Cooking up a Storm!

This weekend we were cooking up a storm! I made three batches of ricotta gnocchi's, one batch of pumpkin gnocchi's, sausage gumbo, lasagna soup and two loaves of pumpkin bread. More recipes and pictures to come.

What is nice about the gnocchi's is that they don't take much time at all, and you can freeze them easily for later.

I wouldn't really call the shapes that we make, gnocchi's they are more like logs. Delicious logs that expand in your stomach before you realize you ate too many and are now way to stuffed.  I serve these with some basic tomato sauce, but these would taste great with any sort of gravy/sauce.

Ricotta Gnocchi's

• 1 (8 ounce) container ricotta cheese (I use part skim)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed

1. In your mixer with the dough hook, add the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan Cheese, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and Italian seasoning until evenly combined. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough.
2. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and roll into 1/2-inch-thick ropes on a floured surface. Take the back of a fork and press lightly along the length of the rope to create some texture. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces, and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. If you run out of room on your baking sheet, you can put down a layer of wax paper and place more gnocchi's on top of the first layer.
3. Place in the freezer until frozen solid and then add to Ziploc bag until ready to use.
4. When you are ready to eat them, bring a large pot of water to boil. Season with salt and add gnocchi's. Cook until they are floating about 5 minutes if frozen, maybe 3 minutes if fresh.