Gnocchi - not as hard to make as you think

I have been remiss! My apologies for not writing for almost two whole months! Yikes!

To make up for lost time, today I write about making potoato gnocchi. I made some this week and it turned out even better than I thought it would and it really was quite easy to do. I always thought that making gnocchi was hard and was an all day affair - not so!

It only took me a few hours and I made enough to freeze for a later dinner - BONUS! I didn't rush either which amazes me as I'm always in a rush - story of my life!! The recipe was not hard to follow since it only had four ingredients. Especially helpful when you've got a nice glass of sauvignon blanc close at hand and some old standards playing - you just never know what is going to happen!

Anyway! Here are a few pics of my bounty! Enjoy!

More cold nights, more soup

I love soup. Especially on cold nights in the winter time. My last post was about soup - specifically beef barley with mushrooms. It was delish! This last weekend I made chicken barley soup with carrots, celery and spinach. This soup was absolutely delicious! This recipe is very easy to make and does not take long at all. This time there's not roasting - you just pop everything in a pot. Serve this with a rustic, crusty bread and you've got a great meal on a cold night! Mmmm....

Onions, celery and carrots first with olive oil. Then add chicken.

Add fresh thyme, stock and barley after about cooking chicken for 2 minutes.

After barley cooks, add spinach.

Stir in spinach and then serve. Delicious!

Soup on cold nights

On those cold, cold nights in winter, nothing warms you like a hearty soup. One of my favourites is beef barley with mushrooms. What I like to do though, is roast the beef, mushrooms and onions. The best recipe I've found is this one on Martha Stewart. Roasting really brings out the flavours in the mushrooms and beef and makes one great tasting soup!

Lay the ingredients in a single layer on the sheet and toss in coarse salt, fresh cracked pepper and extra virgin olive oil. This is by far the best beef barley soup I've ever tasted. This particular recipe uses shallots and makes the flavours more intense which is what I love. Serve with some rustic bread and - badda bing! You've got a hearty, tasty, stick to your ribs meal. You'll stay warm all night!

Ready to roast.

Use cremini mushrooms for more flavour.

Love this shot! Had to share.

Cooking. Use pearl barley - it cooks quicker.

Soooo good!

Comfort Food on a snowy night

I've been stuck in my house all day as it's been snowing and I don't get new tires on my car till Friday. Anyway! I decided to leave the fire on all day and put my hands to work in the kitchen by making some sort of comfort food.

I opened my cupboards and realized I should change my name to Old Mother Hubbard. Hardly anything to pique my creativity. So I checked the fridge and all that came together in my head (that wasn't frozen) was mac and cheese. Oh yeah.

I whipped it up and decided to make a side chopped salad with spinach as the leaf with a honey dijon dressing. I made the mac and cheese in individuals bowls and they looked so yummy and cute. Yes, I said cute. Food can be cute. Homemade breadcrumbs for the topping. So easy, but takes time - which I had thanks to the snow. Now, what do I make tomorrow?

Here are some pics of the process.

The butter goes in.
Making the sauce.
Just mixed and ready for bowls.
Fresh out of the oven.
Ready to serve and eat!

Chicken Cutlets

Chicken cutlets are by far my favourite chicken dish. They are so easy to make and I found the best recipe on Food 52's website.

These herbed chicken cutlets dipped in panko and parmesan came out so crispy and tender they melt in your mouth. I snipped fresh rosemary, thyme and sage from my herb garden. Even in the middle of winter, the herbs tasted so fresh.

I served it with some mushroom risotto and sugar peas and broccoli steamed with butter. I wanted seconds, but resisted. I can say though that I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day and it was just as good to eat as it was when it was right out of the pan. I put the left over egg and panko with herbs in the pan at the end and made wonderful scrambled eggs. So delicious and crispy! I might make this as just eggs for breakfat one day with potatoes and bacon. Yum!

Back in the kitchen!

Tonight was the first night back in the kitchen after that horrendous infection from the cat bite on my finger.

I made something very simple - had to pace myself, but from scratch: marinara sauce and spaghetti. It was so yummy.

Last week I had roasted some roma tomatoes and put them in the freezer as I didn't have time to make the sauce right away. I pulled them out tonight and made some yummy sauce for my spaghetti. The trick to get a great tasting sauce is to cook slowly. I started out around 3:30 and ended around 7-ish.

Simple ingredients: olive oil, butter, onions, green, yellow and red peppers, roasted tomatoes, coarse salt, fresh cracked pepper, dried oregano and dried basil. It was a bit runny/watery after the first hour and a half, so I added a tin of tomato paste. It was heaven to eat! My husband had two helpings! I was tempted, but remembered my resolutions.

So, I'm back in the kitchen baby! And I love it. LOVE IT! Can't wait to cook something from my new cookbooks I got for Christmas.

I've attached some pics for you to enjoy!

One Week

It's been a week since I last posted. Let me bring you up to date.

Shortly after my last post, my cat had a seizure of some kind. We still don't know why, but she is fine. However, I thought she was choking and so stuck my finger down her throat and promptly got bitten - HARD.

That evening was spent in two different emergency rooms - the veterinary emergency and the people emergency.

I was in hospital till 3am receiving antibiotics intravenously and had to go in every day after that for three more days for IV. Now I'm taking the antibiotics in pill form and they make me woozy and ill.

Monsieur Cuisine, however, has stepped up to the plate (no pun intended there!) and has been cooking. Interesting to say the least, but he tries and that's what counts.

Our New Year's Eve dinner was mac and cheese with salad. Not bad and it was tasty. A pic below for you.

I am on the mend and hope to be cooking and sharing with you very soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!