Glorious Grains

I had a hard time titling this post.  The problem?  I love alliteration (as I'm sure you have guessed by now) and there are too many cool, clever combinations (sorry, had to!)

Great Grains?

Goodness Grains-cious?

Or the always popular "They're Grrrrrrr-ains!"

Life is full of tough choices, in't it.  (Bonus points for you if you know what movie that is from!  Although if you know my top 3 movies you can probably guess it.  No, not Clueless.)

Grains are the topic of  the day because I love my grains.  Tonight I had a night to myself and used it to bake a loaf of bread and experiment with home-made macaroni.

Bread

Ingredients: Whole Wheat Flour, Flax Seeds, Dry Milk, Salt, Oats, Honey, Cinnamon, Yeast, Water

Add to Breadmaker

Watch it mix

Remove finished bread

Cut it up

Enjoy with cranberry apple tea and apple butter ('tis the season!)

That was the easy part! Onto the macaroni!

I researched a whole bunch of recipes before I did this (I spent like 20 whole minutes!).  They all had different egg/flour/water ratios, so I decided to trust my instincts and play it by ear.  The recipes I found also basically said that if you don't have a pasta machine that you are basically out of luck trying to get it flat enough.  I dared to prove them wrong!

Before I could start, I had to clear off part of my counter.  I have LOTS of gadgets and utensils on the counter and I knew I wouldn't want to clean flour and egg off of it all.

First, I made a mound of a cup of whole wheat flour, made a well, and plopped an egg in there.

After it was mixed together (adding lots of extra water to get a good dough-y consistancy) it rested for about a half hour.

Once rested, I broke off a little piece of the dough ball and rolled it out as flat as I could.

It was pretty flat.  For real.

Repeat for the whole dough ball.

I cut a few into spaghetti by rolling it extra thin...

... and then slicing it into thin strips.

I used another few for ziti.  I rolled it onto a thin spoon handle...

... sealed it with a little water and sliced it into ziti-sized pieces.

The rest I cut into circles for ravioli.  Some were with a wine goblet and some with a champagne glass.

For the filling, I mixed together ricotta cheese, parmesean cheese, and parsley in a bowl and let that rest.

After plopping a little in the middle...

...put another circle on top and seal it!  We have ravis!

Many Ravis!

Many Macaronis!

I cooked 'em up,

cooled 'em,

stored 'em,

and ate 'em! (with special sauce you will learn about whenever John joins us!

WOW!  While macaroni tends to be cheap-ish at the store, ravioli are pricey.  Now that I know I can make it, and it is yummy, I am excited to try different kinds.  Spinach?  Sweet Potato?  Dessert?!  Yeahhhhh.  End of story.  Good Story.

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