Recipe: Chicken Gnocchi Skillet

 I've decided to resurrect the recipe part of my blog/writing, if only so I have a written record of these things...because otherwise I never write down recipes. Ella's forever asking me how to make (insert food here) and I can never give her even a basic recipe. (Because, as I've said, I never write these things down)

I made this yesterday evening, and while attempting to photograph food I realized two things. 

1) I'm out of practice. My food photography has suffered in my blogging absence. 

2) The kitchen chandelier had 2 burn out bulbs that I hadn't noticed. Whomp. 

But here we go. 

Chicken Gnocchi Skillet. 

Disclaimer: All of my recipes are written with zero measurements, and I eyeball literally everything. If you're looking for scientific, super specific recipes, this unfortunately is not the blog for you. 

What you'll need: 

**Butter and Olive Oil

**Chicken (I use the pre-cut stir fry stuff)

**Mushrooms (either canned or fresh, we just happened to have fresh on hand)

**Frozen veggies (we use the frozen mixed vegetables from Aldi for this one, because it's what we had on hand) 

**Chicken broth (or water and chicken bouillion powder)

**Shredded parmesan cheese (not grated)

**Half n half (or heavy whipping cream, or milk, all of these work just fine)

**salt, pepper, your favorite spices

**pre-packaged gnocchi (pasta aisle at your local grocery)

What you gotta do: 

**Heat up your oil and butter in a pan and use it to saute the chicken. Add your favorite spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc) 

**Add your mushrooms and your veggies, and enough chicken broth to allow things to start steaming through  

**Meanwhile boil water for your gnocchi

*Add in the gnocchi into the boiling water. It's ready when it floats to the top. Meanwhile, add in the parmesan cheese to your skillet with the chicken and veggies. 

**Stir that around and add the milk/cream/half n half, to make a lovely little sauce

**Your gnocchi should be ready by now, so go ahead and add that into your skillet

**Stir everything around until it's all incorporated. Top with parsley, or dill, or basil, or whatever you like. 

This was delicious, and well received by everybody, so that makes it a success in my book. 

In the Kitchen: Taco Empanada (a study in what NOT to do)

 

Okay, so. Don't let this picture scare you. It looks very, very bad (because I'm still trying to get better at baking stuff), but according to my family it was very, very good.  I can attest to the filling being good, because I took some and put it on top of a salad. 

So, here's the recipe (along with a bunch of stuff that I did absolutely wrong and will correct the next time I make this) 

Ingredients: 

 Leftover pie crust, ground beef, taco seasoning, a pepper (that I grew in my garden and am ridiculously proud of, fyi) half a can (or whatever you have) of diced tomatoes, a can of corn, some salsa, (not pictured) onion, and some leftover pie crust. 

What you do: 

Brown your ground beef with the onion and green peppers. Add in the corn, tomatoes, salsa and spices. Continue cooking until all of the flavors meld together. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put your filling in your pie crust. DO NOT PUT YOUR BAKING SHEET ON THE HEATING OVEN LIKE I DID. Do not overfill the crust like I did. 

Add cheese. Do not overfill. Do not overheat. Pinch it closed. Do a better job than I did, PLEASE. I know you can do it :) 

Bake until done. It will likely look better than mine. Even if it doesn't, it will be freaking delicious. So, it's win-win, right?

In the Kitchen: Tomato Pie...uh...Tart?

Okay, so full disclosure. This did NOT look like the Tomato Pie that I looked at here even though I followed the directions. 

It's no secret that pie crust and I are not friends and never have been, but I had high hopes. That said, it tasted delicious. So delicious that my tomato hatin' husband ate three helpings. 

Here we go. 

What You Need: 

*Store Bought Pie Crust

*Tomatoes (I had 4 or 5 Romas)

*Basil (I just ripped a bunch of leaves off one of my giant garden plants)

*Chopped Onion (1/3 of a cup? I don't know) 

*Salt

*Pepper

*Mayo

*Shredded Cheese (the recipe called for Grueyere, but I used Fiesta blend, sue me) 

What You Do:

1) Pre-bake your crust, according to the directions on the box, then make sure your oven is at 350

2) Chop up your tomatoes and onion and basil

3) Salt and pepper your tomatoes and put them in a colander, over a container (I threw the onions and basil in there too, cause why not?). Mash them down with a potato masher to draw out the moisture

4) Put your (hopefully drier) tomatoes in the pie crust shell (side note: mine looks terrible. Pie crusts and I are not friends, whatcha gonna do.

5) Combine your half-cup (or cup, or whatever) of mayo and your cheese. Spread that over your tomato mixture

6) Bake at 350 until bubbly and golden brown 

(25-45 minutes) 

So, it doesn't look all that great. But, man. It was delicious. If you're better at pie crust than I am (and let's face it, you probably are), yours will probably look amazing. :) 

In the Kitchen: Breakfast Casserole

This is loosely based off a recipe I googled from here . I've played around with some of the amounts (aka, I measured nothing)
I'm going to give y'all the Kitchn's measurements because they're what I used the first time I made this recipe. (Usually, the first time I make something, I follow the recipe to a T, then play around with the amounts once I'm comfortable)

Anyway, here we go

What you need to make this: 

*Cooking spray
*Olive Oil
*Ground sausage (mine is in the picture, it's just hidden)
*medium onion, diced
*red/green/whatever peppers (mine are frozen, but you can use fresh)
*frozen hash brown potatoes
*10 large eggs
*1 cup sour cream
*1.5 cups of milk
*2T mustard (the original recipe called for dijon, but I like the grainy stuff better)
*Shredded cheese (I used mild cheddar because that's what the kids devour)


Here's what you do:

*Preheat your oven to 375

*Spray the inside of your casserole pan (mine is way too big for this probably, but it's what I grabbed) with cooking spray

*Brown your sausage, and then add your onions and peppers

*Add some spices...salt, pepper, whatever. I use Possum's seasoning because I discovered it on an impromptu road trip with a friend before this COVID craziness, and I love it.

*Throw that all into your casserole dish, and add the hash brown potatoes. Mix together (not pictured)

*Beat the eggs. In a separate cup, whisk together the milk, sour cream, mustard and some salt/pepper. Combine the milk mixture with the eggs. Add cheese.

*pour over your hash brown/sausage mixture

*Bake for 45 minutes or so, until a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!!

Full disclosure. While I was cooking this meal, I ate a chocolate-frosted sprinkle donut