Baked Ravioli

I’ve had such technical difficulties the last few days.  At the suggestion of Randi (hi Randi!) and other Facebook friends, I ended up running a Malware scan on my desktop, since that’s where I do 90% of my work.  I guess I am old school, but I like my desktop!  It ran for an hour and 15 minutes and found 369 “virus” type things.  Gah!  It removed them, and I updated our Norton software.  Computer maintenance was Tony’s wheelhouse, not mine, and when I kept getting the pop up that my Norton Security had lapsed that my computer was at risk, I just kept clicking it shut and didn’t do anything with it. 

So I updated it on two laptops and my desktop.  Only one tiny problem now.  I can’t access the internet on my desktop.  It keeps telling me that I don’t have access to the internet because my firewall and/or antivirus software is preventing me from accessing it.  No amount of google searches, Hannah or Jacob helping could get me on the internet, so I am blogging from Tony’s laptop today.  I find it hard to download my photos to the laptop, so it’s a bit of a learning curve – you’d think that it would just be like my desktop, but it isn’t.  But, there are worse world problems, right?!

Yesterday morning Hannah asked “can you make those wonton thingies again?”  So more breakfast wontons went into the oven yesterday morning.  I had weighed out all the ingredients, except the cheese, so when I came back, Hannah had already topped the wontons with cheese, so I have no idea how much she actually put on, so I ended up counting it 6 smart points for 3 instead of 4.  Three are filling enough though!

Hannah had already warned me at breakfast that her cleaning pants were on.  Our pantry gets out of control pretty quickly.  Tony built it for me about 10 years ago, and I love it, but the way the shelves are laid out, there always seemed to be a giant gap at the bottom of the pantry and stuff would just get lost in there.  Hannah had the bright idea of putting in an unused bookshelf from the basement, and I love how it turned out.  Even if the process is a bit stressful for me.  You see everything has to work just right for Hannah to be happy, and she can be 75% done with a project, see a better way and start all over.  I don’t know how this girl spit out of me!

So now I can see everything!  Turns out I have a lot of pasta, which is funny because I don’t make pasta all that often and my twin sister probably has it two times a week!  And then we started working on the back room.  I had an old bulky desk that I had been using that was starting to fall apart.  It was a boxed desk from Home Depot that Tony put together probably 14 years ago.  So we got to work.  We pulled everything out of the desk, broke it down and threw it out.  It always makes me sad when I get rid of something that has Tony’s fingerprint on it, but it was time for the desk to go.  When we pulled it away from the wall, I found this note:

That was a note I gave Tony for his 40th birthday in 2000.  I gave him a jar of 40 notes telling him why/how I loved him, and that was one of them.  He used to pick me up at the train station every day and literally my heart would start beating a bit quicker the closer I got to my stop.  How the hell that popped up after all these years is beyond me, but it made me smile and sad at the same time.

Since we were busy most of the day, dinner was super quick to put together.  Hannah actually meal planned this week, which was nice, because then I knew she would like everything!  Guys, this could not be easier.  FOUR INGREDIENTS!

• 28 ounce can Hunts Four Cheese Pasta Sauce
• 2 cups chopped baby spinach
• 2 ounces chopped fresh mozzarella
• 2 ounces reduced fat Four Mexican cheese blend
• 25 ounces frozen cheese ravioli.

Heat oven to 400.  Layer a bit of sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish, then a layer of ravioli (still frozen), a layer of half the spinach, then half the cheese and repeat, topping the casserole with the remaining sauce and cheese.  Bake covered in foil for 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.  I finished it off under the broiler for a couple minutes to get the sauce nice and bubbly.

10 pieces of ravioli is a serving.  I originally said on Instagram that it was 11 points per serving, but it’s actually 12.  Still not bad for that deliciousness.  I just drizzled with a bit of dried parsley when it came out of the oven. 

On Monday night I ended up lighting up the grill to make burrito bowls, another one of the things Hannah meal planned.  Although I she ended up with a vegetarian bowl – no chicken for her!  These chicken breasts were super flavorful after just 30 minutes of marinating, but would be amazeballs overnight.

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• the juice and zest of two limes
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Mix together and let the chicken marinate for 30 minutes or up to overnight.  I grill these breasts on indirect heat – meaning the coals are on one side of the grill and the chicken is on the other.  Once the chicken hits 150 degrees, I finish it off directly over the coals.  Perfectly cooked.

I follow “grillinfools” on Instagram, he’s got some amazing BBQ porn if you want to search for him.  Anywho, he reposted my chicken picture and within an hour there were over 1000 likes – and now two days later, nearly 2000!  I guess people love grilled food as much as I do!

So I am off to Virginia tomorrow.  Not sure if I’ll be blogging on Friday or Monday, but if not, you’ll have some guest posts lined up.   I am happy to report that my fear of flying is long gone.  I guess just by traveling more was all I needed to get over the fear of flying.   Of course, you’ll be able to follow along on Instagram – just find me at mybizzykitchen. 

I am also 90% better too!  I am not sneezing 100 times a day, and my head is only a tiny bit stuffy, so I am happy to have gotten sick before my trip. 

Alright, the laundry isn’t going to get done by itself, so I have to get the laundry party started.  Have a great day!