A Special Valentine's Dinner

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's weekend.  I know mine was special.  On Friday afternoon my husband brought me these beautiful flowers.  Gerbera daisies are special to me because they are the first flowers my husband ever gave me (on our very first date).   Friday night I made a special dinner for just my husband and I.  He took me out to my favorite restaurant for lunch on Saturday.  He also bought me a new digital camera, a Canon PowerShot SD 880 IS, which I am very excited about.  Everyone should be as lucky as I am to have such a wonderful sweetheart!  

For our Friday night dinner, I tried a new recipe from Cooking Light for Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce.  We also had a spinach salad with toasted walnuts, strawberries, a little 

Gorgonzola cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette.  Then there was some garlic bread to top it off.  I will post about the delicious dessert another day.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce

1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin

2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh sage

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

30 round wonton wrappers

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Cooking spray

1 cup fat free milk

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup (2 oz.) crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

3 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts, toasted ( I used toasted walnuts)

• Spoon pumpkin onto several layers of heavy duty paper towels, spread to 1/2-inch thickness and cover with more paper towels.  Let stand 5  minutes.  Scrape pumpkin into a medium bowl using a rubber spatula and stir in breadcrumbs, Parmesan, salt, minced sage, pepper, and nutmeg.
• Working with 1 wonton wrapper at a time, spoon 2 teaspoons pumpkin mixture into the center of wrapper.  Brush edges of wrapper with water and fold in half, pressing edges firmly to seal.  Place on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch.  Repeat with remaining wonton wrappers and pumpkin mixture.
• Fill a large Dutch oven with water and bring to a simmer.  Add half the ravioli to the pot.  Cook ravioli for 4 minutes (do not boil), or until done, stirring gently.  They should float when perfectly cooked.  Remove ravioli with a slotted spoon, lightly coat with cooking spray and keep warm.  Repeat with remaining ravioli.  
• Combine milk and flour in a saucepan, stirring with a whisk.  Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add butter, stirring until butter melts, then gently stir in Gorgonzola.
• Serves 6 - 5 ravioli, 3 tablespoons Gorgonzola sauce, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of nuts per serving.  Serve immediately.

This is the first time I've made ravioli and I thought this recipe was delicious.  I did half it since I was making it just for two and it was the perfect amount.  I also couldn't find fresh sage and I had to substitute dried sage.  I think it would have been even better with the fresh sage.

The salad is something my mom made for me a while back when she was trying to recreate a salad she had at a restaurant.  The recipe is my own approximation of how I make it and you can adjust the amounts to suit your own taste.

For each single serving salad:

2 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

2 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

2 tablespoons toasted walnuts

2 tablespoons raspberry vinaigrette (I like Annie's Naturals)

This is a very simple salad to make, yet it seems a little fancy and special to me.  Yummy too!

I apologize for the poor quality of the last three pictures.  They were taken in a hurry and in low light with my old camera.  The picture of the flowers at the top was taken with my new Canon and wow what a difference!