I am committed this year to cooking out of those cookbooks there on the shelf...
Yup, that's right...I already have begun cooking a few dishes which I will be sharing over the next few months.
These are the cookbooks Ima be concentrating on....
Ina Garten is
Barefoot Contessa.
This book is just recently out in Fall 2014.
All of the recipes can be made ahead of time.
I've made one recipe so far and it was dang good.
No surprise considering it is Ina Garten.
Barefoot Contessa.
This book is just recently out in Fall 2014.
All of the recipes can be made ahead of time.
I've made one recipe so far and it was dang good.
No surprise considering it is Ina Garten.
Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa D'Arabian
of Food Network.
Published in 2012.
Melissa shares recipes for a family of four that can be made for $10 and under.
I've made a couple recipes and they're easy and pretty spot on!
No fancy ingredients here!
of Food Network.
Published in 2012.
Melissa shares recipes for a family of four that can be made for $10 and under.
I've made a couple recipes and they're easy and pretty spot on!
No fancy ingredients here!
Thug Kitchen cookbook was born from a popular cooking blog.
Published in 2014, this excellent cookbook shares all vegan recipes but you would never guess they are vegan.
Entertaining and delicious, this cookbook uses naughty words in the descriptions, so buyer-cook beware.
Published in 2014, this excellent cookbook shares all vegan recipes but you would never guess they are vegan.
Entertaining and delicious, this cookbook uses naughty words in the descriptions, so buyer-cook beware.
Vegan Before 6:00
by famed New York Times culinary journalist and columnist Mark Bittman.
Mark has a style of writing that is friendly and interesting and relatable.
Vegan Before 6:00 was published in 2013 and narrates with recipes his journey to lose weight and reduce his cholesterol numbers, utilizing a vegan before 6:00pm philosophy, thus never feeling deprived.
by famed New York Times culinary journalist and columnist Mark Bittman.
Mark has a style of writing that is friendly and interesting and relatable.
Vegan Before 6:00 was published in 2013 and narrates with recipes his journey to lose weight and reduce his cholesterol numbers, utilizing a vegan before 6:00pm philosophy, thus never feeling deprived.
Ahhh, how I love me the Nadia G with Bitchin Kitchen.
Nadia is an Italian Canadian and she uses humor in her show and this cookbook from 2009 to share yummy recipes.
She does often use ingredients not always commonly found in your pantry, so that is a barrier but other recipes are spot on for a fun meal/dish.
Nadia is an Italian Canadian and she uses humor in her show and this cookbook from 2009 to share yummy recipes.
She does often use ingredients not always commonly found in your pantry, so that is a barrier but other recipes are spot on for a fun meal/dish.
Plenty.
Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli chef, writer and restaurant owner.
This popular cookbook from 2010 shares vegetable recipes.
Ottolenghi has a new cookbook out in 2014 called Plenty More that also has done
very well.
I plan on making lots of these dishes this year.
Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli chef, writer and restaurant owner.
This popular cookbook from 2010 shares vegetable recipes.
Ottolenghi has a new cookbook out in 2014 called Plenty More that also has done
very well.
I plan on making lots of these dishes this year.
| And lastly, again, Mark Bittman. The Mini Minimalist. Mark has a NYTimes column and food cooking show called The Minimalist. These recipes are easy with few ingredients. This printing is small though, because the book set is very small. If you are an old hag like me, you will def need your reading glasses :) |  |
Okay, you would think that I would be sharing a recipe from one of these cookbooks but alas, I am not.
Am instead sharing this
Cheesy Skillet Gnocchi.
The mens of the world LOVE this!
I think it's the spicy Italian sausage.
This recipe came from the cool cooking blog DinnersDishesandDesserts.com
Erin has fantastic recipes and information, check it out, just click on her website there.
So why is this dish so special, you ask? Well...
Erin has fantastic recipes and information, check it out, just click on her website there.
So why is this dish so special, you ask? Well...
Yummy gnocchi in a tomato sauce mixed with Italian sausage and mozzarella.
Spicy!
Bursting with flavor!
Filling!
Here's the simple fixins for this
hearty dish!
Okay, so gnocchi is thick,
soft dough dumplings.
Packages can be found on the shelf in the pasta section at bigger supermarkets OR in the refrigerated section by the fresh tortellini and such.
I imagine you can find them frozen too.
soft dough dumplings.
Packages can be found on the shelf in the pasta section at bigger supermarkets OR in the refrigerated section by the fresh tortellini and such.
I imagine you can find them frozen too.
I buy the
whole wheat gnocchi that I find at Hy-Vee in the specialty pasta aisle.
These are made with whole wheat and
sweet potatoes.
whole wheat gnocchi that I find at Hy-Vee in the specialty pasta aisle.
These are made with whole wheat and
sweet potatoes.
Also I use
FIRE ROASTED
tomatoes in this recipe. Makes a HUGE flavor difference! The smokiness of these tomatoes with the sweet, spicy Italian sausage...yum!
