Chicken Gnocchi soup

Happy Saturday to all.  I am finally getting it together to write about the Chicken Gnocchi soup I made before the camping trip.  It's very good and the plan was to post last week but....life got in the way.

This is knockoff recipe from an Olive Garden soup but with modifications to reduce the calorie count. Honestly, we haven't eaten at an Olive Garden restaurant in over 10 years but I did remember liking the rich and creamy Chicken Gnocchi soup.


 

 This wasn't arduous to prepare but if I'd taken the slow cooker option , well now you are really talking hands off time. The slow cooker option gives you more reading time during the cooking phase. No worries, it was completely worth it.

 

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

2 carrots, sliced thinly

1 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped thinly

3 cloves garlic, sliced

7 ounces fresh spinach

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast (I used leftover grilled chicken)

Oregano, rosemary and basil to your taste

Almost 4 cups chicken broth

14 ounce can evaporated milk

3 TB cornstarch

packaged gnocchi

Chop all veggies except spinach and saute.

  The spinach is added at the end of the cooking time.

Add all other ingredients except cornstarch after vegetables are tender. 

 Once blended thicken it with cornstarch.  

Add the spinach last, just before you serve a bowl.

Sharing with 

Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for her Souper Sunday event. Check out her Mexican Steet Corn and Potato Chowder

Marg at Intrepid Reader and Baker for Weekend Cooking

A few peaceful days at Seminole State Park in Georgia

It's been ages since we were able to get our RV out for a bit of relaxation. The weather has been nice up until we reserved our favorite site....then the forecast called for thunderstorms.  It was a rather high chance for the entire time we had planned to be away. Luckily it's not rained as much as projected on Monday. We had one huge storm but it's only been misty early Tuesday. Then the rain came in hard and and heavy and we had to stay inside.

Here is the site, we just love it.  The lake view is on the opposite side and our view while we eat or sit and read is this little open chapel and woodland.




This is our view from the door.  A funny and odd thing happened our first night.  We saw two motorcycles near our spot, rain coming down fairly well on them as they sat and looked around.  Next thing we know they are in the chapel area for shelter and having a bite to eat.



One rides off and comes back with a park ranger.  What happened was they asked permission to stay the night and get out of the rain before heading on to their destination the following day.  They were such nice guys, one was retired Army and they chatted with us a bit.

Lake view.  We have camped there before and it's pretty but extremely windy.



Selfie from inside. I can't wait for a haircut!



I dropped a book in the community library with a BookCrossing number.  I hope someone gets it and logs it.  It would be cool to see where it travels.



I finished my comfort book, an old faithful by Rosamunde Pilcher because I wanted to know I had a consistantly good story.  Love The Shell Seekers even though it's a bit dated.  I'll eventully get that up on my book blog.

Just started Joanna Trollope's Mum and Dad and so far I'm enjoying it.



We took a walk during a lull in misting rain Tuesday and saw the boardwalk.  If you squint you'll see a large white stork like bird in a tree just above the railing.  It's a peaceful scene.

 

A flowering plant which I'd love to identify.  Anyone know what this is? It was prettier up close.



So that's it for my Tuesday update.  We will be packing up soon and have a busy week ahead with dropping the RV off for service, picking up mail and I have a doctor appointment.

Hoping everyone is doing well, staying healthy and having fun.

Hey Jude, Let It Be, Yesterday and so much more

We were channel hopping on the radio while we drove to the park yesterday and found on the The Beatles channel they were playing the top 100 songs. The songs are chosen from a poll they hosted back in April so the listeners get a chance to vote for their favorites. I wasn't aware of the poll so, no votes from us.

Anyway, The Beatles Channel on Sirius XM radio is channel 18, in case you want to check it out.

They are continuously playing the top 100 and it's hosted by Peter Asher from the old band Peter and Gordon.  If you are a fan you'll love this broadcast.



We hadn't listened to the Beathes in ages but after viewing the movie Yesterday we realized how many wonderful songs they created. If you get a chance to watch this  movie I think you'd enjoy it.

