had more filling than others but we didn't care.  The wine helped with that. 

I am not a fan of tomato based sauces and prefer just butter and parmesan cheese.  Here is the finished product.   

Not the prettiest and the dough was too thick so it was a little chewy but, hey, for a first attempt with no fancy gadgets to assist I think we did great.  We had them as part of Christmas dinner.  Thank goodness there was ham and mashed potatoes to go along with them.  The filling tasted perfect and I think we may try it again, although I'm pretty sure Rachel is going to get herself an attachment for her mixer. 

And there you have a memory made.  The pictures will go in the Christmas album (when I get around to making it!).  Hope you all had a great Christmas with your families making lots of memories.  Ever tried making ravioli from scratch with no fancy equipment?  How'd it go?