Now this is going to go quick, so keep that in mind...a quick, hearty meal in 20 minutes!!
Start by browning up the gnocchi in a couple tbsp of
olive oil.
Only takes 5-8 minutes to get a nice color on these little dumplins'.
Remove the gnocchi to a bowl and brown the Italian sausage.
The guys loved this Italian sausage.
To make this a leaner meal, I may use a turkey breakfast sausage next time.
Remove the sausage to the same bowl as the gnocchi and wipe the grease out of the skillet.
Add
the fire roasted tomatoes
and garlic into the skillet.
the fire roasted tomatoes
and garlic into the skillet.
Don't forget the seasonings!
Salt, pepper
and Italian seasoning.
Add the
gnocchi and sausage into the tomato base.
The dish
is coming together good, amIright?
Add a bit of cream,
1/4 cup...
1/4 cup...
Stir and simmer until completely warmed through...
Top with some yummy fresh mozzarella.
My preference is the fresh mozz ball instead of the packaged shredded stuff.
My preference is the fresh mozz ball instead of the packaged shredded stuff.
See, that's it!!
20 minutes and no chopping of a thousand vegetables!!
Plate some up....
This dish is bursting with hearty flavor of the Italian sausage, fire roasted tomatoes, the gnocchi dumplings and creaminess from the cream and mozzarella.
If you have men in your family, they will go back for seconds and thirds.
Tim called this dish "killer" and kept insisting that it can't be good for him cause it's so ding dang good.
Our son-in-law and 3 year old grandson LOVED it too!!
So see, it crosses three generations here.
Okay, here's the recipe straight outta the DinnersDishesandDesserts website...
Erin had adapted this recipe from Cooking Light.
Cheesy Skillet Gnocchi
dinnersdishesanddesserts.com
Cheesy Gnocchi Skillet is a one pan, quick and easy dinner. A healthified
version of pure comfort food.
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 (16 oz) package gnocchi
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
12 oz Italian sausage
1½ cups tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, and cook gnocchi for about 7 minutes, or until lightly
browned. Remove from pan.
2. Add sausage to the pan, and cook until browned. Remove from pan.
3. Add tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to the pan. Cook for about 7 minutes, until
tomatoes are soft. Add gnocchi and sausage back to the pan. Pour in cream, and stir until everything is
warm.
4. Top with cheese, heat until melted.
dinnersdishesanddesserts.com
Cheesy Gnocchi Skillet is a one pan, quick and easy dinner. A healthified
version of pure comfort food.
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 (16 oz) package gnocchi
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
12 oz Italian sausage
1½ cups tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, and cook gnocchi for about 7 minutes, or until lightly
browned. Remove from pan.
2. Add sausage to the pan, and cook until browned. Remove from pan.
3. Add tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to the pan. Cook for about 7 minutes, until
tomatoes are soft. Add gnocchi and sausage back to the pan. Pour in cream, and stir until everything is
warm.
4. Top with cheese, heat until melted.
Okay, so the night I made this Cheesy Skillet Gnocchi dish,
Little Boy Blue (our 3 yr old cutie patootie, one and only grandchild) and his mom and dad were staying over and I caught them in high spirits singing one of their favorite family songs, I've Been Working On the Railroad.
Little Cutie Patootie-He's-So-Adorable-I-Just-Want-To-Eat-Him-Up Little Boy Blue asked to sing it
over and over again!
The kids stayed over because the weather had gotten freaky deaky blizzardy unexpectedly. I tried to take a picture that night of the awfulness but this was the best I could get...
I think I was probably in my stocking feet out on the front porch in the middle of a nor'easter and was shaking from nerves and oh, I don't know, THE FACT THAT IT WAS A BLIZZARD OUT THERE and that is why this picture is so crappy and shows absolutely nothing of what I just talked about. Sigh...
OH WAIT!! DON'T GO YET!!!!
I have one more picture I want to show you!!
See, it has been sooooo cold and snowy,
the cats sit in the window sill alllllll day long....
....depressed and pale from lack of Vitamin D.
Oh wait, that's me.
KIDDING!!
Oh wait, that's me.
KIDDING!!
They're actually depressed because a squirrel has been tormenting them every day from that
tree outside the window.
Hello playmate squirrel, come out and play with us, and bring your dollies three, climb up our apple tree, climb down our rain barrel, we'll open up the cellar door and we'll be jolly friends (hehehe) forever more, more, more more more more.
Note: My cats are wienies. Any squirrel or groundhog or butterfly could take any one of them :):)
Okay, that's all I have for today, kiddos!!
Stay warm this weekend (except for when you bake up a New York Style cheesecake and deliver it straight to my house of course, duh),
but other than that...stay cozy warm and we'll talk
at y'all soon!
Stay warm this weekend (except for when you bake up a New York Style cheesecake and deliver it straight to my house of course, duh),
but other than that...stay cozy warm and we'll talk
at y'all soon!
