Wednesday, November 30, 2011

WIAW and deep thoughts about gnocchi

Oh hi blog. Remember me?

Fewf. I thought this was gonna be awkward.





Okay pretty sure this was what I ate on... Monday... Yeah. Let's go with Monday.

Remember my very serious life or death quandary about... what to eat for breakfast? A lovely commenter pointed out that basically what I was asking for was the exact same qualifications for vegan breakfast.

Oh duh. Why didn't I think of that?

So here was my first attempt at vegan breakfast.



It ain't oatmeal!!

(I'm still boycotting oatmeal. We're not on speaking terms. On account of oatmeal being such a MANWHORE.)

It's actually bulgur. If you've never had it, I think it tastes a lot like brown rice but takes 1/3 of the time to cook.

I put it in the pan with some almond milk and then when it was done cooking I added slivered almonds and some chopped up raisin.

My morning snack was at the advice of another commenter on my breakfast post.



Green smoothie! Spinach, banana, strawberry, almond milk, sweetener. Done and done.

I started lunch off with a salad.



Spinach, almonds, roasted beets, butternut squash and poppyseed dressing.

I'm not gonna lie I ate 1/3 of the beets before I just could not take it anymore. I shoved the rest to the side and then eventually into the trash. Unfortunately their weird beety juices had contaminated the rest of the salad and I didn't finish it.

But don't worry. Cuz I had this too.



Ham and cheese PANINI!!

True story, I hate sandwiches. They are so boring and cold food doesn't really do it for me. I prefer hot meals.

But if you grill them and they get all warm and gooey and there are visible sear marks then it is no longer a sandwich... it is a... magical lunch food of deliciousness and awesome.

I am going to be eating paninis for days.

I don't have a picture of dinner. It was some overcooked honey garlic chicken (crock pot fail) with brussel sprouts, some spinach and Alexa criss cut sweet potato fries.

In a dream world after that I had a glass of water and went to bed.

In the real world where my bottom is ever-expanding I then went to my parent's house and had 4 pieces of pizza and some ice cream.

BUT let's not talk about that.

Let's talk about this.

Yesterday I made gnocchi for the first time. I made 3 different batches trying to find the perfect consistency. Unfortunately I have never had gnocchi before. I have NO IDEA what it's supposed to be like!

This was batch #2.



Chewy on the outside, but fluffy and bready on the inside. Batch #1 was super chewy and dense, Batch #3 was even fluffier than this and had almost no "chew" to it at all.

So if there are any resident gnocchi experts in the audience help a sista out.

Does this picture look right? Do you like your gnocchi chewier or fluffier?

The fate of my italian themed jewelry party rests in your hands.

7 comments:

  1. Kudos to you for making gnocchi! I have never made it, but that little dough pillow looks pretty good to me.

    I agree about grilled sandwiches being so much better! They are just on another level altogether.

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  2. Gnocchi is awesome! I've never perfected it, but had some awesome renditions in Italy. It should be on the fluffier side. If it's too dense or chewy I think that mean you handled it too much... not that I've ever done it... lol!

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  3. @Emma- I think that particular dough pillow is my fave. I prefer my gnocchi on the chewy side but I love chewy textures in general. I'm kind of addicted to popping plain handfuls into my mouth. o.O

    @Laura- Dang it. Of course I would like it better the way it's NOT supposed to be. I did make a batch that was perfectly fluffy however!

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  4. I love your vegan breakfast! It looks so yummy. I always forget about eating bulgar for breakfast.
    And I'm so jealous of your gnocchi. I'm always intimidated by the thought of making it but it's delicious! I should. :)

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  5. The bulgar looks delicious! I have heard many good things about it, but still haven't tried it...I need to get on that, your picture inspired me!

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  6. @Emily- Well I haven't perfected them yet! They are a little tricky, but I imagine it would help if you actually knew what they were supposed to taste like... I don't. It's problematic. I've made them 6 or 7 times now and the technique itself has become really easy. I'm still just figuring out how much of what ingredients to add and how long/hard to work the dough.

    @Jessica- Bulgur is really good! To me it tastes just like brown rice, maybe a little more chewy.

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  7. I've never had bulgur before - but it sounds really good! And I love having green smoothies for a morning snack too - they're delicious and so good for you. :)

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