Good Eats!

While looking through my posts, I found a few I had never published for whatever reason. One of them was this one that appears finished, but was never published. Maybe I was waiting for pictures? Whatever the reason, here it is now from December 2008.

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I made a couple things last week that were so good that I'm still thinking about how yummy they were! If they were that good, then I think I need to share them. That and make them again as soon as possible. I'll put the recipes at the end of this post.

The first was made thanks to a lunchtime date to Olive Garden with my main squeeze and two littlest squeezes. Kirk took the whole Thanksgiving week off from work, so we went out to lunch one day. I had the most delicious Chicken and Gnocchi Soup. Mmmmmmm... I salivate a little just remembering. 'Scuse me. I wanted to recreate it, so I found a recipe that seemed kind of close and then tweaked it. What I ended up with was very, very close to the Olive Garden soup. It was a bit too thick, but that can easily be remedied with a little bit of chicken broth or milk. I also wasn't a huge fan of the gnocchi I bought. I think I might make my own next time or try a different brand.

The second thing I made was Spinach Artichoke Dip like the kind that is popular in restaurants. I think this also turned out very close to the "real" thing. I think I might have gone a little heavy on the artichoke with the first batch, but I can change that easily in the future. I thought it was delicious, but others thought it was a bit strong. That's ok, I ate most of that batch all by myself over the following few days. Ha!

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
1/3 cup olive oil or butter
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 lb. chicken(breasts, thighs, whatever you like) cut into cubes
1/3 cup flour
some onion, diced(amount depends on how much you like onion)
1/2 cup fresh chopped spinach(I like a little more spinach, so I used more than this.)
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream(I may reduce this amount in the future.)
3 chicken bullion cubes
pepper to taste
gnocchi

Melt the butter(or heat the oil) in a soup pot(I used my cast iron pot) over medium heat. Add in the garlic and sautee. Add your chicken and cook until done.
Stir in the flour and mix well until the flour is cooked into the chicken.
Add your milk and heavy cream. Mix it up well.
Add the veggies.(You could also add some carrot and/or celery if you wanted.)
Add three bullion cubes.(Next time I think I will add some chicken broth instead of or along with these, since mine came out too thick.)
Cook until soup thickens, stirring occasionally. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add your gnocchi during the simmer time. It takes 3-4 minutes to cook them throughout.


Spinach Artichoke Dip
For this one I don't really have a "recipe" per se, but rather a list of ingredients. You add them in amounts that suit your fancy. I'll try to give estimates for how much to use, but please do follow your gut when making it. ;c)
Spinach, fresh or frozen - I used fresh and chopped it up, but you could also thaw a small(10 ounce) package of frozen cut spinach.
Artichoke hearts, diced - I used a small jar(I think 14 ounces or so), but that was a bit too much.
Light Mayo - about half a cup
Parmesan cheese
Mozarella cheese
garlic to taste, either from pressed cloves or garlic powder

Mix it all together and put it into a dish. You want it to heat through easily, so put it in a dish that will allow it to be only about an inch or so thick. Sprinkle a little extra mozarella on the top. ;c) Bake it in a 350 degree oven until it is bubbly and heated throughout - about 15-20 minutes, but you might want to check it after 10 to make sure it isn't browning on top.