Italian Sausage and Ravioli Skillet

3 Italian sausage links

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

1/2 cup diced onion

1 can tomato paste Italian style 5oz

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp Italian seasonings

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (unless it is spicy sausage)

15-20 spinach and cheese raviolis

1. Sauté pepper and onion over medium-low heat. Meanwhile slice sausage into 1/4" thick pieces. Add to skillet and brown each piece on both sides. 

2. Mix together tomato paste, water, and seasonings. Add to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add ravioli and simmer 10 minute until ravioli is heated through. 

3. Serve and top with Parmesan. 

Raspberry Almond Shortbread Cookies

These are Ground Almond thumbprint/shortbread cookies. I have been into using ground almonds lately in place of flour, both for added texture and health (or so I'd like to think). This worked really well in my previous pancake recipe. I just pour them into my Ninja blender and pulse it up a few times until it is powdery with a few small pieces left in there. 

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup toasted almonds (1/3c ground)

1/3 cup seedless red raspberry jam
1 cup powdered sugar
3 teaspoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions:

1. Mix together the butter with the extracts, then add sugar and mix until well combined.

2. Grind almonds into a fine meal using a blender then combine with the flour. Add to the butter mixture and cut together until just combined. 

3. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. 

4. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten slightly and make a small indent in the center. Add a small amount of jam to the indent, about 1/2 teaspoon. 

5. Preheat oven to 350*F and place cookies back into the refrigerator until oven is heated. Bake for about 10 minutes until the edges are slightly browned. Let cool on wire rack. 

6. For icing, mix together the powdered sugar, water, and remaining almond extract. Drizzle over the cookies and enjoy!

This first time around I substituted the ground almonds by weight, but I think it should have been by volume, so I have updated the recipe here to be by volume. The weight of 2/3 cup of flour was 3.4oz. While baking, the bottoms started melting out and spreading too far. Once they cooled and set up they were crumbly, buy not gooey like I was worried about. Next time I'll try to sub by volume and replace 1/3 cup of ground almonds with 1/3 cup of flour and see if they have a better consistency. 

Get your kids involved too! My three year old loves helping measure and pour the ingredients. She had fun pressing the dent in these thumbprint cookies and scooping in jam is great for perfecting fine motar skills.