A Birthday Party on a budget...

This weekend I was determined to host a dinner party for 11 guests at our place, to celebrate our special friend’s birthday but I was hesitant to spend anymore than $40 to do it. In the past I’ve never really had a budget and usually found myself stepping into the grocery store and coming out with more than $100 worth of groceries, some of which never got used but this time it would be different. I would schedule and plan out each component of the meal and head to the store only once with my list. I’m proud to say it worked…
Our Birthday Menu consisted of:

Roasted Garlic - Garlic Bread
Helena’s Meat Lasagna
Baked Ravioli in Alfredo Sauce
Caesar Salad
Fresh Fruit Tarts
Ice Cream Birthday Cake (my gift to the birthday boy)

Some of the above are my tried and true favorites but I did try a new recipe that I created from a variety of different recipes I found online and this one was a favorite among all of our guests. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did…

Baked Ravioli in Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients
3 pkg.frozen Four Cheese Ravioli, cooked, drained, as per package
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ small red onion, minced
½ tsp minced garlic
1 package of sliced mushrooms
2 cup heavy cream
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese
2 tablespoon bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 400º F. Grease an 8-inch-square baking dish.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil then add salt. Add ravioli and cook for 8 minutes to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, garlic. mushrooms and saute until tender. Add heavy cream and cheese, and bring to a boil. Cook until sauce has reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in pasta. Pour into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle cheese and bread crumbs over pasta mixture; cover with foil.

Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake for additional 5 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Pasta, cheese.... mmm... Lasagna

I took this dish over to our friend's home as we tried to get all of our friends together for a night of good food, lots of laughter and tons of babies... :) It's easy and when served with garlic bread and ceasar salad, its a quick and complete meal. The night was topped off with Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake that just hit seemed to hit the right spot.

Helena’s Meat Lasagna

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon hot pimento paste
700 ml of Ragu or tomato sauce
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of water
1 package of whole mushrooms, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
1 package oven-ready lasagna noodles

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Brown beef in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, adding chopped onion and pimento paste to meat as it cooks. When meat has browned, drain off fat and place in a large pan.

Then add tomato sauce, tomato paste and water. Use your hand blender to mince meat. Then add chopped mushrooms and bell peppers. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Lay a small amount of the tomato sauce mixture. Then sprinkle eggs over the mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and then lay noodles lengthwise across bottom of casserole dish. Add a layer of meat mixture, eggs, then cover with mozzarella cheese and repeat for a total of 3 layers. Finish with a layer of cheese and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbling.

Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!