Zucchini Ravioli

First I want to say thank you so much for all your kind words last week in the passing of our dear friend and babysitter. They truly meant the world to me. Her life and love were so honored in her services this past weekend.

Today I bring you one of my newest obsessions!!! Zucchini used as noodles! I am not on the Keto diet and I am not eating low carb, I truly struggle trying to cut carbs from my life, it's a love I don't want to see leave my life.But I love zucchini and I love my thighs to jiggle less so I have been switching out my normal pasta for zucchini. I don't see this ending anytime soon. These ravioli did not disappoint at all actually this morning the hubs said those cheesy green things were awesome when I got home last night. Score one for the home team!

If you want to give this whole switch a try I have a few tips.
-Salt your zucchini before cooking and allow it to drain I do this over paper towels and blot it dry. The more moisture you can draw out of there the better allow them to set for 15-20 minutes.
-Invest in a sprializer (I don't know if that is a word) it cuts veggies into spirals. My kids find the noodles fun to eat this way.
-When using a vegetable peeler peel from the bottom it just works better.
Give these green noodles a try I think you'll be amazed how truly good they are!

ZUCCHINI RAVIOLI

2 cups whole milk ricotta
4 medium zucchini
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (divided)
1 cup Mozzarella cheese (divided)
1 egg
1 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp Red pepper flake
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (I am a big fan of the Aldi's marinara)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish..
Line a medium bowl with paper towel and add ricotta. Set aside and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
Using a vegetable peeler, slice the zucchini lengthwise into thin strips, stopping when you reach the center. Discard the center or reserve for another use. Place strips on a paper towel, sprinkle lightly with salt and set aside.
Gently gather the papertowel around the ricotta and squeeze out any excess liquid.
In a medium bowl, add ricotta, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/4 cup mozzarella, egg, garlic powder, basil, parsley, red pepper. Season with salt and pepper and stir until fully combined. Set aside for 8-10 minutes.
Blot any excess moisture off of zucchini strips. On a work space, overlap 2 strips of zucchini and then overlap 2 additional strips on top of and across the first 2 strips, forming a cross shape.
Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, place a tablespoon of ricotta mixture into the center of the zucchini formation.
Fold the bottom layer of the zucchini strips over the filling and into the center so that they are overlapping. Fold in the other 2 strips to center so that filling is completely enclosed. Repeat process with remaining filling and zucchini.
In prepared baking dish, add a 1/2 cup of sauce, spread evenly. Place formed zucchini pockets seam-side down. Pour remaining tomato sauce over zucchini. Top with remaining Parmesan and Mozzarella. Transfer to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until zucchini is cooked through.

Be like me!!! Double the recipe! Prep one batch for the freezer and prep the other  the zucchini ravioli the day before cooking and store in an airtight container and thrown in the oven when you get home! I served mine with a grilled chicken breast. But you could completely switch things up and use a meat sauce over the ravioli or even eat it with no meat...but that wouldn't happen in my home! Enjoy!

So God Made a Babysitter...

This week has dealt us a hand that we never expected but that is how life works because in the end we don’t control it. I have been a terrible blogger and this was not the blog I wanted to make my “comeback” with but to me blogging is a type of therapy. And in addition to it helping me I wanted to honor my dear friend. We unexpectedly lost our babysitter this week, she has been a consistent friend and caregiver in our lives for the past six years. She took Charlot when she was barely two and hasn’t stopped loving us since. She was the one to wipe my tears and calm my fears that I could love enough for another baby. She was a constant servant of others. I can almost guarantee you as she was following her Lord home her thoughts weren’t on herself they were on her family and her “kids” she was, I’m certain worried who was going to love them the way she does. And the answer to that is no one there will never be another you my dear Telpha, I love you and miss you so very much.

Last night as I lay in bed trying desperately to go find calm and go to sleep my thoughts were swirling everywhere. And they just kept coming back to all Telpha did for us. Then for some reason the Paul Harvey speech “so God made a Farmer” came into my head. I remembered that when my dear Papa passed away I found comfort in that speech in knowing that he lived a life that served his love of what the Lord provides. As I laid there I kept thinking about how Telpha also served what the Lord provides through her work of loving God’s children.

Here’s what well after bedtime thoughts bring to me.

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise for his children and said, "I need a caretaker"

-- so God made a Babysitter.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, welcome sleepy babies, work all day in the home, kiss babies goodbye, fix supper, then go to and stay past midnight at a meeting planning bible school"

-- so God made a Babysitter.

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to carry a toddler and yet gentle enough to wipe away tears; somebody to hold hands, tame a fussy baby, finish the day hungry, have to wait lunch until all the kids are down for a nap, then answer the phone call of a concerned parent and tell them to call anytime-- and mean it"

-- so God made a Babysitter.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a child because a parent had an emergency, and watch him cry then dry his eyes and say, 'Mommy’s ok.' I need somebody who can shape manners from an unruly child, make a snowman from a milk jug, who can make a flowerpot appear like art with a child’s hand prints; who, planting time and harvest season, will finish her forty-hour week by Tuesday noon because mommies and daddies are in the field, and then pain’n from dish back,' put in another seventy-two hours"

-- so God made a Babysitter.

God had to have somebody willing to run back in the house one more time at double speed to get to the potty and yet stop and give a hug when the ought OH’s happen and they didn’t quite make it.

-- so God made a Babysitter.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to teach right from wrong, yet gentle enough to wipe noses and tie shoes and tend the bright eyes of a newborn, who will stop her day for an hour to sing a song with a sad three year old."

It had to be somebody who’d love hard and pray often and not cut corners; somebody to cook, clean, feed, dry and change and wipe and dress and rock and tie the shoes and thaw the milk and replenish the snack supply and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church; somebody who would become part of a family with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when a child says “I’ll just stay here.”

-- so God made a Babysitter.

To Telpha’s family, her husband Wayne and her children sorry isn’t near enough but please know that she was loved so much and every child who stepped through her door became her child. Thank you for sharing her with us.