nana's ricotta gnocchi

Ever since I can remember, my great-grandma's ricotta gnocchi have been one of my favorite pastas and dishes in general. My grandma, Nana, has carried on the tradition of hand making these gnocchi to share with the family. Even as a child Nana started to teach me how to make gnocchi and although I've made them a handful of times, I still have a ways to go til they are as perfect as when Nana makes them. The good news with gnocchi, no matter what they look like, it is hard for them to not still taste good. These gnocchi taste different than the potato gnocchi you usually see in stores and restaurants. Ricotta gnocchi are tender, delicate, and smaller than the potato counterpoint.

My great-grandmother came to the United States from the southern Italy region of Calabria as a young women just in time to get married to a man she had not met. They had 6 children together which she then raised alone after her husband died of pneumonia. From all the stories Nana has told me about her she seems like a very strong, courageous, and resourceful woman.

Growing up my family usually came to spend Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa's house and then later they came to our home. The Friday after Thanksgiving was ALWAYS gnocchi/Italian night. Nana would make a few pounds of gnocchi and bring them frozen to where ever we happened to be for dinner that night. The gnocchi are always a crowd pleaser.

I decided it would not feel like Thanksgiving without gnocchi, so the week before Thanksgiving I made some homemade ricotta gnocchi. I didn't think the frozen gnocchi would travel well with out a cooler so I kept them here in San Diego and have been enjoying them for a few different dinners now. There are not many foods that warm my heart and bring about memories like these gnocchi do for me!

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi

1 lb Ricotta Cheese (do not use low or non fat)

1 whole egg

Mix with fork

Add all-purpose flour~ about 1 1/2 to 2 cups (enough until dough is easy to handle, should be slightly stiff)

Once dough comes together in a ball and is workable, put dough on a plate and cover with a bowl. Take a small piece of dough and roll to about the size of your finger. Cut into pieces about 3/4 inch. Lightly flour gnocchi board (board with ridges) or use a the grooves on a fork. With your index finger, roll each piece on the board or fork towards you, pressing hard enough to curl dough. This makes ridges on the outside and hollows out the inside of the dough.

Put a piece of wax or parchment paper on a cookie sheet and fill with a single layer of gnocchi. Once cookie sheet is filled, place in freezer for about 20 minutes. Once they are frozen, peal off the paper, break them apart from each other if stuck, then place in a gallon sized plastic bag, and store in the freezer. Repeat until done.

 When you desire to have your gnocchi, place desire portion in a pot of boiling water. Make sure to use a pot large enough not to over crowd gnocchi, otherwise they may be mushy. When the gnocchi first go in the pot they will sink to the bottom, slowly one by one the gnocchi will begin to float to the surface of the water. Just as they all rise,which just takes a few minutes since the pasta is fresh, immediately drain in a colander.

 Lightly mix with your favorite basic tomato sauce and freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional). Serve immediately, it cools off quickly. Enjoy!

'get off your butt and on with your training'



I recently finished reading a book in preperation for training for the half marathon I will complete in June, 2011. The book, The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide For Women, Get off Your Butt and On With Your Training, is a very matter of fact look at the mind set, ups and downs, and insanity of training for a long distance run. The realistic humor left me laughing out loud throughout just about every chapter in the book.

It is complete with a training guide for both a half-marathon and full-marathon.

The program I will be following is a 20 week plan with the end being race day! Since it is more than 20 weeks from my race day I will be spending the next 8 weeks doing a combination of running, walking, eliptical machine, weights, and P90X videos in prepartion for the training program. My goal during the next 2 months is to increase my endurance, become more familiar with running, gets used to working out regularly, lose weight, and gain strength.

Last night I had the joy of completing my first official training day. This was not a very long workout considering I had to work night shift just after but it was not easy to say the least. I used the treadmill in my apartment complex gym and ran/walk 2 miles which took me 29 minutes (pathetic if you ask me, but that's why it's called training...right?). I went a max speed of 5.5 mi/hr while running and probably walked half and ran half. While running i focused on keeping my upper body relaxed, my breathing patterns, running technique and tried to ignore that my lungs felt like they were burning and my neck hurt. Over time i hope my body will hurt less, to increase my speed, and length of time running. On an exciting note, over the past 3.5 weeks i have lost 5 lbs and feel great! It's rewarding to know my increased efforts are giving some sort of pay off!

giving thanks

This Thanksgiving I was able to get off work and fly home to the bay area and spend a long weekend with family and friends! I am so thankful for the family and friends in my life not to mention my health, job, life in San Diego, future opportunities, my car, apartment, my creative outlets, and overall life in general! Here is a recap of the weekends festivities. 

