Pan-Seared Gnocchi with Vegetables and Basil

Smitten Kitchen was the first food blog I started following back in college. I was seduced by Deb’s amazing photography and great recipes. My all-time favorite is probably the peach cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese icing that I made for my 22^nd birthday party. (Yes, I made my own birthday cupcakes) I should have known her gnocchi recipe would be a winner. Included in the gnocchi post, she has a recipe for a pan-seared version with vegetables in butter and Parmesan. So, I followed her lead again, but tried it my way.

I have no idea how this would be with not-fresh gnocchi… I’d imagine not as good.

Pan-Seared Gnocchi with Vegetables and Basil

1 serving gnocchi
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
Zucchini, sliced
Cherry tomatoes, halved
1 clove garlic, minced
Yellow corn
Spinach
2 tablespoons white wine
Parmesan cheese
Fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes

Melt butter in a skillet, add gnocchi and cook on each side until golden brown. Remove and set aside. In the same skillet, add zucchini and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes, red pepper flakes and garlic, sauté another minute then add corn, spinach and white wine. Stir in basil then toss with gnocchi and top with parmesan, salt and pepper.

Homemade Gnocchi in Gorgonzola Cream Sauce with Apples, Spinach and Pecans

I got the itch to make pasta and finally just did it. And I’m not going to lie or be modest…this pasta was amazing. Fluffy and exactly how you want gnocchi to be. Credit goes to Smitten Kitchen for the secret: using a cheese grater.

I know these few look cute and wrinkly like traditional gnocchi but I soon got impatient and stopped doing the fork-rolling because it was getting close to 8 pm and as you know, Bachelor comes on at 8 pm so, yeah. Once the pasta was made, I made a quick béchamel and added gorgonzola, apples, pecans and a handful of spinach.

Topped with dried cranberries.

 Homemade Gnocchi in Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

2 pounds russet potatoes
1 – 1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk (or milk + white wine)
2 ounces gorgonzola
salt and pepper
handful spinach
toasted pecans
1/2 apple, peeled and diced
dried cranberries

(From Smitten Kitchen) Preheat your oven to 400°F. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork, and bake them on a baking sheet for 45 minutes to one hour, or until they are fork-tender. For best results, turn the potatoes over halfway through the baking time. Let the potatoes cool slightly.

Peel the potatoes, and then pass them through a potato ricer, food mill or grate them over the large holes of a box grater into a large bowl. Add the lightly beaten egg and the salt to the potatoes and mix well with a wooden spoon.

Add the flour to the potatoes a little at a time, using only as much as you need so that the dough will not stick to your hands. When the flour has been incorporated, bring the dough together with your fingertips.

Dump the dough and any remaining floury bits onto a slightly floured surface. Knead the dough as you would bread dough. Press down and away with the heel of your hand, fold the dough over, make a quarter turn, and repeat the process. Knead for about three or four minutes.

Form the dough into a ball and then divide it into 6 smaller balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the six pieces using your fingertips into a long rope about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces.

You can cook the gnocchi as it is now, but traditional gnocchi has ridges. To create the ridges, press each piece of dough against the tines of a fork. With your finger, gently roll the pressed dough back off the fork. This takes a little practice. If you find the dough sticking to the fork, dip the fork in flour before you press the dough against it.

Place the gnocchi in a single layer on a lightly floured or parchment-lined dish. If you’d like to freeze them for later use, do so on this tray and once they are frozen, drop them into a freezer bag. This ensures that you won’t have one enormous gnocchi mass when you are ready to cook them.

To cook the gnocchi, place them into a pot of boiling and well-salted water. After a few minutes the gnocchi will float to the top.

(From me) To make béchamel sauce, melt butter in a skillet. Add flour and whisk until light brown color. Slowly add milk in while whisking and continue whisking until sauce thickens. Add cheese and stir until completely melted. Add remaining ingredients, and cooked gnocchi to coat. Serve with cranberries. 

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

I had the honor of making these for one of my coworker’s surprise baby shower. We set up the conference room with flowers and gifts and desserts for a 2pm “event planning meeting”. 2 pm wasn’t the best timing because the minute all of us were done with lunch we just sat at our desks antsy for cookies and cupcakes.

These cookies aren’t going to win any beauty pageants but they taste good and remind me of the ones I used to get at Ms. Fields, when I was little and a huge cookie was an acceptable midday snack. Another coworker went all out and painted these precious baby shoes.

The whole thing was just so damn cute.

