Great Ideas from "Let's Dish" -- Strawberry Bread & Cheesy Baked Ravioli

One of my fave blogs is "Let's Dish". I love all of the ideas & receipes that Danelle has posted and have adapted several of her receipes for my family.


Strawberry Bread

My Version
3 eggs
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cups cooking oil
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup applesauce
1/2 t vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat the 3 eggs until thick and lemon colored. In a separate bowl, mash the strawberries. Add the sugar, mashed strawberries, applesauce, and oil to the eggs and mix well. In another large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and soda. Add the dry ingredients to the berry mixture and mix until just incorporated. Divide batter evenly between 2 well-greased 9 x 5 loaf pans. Bake for 50 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before removing bread from pans.


(My picture isn't that great of the bread)

Let's Dish Version
3 eggs
2 cups sliced strawberries
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat the 3 eggs until thick and lemon colored. In a separate bowl, mash the strawberries. Add the sugar, mashed strawberries, and oil to the eggs and mix well. In another large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the berry mixture and mix until just incorporated. Divide batter evenly between 2 well-greased 9 x 5 loaf pans. Bake for 50 minutes. Cool for 10-15 minutes before removing bread from pans.

**I added vanilla, additional cinnamon, omitted salt, reduced the amount of sugar, replaced part of the oil with applesauce.**

---

Super Cheesy Baked Ravioli

My Version -- makes 2 large pans
64 oz frozen cheese ravioli
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 pounds ground turkey, italian seasoned
1.5 pounds Italian Sausage
1 large jar prepared pasta sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 of a small can of tomato paste
8 oz sour cream
15 oz ricotta cheese
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons italian seasoning
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 oz grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender. Add meat and cook until ground beef is no longer pink. Stir in pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste and keep warm over low heat. Meanwhile, cook ravioli according to package directions until just tender; drain. In a medium bowl, stir together sour cream, ricotta cheese, italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt & pepper until well blended. Layer 1/2 of the ravioli in the prepared dish. Top with half of the meat and sauce mixture, all of the sour cream/ricotta mixture and parmesan cheese. Repeat with the remainder of the ravioli, meat and sauce mixture and mozzarella. Bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.
















Let's Dish Version
1 pound ravioli
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (26 ounce) jar prepared spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender. Add ground beef, salt, pepper, rosemary and red pepper flakes and cook until ground beef is no longer pink. Stir in spaghetti sauce and keep warm over low heat. Meanwhile, cook ravioli according to package directions until just tender; drain. In a medium bowl, stir together sour cream, ricotta cheese, basil and oregano until well blended. Layer 1/2 of the ravioli in the prepared dish. Top with half of the meat and sauce mixture, all of the sour cream/ricotta mixture and half of the mozzarella. Repeat with the remainder of the ravioli, meat and sauce mixture and remaining mozzarella. Top with 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.