Gnocchi w/ Browned Butter, Pancetta, & Sage

Well as you are about to see, this is NOT by any means a low fat recipe. But I assure you it is by EVERY means, delicious.

I mean letzzzz get real. Butter, pancetta, sage, are there flavors more comfy cozy for fall? Nope!

I had a lot of leftover sage from a butternut squash soup (maybe coming to the blog later?) recipe that I had made and needed to use it up. Butter and pancetta sounded like the perfect accompanists for it so I threw them all together and came up with this deliciously rich quick dinner.

Even while eating it Jake said, “Oh man, this is delicious. This isn’t very healthy for me is it?”

But sometimes I think we should just enjoy the flavors and not worry about “healthy” vs. “unhealthy”. Which is exactly what we did. Enjoyed it and savored it and savored it some more. ALWAYSSUMMER (1)

I really love the prepackaged Gnocchi that Cost Plus (World Market) has. It’s cheap, not full of any weird or unpronounceable ingredients and tastes delicious. You can even order it online if you’re not lucky enough to have a store close to you. And I say lucky because I’m convinced that they cannot produce or sell an item I wouldn’t be thrilled to have either in my home, in my stomach or on my body (home decor, food, jewelry/clothes in case you were confused) 🙂 Pancetta and bacon are very similar. Basically the same except for one small step. Both are usually cured pork belly but while pancetta is done after the curing step, bacon is then smoked afterwards. Typically it’s a cold smoke and it’s never heated, which is why both pancetta and bacon need to be cooked before eaten. (Different from prosciutto which has been cured a little differently and for a much longer period of time and can be eaten without being “cooked”). There’s your food lesson for the day!
We have our first snow fall in the forecast for this weekend. I suppose can’t be that bent out of shape about it, we’ve had such a mild fall and it’s almost the end of November. Maybe if we get enough this year, I can finally go snow shoeing as we couldn’t last year!

xoxo 669058772380712020613

Cheesy Bacon Oven Chips

Ingredients:
2-3 russet potatoes, scrubbed well and sliced uniformly into 1/8″ rounds (I left the skin on mine but you could peel)
cooking spray
3/4 C. shredded colby jack or cheddar cheese
salt & pepper
2 T. crumbled bacon (about 2 slices) – I used real bacon
Chopped green onions or chives, for garnish

Directions:
Turn oven on to 375 degrees. Bring sliced potatoes to a boil in cold, salted water and cover for 5 minutes. Drain, and carefully (they’re hot!) transfer slices to a countertop or cutting board and pat them dry.

Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray or olive oil, and lay out potato slices so they are slightly overlapping. Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese & bacon. Bake 12-14 minutes in preheated oven until cheese is melted & bubbly. Top with your garnish of choice. Serve with chipotle ranch sauce (recipe below).

Chipotle Ranch Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:
1 T. ranch dressing
3 T. plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1/4 t. chipotle chili powder
1/8 t. cayenne ( more or less depending how spicy you want to make it)
1/8 t. salt
1/4 t. garlic powder

Directions:
Mix together all ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate any leftovers. This makes a really tasty dip for veggies and stuff too!

This was a very quick and easy recipe to make! I saw it on Pinterest (duh) and was just craving it for some reason. I had some extra potatoes laying around (I don’t typically have white potatoes stocked) so it was fate! Boiling the potatoes first really helped them be fully cooked without cooking for so long in the oven and burning all the ingredients on top. It was kind of unhealthier than the food I typically make, but you gots ta do that sometimes 🙂

Hope you enjoy! And thanks for stopping by!

xoxo