A Labor of Love: Ricotta Chive Gnocchi

Disclaimer:  DO NOT,  I repeat, DO NOT, attempt this recipe on a work night/before going out/any time you have a show to watch but TIVO isn't working because it takes hours.  I'm really bad at reading recipes all of the way through prior to starting them, so take warning.

However - if you do have a lot of time of your hands - this recipe is SO worth it.

Or, you can just cut the recipe in half. 

Regardless, back to the good stuff:  I've seen this recipe on the Food 52 website and often wondered if homemade gnocchi was that much different than store-bought.  In my opinion, it isn't drastically different but if you really get the basics down I think it'd be easy to experiment with different flavors that you most likely wouldn't find in a store.  The funny thing about this ricotta and chive gnocchi is that it doesn't necessarily get its flavor from the primary ingredients.  The flavor really stems from the frying at the end - but isn't that always the case?

Guest Blogger: My Mom (Roasted Acorn Squash)

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I'd like to welcome my mom as the first of (hopefully) many guest blogger appearances.  She made Guy Fieri's Roasted Acorn Squash recipe and highly recommends the dish and also offers tips to make this meal a success!

For my birthday this year, my beautiful daughter Lauren gave me the new cookbook called "Guy Fieri Food, Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It".  I was very excited to try a recipe from Guy's book.  I am a big fan of his show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and decided this past weekend to tackle a recipe. The book has beautiful pictures which I love and after much reading I decided to make Roasted Acorn Squash with Turkey Sausage, Peppers and Goat Cheese. It sounded delicious, easy and somewhat healthy. All was true but I had a few mishaps on the way.  

My first challenge was cutting the acorn squash. Lesson here is to make sure you have very sharp knives something I do not have unfortunately! After struggling with that the next step was to clean out the seeds from the squash and save them to roasted in the oven. Guy suggests to rinse the seeds well which I did and dry them with a paper towel. Sounds easy except the seeds stick to the paper towel and were difficult to get the off the paper towel. The next step was finding the correct pan so the squash could in and a pan for the seeds to get roasted in. Again sounds easy except if you have a small oven as I do. After much juggling I finally was able to get everything to fit and start the cooking of the squash for 35 to 40 minutes. The next step of preparing the vegetable and turkey went smooth again probably better if I had that sharp knife but I did succeed! 

The results of my first recipe from Guy's book was great. Both my husband and I enjoyed it and I would make it again. In fact, I will probably make it for Lauren on her next visit home. Best part is the recipe had leftovers so guess what we will have the following night...which is just fine by me. Bon Appetit!

 Thanks Mom!!

Farm Fresh: Roasted Chicken with Winter Veggies and Lemon Mustard Tatsoi

Ahhh...it's that time of year...winter veggies.  My neighbor, Lisa, is the recipient of a weekly half share of fresh fruits and vegetables from a local farm.  However, she went out of town and I was the lucky recipient of last weeks share.  It was fantastic - purple turnips, French radishes, broccoli, tatsoi, kale, everything.   With all those options, it's pretty easy to turn this:

Into this:

Vegetarian Chili Sin Chili

Okay, I'll admit that making a dish that completely forgoes its namesake is a bit off kilter, but I'm a bit off kilter with my dislike of spicy food.  I'm getting there; a few years ago, I would have never considered making chili.  I've come a long way and this dish still packs enough flavor to satisfy the most daring of palettes.

In any case, try it - you can always play with the spices to pack more of a punch than a beginner like me.

Lentils with Sage, Roasted Garlic, and Winter Vegetables

Looking for a warm, hearty fall meal that is as healthy as it is delicious?  Definitely try out this lentil dish.  It may not look very appetizing in the photo (yes, I'm still mastering the art of food photography with an iPhone, if that even exists) but my boyfriend and I both ate very slowly just to thoroughly enjoy all of the flavor of the dish.

At first I wanted to qualify this post as a "No Meat Monday" option, but it has a bit of bacon that purely adds flavor rather than crunch.  I'm considering trying a bacon substitute, something I've never done before, to see if it still packs the same flavor without removing it from the vegetarian realm.  However, the fresh roasted garlic is an absolute must.

Back from El Salvador, Back to the Kitchen

About a week and a half ago, I had the privilege of traveling to El Salvador for work.  It was a whirlwind of a trip - I found about about 5 days before departure that I would be traveling to the country to train the USAID Mission on the Google Apps Suite.

El Salvador is a gorgeous country.  Gorgeous people.  And, of course, gorgeous food.  Unbelievable food at that.  Everything I had, from filet mignon, to pupusas, to fruit, was fresh and flavorful.  I attribute this to most of the food being local.  The idea of "local" is something that is preached here in the United States, but I think that local food is the norm in El Salvador.  Perhaps it's because of the climate, the vast farmland, the type of jobs available, or a mix of all three, but it was truly a treat experiencing the local cuisine of the country. 

As you can guess, it took me be a while to get back into the swing of things, and tonight (9/18/11) I'm finally back in the kitchen cooking a homemade meal.  I'll post about it soon...glad to be back!

If you had to choose one final meal, what would it be?

Morbid question, right?

Oddly enough, I've had several conversations about my last meal, and my answer is always the same: macaroni and cheese. I'm not talking about gourmet, fancy-schmancy macaroni and cheese, I'm talking about the boxed-up Velveeta kind in all its gooey deliciousness.

I think the time has come to move on from cheese that doesn't require refrigeration to real foods that require a bit more thought, time, and room for error. I'll be chronicling my new life in the kitchen (and probably some other topics, TBD of course). Hopefully you'll enjoy the trial and errors of my culinary pursuits and maybe even learn something, too :)