Dinner – Gnocchi with Sherried Shallots

Another night, another super simple dinner. This took me less than half an hour to throw together.

The recipe originally comes from Cooking Light (via RecipeZaar, of course!) I made a few adaptations to make it work with what I had in the house. I lowered the proportion size too. The recipe says it feeds four, but even after I almost halved all the ingredients, I got three good sized servings and one toddler-sized serving.

I used a whole large onion in place of the shallots and halved the sherry, sour cream, chicken broth and gnocchi. I sauteed the onions in a bit of olive oil until they started to caramelize THEN added the sherry and chicken broth. I think this gives the dish more complex flavors than just onion.

I was afraid that the gnocchi wouldn’t cook in the sauce, (it would have been fine) so I cooked it seperately, then added it right before I added the sour cream. Shredded, leftover turkey was pulled from the freezer in place of the chicken. Just before serving I stirred in a good tablespoon or so of dried parsley. Mostly just for color. Served with a tossed green salad – ranch dressing for the kidling and hubby, vinaigrette for me. Yum!

Gnocchi with Sherried Shallots.

2 cups thinly sliced shallots or onions
1 cup dry sherry
1 1/2 cups nonfat sour cream
1 cup fat-skimmed chicken broth
1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated gnocchi
2 cups shredded skinned cooked chicken
1/3 cup chopped parsley
fresh-grated nutmeg

In a 5- to 6-quart pan over high heat, stir shallots and sherry until shallots are limp, about 10 minutes.

Add sour cream, broth, gnocchi, chicken, and parsley. Stir until gnocchi are hot, about 5 minutes.

Spoon into bowls and season with nutmeg and salt to taste.

Cocktail Hour – White Cranberry Vodka

I had one of *those* days yesterday. Got nothing done, listened to everyone complain all day. You know how it goes.

So when I got home, I fixed myself up a cocktail (a double actually). I had white cranberry juice in the fridge and vodka in the freezer so I was on the hunt for something that used both and wasn’t a Cosmo again. Score!

White Cranberry Vodka Cocktail

5 ounces white cranberry juice
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces ginger ale
1 teaspoon lemon juice
lemon twist, garnish

I omitted the lemon juice, but otherwise made the drink to the recipe specifications. The ginger ale is a nice touch. I think this would also be good made with vanilla vodka. Nice and icey and not too sweet. Perfect.

Pantry Dinner – Tuna Cakes and Zucchini

I’ve started to keep a list of meals I can make from items in my pantry. This was a great find!  Tuna Burgers.

Tuna, onion, egg, breadcrumbs, milk, and dill. You just toss it all together and make patties. Fry them up. EASY. The only thing I would change about the recipe is that I would use less milk. My patties were a little wet. Maybe just a few tablespoons, not 1/4 cup.

To go along with the tuna burgers I made Dill Sauce. This recipe comes from my 1001 Low Fat Recipes book. I used fat-free sour cream in place of the yogurt, and added a bit of lemon pepper to the mix as well.

For our vegetable, we had Parmesan Zucchini Spears (and fries for hubby). I didn’t have lemon zest, so I just used lemon pepper. I cooked them until they were barely crisp-tender. I don’t like mushy zucchini.  These would be fantastic done on the grill in the summer.

Simple but Delicious – Dinner and Dessert

Broccoli, cheese and noodles are my daughter’s favorite foods, so when I found the “Pasta, Cheese and Trees” recipe via Every Day with Rachael Ray, I knew I was going to have to make it for her.Brunch Peach Parfait originally comes from my 365 Easy Low Calorie Recipes book. I love this series of books! The recipes in them are alway excellent and often very adaptable. This one was no exception.

This is a super easy and versitile recipe. The ingredients are basically pasta (I used farfalle), broccoli and two cheeses; ricotta and Parmesan. I sauteed some onions for just a little more flavor. Great comfort food dinner! You could easily add leftover ham, turkey or chicken to this.

I had some leftover peaches from a peach-glazed pork recipe I had made a couple of nights ago. Hubby apparently “doen’t like cooked peaches” so it was up to me to eat them. RecipeZaar to the rescue again! This recipe for

It calls for fresh peaches, vanilla yogut and crushed graham crackers. I used cooked peaches, but canned or another fruit would be just as good. And it is a very healthy dessert too!

btw – the glass isn’t dirty. It looks that way because I smeared yogurt on the inside as I was making the parfait. I tried to wipe it off for the photo, but I think I made it worse. lol.

Dinner: Chicken with Orange and Rosemary

This was a quick and easy dinner. The recipe comes from Real Simple magazine (via Zaar, of course!)Chicken with Orange and Rosemary 

 

As usual, I didn’t exactly follow the directions, but just drizzled on the olive oil, added orange zest, orange juice, minced garlic and dried rosemary. Then I baked the chicken legs until they were cooked through, turning once or twice as they cooked so they would be well coated in the marinade/sauce.

I think this would be a great recipe to use for Once a Month Cooking. And it would be fantastic grilled!! I love orange anything and these were no exception.

I served the chicken with a mixed green salad. The dressing is a simple one from Rachael Ray. Balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil and salt and pepper.

I just dump the vinaigrette ingredients in a jar, put the lid on and shake shake shake! Excellent!

Turkey Carcass Soup – Thanksgiving Leftovers

Every year I save the carcass of our turkey just so I can make this soup. I found the recipe a long time ago in a cookbook called The Unwatched Pot. Of course, it is also in my files on RecipeZaar. But first let me tell you about the cookbook. Printed in 1975, and now out of print (you can find copies on Ebay and Amazon), I found my copy in a local thrift store. In addition to all the ordinary crock pot recipes you’d expect in a book this old, there are some fun surprises. This soup being one of them.

This is a great soup because all you have to do is dump the ingredients in and walk away. I’ve provided the recipe as it is written, but I do things a little differently. I do not add the turnip. I use a 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes and I never add the biscuits. Instead, I either freeze the soup as is for later use or I add noodles.

Turkey Soup With Dumplings
Serves 6-8

1 turkey carcass, broken up
8 cups water
1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced 
1 turnip, peeled and diced
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
1 (12 ounce) package refrigerated biscuits

Put all of the ingredients except for the biscuits in the crock pot.
Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours.
Remove turkey carcass pieces; separate meat from bone and return meat to the soup.
Separate biscuits; place on top of soup.
Cover; cook on high 15-20 minutes.