Doug and I were 8 years old when the Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan show.  It was one of those game changers for music broadcast on TV, that's for sure.  Probably younger folks don't remember that variety show but those were simpler times and I have many good memories of that time period.


 .

Do you have a favorite Beatles song?  It's so hard for us to narrow it down but I'm in love with The Long and Winding Road and In My Life.  Doug loves Let it Be and Hey Jude.  There are just so many more such as Yesterday, what a perfect song, it's hard to only pick one.

We have never seen the Beatles but I was fortunate to see Paul McCartney and Wings waaaay back in 1976. Amazing.

Normally I post my link up with Joy for her British Isles Friday series on the book blog but as I'm not certain how long they will run this top 100 show, I thought I'd post it right now.  The heck with waiting till Friday.  Also, we are trying to go camping for a few days before a hectic week starts.  More on that later.  Plus a soup post...finally got it together on that front :-)


Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday

 

Nigella's Pizza, ready in 40 minutes - start to finish {ooey, gooey hot lunch!}

Today I wanted to share a lunch that is easy to prepare and rather versitile, as far as toppings go that is.  It's from one of my favorite cooks, Nigella Lawson.  Most of the ingredients are probably in your pantry and fridge  All purpose flour, an egg, milk, cheese and toppings you enjoy on a regular pizza.





Her Crustless Pizza is more like a thick grilled cheese sandwich. It’s super easy and I had it out for a hot lunch in under 40 minutes. That is mostly hands off time as it bakes for 30 of those minutes.

Once you whisk the batter it is pouring into a pan and you can relax for 30 minutes while it bakes.

Here is an older photo from when we had it with pepperoni. Just so you can see what it looks ike.

Nigella's Pizza

Ingredients

1 egg

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Salt

1 cup whole milk

Butter, for pie dish

1 cup grated Cheddar

2 ounces small chorizo or pepperoni slices, tomato, mushrooms, whatever you like
I used a round ovenproof pie dish, 8 or 9 inches in diameter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the flour, salt, to taste, and milk to make a smooth batter.

Butter a round ovenproof pie dish, then stir half the grated cheese into the batter, before pouring it into the dish.

Bake for 30 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and add the chorizo or pepperoni, if using, - or anything else - now, too. Return the dish to the oven and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes to make sure it's heated through.

Take it out of the oven and serve, cut into slices. Nigella suggests a green or tomato salad on the side. This turned out airy rather than pizza crust-like. It was good.

Sharing with:

Marg at Intrepid Reader and Baker

I Heart Cooking Club

Midnight in Paris and an Apple Tartin

When I saw Midnight in Paris was the featured film at Food 'n Flix I knew I would be enjoying a bit of armchair traveling.  Our libraries were closed so I couldn't borrow the movie . We just went ahead and bought it on Amazon.




Our central character is Gil played by Owen Wilson.  He is in Paris with his finacee Inez and her parents, never quite fitting in with their ideas about life and what's important not to mention their stodgy behavior. Gil wants to explore the city and immerse himself in the culture. His fiancee wants to shop and flirt with an old crush who they happen to run into. Didn't like her one bit.

Gil wanders off alone one evening while Inez and her friends go dancing. As the clock strikes midnight Gil finds himself in the 1920's and being hauled off to a party where he meets Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, the Fitzgeralds and Getrude Stein.


I loved seeing the sights of Paris and the back-in-time sequences.  Quirky movie and fun to watch.  Loved the scene where Gil meets Hemingway and asks if he would read his manuscript.

Gil: Would you read it?

Ernest Hemingway: Your novel?

Gil: Yeah, it's about 400 pages long, and I'm just looking for an opinion.

Ernest Hemingway: My opinion is I hate it.

Gil: Well you haven't even read it yet.

Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it because I hate bad writing, and if it's good, I'll be envious and hate all the more. You don't want the opinion of another writer.

