Gnocchi

Every time I make this, it always makes me miss having cable. I got this recipe from the Food Network channel years ago. Good ol' Giada. I used to love Everyday Italian. I'd never tried gnocchi before and always assumed it took a painstakingly long time to make. Boy, was I wrong.

Normally, when I'm in the mood for Italian food, my brain automatically wants fettuccine Alfredo. I loooove me some Alfredo sauce. Considering my hips/waist/thighs/rear don't love Alfredo sauce as much as I do, it's great that I found a yummy alternative. Speaking of Alfredo, I'm going to try topping my gnocchi with it next time I eat it!

This is super kid-friendly, too. My kids gobbled this up. And had second helpings. Second helpings!! We ate it plain the first night (with just butter and shredded Parmesan), but then my husband and I ate more for a late dinner last night, and we topped it with tomato sauce (spaghetti sauce works, or you can use tomato sauce that you season with oregano, thyme, etc). Either way, it's delish.

It would be a big hit at a party! Perfect finger food (well, skewered with toothpicks). It's great as a main dish (which is how we ate it this time) or as a side dish.

ALSO (did you know there was so much to say about gnocchi?!), since it's made from potatoes (starch), it's super filling. And it's a meatless meal. I'm always on the lookout for meatless meals, so that's another reason why I love this dish. Cheap, meatless, yummy, easy, perfect.

Ingredients:
3 pounds potatoes (mine were on the smaller side, so I used about 8 potatoes)
3-4 cups flour
1 egg
salt

Put whole potatoes in a large pot of water (you won't be eating the skins, so you don't *have* to wash them, but I do anyway). Boil for 45 minutes.

While still warm, peel the skins off (they're so soft that you can just use your fingers -- after letting them cool a bit first!).

Place in your mixer and whip with your whisk attachment. If you don't have a mixer, you can just use a large bowl (or the pot) and a potato masher. But when I first did it that way, it was too chunky, so I used my mixer instead. Perfect consistency that way. After it's blended, make a well in the center. Crack the egg into the well and then sprinkle with flour (start with 3 cups and add more if you need it).

Then you knead. Knead until it all comes together. Add more flour if you need to. Now, this next part you can do one of two ways (i.e. the traditional way or my made up way). The traditional way is to take softball size balls of the dough and roll them out into long strips (like as snake). Then you cut them into 3/4" size pieces. I didn't really like doing that, so what I do is just take a portion of dough and roll them into balls in my hands (probably 1-1.5" balls). Much bigger than the traditional size, but I like them better that way. Plus, I have young kids, so it's easier for them to stab their forks into that way.

Next, you drop them into a few inches of simmering water. Do it in batches so you don't overload your pan (which will lower the cooking temperature of your water and make the process take longer). Swish them around a bit while they cook so they don't stick together. When they float, they're done.

Drain, and then brown them in a couple tablespoons of butter until lightly browned.

Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan (or tomato/spaghetti sauce) and serve!

What's your favorite starch?

Potato Patties with Black Bean Salsa

I hope you'll forgive us for taking a week off. Hillary has bought her first home and was preparing for the closing and the moving last week. She will be without internet for a little while. I will be trying to keep up for the next two weeks while she is getting settled and unpacked so I hope that you aren't disappointed. You can wish her congratulations if you'd like.... I know I do!

This recipe is amazingly tasty. I hadn't ever tried anything like this before but everyone loved it and it was so yummy! I hope you will love it too!

Potato Patties with Black Bean Salsa

1 bag (1 lb 4 oz) refrigerated Southwest-style shredded hash brown potatoes*

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz)

½ cup Original Bisquick mix

3 eggs, beaten, or ¾ cup fat-free egg product

¼ cup canola or olive oil

1 can (11 oz) whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained, rinsed

¼ cup chunky-style salsa

In large bowl, mix potatoes, cheese, Bisquick mix and eggs until blended.

In 12-inch skillet, heat 2 T of the oil over medium heat. For each patty, spoon about ½ cup** potato mixture into oil in skillet. Flatten with back of spatula.

Cook patties about 2 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm*** while cooking remaining patties. Add remaining 2 T oil as needed to prevent sticking.

In 2-quart saucepan, heat corn, beans and salsa over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until hot. Serve over patties

Makes about 6 servings.

* They didn’t have southwest-style at our grocery store so I just used about 2/3 a bottle (16 oz) of salsa to make up for it.

** I used about 1/3 cup so I could get more out of it and they were a great size.

*** I pulled out a piece of aluminum foil and folded it in half on top of a large plate. As the patties got done I put them on the foil, on the plate and then covered them with the other half of the foil. They were nice and toasty.

Sweet Potato Fries

Happy Monday! I'm so excited to have my camera back to be able to blog again! I didn't realize how much I'd missed blogging until now. I've got so many great recipes to share that I've had a hard time deciding on which ones to post first!

I was recently given a bag full of lemons by a good friend of mine. As I was trying to figure out what to do with all these lemons, this recipe came to mind. So throughout this week, I'll be posting recipes that use fresh lemon juice. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have. Thanks again, Lisa!

On we go.

We love fries at our house (who doesn't??). In an effort to keep our arteries unclogged, I read over lots of online recipes, trying to find healthy alternatives. We invited some friends over for dinner a few years ago, and my husband wanted to make some yummy burgers. I figured that was the perfect time to debut this recipe I found on Foodnetwork, courtesy of Giada from Everyday Italian. Everyone loved it, even my kids. They gobble these up every time I make them.

Ingredients:
5 sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons basil leaves, chopped OR 2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe Garlic Mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut sweet potatoes into fries that are about 1 inch wide by 5 inches long. This doesn't have to be too precise or anything, but the thicker you cut them, the more limp they'll be when they're done cooking -- so you want them pretty thin.

Place fries on a foil lined baking sheet and toss with the oil. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Combine basil, salt and pepper in a small bowl. When fries are done, sprinkle them liberally with the salt mixture. Serve with garlic mayo for dipping.

Fries that are good for you? Yes, please!

Cheese and Bacon Potato Rounds

First of all, I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving! :)

I don't know about you, but I bought a large bag of potatoes to make mashed potatoes with last week and ended up with about half the bag left and didn't know what to do with them. I was in a pinch a few nights after T-day and didn't know what to make. The kids said they wanted baked potatoes, but I didn't have an hour to wait, so I decided to come up with something similar. They turned out really yummy and were so very easy. It was the perfect way to use up the rest of the potatoes. No, this recipe doesn't call for half a bag of potatoes. I just enjoyed this so much that I made it 2 days in a row. :)

Ingredients:
4 large baking potatoes
2 tablespoons butter, melted
salt and pepper, to taste
paprika
1/2 package bacon, sliced into 1 inch pieces and cooked
green onions, chopped
cheddar cheese, shredded
sour cream

Scrub potatoes, then slice into 1/4-1/2 inch rounds. Spread into a thin, even layer on a baking sheet. Put melted butter on both sides (this is where your silicone pastry brush comes in super handy!). Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and flip rounds over. Sprinkle with paprika, shredded cheese, bacon crumbles and green onions. Return to oven until cheese melts, about 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

I'd just spent 2 full days doing T-Day dishes,
so don't judge me on the paper plate! lol.