Relaxing at home...

The Men of the House, Dad and Mr. Biggs

Maddie "Mad Dog"

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Wednesday night Pre-Thanksgiving Festivities...

Me, Kate, and Libby

The Gang

Sisters!

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Quiet Thanksgiving at home...

Mom and Mama Sue

Future Half-Marathon Runners

Dad and Mom

Thanksgiving Feast

Corie entertaining us!

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Lunch with extended family...

Me with Cousins Emily and Libby

Mama Sue with her grand kids

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Christmas tree cutting....

The "One"



Timmmmm...



berrrrrrrrrrrr.....

Warrior Women!

Locked and Loaded

I already cannot wait to head home for Christmas and spend time with friends and family!

rock 'n' roll

I have made a recent decision to run in San Diego's Rock and Roll Marathon on June 5th, 2011 (I however will be doing the 1/2 marathon, lets not kid ourselves here!) Between my training for the half-marathon and recently starting doing some P90x videos I am hoping to get more fit and trim throughout my training process. Yesterday was my first day to be able to complete every exercise on one of the P90x videos, something that was very fulfilling and motivating. I have never been a big runner and although I've had many friends run marathons, I have always said I would NEVER do a marathon and really never had any interest in a half-marathon either. I'm not sure what happened that I have all of the sudden decided this is something that I want to conquer but it is. For me having a date set to accomplish something I think will help me have motivation to exercise and train and accomplish my overall goal to get healthier, more fit and lose weight. That being said I'm sure that I will have ups and downs throughout this process but I am now ready to face them. My dad has also made a goal to lose weight and despite the fact that he already works out at a gym he is not much of a runner and has made the goal to do the half-marathon with me in June! It will be nice to have the support of another non-runner to share training advice with and increase motivation. In the coming months leading up to the half-marathon I will be sharing my ups and downs of this process on my blog... so stay tuned!

homemade bread

The smell of fresh, homemade bread coming out of the oven is one of those heavenly scents that conjures up a cozy, warm, homey feeling. I have longed wanted a bread maker and have always said it will be the first thing on my wedding registry, and although I still do not have one I did not let that stop me from making some homemade multi-grain bread loaves courtesy of Martha Stewart. This recipe makes 2 loaves of dense bread that is perfect for slicing and pairing with your favorite jam or with your favorite sandwich toppings.

Multi-grain Bread

2 pkg (1/4-ounce envelopes) active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups warm water

3 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey

4 Tablespoons unsalted melted butter, plus more for bowl and pans

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup rye flour

1/3 cup toasted bran (I found mine at Trader Joe's)

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup ground or whole flaxseeds

egg wash-egg white whisked together with water

2 Tablespoons coarse salt

1. Sprinkle yeast over 1/2 cup warm water. Add 2 teaspoons honey. Whisk until yeast dissolves. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle or dough-hook attachment. Add butter and remaining 1 3/4 cup water and 3 Tablespoons honey. In a separate bowl, whisk all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and rye flour together with salt. Add 3 cups of flour mixture to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed until smooth, do not over mix. In another bowl, mix oats, flaxseeds and bran together. Add this mixture to the mixing bowl. Add remaining 4 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing until dough comes away from sides of bowl and forms a ragged, slightly sticky ball. Butter a large bowl.

2. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic but still slightly tacky about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball. Transfer to prepared bowl; cover with plastic wrap and a towel and place in a warm area.

3. Let dough stand in warm place until it doubles in volume (it should not spring back when pressed), about 1 hour. Butter two 4 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch loaf pans. Punch down dough; divide in half.