Marion Cotillard, Corey Stoll and Owen Wilson stole the show.  There isn't much food but the wine and champagne flows.  Being in Paris I planned to make a French onion soup from a Julia Child recipe. As I can't imbibe or use alcohol in cooking right now the soup idea went to the wayside.  I'm not going to omit the wine for this soup and I had very much looked forward to making Julia's recipe so.....go with the punches and make something else.  An apple tart.  Hopefully Julia would agree with this choice :-)




Check out Debra's announcement post HERE and join in.  It's fun :-)

Sharing with

Debra at Eliot's Eats

Food 'n Flix

I Heart Cooking Club

The Intrepid Reader and Baker for Weekend Cooking

Simple food - roasted chicken and veggies

This week I have been slow to get organized. I have been reading a bit more, some excellent books as well as a few disappoinments which were abandoned. Life is too short and I have way too many books I'd like to read coming up.

The bookish ventures kept me from updating the food/life blog so...here I am on Saturday afternoon linking in with Beth Fish Reads last Weekend Cooking event. You read that correctly, in case you haven't been to visit at BFR's site recently.  She is handing over the hosting baton to Marg.
 Marg at The Intrepid Reader will be taking over hosting so we can all visit one another's kitchens and dining events. Yea!

On to the fare in my kitchen.  Nothing fancy, simple roast chicken quarters with veggies.  A one pan meal with minimal cleanup.  The veggies we used this time are those petite potatoes from Trader Joe's, a few Yukon Gold potatoes sliced, baby carrots and a large onion roughly chopped.

 

This was tossed with olive oil and rosemary, salt, oregano and roasted garlic powder. It was nice to pop that roasting pan in the oven then drive Aja to the park.  We had a side of green beans and managed to wait on wine until afterwads.  What?? 



Usually we enjoy a glass of wine with dinner but more recently we have opted to open the bottle afterwards.  We have bread and cheese and sometimes chocolate.

The reason for this is waiting on the sunset.  We  hope to have a glass once the sun starts setting when we are sitting outside.  It's so nice to sit out and watch the sky turn from blue to amber, listen to the birdsong as the changing of the guards from cardinals and towhees to owls and whippoorwills.



Right now the weather permits this but soon, when my northern friends are setting up their porches for outdoor dining and reading, it will become incredibly hot here.  It runs us inside with the humidity and heat.  Now is our time and we are spending as much time out as we can.

Hoping to update a bit more frequently and maybe participate in Sunday Salon.  There is a movie post for Food 'n Flix I have in the works for Midnight in Paris.  Stay tuned for a Julia Child dish to go with that event.

Wishing good health to you all, hoping you are all safe and healthy.

Sharing with Beth Fish Reads for Weekend Cooking.

In My Kitchen - It's May already!

May? How did that get here so soon? Actually I have trouble remembering what day it is so I've started keeping my calendar/planner open. Any day we venture out I write it in the calendar so we know, if we were to get sick, what days we were out and where we were.  What a crazy world we live in now.  I used to read apocolyptic lit but that's not on my radar these days.  Give me a mystery or lovely Rosamunde Pilcher novel. Ha...

 The In My Kitchen event will feature inside and outside this month.  It's been pleasant enough most days and evenings to bring our lunch and dinner plates out to the patio. Drinking too much wine these days but the meals kinda call for wine.....who am I to argue during the year of the plague.

This one was very good. Coudoulet de Beaucaste Cotes Du Rhone.


 

 This is a cool little scale that fits on the counter, doesn't take up too much room and
is handy when you need to be sure of the measurements. I am measuring yellow crookneck squash if you can't tell by the photo.

 

 Below is the squash casserole. We like this version quite a bit. Some squash plants are coming up in the garden so hopefully I can make this fresh.



 My husband makes the best French toast! The bread we are using for this is Trader  .
Joe's brioche.

 

Moet & Chandon champagne. So. Very. Good. Yeah, we are outside again.

 Linking up with 

  Sherry for the In My Kitchen event 

 Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking