Tonight I transported myself to 2006. I spent that year working as a waitress at a small hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant in Pennsylvania, earning tips that were considered high at the time. The only cooking my job involved was making salad, but I spent time watching my boss make pasta from scratch day after day.

So tonight I embarked on a journey: making sweet potato gnocchi. I’d never done it before and had no clue what I was doing. But there comes a time when you just need to get your hands doughy.

I skimmed a few recipes online and constructed my own. I started by peeling and chopping two large sweet potatoes, placing them in a glass bowl and microwaving them for nearly 10 minutes until they were mashable.

While those were cooking, I got my other ingredients ready. I decided I would add mushrooms, kale and swiss chard to my pasta dish while incorporating a garlicky-sage sauce.

I like to mash my potatoes with a meat pounder. I do not recommend this. It is annoying, taxing and your neighbors will hate you. I eventually gave up and threw everything into my Vita-Mix blender, which did the job in under one minute.

Then it was time to roll the dough. Make sure your surface has plenty of all purpose flour.

This can get pretty sticky. My entire body was covered in flour by the end of this process.

Next, shape the dough into two long “snakes.” Then cut to whatever size you prefer. Mine ended up being a bit too large, so I’d recommend cutting them into smaller pieces. For a little design, I pressed the top with a fork.

Place in boiling water and watch and see which one floats first. That’s how you know they’re done.

Meanwhile, I got my vegetables cooking. I added a little bit of butter, tons of vegetable broth, garlic, sage, pepper and some parmesan cheese. Don’t worry – I’ll post a recipe at the end with more accurate measurements!

The end result? Not only pleasing to the eye – but the stomach. I was amazed at how good my gnocchi came out, especially because it was only a combination of flour + sweet potatoes. I meant to add salt and pepper but forget during the annoying mashing incident.

I sort of like the way my gnocchi still looks like a sweet potato.

A beautiful meal. I must admit I’m pretty proud that I tried something new – and on a Monday!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi in a Garlicky-Sage Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1.5 cups flour
• salt, pepper
• kale
• swiss chard
• mushrooms
• garlic (fresh)
• olive oil (enough to coat pan – not too much)
• sage
• 1/8 tablespoon butter (could use less or omit, if you want)
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (I used reduced fat, it was good)
• 1 cup vegetable broth

Gnocchi Instructions

1. Peel and cut two large sweet potatoes. Microwave until tender (about 10 minutes, depending).

2. While those are cooking, boil some water in a pot.

3. Mash with a fork or use a blender, mixer. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

4. Add 1/2 cup flour at a time, mixing with a spoon. Repeat until all the flour has been added. You may need more or less, depending on the size of your potatoes.

5. Transfer the dough to a flat surface that is well-floured. Roll into a ball.

6. Divide the dough into two logs. Cut evenly; I’d recommend about an inch wide or less.

7. Press the tops with a fork.

8. Drop the gnocchi into your pot one at a time. Be sure that none touch. You will have to do this in stages because your pot won’t be large enough.

9. Wait until it floats, and then you know they’re done!

The Sauce

1. Sautee the olive oil, garlic, butter, sage, salt and pepper for a minute or so.

2. Add the vegetables and broth.

3. Let it cook until wilted and then add the parmesan cheese. You may need to add more broth depending on how thick or thin you’d like the sauce.

4. Serve over your gnocchi!

Phew! What a fun dinner!

I have been excited to make this since last night. I love when making up a new recipe can do that to me!

As you may know, I’m on Operation Clean-Out-The-Pantry. Before I resort to buying any more food, I am going to check my pantry first. The December budget is tight, so this plan is in full effect until the new year. I’ve had this box for months now (so long I had to check the expiration date!):

Sweet Potato, Broccoli and Sage Lasagna

Time: 20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cook

Ingredients

• Two large sweet potatoes
• Two heads of broccoli
• Whole wheat lasagna noodles
• Mozzarella
• Sage
• Salt
• Pepper
• Milk (one splash)

Directions

I decided to take the quick and easy route, so I microwaved everything instead of cooking on the stove.

1. Boil lasagna noodles

2. While that’s going, chop sweet potatoes and cook in the microwave until soft.

3. Add broccoli to the microwave and cook until soft.

4. Remove potatoes and place into a blender or food processor. Add salt, pepper and sage. Blend until smooth.

5. Add sweet potato puree to the broccoli.

6. Layer the lasagna noodles, the puree/broccoli mixture and cheese until you reach the top. Hopefully you don’t run out of puree like I did. It should look like this before putting it in the oven:

7. Add some cheese on top at the end. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

It should come out looking like this:

So delicious and filling. This was hands down the best meal I’ve ever made.

The perfect portion for my little old placemat replacement.

Make this and eat it now! The secret is in the sage

I have been wanting to use this sauce I won in a contest for quite some time, but I could never quite muster up the courage. I knew it was spicy, and I knew my mouth would be on fire after using it, and so I never took the chance. But tonight as I was searching through the cabinets, I knew I wanted something different, and so I gave it a whirl.

Yes, Saucy Mama. Your Lime Chipotle is a killer on the heartburn, but worth it indeed! I got two pans frying – one holding the tofu and sauce and another steaming a sweet potato, zucchini and three carrots.

This is where the magic happens. My kitchen might be small, and I might not have an appropriate place to house spices, but I make do with what I got.

Eventually I mixed the two pans together, and although it looks a little green, I assure you that it didn’t make me feel sour.

And look! A little flower of orange was born!

