Ravioli Pizza

The concept for this pizza was conceived and carried out within an hour.  I couldn't decide if I wanted pizza or ravioli for dinner, so this delicious creature became my ingenious solution.  I had my pie and ate it too.

You can make your very own Ravioli Pizza.  It's easy.  Just make pizza like you normally do, and add some cooked ravioli on top before you throw it in the oven.  I used a trio of spinach, porcini mushroom and roasted red pepper raviolis for this pie.

A few tips I learned from my 1st Ravioli Pizza trial run:
1.  Let the cooked ravioli sit and dry out for 10-15 minutes after you cook it.  Pat dry if need be.  I didn't and thus there was some extra wateriness in the pasta.

2.  Place some cheese on top of the raviolis so the raviolis don't burn.  I used slices of fresh mozzarella and I experimented by placing some raviolis partially under the slices and some out in the open.  The raviolis began to brown a little too quickly.  It would be easiest to use a shredded or thinly sliced cheese to cover the raviolis.

3. Don't eat the normal amount of pizza you usually do.  These slices were heavy.  I thought I could handle two.  I could not.  I had to walk around my house like Paul Newman's egg-eating ass in Cool Hand Luke.

Ingredients
Pizza stuff
Raviolis

Directions
Make pizza like you normally do, and add ravioli.  You could even use frozen pizza (just put some extra cheese on top halfway through the cooking process).

For this pie I mixed pesto and vodka sauce together for the sauce, fresh mozarella, onions, tomatoes, and a few dashes of kalamata tapenade.  Here's some pics...

Better than Ramen: Thai Noodles with Spinach and Quorn Chicken

I love going to the Big Lots closeout store.  Especially the one about 20 minutes outside of town in the "boonies" where several of my friends share a house.  I almost always find tons of organic and natural non-perishable food items out there for CHEAP...untouched by the traditional country shopper.  Thai Kitchen's Instant Rice Noodle Soup varieties are already cheap (about 70-90 cents/pack), but I recently found every variety marked at $.50 and so I stocked up on about $10 worth for the winter.

I was visiting with my friends after my shopping trip, enjoying the unseasonably beautiful November weather with great company, good beer and a little smoke.  Before long I had to put something in my belly and my little soup packet came to the rescue!!  They make great quick meals (take about 5-7 minutes to cook).  Sometimes I'll drop and egg in at the end of cooking the soup to make and Egg Drop Noodle soup, but on this particular day I added a few nuggets of Quorn "Chicken" and some cooked spinach that my friend was making in another pot.  These little guys travel well and taste great on their own, but it's always fun to try adding different varieties of veggies and protein. 

Ingredients

1 packet Thai Kitchen Roasted Garlic and Vegetable Noodle Soup

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cup cooked spinach

5-8 nuggets of Quorn "chicken" (or real chicken)

Hot sauce

Directions

Follow directions on package of Thai Kitchen soup.   Add Chicken when you add the noodles into the soup.  Add cooked spinach (I usually use frozen spinach, but you can steam some fresh spinach).  Pour into a bowl and let it sit for a few minutes before eating...it will be HOT!!!  Then dig in and slurp some noodles.