Ever wonder why we sell Armstrong Cheese in our Deli Counter? It’s because it makes the best topper to ravioli
Ravioli
Ok, so that’s not really why. It’s just one of my personal reasons for appreciating the fact that Schinkels’ sell Armstrong Cheeses in the Deli.
One of my other personal reasons is this
right there. That’s it. The piece that you can’t shred and are forced to nibble on until I’m finished making the Ravioli. It’s usually a pretty big piece when I use Armstrong.
So, back to Ravioli
Ever get stuck in a rut with your dinners? I know I do. Over the past few years especially, our kids have changed from students with regular schedules into working adults who work all sort of shifts and end up coming home at varying times every day, or don’t come home at all for dinner. To make it even more of a challenge, Greg and I now both work until 6:00 most days, with each of us having different mid week days off.
Schedule Juggling.
It’s a thing. Really.
See:
I even found neat GIFs and JPEGS illustrating my new state of being the past two years.
Planning and cooking decent meals every day has turned out to be my largest challenge and stressor. I want my people home for dinner whenever we can. It’s so hard to connect in life as a family. Now that everyone works full time, it’s very important to us to maintain the family dinner time. But, it was a lot easier before I was one of those full time workers and had the time to plan and prepare a meal.
Thankfully, my kids have all got some kitchen skills, so often, as long as I know one of them are home in time, I can give them a dinner idea and they will have something ready for us to eat when we get home.
Most days, we all touch base on the family text and I will start the conversation
“Who is home in time to make dinner?”
or “Is anyone other than Mom able to cook something? Anything?” starts us off.
Throughout the morning, a few responses will trickle in, but we will eventually have a plan, even if it is the frequent, by default, Tacos made by the 15 year old. He is capable of making just about anything, but if left alone, Tacos it will be.
Today, I had the afternoon off, and wanted to make something that tasted good and yet, wouldn’t eat up my entire day in the preparation. I had a lot of stuff to do other than cooking. I skimmed through my recipes and settled on Ravioli. Just needed a quick run to Schinkels to get ground beef and frozen ravioli and I was set.
The secret ingredient in my Ravioli is my Salsa.
(Actually made some this year to sell in the store – if you like a thick, chunky sweet salsa with just a bit of kick, Schinkelhorst Salsa is the one to try)
The sauce is so easy – just fry ground beef and onions, mix with Borelli Crushed Tomatoes or Salsa, then pour over cooked ravioli and stir so that the ravioli are sauced. Bake for 45 minutes, then sprinkle lots of cheddar over top at the end. Takes me less than 15 minutes to make as I fry the beef while I boil the ravioli. Then the rest of the day is mine to do as I please. When it’s time for dinner, I simply bake the ravioli for 45 minutes and then add a bunch of shredded Armstrong Colby over top and bake uncovered for the last 15 minutes.
Insert picture of ravioli with cheese here
I finally have a picture of the ravioli, because the last three times I’ve made ravioli, I pulled it out of the oven, placed it on the table and they were digging in faster than I could grab my phone. But today I managed to snag a picture because Greg was a little later than usual.
Final task was to start the conversation in the Schinkel Family Text in an attempt to get as many of my people home eating a meal as I possibly could.
It worked! I got all 6 of the 6 possible members of my family here in my kitchen, eating a decent meal and communicating with each other about our days.
Another dinner win, thanks to Schinkels, Armstrong and Ravioli.
