Baked Gnocchi with Taleggio and Pancetta

I have been so bored with cooking lately.  Weeknights are so hectic during the summer that I feel like I haven't had time to cook let alone cook anything good. Then I saw this recipe on the William and Sonoma blog and thought I need to try this and I'm so glad I did.  It was very good and super easy. It's going to go in my recipe file especially for the winter months.

http://blog.williams-sonoma.com/baked-gnocchi-with-taleggio-pancetta-sage/

Salted Cookie Butter Chocolate Bark

My 16 year old was gifted a lot of Trader Joe's Cookie Butter for his birthday. Since he will never be able to eat it all, I decided to make this salted chocolate bark from Wine and Glue. It's actually really good and easy just don't forget the salt it helps cut down on the sweetness. 

http://www.wineandglue.com/2013/11/salted-chocolate-bark.html

Pretzel Crusted Brownies

When I first saw these lovely pretzel crusted brownies my taste buds began to salivate.  So when I needed a quick dessert for a family dinner the other night I knew I wanted to make something similar but I didn't have much time so I made this easy version of pretzel crusted brownies.   They were super easy and everyone loved them.  I skipped the frosting and added ice cream and hot fudge.

Baked Gnocchi

I can't stop thinking about this baked Gnocchi.  It looks so good and it seems easy to make.  What a perfect meal with a salad and some wine.   I'm adding this to my need and easy, impressive meal list. 

Scenes From My Weekend

I love homemade marshmallows, once you have these you will never settle for those store bought ones again.  I always use this Martha Stewart recipe, it's easy and delicious.  They make a great gift if you wrap them with hot chocolate or all the stuff to make s'mores. 

 

 

I love having a little tree in my kitchen.

 

I never tire of this view, but I do get tired of the snow.  We got at least few feet this weekend.

Making marshmallows while burning my Marshmallow Fireside candle from Bath and Body Works, it really does smells like marshmallows mixed with a wood burning fire, weird.

 

Taste test must happen, right?

Good Morning Sunday

I love baking on Sunday mornings, it's just nice to have fresh baked goods for the week.  This Fall we have been enjoying way too much pumpkin bread, but it's so good.   My boys also love chocolate chocolate chip muffins from Wegman's at $1.25 a piece, so I decided tried Nigella Lawson's super easy recipe.  These muffins are delicious and this way I can save little money too.  I added the chocolate chips on top but the melted into the muffin next time I will add them a little later into the cooking process.

Football Food

I needed an easy snack last weekend while we watched some football.  I made bacon wrapped chicken thighs and my three bacon loving boys thought they were perfect.  I just season them with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and oregano, wrapped them in bacon and baked them at 350.  They work great for an easy dinner too.

Hello Long Weekend

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May your last weekend of Summer be filled with sun, farmers markets, fresh meals on the patio, s'mores and hopefully some water activities.  I can't believe it is already Labour Day weekend, where did summer go?  I always get this feeling that we need to fit as many summer activities as we can into this weekend, because school starts Wednesday and it's back packing lunches, getting up early and homework. 



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St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day, I finally got around to making this Shepard's Pie with cheddar mash potatoes.  It was pretty easy to make and everyone loved it.  It really was very tasty, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.  My Mother made a Bailey's Irish Cream Cake which was delicious but how can you go wrong with Bailey's Irish Cream? 

Sunday's Supper

This Sunday I decided to try Smitten Kitchen's gnocchi, in my feeble attempt to imitate her talents. It tasted amazing and to my surprise it actually came out the way it was supposed to. However, for me I'm not sure it was worth the work. You have to bake the potatoes, grate them, make them into a dough and then boil them in water. The processes wasn't hard but it was time consuming. The tomato sauce was excellent and would be great as an everyday pasta sauce.

For dessert, I made Bakers Royale's Kit Kat Cheesecake Bars. Damn, these are good. Luckily it doesn't make a huge amount because they are hard to resist. I didn't bother with the white chocolate decorative touch because I didn't have any white chocolate. Also, next time I make them I may skip the chocolate ganache layer on top. You really don't need it and it just makes them extra rich but you never know because the boys loved the extra layer of chocolate.

Jambalaya and Ice Cream Sandwiches

The favorite chocolate chip cookies in this house seem to be The Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Chunk recipe.  I have made this so many times I pretty much know it by heart. 

Baked Fontina



Baked Fontina  from Alexandra's Kitchen has been my go to appetizer lately.  It is so easy and it not only looks impressive but it taste really fresh.  I made it this weekend for my birthday and everyone loved it. I served it with some fresh bread rounds and it disappeared quickly.   Recently, I have been focusing on cooking things that have a lot of flavor but not a lot of ingredients.  With this baked cheese you can really taste the flavors of the garlic, olive oil, cheese and fresh herbs.  Honestly, I could eat this with some fresh crusty bread and a glass of wine for dinner every night.

 

How come whenever I cook anything it just doesn't look as good as the original?  I could blame my

camera on my phone just to make myself feel better.



 

 

Brussels Sprouts

I love roasted Brussels sprouts.  I usually just coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper, Ina's way, but I am trying to figure out a new recipe for Thanksgiving and these all look very tasty.



      Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash-  recipe here



                    Dijon-Braised Brussels Sprouts- recipe here



   Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta - Recipe here



   Shredded Brussels Sprouts & Apples - Recipe here



   Brussels Sprouts in Garlic Butter- recipe here

The Best Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is not only my favorite cake it is extremely easy to make.  The batter is pretty thin and liquidity which makes the cake very moist and airy.  Also, the cake isn't to sweet or to rich.  I get request for this cake all the time from family, friends and even neighbors.

Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

1 cup hot coffee

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Mix all together and beat 2 min. Butter pans, I use two 9 inch pans.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 min. 

Frosting:

3/4 cup cocoa

4 cups confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 stick butter

Mix cocoa, sugar. Cream part of mix with 1/3 to 1/2 of butter. Blend in vanilla and 1/2 milk. Add rest of sugar mix and blend well. Add more milk as needed.

I always for get to take pictures as I am making the cake hopefully I will get better at this soon.

S'mores Bars

These are so good I can't stop eating them, the perfect summer time dessert.  They are easy to make but a little hard to cut up because the marshmallows are so sticky.  I made these for the 4th of July and as I was relaxing in the pool before dinner I noticed everytime someone went into the house they came out eating one of these bad boys. 

You can find the recipe here S'mores Bars

Chocolate Chip Muffins

My children love Wegmans big, fresh baked muffins because they are moist and have a crunchy, sugary coating on top, but they aren't cheap. So I decided to try this recipe from AllRecipe.com to see if I could come up with something similiar at home. It was so easy and muffins where moist and delicious. I added 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of chocolate chips which is a bit more then the recipe calls for.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used choclate morsels because that is all I had)
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line with baking cups.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy.)
Fill cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops of muffins before baking with a combination of 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoon brown sugar.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.