ONE HUNDRED POSTS OF FOOD ON THE BLOG...

If one of those posts should happen to fall... You know the rest.

I can hardly believe it, really. In a few short months this blog has been filled with 100 recipes. I kept thinking what special thing could I make or do? Then I thought well I already do special "dishes" because of Daring Bakers and Recipes to Rival. So I am going to celebrate with a new feature to my blog. Cooking Cross Country. You see my mother gave me this lovely cookbook that was published in 1940. It has recipes that are popular in each state. I will post on them each month, one state at a time. The only problem is that Hawaii and Alaska were not part of the US at that time. But I will fill in a recipe regardless. The book is called, AMERICA COOKS and it is by The Browns, Cora Rose and Bob. How cool is that? I am excited about this book as there are lots of interesting ideas and recipes in it. I am sure you will find it interesting as well. So stay tuned, the recipes will be starting September 15th.

On with the recipes at hand. This lovely "pink" pasta is Martha Stewarts recipe for Beet Pasta. I had bought some beets from the Farmer's market last week and wanted to do something different. I think these fit the bill. It was a little labor intensive but worth it. I got my kids to eat beets. No, I did not try to sneak it in. I have been saying that I would be making beet pasta all week. Whether they knew exactly what that meant, I have no idea. But was I going to argue with my kids getting bonus nutrition?
My two year old, proud of her "pourple" pasta (her favorite color).
My five year old, lovin' her "pink" pasta (her favorite color). She ate that entire bowl.

The filling that I made for the ravioli's is as follows:

21 oz ricotta, part skim
1/4 cup peccorino romano, grated
2 oz extra sharp cheddar
2 teaspoons dried dill, if you use fresh use less
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chives,chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 egg

Combine the ingredients in a bowl, place in the refrigerator until ready to use with the pasta.

The lovely cake at top is the chiffon cake from Use Real Butter.

lemon chiffon cake
makes 2 11×17 sheets or 2 9×3 rounds (you need only one round)
this recipe originally intended for baking at 5300 ft.

14.5 oz cake flour
8.75 oz confectioner’s sugar
6.75 oz whole milk
6 oz canola oil
3.25 oz eggs
4 oz. lemon juice
1teaspoon baking powder
13 oz egg whites
9.5 oz granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven 375F. Butter pan. Place parchment in pan and butter the parchment.

Combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and confectioners sugar into a large bowl.

Mix wet ingredients: eggs, oil, milk and vanilla in the large bowl until combined. Add dry ingredients to wet.

Whip whites and granulated sugar to medium peaks.

Fold the batter gently into the whites. Fold until completely combined.

Bake until set, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and remove from pan. Let cool on a rack. When cake is cooled, remove the rounded top and cut into 3 layers.

The filling between the layers of cake is as follows:

1 (8 oz.)package fat free cream cheese, room temp
1 (8 oz.)package regular cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (I have super strong almond extract)
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Whip the cream cheese until creamy, add whipping cream. Stop mixer, pour in confectioners sugar, and start the mixer back up slowly until the confectioners sugar is incorporated. Pour in extract.