Ravioli and sledding

For Christmas last year (2011), I received the pasta roller attachment for my KitchenAid mixer and a ravioli press.  I tried them once a few weeks ago using a gluten free recipe since Katy was going to be eating supper with us.  After several hours of frustration and dough that was FAR too dry, we got a few fettuccine noodles out of it and that's it.  Part of the problem was me not knowing what consistency the dough needed to be, and I'm sure I added way too much flour.  However, I've also learned since then that gluten free flours tend to be drier by nature than regular all-purpose.  Live and learn!  A weekend or two ago, Greg only had to work on Saturday morning, so he came home at noon and helped me make ravioli during the kids' naptime.  We had Dad, Mom, Jason, Ellie, Jack, and Boone over for supper, and the raviolis were a success!

Rolling out the dough...it was pretty exciting to see a sheet of pasta come out!

Nice.

Our filling consisted of ground beef, sausage, spinach, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, and some seasoning.  Delish!

Ready to fill....we did a couple of trays this way, and the rest of them we just formed over the metal tray...which is how I think you're actually supposed to do it.

Oh, well.  It worked both ways!  After filling, we put another sheet of dough on top, and then pressed the silver tray on top, pressing it with a rolling pin to seal it.

Look at those cute little raviolis!

We made 96 total, having plenty for supper that night, enough to have Rustin and Sharon over the next day for supper, and still have a few in the fridge.  I'm already excited to do it again and come up with our own adaptations!

The next day was Sunday, and after church Greg wanted to take the kids sledding.  It was pretty windy, but we bundled everyone up and went down to the cabin.  Down there, it was seriously windy.  Tirzah and I stayed up by the cabin trying to stay out of the wind.  We ventured out at the end for a bit, but were ready to get back to the warm van!

Greg took Tirzah down a little hill just so we could say she went sledding for the first time. :)

Whee!

I'm just sure she enjoyed it. :)

Max finally got to make a snow angel!  He'd been talking about it for days, so I'm glad he finally made one. 

Of course, Nora wanted to make one, too!  They both did a really good job!

Tirzah was happiest once we were snuggled back in the warm van...note her rosy nose and cheek!  It was still fun to be outside, though, and I'm glad we went.  Tirzah took a really good nap once we got home! :)