Great Recipe Ideas

I recently reached a point where I felt as though I were stuck in a perpetual "cooking rut". Wanting to put a different spin on the menu I spent an afternoon reacquainting with some of my favorite resources. I have a freezer full of beef and lamb. I first searched food network to find some ideas. I really like their kid friendly recipe portion. They gave me the idea to try tacozagna and yogurt with granola and berries. Tacozagna could be made with many different approaches. My daughter has enjoyed the yogurt and granola for breakfast and lunch. Next I needed to find something extraordinary to do with lamb shanks. The recipe that caught my attention was "North African- Influenced Lamb Shanks with Couscous", made by Emeril. I always like his recipes because they are doable. The recipe was well worth all the time and effort. All of the flavors united were amazing. Last I searched for pasta meals. Pasta seems to rock everyones world. Always great to make extra to send to work and school for lunch the next day. I found recipes to make homemade ravioli. I liked food networks ideas. Being unsure about making my own pasta I decided to check into my favorite cook book, "How to Cook Everything." Looking into my book gave me some ideas. My daughter does not like cheese, so instead of binding the beef and pork with cheese I used bread crumbs. The substitution worked well. We used a manual pasta machie to flatten the dough. The book gave tips on how to do it manually, with a pasta machine and with the aid of a food processor. The meal was a crowd pleaser. I was thrilled my first run with making the ravioli was a success. To top it off making the pasta from scratch was a fun activity with the family. Happy cooking!