May snacks

Happy May everyone (and happy birthday week to me!!!!!!!)

It's hard to cook for just myself, often I just end up eating Joe's O's out of a mug, but sometimes I get inspired to branch out and make a little effort.

All my friends have been talking about spiralizers and vegettis - tools that turn vegetables into pastas. I am too impatient/ thrifty to go buy one so I made my own zucchini pasta using just a knife.

I very thinly sliced the zucch

In a pan beforehand I sautéed finely diced onions, chicken sausage, cherry tomatos, and pesto. Then I tossed in the zucchini pasta with a little filtered water and cooked on a low heat for about five minutes. SO yummy and healthy!

As a little treat for myself I made pumpkin bread - I found a hidden can of pumpkin puree in the back of my cupboard while packing. Anyone remember the last time I tried to make bread? Disaster. This the it came out delicious and am currently eating it smothered in nutella :)

Last but not least, a snack I did not make for myself but I am extremely proud that I ordered these instead of some boring breakfast. While in Baltimore, my friends and I ate at Golden West where I ordered two different pancakes: the left is a Zucchini Brie Pancake, a sweet and savory scallion and zucchini (my favorite veg) flapjack baked with brie, and topped with house made honey butter. The right is called a Hopi Cake, a blue cornmeal banana pancake topped with blueberries, creme fraiche, and toasted pine nuts, with a side of Vermont maple syrup.

HOLY CANNOLI were these good, so filling, Clea had to step in and help me.

I cannot wait to try to make the zucchini brie one on my own!

happy weekend!

Happy Saturday!!

I am heading to New Orleans on Wednesday and I am incredibly excited (if a little nervous about going out with my party hardy friends). But I hate packing so I am watching the West Wing on Netflix and snuggling with a heating pad because I ate some nachos too fast…. here are a few things around the internet that I have collected this afternoon which I am excited for!

• I'm going to make this meatballs (but with ground turkey) and baked zucchini tonight, so delish.

• I made "cupboard cookies" last week (throw everything you have into a cookie - we ended up with oatmeal, raisins, chocolate chips, peanuts, and cinnamon - but next time I do some serious baking I want to try earl grey infused chocolate chip cookies.

• I am a sucker for a great mid length skirt and Forever 21 has been saving me lately for spring wear - I have a lovely red one that buttons up the front and recently got a black and white horizontal striped on (for my trip). Here are some super cheap easy skirts in a variety of fun colors!

• I'm downloading all the new Ted Radio Hours for my trip. I have also been running to them lately and they make the time fly, I was able to run for 20 more minutes than usual today because I didn't want my show to end!

• I drew some fun little geometric animals on coffee filters during a slow, rainy day at work this week - they are based off these awesome needlepoint creations - I really need to get better with a needle so I can create some.

xoxo

butternut squash risotto without the risotto recipe

I made a delicious butternut squash and grain dish the other night based of this risotto recipe. I did not have the ingredients to make that but it looks amazing and someone should try it out!!

Here's what I managed: 

and it was pretty delicious!! Even better the next day with pesto chicken sausage :)

Continue for the recipe, but first some book recommendations….

stir fry: sweet and spicy

We eat a lot of stir fry here, everything from assorted peppers to go with dumplings to black beans and shredded chicken with salsa. However, I love mixing flavors and starting from the usual "Chinese" or "Mexican" food labels!

One of my favorite stir fries is zucchini, tomatoes, andouille chicken sausage, and cranberries, sometimes we add spinach as well. I personally like this over some small pasta like Israeli couscous or a grain mix and spreading some pesto on top! 

Look at those colors! 

Yum city

xoxoxo

ricotta gnocchi recipe

For 2015 I decided to try and cook more and with greater variety. This week I made gnocchi for the first time! My mom and I made a lot of pasta at the beginning of this summer, but as I do not have a pasta maker here, I decided to try a style that is easier to do by hand.

Ricotta Gnocchi

We used to eat gnocchi at "Gracious Dinner", a fancy supper put on at holidays by Mount Holyoke. Traditionally gnocchi is made with mashed potatoes, but because I am always looking for a way to eat more cheese, I decided to try an easier version with a ricotta base.

Made three servings: two large supper portions and a left-overs lunch the next day.

Ingredients: 

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups of ricotta

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup of flour

pasta sauce

olive oil

extra cheese for serving :)