Baked Ravioli with Ragu

Thanks to Crowdtap and Ragu, I got to sample a jar of Ragu pasta sauce for free. We love Crowdtap and the opportunities to try new things (and old favorites)! One of our tasks was to create a "NewTraDish" or revamp a favorite recipe.

We decided to make Baked Ravioli from The Country Cook. It was a good choice. Everyone in the family loved it!!! If you haven't tried it before, I highly recommend it. The Ragu that we used was the Old World Style flavored with Meat. It was perfect in this dish. So rich and thick and delicious! My 7 year old daughter wanted to help me cook tonight, so as an added bonus, we got in some quality time too. Here are a few pictures of our cooking adventure.

Our ingredients:

Assembling our ravioli:

My awesome assistant:

Finished ravioli:

Disclaimer: I received a free jar of Ragu pasta sauce from Crowdtap and Ragu but all opinions and photos are my own.

Here Comes Fall!!!

Is anyone else ready for fall? I have been anxiously awaiting this season. It feels like fall here today, looks like fall here today and the weatherman is calling for a cold front. Woohoo!!!

Some of my favorite fall activities are watching football, crocheting and baking. 2 out of 3 have started off pretty well. The Green Bay Packers need to get their game on this week but my crocheting project is about 75% done and I made some banana muffins the other day. 

I've been working on making this wreath from Repeat Crafter Me. I am loving how it's turning out. Here's a sneak peek of what I've got so far:

I can't wait to show it to you once it's done!!! If anyone is interested in an excellent banana muffin recipe, here's one from Fantastic Family Favorites that everyone in my family absolutely loves.

Mini Banana Muffins

adapted from foodnetwork.com
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 TBSP milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray, or use liners.
2. Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.
5. Fill muffin cups using a small scoop (1 TBSP). Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and finish cooling on rack.

Makes about 48 muffins

Enjoy and let me know what your favorite fall activities are!!!

Our Sunday Breakfast Tradition

Every Sunday morning, we have "Pull-Apart Bread" for breakfast. Growing up, I always knew it as Monkey Bread. Paula Deen calls it Ultimate Coffee Cake. Either name you choose, you are in for a real treat! It is super easy, and my kids love it. My husband loves it the most and will get disappointed if I even think about skipping it. It looks impressive too, so if you have overnight guests, it's a great choice to wow them! I love Paula's recipe, but felt that it needed a little something, so I played around a bit and came up with the version below.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you try it, let me know what you think!!!

Ingredients:

• 18 unbaked frozen dinner rolls (I use Rhode's)
• 1 (3-ounce) package cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix (DO NOT use instant! Trust me on this.)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped 
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted

Directions:

The night before, place frozen rolls in well greased Bundt pan. Sprinkle dry pudding mix over rolls. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over pudding mix. Sprinkle chopped pecans over brown sugar. Pour melted butter over all. Cover with a damp towel or tightly wrap with plastic wrap. Let rise overnight at room temperature, about 8 to 10 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes (I find that covering with foil the last 15 minutes of cooking prevents too hard of a bottom crust from forming). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Turn pan over onto a serving platter to remove. Serve by pulling apart chunks with forks.