homemade Italian

i finally had the chance to invite my roommate from last year over to my apartment and cook with her! A and i decided after shopping in downtown Evanston for a while that we were going to cook Italian, so we headed to Whole Foods and picked up some stuff. most of the things from the meal were ready-made: Caesar salad with dressing (which, by the way, many people think is Italian because they associate it with Julius Caesar, but it's actually of Mexican origin), a fresh demi-baguette, pre-packaged parmesan cheese, and ground pesto, as well as fresh ravioli from Trader Joe's.

we heated the bread in the oven for a while and then essentially made "bruschetta". notice that it's in quotes because i honestly didn't bother looking up any recipes or suggestions - i just tossed together some ingredients and made my own (aka substituted cilantro for basil). it actually turned out really nicely! the pictures look so pretty, don't they?? red + green = happy! maybe because it reminds me of Christmas..it's just so bright and happy!

the ravioli was the chicken sausage ravioli with mushrooms and cheese from TJ's (my favourite grocery store EVER).

we cooked it and then browned it in some pesto sauce..we originally were going to make a cream pesto sauce, but A somehow made it curdle HAHA. okay, i blame her but i honestly don't know if it was truly her fault ;)

we also bought some vodka sauce from WF that we're going to test out with our Conchgliette pasta some time soon (: stay tuned for delicious pictures some time soon!