Ham and Cheese Gnocchi

This is sooooo good! Like unbelievably rich, creamy, salty, cheesy and amazing! I love gnocchi and the combination with ham and cheese is delicious. The best part of this for me was using leftover veggies and ham. I love anything that can be used more than once, especially because we like to keep our grocery budget tight. I'll be keeping this one in our family rotation for sure.

And, let's be real, we all love a one pot wonder!

Ingredients:
(Adapted from Kevin and Amanda)

1 tbsp butter
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced peppers (any variety)
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
14 oz diced ham
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup water
12 oz potato gnocchi (my store sells this packaged)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup cream
salt
pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Start by melting the tbsp butter over medium heat. Sauté the onion, peppers and garlic till translucent.

Toss in the ham and cook until it's browned. Pour the stock and water into the pot and bring to a simmer. Throw in the gnocchi and cover with a lid, you'll want to cook the gnocchi through for about 5-8 minutes.

Once the gnocchi is hot, add in the peas and heavy cream. Stir well and add the salt and pepper to taste.

Turn on the broiler. Top with cheese and broil for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Strawberry Whipped Cream

The amount of whipped cream being made in my home has escalated quickly! To be honest, I'm kind of disappointed that I've wasted so many years buying the canned kind. For one, it's ridiculously easy to make. Less than 10 minutes and you've got the perfect whipped topping. And second, it's way cheaper this way! We can usually take a pint of heavy cream and use 1/4 of it for whipped cream and turn the rest into homemade butter!

For the strawberry flavored whipped cream you'll need heavy whipping cream, sugar and strawberry preserves! This can be made with any flavoring you'd like, which makes it the perfect accompany to cakes, cookies or a fresh ice cream topping.

In a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) begin by whipping the cream on high speed, it'll begin to aerate and double in volume. Add in the sugar and continue to whip until peaks are forming. Toss in the preserves. Whip until everything is combined and enjoy!

For my family, I generally use 1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream, up to 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup preserves! It was more than enough for everyone to eat excessive amounts off a spoon.

Hawaiian Fried Rice

I'm B-A-C-KKKKK!

Man, have I been on a serious break or what!?  And as sad as it is, that means my poor family has been eating the same ole boring meals! No new dinners, or cookies, or fancy snacks, and quite frankly, I think we're all a little bored. But, now I'm back! Yay!

Fried rice is my new "garbage" go to meal. By this, I mean that you can take those frozen veggies and leftover meat and throw them in a pan with some stale rice and call it a meal. There's no secret magic to it and, aside from the chopping of a few things, you can cook a whole dinner in 10 minutes.  The most important thing is how cheap it can be. For instance, those pork chops you made that are now just sitting in the fridge, begging someone to eat them, can be chopped, tossed and ready for consuming!

Hawaiian fried rice is the best version of a classic, in my honest opinion. I love ham and pineapple! This fried recipe melds all those classic fried rice flavors we love with the salty ham and sweet pineapple. I used canned pineapple and leftover ham from our new ham and cheese gnocchi dish. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 cups brown rice (let it sit out for about an hour to dry out)
1/2 cup diced ham
1/2 cup diced pineapple
2 eggs
veggies of choice (I used onion, peas and carrots)
1 tbsp sesame oil
soy sauce, to taste

In a large skillet, warm the sesame oil on high heat. Dump in the rice and sauté for just a few minutes. Add in the ham and veggies and continue to sauté on high heat, browning the veggies. Push all of the rice mixture to one side of the pan, add in the eggs and quickly scramble them. Mix everything together and add the soy sauce and a little black pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the pineapple. Serve immediately! Enjoy!

This recipe is very easily doubled and remember to move quickly so you don't burn anything!