Joseph's RULE!!!

Sooooooooooo as I've been telling you all, my brother John and I made homemade ravioli for Easter, annnnnnnnnd they were soooooooooo GOOD, anyway, it just sooooooooo happens that my nephew Joseph LOOOOOOVES ravioli!!!

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So yesterday he a plate full of them, and let me tell you, FOR JOSEPH to actually eat that much is a BIG DEAL, he's NOT a big eater!!! So then his mom comes outside and is like, Joseph, did you eat that ravioli that  you dropped on the floor earlier? (Apparently, she had been looking for it to clean up) Joseph was like, YUP, I sure did!!!! Soooooooo we all started laughing!!! And i'm like, YEAH, that's MY BOY!!! Cuz I DESPISE when THE FOOD I MAKE GETS WASTED...I don't care if its store bought, BUUUUUUT IF I MADE IT WITH MY HANDS...yeah...

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So we're all laughing and Joseph says, well the reason why I ate it is because I have a rule about ravioli!!! We're like, a RULE????

He says yes, a RULE!!! It's,

The NO RAVIOLI LEFT BEHIND RULE!!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

That's a very ITALIAN rule!!! I like  LOVE it!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

Easter Cooking!!!!

Soooooooooooo there is an Italian tradition in our family to make what we call Easter Pies! Easter pies are NOT a dessert, but a meal! Kind of like a calizone, buuuuuuuut BETTER, waaaaaaaaaayyyy BETTER!!!

The long ones are my favorite, you fill them with ricotta cheese and sausage or ham...these ones are my favorite!!!! The round ones are filled with muenster cheese and all kinds of meats, solidified together with egg...these ones are good, but a little to rich for my liking!!!

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I believe the round ones are from my mom's mom side of the family and the long ones are from my mom's dad's...buuuuut it could be the other way around!!! Traditionally speaking, Catholic Italians would make these pies on Good Friday and eat them on Saturday before Easter to break their period of fasting from meat during lent! Obviously our family doesn't do this that way, we just enjoy them during this time of the year!!! :)))

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I admit that we are a little bit stingier with passing these Easter pies out than we are with our Christmas cookies! The reason being is that they are quite pricey to make, annnnnnnnnnd NOT EVERYONE LIKES THEM!!!! We don't want them to go to waste, so yeah!!!

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BUUUUUUUUUUUT ITALIANS KNOW, how good these pies truly are. This was my uncle's response when I sent him a pic...

YUP, HE'S ITALIAN!!! :))))

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Today we started a NEW Italian-Easter tradition....

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI!!!!

I went to my brother John's this afternoon, we're a pretty good team in the kitchen, pretty much cuz I do whatever he says!!! LOL

Little Bethany, MORE THAN READY to help out her daddy!!!

Working...

WORKING....

YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

With the dough we had left, I said, lets make ONE really big ravioli!!! My grandpa said his mom used to make them just ONE really big ravioli, the size of a bowl!!!

Its as big as my hand!!!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd of course we taste tested our ravioli,

it was SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!!

Makes the store bought stuff really dim in comparison to THE GINTYS!!! Olive Garden ain't got NOTHING on us!!!

Mom would've been SOOOO PROUD!!!!

♥Mary Frances :)