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

1 ½ cup flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup peanut butter
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk flour and baking soda together and set aside. In a large bowl combine peanut butter, sugars, and butter and beat until fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla extract and mix well. In batches, add flour mixture until combined. Roll into balls, arrange on baking sheet and press down with fork (I sprinkled mine with salt). Bake for 12-14 minutes.

In double boiler, melt chocolate chips and dip cooled cookies until halfway covered.

Guacamole Pasta

Two things I love that go surprisingly well together. I have always been a fan of avocados, but after a scarring incident during my childhood involving a brick and avocado tree, resulting in stapling my sisters head back together, I was a little wary. It’s okay, she forgave me and I forgave avocados.

Thanks to Maria for the inspiration. Makes 2-3 servings.

Guacamole Pasta

6 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
1 avocado
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro
salt and pepper

1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup corn kernels
feta

Boil pasta until al dente. In a food processor, combine avocado, garlic, lemon juice, and cilantro until smooth. Toss with pasta and top with remaining ingredients.

Squash, Apple & Andouille Baked Crepes

I thanked God and MLK when I woke up this morning for giving me the day to sleep in. Travelling 800 miles in 48 hours takes it out of you. I managed a whole 15 minutes at the gym before getting too exhausted and calling it a day… I don’t have the resilience I once did. Regardless, I felt like I deserved a comforting dinner before reality comes back to bite me tomorrow.

 Squash, Apple & Andouille Baked Crepes

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup regular flour
1/3 cup wheat flour
1 pinch salt
vegetable oil

1/2 tbsp butter
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Andouille sausages
1 cup leftover cooked squash, mashed
1/2 apple, chopped
dash cayenne
dash cinnamon
salt and pepper
mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400. Mix first 5 ingredients together until smooth (ideally in a blender). Heat lightly oiled nonstick skillet and pour about 1/4 cup mixture into pan, spinning to cover entire pan. Flip after 1-2 minutes, or lightly brown on the bottom. Repeat with remaining batter.

Heat butter in skillet, add garlic then crumbled sausage, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add squash mixture to pan and cook until warmed through.

Fill crepes with squash mixture and place in a greased baking dish. Top with mozzarella and bake 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Salmon Pasta in Yogurt Dill Sauce

I toss and turn at night creating recipes in my head and sometimes it takes turning on the light, finding a pen and paper and writing it down. This may seem weird but those recipes can be some of my best work. This was a wake-me-upper inspired by these salmon lasagna roll-ups. This recipe serves two.

Salmon Pasta in Yogurt Dill Sauce

1 filet salmon
1/4 box whole wheat spaghetti
3/4 cup plain 0% fat Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 carrot, grated
1 tablespoon capers
salt and pepper

Bake salmon at 350 for 8-10 minutes until cooked through, then let cool. Cook pasta until al dente. Mix together the remaining ingredients, adding in flaked salmon filet. Toss pasta in sauce and serve at room temperature.

Apple Pie Pancakes with Maple Yogurt

These revolutionary pancakes are healthy and super satisfying. I’m the queen of breakfast for dinner and these fit my nutritious requirements: chunky, hearty and sweet. And isn’t everything better topped with Greek yogurt?

This recipe serves one.

Apple Pie Pancakes

1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/6 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
tiny pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 apple, diced
1 large egg white
1/2 cup coconut milk (or regular milk)
scant 1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon maple syrup
dashes cinnamon

toasted coconut
toasted pecans

Mix ingredients from wheat flour to brown sugar together in a bowl. Melt butter in a large skillet and fry large dollops of batter flipping once. Top with yogurt, pecans and coconut.

Vegetable Lentil Stew & Banana Fudge Pots

I’m not the biggest fan of Sundays. It’s important to fill them up with good things to sugarcoat the fact that the weekend is over. Tonight, Quin and I decided to plan a big healthy dinner with crusty bread, open one of our WSJ wine club bottles and watch The Help using the new DVD player we got at Target. Alas, the DVD player only played in black and white (that’s what we get for buying the cheapest one) so we opted for making a healthy-ish dessert instead- courtesy of Chocolate Covered Katie.

Vegetable Lentil Stew

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
1 sweet potato (microwaved for 4 minutes) diced
1 cup peas
1 can diced tomatoes
3 14.5 ounce cans vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup French lentils
1/2 cup quinoa
mozzarella cheese

In a large pot over medium high heat, sauté onion, bell pepper for a minute or two. Add garlic, carrot and sweet potato and cook another couple minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a boil then lower heat and cover for 20-25 minutes or until lentils and quinoa are cooked. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Banana Fudge Pots

1 banana, sliced thin
1 package firm tofu
1 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons nondairy milk
dash salt
2 tablespoons sweetener (agave, corn syrup, sugar)
Greek yogurt

Melt chocolate chips. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except Greek yogurt and blend until smooth. Layer banana slices on the bottom of 6 ramekins, then divide chocolate mixture into ramekins and chill until ready to serve. Top with Greek yogurt. 