4. Shape 1 dough half into an 8 1/2 inch long rectangle (about 1/2 inch thick). Fold long sides of dough in to middle, overlapping slightly. Press seam to seal. Transfer dough, seam side down, to pan. Repeat with remaining dough. Brush tops of loaves with egg wash, then sprinkle with oats. Dab tops with egg wash to help adhere. Preheat oven to 450 deg F. Drape loaves with plastic. Let stand until dough rises about 1 inch above tops of pans, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Reduce oven temperature to 400 deg. Bake, rotating pans after 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Transfer to wire racks. Let cool slightly; turn out loaves. Let cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!

crock pot chicken tacos

I was introduced to this easy recipe when I used to babysit for a family with 4 kids, this was an easy to make and easy to please meal to make for us! I recently found a 3 quart sized crock pot at Target on sale for $15, I grabbed it and my first meal I made was crock pot chicken tacos.

To start place as much chicken as you want for your family, or for extras (stores well in refrigerator for a few days), in your crock pot. I used 2 chicken breasts which made 5 servings of 2 tacos.

Pour any kind of salsa over the chicken making sure to cover all the chicken. I used Trader Joe's Chunky Salsa, really anything will work though. For the 2 chicken breasts I needed one whole jar, so you will need more than one jar if using more chicken.

Here it is before cooked with chicken covered in salsa. Set crock pot on low if you want it to cook all day or use high if you will be ready to eat in 3-4 hours.



Here is what is in the crock pot when it is ready to shred, you can see the salsa has reduced and the chicken is cooked.

Using a fork pierce the chicken and use a turn of your wrist to "shred" the chicken. Repeat until all the chicken is shredded and mixed evenly.

Here is the shredded chicken ready to go into a taco or burrito.

I used a warmed corn tortilla, placed some of the crock pot chicken  with tomato and avocado slices on top.

Get creative with it...there are so many possibilities! ENJOY!

the happiest place on earth

Back in October, I traveled to see my Nana and Papa and some of the extended family for a weekend of togetherness. This weekend was planned prior to Papa having his third stoke leaving him hospitalized, so it was a good time to get family together, see Papa, and take care of and keep Nana distracted. Most of us cousins all grew up in Southern California we were used to summer trips to Disneyland together and having 'Camp Nana'. 'Camp Nana' was when my sisters and cousins and I all spend the week at Nana and Papa's house selling lemonaid and found golf balls to the golfers, sleeping on the living room floor, having fashion shows, eating Italian food, going to the Family Fun Center to play mini golf and ride rides and playing many hands of cards; this weekend reminded us of all those fun memories and gave us a taste of the past as now we are all adults sleeping on the floor, playing cards, having big family meals, and going to Disneyland of course!

The Whole Gang

There were a total of 15 of us, that headed to Disneyland on a Saturday with what seemed like the rest of Southern California. We had 2 wheelchairs, one for Nana, and one for a cousin with a hurt knee, and then a stroller for my cousins 5 month old, talk about quite the parade we had.

Taking the tram into the parks, Janessa, Me, Kale, Emmalyn, Brianne, Cooper.

Nana & I on the Marc Twain Steamboat

We had a great day of nostaligia riding our favorite rides, watching the magical fireworks and being together as a big family that we are.

Sister Molly and I at the Bugs Life 3-D Show

Sister Molly & I

Nana came in the afternoon with my aunt and it was really special to have her with us at Disneyland, I think she enjoyed being there with most of her grandchildren as well, I sure had a great day!

adventure to Julian

I have long been wanting to go apple picking and exploring in a town called Julian so I recruited Pati and baby Isaiah to come along and we went on a cold, blustery day earlier this month. The drive was very beautiful driving on windy roads leading up to what seem like nowhere, that is until we got to Julian a very small town established during the gold rush. We first stopped off at Raven Hill Orchard to go apple picking, slightly different from my other apple picking experiences in that the apples were mostly picked or had falled on the ground and they were a small variety of apple. The good news was the apples were sweet and juicy!

Pati with bundled Isaiah

Poor Isaiah's nose got quite cold and red so we left and ventured into "downtown" Julian to find something warm to drink. We talked through the one town street and found the Julian Pie Company were Pati and I enjoyed a slice of apple pie and hot apple cider.

Downtown Julian



Warming up at the Pie Co.



Happy Baby!