Homemade cinnamon twists

So I found this on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a go, it didn't look too difficult.  I followed the pin back to the original website and read the description.  I decided to simplify it and used store bought pastry dough  a little sugar and Cinnamon blended with some butter.  To be honest I didn't measure any of it, just winged it.

Then rolled it, sliced it down the middle then twisted the two halves together and then into the shape of a circle.  Next, it went into the over at 200 F for 30 minutes.  Came out piping hot.  Sliced it into 2 parts and ate it hot.  It was delicious!

stuffed Zucchini flowers

One of Michele's favorite side dishes are stuffed Zucchini flowers.  While I was in the grocery store the other day I noticed that the flowers were in the produce section.  So being the good wife that I am I picked up a package of them.  Then with help of my iPhone did a quick search and found a few recipes that helped me get all the necessary ingredients.  I ended up creating my own filling as I could not find all the original one's ingredients.  Below are the ones I used, as a whole it's tweaked from the FoodNetwork.

My first attempt at making stuffed Zucchini Flowers!

Ingredients
    Vegetable oil, for frying
    2 large egg yolks
    1 cup ice water
    1 cup all-purpose flour
    12 zucchini flowers with stems
    Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Stuffing:
1 tbsp Fresh Basil
1 cup Fresh Ricotta
1 tbsp freshly ground Grana

Directions

Pour 3 inches of oil in a deep fryer or large, heavy pot and heat to 375 degrees F.

Combine, basil, ricotta and Grana in a bowl then transfer to a pastry bag.

In a deep mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and pour in the ice water; mix to combine. Add the flour and continue to mix until the batter is the consistency of heavy cream.

Using a pastry bag fill each flower with the mixture of Basil, ricotta and grana.  Once all flowers have been filled dip 2 zucchini flowers at a time in the batter to coat completely, letting the excess drip off.

Fry the flowers in the hot oil for 2 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Drain the fried flowers on a platter lined with paper towels, season with salt and pepper while they are still hot. Repeat with the remaining zucchini flowers.

Love-sagana time

Valentine's Day and the fourth annual love-sagana day!  During our first year together Michele and I decided we would not exchange gifts but instead cook for each other.  Michele made lasagna and cut out hear shaped pieces of pasta to put on the top thus creating the first annual love-sagana.

This year we invited a few friends to join us.  Michael, Doug and Harriette.  Michele made the lasagna from scratch on Saturday and we cooked it up on Tuesday night.  It was best lasagna yet!  Think and delicious and the homemade sauce was amazing.  Doug made a lemon meringue pie, he'd had quite a challenge give my chocolate allergies and Michael's dairy allergies.  But Doug out did himself his pie was amazing.  We had a wonderful dinner with great friends and were even able to share some of our wedding photos with them.

Our table ready for guests.

2012 Love-sagana

Doug's Lemon meringue pie