Goat Cheese, Kale & Turnip Gratin

In keeping with my new years resolution, getting creative with healthy foods, I made a turnip gratin. Not keeping with my new years resolution, I ate the entire dish. I realize it could be worse than eating a pound of turnips in a night, but still! It was just so yummy, I must pat myself on the back for coming up with it. Most people I know – like me two days ago - had no idea how a turnip looked or tasted. It's a hybrid between a potato, carrot and radish. It has a slight tangy flavor (like a mild radish), which I found goes nicely with goat cheese. And they're healthy! Tons of vitamin C, fiber and low in calories. Which is a good thing, because it allowed me to enjoy my delicious draft beer and fried pickles at  Kitchen guilt free.

As a sidebar, don't you find it funny that everything you read or hear on the radio, magazines, commercials, news stories - are about starting to eat healthy and how to eat low calorie and what healthy meals you should start cooking for your family? Why don't we have this sentiment as a goal all year round? I guess it's a good thing New Years Resolutions are still around, or when would people decide it was time to start cooking and eating well?

One thing I will advise: do not attempt this recipe without a mandolin. It will be nearly impossible to get the turnips cut evenly and thin enough- they're dense! 

Goat Cheese, Kale & Turnip Gratin

1 tablespoon butter
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup coconut milk (or milk)
1/2 cup water
dash red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh basil (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 pound turnips (3 similar sized small ones), peeled and sliced thin with mandolin
1/2 bunch kale, chopped
salt and pepper
1-2 handfuls of shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400. In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter and add shallot then garlic. Cook until fragrant, about a minute or two and add the coconut milk, whisking constantly for 5-7 minutes, adding in water to thin it. Add goat cheese and spices, whisk until fully melted. Taste and make adjustments with cheese/spices. 

Toss turnips and kale in a bowl with salt and pepper then spread out in baking dish. Pour cheese mixture over vegetables and make sure they are fully covered. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove and sprinkle mozzarella over the top. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until turnips are tender. Let rest for 5 minutes. Try not to eat it all by yourself.

Sweet Potato Stew

It was COLD, cold today. 18 degrees at one point! I better not have to get used to this. It’s a great excuse for stew, however. Healthy, sweet and savory stew. The ingredients in this are totally flexible, and can be swapped out with whatever you have around- carrots, butternut squash, spices.

That’s what I did! But taste, taste, taste to make sure it’s spiced just right.

Sweet Potato Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sweet potato, diced
1 apple (I used Fuji), diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon ground ginger (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon of Thai red curry paste (or chili powder, or red pepper flakes- use less)
salt and pepper to taste
Toppings: toasted coconut, toasted pecans, feta cheese

In a large deep saucepan, sauté sweet potato, onion, and apple along with the spices in the olive oil until the onion is soft. Add the coconut milk and water/stock and let simmer until the potato is soft, about 15 minutes or so. Puree half the mixture in a food processor until smooth and add back into the pot. Do a final taste to make sure seasoning is good. Top with nuts, coconut, cilantro, cheese- whatever you want!

Apple Cran Bulgur & Kale Citrus Salad

I must have missed cooking a lot. I always feel that way after a huge trip to the grocery store. It’s a great feeling starting off the new year with a packed fridge and overflowing fruit bowl, with a calendar of healthy meals planned. The plan is to cut out meat and as many animal products (eggs, dairy- with a few exceptions) as I can, mainly because it will force me to get creative for meals and try new things. Oh my gosh…speaking of meat, I read about the lawsuit against Taco Bell for serving “beef” that’s only 35% actual beef. It fell short of the “minimum FDA requirements of beef to be labeled beef”. Ummm…why isn’t the minimum 100%? And why am I just now hearing about this? So sneaky.

So here’s some real food for ya.

Apple, Cranberry & Mint Bulgur

1/2 cup bulgur
1 cup water
1/2 apple, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1/3 cup dried cranberries
8-10 sugar snap peas, chopped
1/4 cup mint, minced
sprinkle of feta cheese
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Boil cup of water and pour over bulgur in a large bowl and cover for 30 minutes. Drain and add all of the ingredients and toss. I roasted a squash to go with the bulgur salad, but it would have been delicious on it’s own too.

Kale salad is the same recipe from a few days ago. Raw kale, half an orange, goat cheese, pecans and a squeeze of lemon and olive oil. Yum!