Ever the adventurous cook, I had to add something new to my repertoire. Although I have made simple noodles (some call them Amish noodles) from scratch for soup, I never had the time or even the inclination to try raviolis. Pinterest struck again on a cold snowy weekend after Christmas, when I saw a pin about using mini muffin tins as a form. So I made the filling of ground beef, onion, spinach, garlic and egg and then made the dough. After rolling it out extremely thin, which was the tedious part of the process, I placed half on the muffin tin and pushed down slightly with a melon scoop to make round depressions. Then I brushed around each indentation with water to help the top layer of dough adhere, and spooned in the filling . I don't have a ravioli cutter or pastry wheel so I just used a sharp knife to cut the squares and then crimped the edges with the tines of a dinner fork. They went into the freezer after a parboil, for a quick dinner during the work week.
The funny part of this story is that I was still at work when Pop decided to cook dinner and pulled out the bag of raviolis. He phoned me to find out how to prepare them and I explained, "just drop them in boiling water for a few minutes and then keep them warm in a pan of marinara sauce until I get home." He phoned me a few minutes later and asked, "but how do you get them crispy?"
Hated to burst his bubble with the fact that these were not the fried variety, but he was happy enough after eating more than one cheese-topped helping!
Several days of sub-zero temps kept us in the house (except for a dog walk around the block). To combat seasonal depression, we keep the drapes drawn wide open on the sliding back door and let the sun shine in. We also keep the bird feeders full because the winter visitors are quite entertaining. 
It is amazing that the tiny little legs and bodies of these juncos don't freeze! I know it has to do with altered blood flow but these happy guys are always moving too - darting and flitting at top speed!
