Happy Sunday to everyone. It is raining out today and as I sit on my porch contemplating what I'll serve for Sunday dinner with my five pounds of flour my mind runs straight to Gnocchi.
An easy, inexpensive addition to the weekly menu. Yes I know it might be out of your comfort range, but with just two potatoes, a little salt, and egg and flour you'll have a gourmet dinner in no time.

This is the second meal for your five pounds of flour. The tiny potato pillows that we will make will amaze you that with just a handful of inexpensive ingredients you can feed your family for pennies.

The goal is to make these potato pillows light and tender not soggy and rubbery.

Recipe for Potato Gnocchi
2 pounds (2 large Russet) potatoes
1/4 cup egg lightly beaten
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
salt to taste
Fresh herbs if desired (Dry can also be used)

I like to add fresh lemon basil from my kitchen garden along with a little fresh thyme. You can add any herbs that strick your fancy and if you don't have any that's OK too. Don't go out and buy those little plastic trays with 10 sprigs for $4.00 because you're defeating the purpose of saving dollars. Instead plant a few seeds in a pot and enjoy them all season and even into the winter. Just bring them inside.

To start you'll need 2 pounds (2 large russet potoatos). Start them in cold, salted water and boil about 40 minutes or so until tender. Remove them once they are soft and peel them as soon as possible after removing from the water.

Put them through a ricer if you have one, if not use a fork and run it down the outside of the potato, don't mash it, until you have a fluffy mound with no lumps.

Cool the potatoes for 10-15 minutes so that when you add the egg you don't immediately cook it.

Make a potato mountain in the middle of your work surface and take the egg and beat it slightly. Sprinkle the egg and flour over the top of the mountain. You can use a plastic bowl scraper or spatula to mix all the ingredients. Sprinkle salt over the to and continue until incorporated.

Dough should be moist, not sticky. Add a little more flour as needed. You may not need the entire cup of flour, the texture of the dough will determine how much you will use.

Cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each out until it is the diameter of your thumb and cut into 3/4 inch pieces. Dust with a little flour.

Using the tines of a fork run each piece down the length of the fork ever so lightly. This should cause the dough to curl up slightly and leave small indentions from the tines of the fork.

You can use the pot of potato water that you had left after cooking the potatoes or fresh water that you have brought back to a boil.

Place small batches, 10 or so in the water so they don't stick together. You'll know when they are finished as they will float to the surface. Leave them on top for about 15 seconds before you take them out with a slotted spoon.

Place on a plate and you can add fresh pesto or sauce. I like to also put them in a fry pan with a little butter and garlic and brown them lightly and then add fresh spinach. This makes an amazing dinner.

Think you can do this? I know you can. Even get the kids involved. They will love helping make dinner and it also is great family time for all.

Chow

Good morning bloggers.
During the past few months I have been clipping coupons and trying many prepared meals only to find out that my family won't eat them. Being as expensive as they are, some $10.00 or more for a dinner for two, my family appreciates my efforts each evening when I cook a meal from scratch. A hard concept for many, yes, but not being one to buy bagged or boxed meals I had to see what the other side was like. Sure when our kids were growing up many nights dinner would come from a box, Stove Top Stuffing, Hamburger Helper, and everyone's favorite to this day, Kraft Mac and Cheese. The first, the original, not the fancy new ones with sauce packets.

That was fine for the younger years but after figuring out that I can make the same meal for 1/10th the cost of the packaged ones and avoid all the preservatives and other things that I can't even pronounce, my family now won't allow me to get away with dinner on the slide.

Don't get me wrong. I like short cuts but when I can make pasta in less than 10 minutes and have a stroganoff on the table by using a little cornstarch and bouillon and other spices from the cabinet, they now have developed a taste for home cooking not box cooking.

Tonight is pizza night at my house. It was either that or a frozen, prepackaged P.J. Chang's that I got on sale and had coupons for. We're going to give it a try when I don't have time to cook, but for tonight it is homemade.

Hope your Friday night dinner is memorable for all the right reasons.