Pan Fried Gnocchi with Sautéed Tomatoes & Boccaccini

So, I was on my own for dinner the other night, the in house taste tester was out with his buddies.  I decided to make one of the recipes I like to call "Single Girl Dinners".  These are things I know my sweet will not appreciate as much as I will.

This pan fried gnocchi with sautéed tomatoes and boccaccini was so very good! It is really everything I love about food. Pasta, tomatoes, cheese, basil and it was crispy to boot!

The gnocchi gets really nice and crisp on the outside but stays soft and tender on the inside, the tomatoes are sweet and tangy and the cheese melts just a little so it is a bit stringy but still maintains a nice bite.

I have no doubt you will love it as much as I did!

What you need,

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½ lb. potato gnocchi

2 tbsp. butter

1 pint of tiny tomatoes, any variety you like, sliced in half

½ tsp. granulated sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup mini boccaccini

½ cup fresh basil leaves, sliced thinly

Salt & Pepper

Parmesan cheese, shaved for serving

In a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat melt the butter until it is foaming. Add the gnocchi and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally until brown and crisp. Remove the cooked gnocchi to a plate. 

Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until they just start to soften. Add the sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

Add the gnocchi back to the pan and toss to combine.

Off the heat add the boccaccini and basil.

Serve right away with a few shaving of parmesan cheese.

This was AH-MAZING! It is one of the best single girl dinners I have ever made. I absolutely loved it,

I will be making it again before long, it was so good!

Enjoy!

Jen

Recipe adapted from The Food Charlatan

4 Perfect Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I really needed a cookie, or 4…

Today I also needed chocolate, lots of chocolate…

It has been awhile since I made a small batch of cookies so I decided today would be a good day to make a new kind. I really wanted to make a whole giant batch of cookies but today is the kind of day where I would have eaten ALL the cookies!

Since today required chocolate and cookies I figured these Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies would be the perfect thing.

They are amazing! Soft and chewy and SO FULL OF CHOCOLATEY goodness!

What you need,

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2 tbsp. butter softened, I used salted as usual

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 medium egg

¼ tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. salt, if you didn’t use salted butter

¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl mix the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and mix until well incorporated.

Stir in the vanilla.

Add the baking soda, salt if you are using it, flour and cocoa powder.

Stir to combine.

Add the chocolate chips.

Divide the dough into 4 and scoop onto a silpat lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

You don’t need to worry about how to store these beauties because you are just gonna eat them all!

I feel so much better now that I have had my cookie, my perfect chocolate chocolate chip cookie, or COOKIES as it were!

Enjoy!

Jen

Blueberry Basil Freezer Jam

The weather has been so hot here that all the local berries are ready way earlier than usual! I bought this flat of local Blueberries the other day. They are amazing, so sweet and juicy.

I decided to whip up a quick batch of freezer jam with some of them, since I had a ton!

This freezer jam is crazy easy and crazy good.

I use these handy little freezer jam packets. It is just the pectin all pre-measured out, which makes like way easier.

The jam ended up being sweet and delicious. The basil adds a really nice depth of flavor to the jam without being obnoxious!

What you need,

4 cups of fresh blueberries

2 tbsp. lemon juice, about 2 tablespoons

1½ cups granulated sugar

1 envelope of Benardin freezer jam pectin (45g)

¼ cup basil leaves

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar and pectin.

In a blender combine the lemon juice, blueberries and basil leaves. I tore the basil leaves up into small pieces.

Pulse the mixture until well mixed but not pureed, a few chunks are good.

Pour the berry mixture into the sugar mixture and stir for a full 3 minutes.

Transfer the jam to small jars/containers. I love using these Ball freezer jam containers. Store the jam in the freezer until you are ready to use. The jam will stay good in the fridge once it is thawed for at least a month.

The jam was fantastic on toast, but I think it would be great on pancakes or waffles too. Or how about on a nice cracker with a little brie cheese! YES‼

I do love summer so much! I can’t wait to make raspberry and strawberry jam too!

What is your favourite jam?

Enjoy!

Jen

Green Popsicles (aka Lime Popsicles)

In the summer time my sisters and I used to walk to the 7-11 that was close to our house. It was always a treat to go pick out some 5 cent candy or a chocolate bar or my favourite, a Popsicle!

I always dug through the Popsicle Pete box until I spotted my favourite, the GREEN POPSICLE! I get that they are really lime Popsicles but they were just green to me.

It has been smoking hot here in my part of the world lately. I am not going to complain, summer is so short here that I will take all the hot I can get.  To help stave off some of the heat I decided to make some Popsicles.

These Green/Lime Popsicles are the BEST! I used my mom’s old school Kool-Aid & Jell-O recipe. I made these Cherry Popsicles last year and we mowed through them in no time so I knew this lime version would be a winner!

What you need,

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1 packet of lime Kool-Aid, the unsweetened stuff

1 box (3oz.) lime Jell-O

½ cup sugar

2 cups boiling water

2 cups cold water

In a large bowl mix together the Kool-Aid, Jell-O and sugar.

Pour the boiling water over the mixture and stir until everything has dissolved.

Pour in the cold water and stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into your preferred Popsicle mold and freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Enjoy one of these lovey cool treats this summer. It will cool you off and make you very happy!

Enjoy!

Jen