A Year of Holidays: Father’s Day (Part 2)

Father’s Day (Part 2)

Yesterday we celebrated my husband’s first Father’s Day with some delicious food from The Pioneer Woman’s cookbook! This year I made Toasted Ravioli, Arnold Palmers, and Caesar Salad.

Click here to see my review of the lasagna and chocolate strawberry cake we tested last year.

The Day Before

Knowing that I was going to have my hands full with the baby all day, I prepped what I could in advance.

First I made the croutons for the salad. To be honest, I would actually recommend making these the day of if you can. They were delicious on both days, but they were really amazing when they were fresh. The next day they were more hardened and difficult to eat because of their size.

For the croutons, I melted butter and oil, mixed together the spices, cut a loaf of bread into cubes, and then tossed it all together before baking it in the oven.

Next I made the lemon ice cubes. The ingredients are cooked over the stove first, and then left to cool. A lemon is cut into chunks and put into an ice cube tray (I couldn’t find ours so I used the baby’s baby food freezer tray, which is why mine look funny), and then the cooked mixture is poured over top. It’s left in the freezer until frozen solid.

Finally, I made the iced tea concentrate. This is basically tea cooked very, very slowly over the stove. Throw everything into a pot, set to low, and let heat slowly. Once finished, it’s left to cool before pouring into a pitcher and storing in the fridge.

I also threw the meat ravioli in the freezer, since I had purchased refrigerated instead of frozen.

The Day Of

I started off by prepping as much as I could before the time-sensitive stuff. This included making the dressing (just throw it all into the blender!) and chopping the lettuce for the Caesar Salad, and getting the “dipping” trays set up for the toasted raviolis – egg mixture, flour, and breadcrumbs.

I will admit that I cheated with the Caesar Salad, so my review will not be 100% accurate. I excluded the anchovies. She even says in the recipe, “Don’t be grossed out! You won’t even know they’re there.” But…yes, I will know. And I just couldn’t bring myself to add them.

Then I made the raviolis. They were each dipped in egg, then flour, then egg, and then breadcrumbs before being dropped in the hot oil and cooked until golden and cooked through.

The salad, croutons and salad dressing were then tossed together to finish of the Caesar Salad, the Arnold Palmers were poured (fill glass with ice, then do 1/2 tea concentrate, 1/2 lemonade, and add an ice cubes), and marinara sauce was warmed to serve with the Toasted Raviolis.

Taste: 9/10 for Toasted Cheese Raviolis, 10/10 for the rest (including Toasted Meat Raviolis)

This was all delicious!

I do think the quality of the ravioli you use will affect the taste, because I thought the meat raviolis were way better than the cheese raviolis. I was only able to find a very fancy meat ravioli, whereas the cheese ravioli I purchased was a generic brand. However, the cheese ravioli was still fantastic!

The Arnold Palmers were not too sweet or sour, like I thought they might be. And the Caesar Salad was still amazing without the anchovies, though I definitely tasted the mustard in there. The spicy croutons in particular were my husband’s favorite!

Difficulty: “Easy” for the Caesar Salad and Arnold Palmers, and “Average” for the Toasted Raviolis

While both the Caesar Salad and Arnold Palmers will require more work than you’re probably expecting, neither are difficult. The Toasted Ravioli is a bit more challenging because you’re frying the raviolis, so you have to monitor the heat of the oil closely.

Cost: Average

Between the three dishes there are a lot of ingredients, but most are pretty common and/or cheap to purchase.