To start off, an update for you worried readers (again, thank you so much for your prayers).  The City of Lawton’s broken generator was fixed this morning and we never ran out of water.  At our apartment, we never even lost water pressure.  All I have to say about the whole thing is praise God for taking care of us, and I’m too frustrated with this city to discuss it any further.  Hooray for having water and electricity.

Since it was cold and rainy yet again today, we decided to turn to one of my favorite cookbooks and find something to entertain us for the day.

The cookbook is River Cottage Family Cookbook, and the chosen recipe was homemade pasta.  It was so easy, fun and relaxing.  Just what we needed after days of power outages and water scares and endless precipitation.  Asher did his good share of helping, as it was an easy project, and we took lots of pictures so that we could walk you through the whole fun process.

First, you read through the instructions and set them up to re-read since your now-mama-of-two-mind can’t remember anything.

Then, make some guacamole.  Because you are easily distractible, hungry and you miss summer.  Trust me.  Just do it.

The kids will appreciate it as well.

After eating your fill of guac (and texting Hubby to bring home margarita mix), continue with pulling out ingredients.  There are only two.

Measure out your flour (about 2 1/2 cups) and start crackin your eggs (4 large).  You should create a little well in the center of your flour for them.

Mix your dough!  Start by whisking the eggs with a fork and slowly incorporate flour by knocking it from the edges into the egg mixture bit by bit.  Soon you will have a rough egg and flour mixture.  Then take it out and knead on a flour dusted surface for at least five minutes.  It will be sticky at first, so keep adding flour as you knead until it is not sticky at all any more.  The dough should feel smooth and silky.

If the baby starts crying while your hands are covered in sticky dough, tell the two year old to climb down and make her happy.

Done with your five minutes?  Go a few more for good measure (or tell the kiddo to go for it!).

Then wrap your dough up in a damp tea towel for 15 minutes.  Find something fun or interesting to pass the time, like a good book, some knitting, or a two camera photo shoot.

Don’t forget to be wearing your favorite apron :)

After your 15 minutes is up, pull off a bit of your dough and roll it out with a rolling pin on your floured surface.  Roll it out until it is very thin.

Then it’s time to decide what kind of pasta you want to make.  We went with bowtie.  Cut little rectangles and pinch in the middle.  Easy stuff.

Then when you are ready to eat them you just boil them for a few minutes.  If you don’t want to eat them right away you can let them dry out for a few days and save them away for later.   We ate half of ours up right away.  When they are fresh they only take a few minutes to boil.  Be sure to salt the water!

Mix them with whatever you want for a delicious dinner.  Since it is winter we went with a little primavera/marinara cream sauce type pairing.  Daddy made the sauce with two small cans of tomato sauce and a splash of heavy whipping cream along with a bit of sea salt and cracked black pepper (and of course the veggies).  It was delish.

Aren’t my babies adorable?

And our little pastas?

I’m telling you, this is the perfect project for a day when you just need to relax and entertain your kiddos (or yourself!).

Ah, now that the little ones are in bed I’m enjoying my margarita mix, just a little bit ;)

And I’m very glad that the electricity and water sagas are behind us (lets hope for good).

See how easy and fun it is to make pasta?

Now go make some!

Advertisement