Chicken Gnocchi Soup

I learned about this recipe from Olive Garden. I have made several of their soups and this and Zuppa Toscana are the favorites in this house. I would highly suggest that if you have leftovers to heat them up slowly and stir because if it burns the dairy separates and the soup can not be saved. Lesson learned the hard way. Lets get started.

Some celery

Chopped up. You readers should be thankful you do not have to watch me chop. It takes a very looong time.

Onions

Chopped. Oh the tears I cried as I chopped these.

Garlic

Thank goodness I could use the garlic press here.

Oh my thighs. This butter will catch up with me one of these days

Olive oil

Dump it in

Dump in the aromatics. 

Cook them until the onions are clear.

Dump in some flour

Cook for a couple of minutes.

Ah...my thighs again. Some whole milk

Cook slowly until thickened

Get some carrots and peel them

And shred them. Thank goodness you don't have to watch this either.

Now for the Gnocchi. Gnocchi is a form of potato pasta. You can buy it frozen at the store but since I am a master chef, I made my own. (superior smile)

Spinach. I am using some old frozen stuff to get rid of it. It tasted fine.

Dump it and the carrots into the soup.

Add some chicken. Again this is leftover. No waste. 

In the pot

Served up

Some Parmesan Cheese

on top. Enjoy!

Noodles Preview

I have learned to make noodles. I will give instructions in future about how to do them but here is a picture of the finished product drying.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is the best way to get rid of leftover rice. This dish does not look amazing but it tastes great. 

Chop up some onion. If you have green onion that is even better. It makes it look pretty.

You need some Sesame Seed Oil. It adds the correct flavor.

Two eggs

Soy Sauce.

And some leftover rice. I am using leftover brown rice. 

Crack the eggs and add some salt and pepper.

Mix it up.

Put some oil in a skillet.

Heat up the oil and dump in the eggs.

Dump in the onions.

Cook up the scrambled eggs.

Remove from the pan and add some more oil to the skillet...

Add the rice and stir fry.

Stir and stir until the rice is all heated up. 

Dump in the eggs.

Stir them in.

Add the soy sauce. Pretend this is a picture of me adding that ingredient.

Not very pretty looking. If you had colored peppers and green onions to add it might look a lot better!

Doesn't mean it doesn't taste very good. 

The humble spud once again!

What can I say? Our family loves potatoes. This is one for boiled potatoes with parsley. Enjoy!

Start with freshly scrubbed Yukon Gold potatoes. 

Peel them.

And because I am a master-chef I cut them right up into the pot instead of dirtying the cutting board. Okay, I just didn't want to clean the cutting board. 

Pour in some water

Enough to cover the potatoes well. 

Set the heat on high

Cock the lid a little so the pot does not boil over

While you are waiting prep the rest of your meal. Steak and corn was the rest of dinner this night.

Bring the pot to a rolling boil.

Give a good stir now and again to make sure they are not sticking.

Potatoes are done when you can stick a knife into them easily.

Put a drainer in your sink

Be careful as you dump out the potatoes. The steam can burn you.

Get some lovely butter. I love butter. It makes everything so much better!

Either dump the potatoes back into the pot or in a large bowl. As it was Sunday evening dinner, I did not feel like dirtying another dish so I stuck with the pot. 

Dump the butter on top and let it melt and ooze all over the potatoes. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Toss in some chopped parsley. If you have fresh it makes the favor even better but dried works as well. 

Give it a stir and this is the goodness you get to enjoy!