my weekend.
I had a fabulous weekend. My husband, daughter and I did not leave the house once for the last 2 days and it was awesome. We were somewhat limited by our new strict budget and the beginnings of potty training of Little Helper.(She spent the last 2 days running around in no diaper and no pants! She seems to like it. And she is doing a GREAT job so far- thanks for asking!)
Anyway, I had an extremely relaxing weekend. I spent most of it in the kitchen which felt like coming home. I haven’t cooked- really cooked- in a long time. As far as my domestic hobbies go, my first love is cooking. Over the last few years I just haven’t felt like I have had the time to really cook the way I used to. I haven’t been able to experiment or try things new. Or spend the day in the kitchen if I wanted to. And I did! I spent 2 days in the kitchen this weekend. It was WONDERFUL.
I started my weekend with plans to make gnocchi for the first time. I also wanted to make eggplant Parmesan and vegetarian chili (2 things that I have made many, many times). This would satisfy my need for experimentation and for using up some of my CSA veggies. And I would end up with pretty tasty food and I shouldn’t need to cook this week. Well- I am going to. I am going to make some ribs in my crock pot on Tuesday. Mmmmmm…
My gnocchi recipe came from a coworker. I made some in culinary school, but hadn’t made it since. I originally was going to borrow the gnocchi board from my coworker as well. When I found out that they were $4.75, I purchase one myself. We used forks in culinary school. The board works way better. And they look quite a bit better too. Check them out!
Yes- those are my hands. I should hand model. 
This was Saturday’s work. I put them on a sheet pan and froze them. Now I have bag of gnocchi waiting for me to eat it whenever I am ready! They do not have to be defrosted before cooking, so this is an easy weeknight meal. Nice!
I multi-tasked when I made the gnocchi. I made the eggplant parmesan at the same time. I use a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated and I love it. I have made it so many times that I don’t even need to refer to the recipe anymore. I do make more sauce than it calls for. I like a lot of sauce.
I usually get 6 meals out of this. But my eggplants were smaller this time, so it is only 4. Well, technically 5 since Little Helper had some with us last night too. It is nice to get more servings because this recipe is a family favorite. I will have some for lunch on Tuesday probably.
Today, I made my chili- also a family favorite. This photo was taken with my iPhone, so the quality is not nearly as good. I am pretty proud of this chili. It is a recipe that I consider my own. And I FINALLY had all of the veggies that I needed from my CSA to make some. So other than the beans, chicken broth, spices, and bugar wheat- everything in here is grown on a farm here in MN. I am excited to have this for lunch tomorrow.
Now- I am saving the best for last! I baked a chocolate cake last night and then made frosting today. It was seriously awesome. As I mentioned before, I got The Cake Bible from the library and I needed to try a cake. Chocolate is both my husbands and my favorite, so that is what I picked. I made a triple layer devils food cake. It recommended a chocolate butter cream frosting. I don’t really like butter cream frosting, so I don’t usually make it. I had never had chocolate butter cream so I thought I would give it a try. It is delicious. I will be using this frosting in the future! Now I need to do some reading to figure out which cake I am going to make next. I only have the book until the 22nd- I have a lot of cakes to make!
I did do a little sewing. I was working on some wonky house blocks for Bee Addicted. I have one done and one almost done. I plan to finish tomorrow night and hopefully get some pictures up soon!
So- my second love- knitting is calling. Knitting is one of the most relaxing things that I do. I am going to knit and watch some TV with my hubby. Goodnight!
Photography credit (except for the iPhone chili photo) goe s to my husband. He has recently picked up a new hobby- photography! I am excited to get some good family shots one of these days if it is sunny one day before it gets cold!