I am currently obsessed with sweet potatoes, and I am obsessed with making them in this fashion. They are so tender and easily consumed and placed into my belly.

I almost called a fire truck to hose out my mouth but decided against it. I need to grow a thicker skin when it comes to spice.

I recommend this sauce and this combination!

Art

It has occurred to me that on the header of my blog the words “Art.Food.Fun.” are listed in succession. I’m pretty sure I have food covered, but I think the other two departments are lacking. Where is my art? And more importantly, where is my fun? I have decided to incorporate both art and fun into my daily life because it’s necessary.

I decided to take advantage of some empty wall space in my bedroom to create what I call a “saying board.” Throughout the day, these little lines pop into my head, and I usually forget to write them down. I’m also very into images with meaningful text right now, so I decided I wanted to do my own sort of project.

Each day I am going to tack up a notecard with any words in my head. I’m sure some will be meaningful. I’m sure others won’t. But in the end, I hope to have some sort of representation of what the month of December is like through text.

You may have seen me write this on Twitter. It’s simple but true.

I look forward to seeing where this project takes me!

Do you have any expressions or phrases in your head?

One of my goals in life is to have good experiences at the grocery store (a.k.a co-op, for me). I prefer to shop at the co-op because 1) the produce  is the best around 2) the store is small and therefore less crowded – most of the time. Tonight’s experience started off very pleasantly, and I was even able to snag a few photos to show you what I fall in love with while shopping.

This is my absolute favorite aisle in the co-op. I am a sucker for buying anything in bulk. Plus they always have these gems and goodies hiding in plastic containers. It’s all about label reading.

Normally this aisle is insanely packed, so I took advantage of my aloneness with the granola, nuts and chocolate-covered almonds (yes, swoon.)

I bought two special ingredients for dinner tonight that I knew I had to use: Annie’s Tuscany Dressing and beautiful red kale.

I chopped up two carrots and one giant sweet potato and threw them in a pan with some kale, salt, pepper, olive oil and tons of garlic. I added the dressing later. This is my new favorite way to cook sweet potatoes. So easy and simple.

The result? Orange and Green Pasta. Or, for the more descriptive, Kale and Sweet Potato Pasta.

Close-up shots of this dish were very, very necessary. This is the best thing I’ve eaten in a good two weeks. I needed a veggie belly hug, for sure.

The lobster placemat says: yes! you did it, Rose! you cooked something magical and delicious!

Now it’s time to get my writing self in gear. I have a 10-page story due in a few days, and it needs my utmost attention.

Do you have pleasant grocery trips?

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but Tuesday nights are my solo date nights. Bill has class until 8:30 p.m., so it’s my night to mess around with whatever ingredients I want in the kitchen. The problem with solo date night is that, even though I get to cook something tasty, I almost always spend the rest of my time doing homework.

But who said reading poetry can’t be a solo date, right?

I got into the kitchen right away tonight and decided to go with ingredients I had on hand. There was one lowly sweet potato and a ton of tofu. I basically just started frying things in two separate pans to see what would happen.

Something like this was born:

Which, I am going to name this:

Barbeque Tofu with Spiced Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms

Ingredients

• sweet potato
• mushrooms
• 1/2 onion
• 1 container tofu (extra firm and pressed)
• barbeque sauce
• sesame seeds
• ginger
• olive oil

Directions

1. Cut and press the tofu into eight strips.

2. While that’s pressing, chop your onion and sautee in about two tablespoons of olive oil.

3. Chop sweet potato thinly.

4. Add sweet potato to the onion and mushroom mix, cover and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

5. While that’s cooking, add the barbeque sauce to both sides of the tofu and cover with sesame seeds (optional).

6. Grill in a pan until it’s almost blackened. This takes a long time.

7. Add a touch of parsley for color and serve on a lobster placemat.

I loved this dish. Perfect for me. And I made a foodie discovery! I actually like the taste of onions. For years, I’ve hated raw onions. But there’s something about the flavor and sweetness of them. Gets me every time.

Back to the grind! 100 more pages to read and then some research! Why do I wait until the last minute always?!

Let’s just face the facts right from the get-go: I’m in a lousy mood. On top of having a stomach ache all day, I just realized that I have a ton of reading to do for my class tomorrow. I don’t know how, but I let a million essays slip by and totally forgot to read. I feel like a bad student today. Sometimes it’s so hard to keep it all straight, you know?

On that upbeat note (I promise more fun throughout this post), today’s eats were just the way I like ‘em: veggiefill and filling.

Lunch

Last night I decided it was time to eat tofu in the raw (if that’s the right expression). I sliced some up and threw into a wrap with spinach and hummus.

At lunch I later realized I put way too much tofu on this wrap – I ended up throwing some of it out. I also ate the rest of my salad from yesterday.

I’ve had these Kashi crackers in my desk for a while and decided to have a little crunch.

Snack Factor

Chobani helped me through the afternoon. My stomach was growling – yet I felt sick at the same time. A terrible predicament.

Dinner

When you have a container of garlic this size, there’s no way you won’t overuse it.

Tonight I made a mix of items I was craving: spinach, asparagus, rice and sweet potato fries. I call it Mix and Chips.

Check out the pecan wonder.

Delightful.

Shredding

I finally tried out Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred today. I liked it! Some of the moves were hard for me (the side to side lunges, for some reason), but I liked the quickie workout. It made me feel like less of a sick slob

I wish this post was more inventive and full of better stories, but I need to get back to that reading. Grrrr. These are days I wish I was done with school….

Are you in school? What are things like for you?