Review Time: Pasta Prima 5 cheese Ravioli

Ok, so here's a quick product review
.

I had been hearing for a while that Pasta Prima was going to be putting out a gluten free variety of their "fresh" ravioli. I had looked and looked but never found. This weekend I finally found them, so I just had to give them a try. I found them in our local Carr's (Safeway) store. Of course I picked them up and just had to give them a try.

They only had the 5 cheese variety, so that's what I went with. 8 oz package has 2 servings, so don't plan on feeding your family with this, but it makes a nice quick lunch or gives you and option for a solo dinner while the rest of your family has their "regular" pasta.

Taste and texture were pretty good. Being a cheese filling, it was a little "bland" by itself, but I added in a nice garlic tomato sauce and that was just yummy. I did have some leakage as at least one of the ravioli broke.

This probably won't be making a regular appearance in our menu around here, but overall I can give it a positive review. Since I had this for lunch, I wasn't able to share this with hubby to get the non-gluten free opinion on this, but I liked it.


** note: I am getting nothing in exchange for this review, just want to get my opinion out about products I've tried and either liked or didn't.

Busy, busy, busy

So September has been a bit busy and crazy, this past week or so especially so. But there will be several posts coming up, as soon as I have time to sit down, organize and write them..
I've been busy canning and dehydrating food this past week and that will be going on next week and perhaps into the week after that as well. We've had our first freeze and snowfall of the season. And I've got some reviews coming up! There are some new gluten free food items out that I will be taking a look at, and there's a new cookbook out by one of my favorite gluten free bloggers and I had the chance to get my hands on advance copy of her latest cookbook. It's out now, but I just got my copy today, because, well, things.. anyway... I've had the chance to skim through it a bit today and I already have about a dozen or so recipes bookmarked for upcoming usage. (They will come in particularly handy while I'm spending my days bottling and processing potatoes the next week or so...)
So, not too much to post today, but things will be coming.. including a few quickly whipped together creations from this week's canning crazed mind, though pictures may not be as prevalent on some of them... Sorry, but I was busy and crazy and didn't think about it until it was too late. Ah well.
So, keep your eyes posted here.. lots of things will be coming soon! I promise!

Bacon Cheeseburger dip

 So my husband saw this recipe posted on facebook the other day and asked me if it was one I could do. He said it looked like it would be gluten free an that meant I should have no problem making it. So we went and grabbed the one or two items we needed and we made this for our weekend splurge. (It's a holiday weekend and while everyone else is getting 3 or 4 days, he wound up with overtime all week and was asked to work Saturday and Monday and only got Sunday off, so we decided to make the best of his 1 day weekend and he pretty much just took the day to be lazy and eat junk food. It doesn't happen often, but we make the best of it when we do..)
Anyway, we made this, and oh yes, it is very yummy. We opted to serve this with potato chips (in place of potato buns, which is what he'd want for burgers..) but it would go very well with toast, or even as a sandwich, I would think.. 
Here's the recipe as I pulled it from the facebook post.

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip (careful~ this is addicting!)

1/2 pound ground beef
8 bacon strips (cut into chunks)
1/2 diced onion
1 clove garlic - chopped
4 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Pre-heat oven to 350º. Cook ground beef; drain.

Cook bacon until crispy (drain; keep 1-1/2 T grease in pan).

Saute onion and garlic in grease. In a large bowl mix cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, cheese, worcestershire and ketchup. Add beef, bacon, onions and garlic to mixture above and stir until combined.

Pour into baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes.

We did like this. It is very filling. I tried it adding a smidge of dill pickle relish as well, just to see. That was a good addition as well. We're thinking next time we'll add jalapenos as well.  As you can see, to serve, I portioned out into individual ramekins,, topped with a little shredded cheese and chopped green onions.

I have no idea where this recipe originated, I'd give proper credit if I did. Hubby thinks next time he'd like to try it with less cream cheese and more sour cream, but this is very good, as is. I'm also thinking that I'd prefer to make my own mayo for it next time. I simply didn't feel like taking the time to do it this time. I'm also thinking this would be wonderful done in a small crock pot for holiday or buffet dips. (We even discussed the potential of using velveeta for this, if you wanted to go with a more melty cheese option.. Not the healthiest option, but then, this isn't a healthy dish by any means...)