Chicken Gnocchi Soup

We just had a office christmas party and Tammy brought us a delicious soup she made, it was so yummy I asked for the recipe, here it is:

Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup

4 Tblsp Butter
1 Tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup finely diced celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 quart half and half
28 ounces chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
1 cup carrots finely shredded
1 cup spinach leaves coarsely chopped
1 cup chicken breast cooked, and diced (can use rotisserie chicken for extra flavor)
16 ounces package ready to use gnocchi

Instructions:
Melt the butter into the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent.
Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minutes
Whisk in the half and half.
Simmer until thickened
Whisk in the chicken broth  Simmer until thickened again
Stir in 1/2 tsp salt, the thyme, parsley, nutmeg, carrots, spinach, chicken and gnocchi
Simmer until the soup is heated through .
before serving, season with additional salt, if necessary

She doubled the batch for our office party, I think one batch is enough for 6 

Nourishment for the soul:
since it is Christmas, I saw this saying on Instagram and I love it:

"Christmas means giving.  The Father gave His Son and The Son gave his life.  Without Giving there is no true Christmas and without sacrifice there is no true worship."  -Gordon B Hinckley

I love this as Christmas should be about what can we give to others, not what do we want to get.  

Biscuits and Gravy

Okay, this recipe is to die for, I just made these this morning and they were superb!  I got it from sugar spun run, and she demonstrates with a video how to make these, so watch her first, go here


Biscuits and Gravy
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tblsp baking powder
1 Tblsp granulated sugar (I added 1 1/2 Tblsp)
1 tsp salt
6 Tblsp butter (she uses unsalted, I used salted)
3/4 cup whole milk

Instructions

• For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.
• Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.
• Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.
• Remove your butter from the refrigerator and either cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter or (preferred) use a box grater to shred the butter into small pieces and then add to the flour mixture and stir.
• • Cut the butter or combine the grated butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  • Add milk, use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don't over-work the dough).
  • Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable. 
  • Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.
  • Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick and lightly dust a 2 3/4" round biscuit cutter with flour. 
  • Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.
  • Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than 1/2" apart on baking sheet. 
  • Once you have gotten as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.
  • Bake on 425F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.
  (I copy and pasted from her site so the numbers to do steps are wonky, ignore, just watch her video and follow her steps.  Mine made 8 biscuits which were fantabulous!!)

for the gravy I looked online and followed the recipe from here:

very simple to make:

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk plus 1-2 optional tablespoons (depending on your preference of thicker or thinner gravy)
• salt
• pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• In small saucepan, melt butter.
• Once butter is melted, add the flour and whisk. It will look like the consistency of wet sand.
• Slowly add the milk, and whisk to incorporate. Whisk until smooth.
• Gravy will thicken, add in the additional milk if you want a thinner gravy.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

I buy precooked sausages that you just have to microwave and I cook those and cut them into the gravy or you can just serve alongside the biscuits.

so yummy

White chocolate Lemon Truffles

My sister just posted this recipe on facebook to try so I want to post it here so that I can try this and then will let you know if it is good!

the website is :  www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com

White Chocolate Lemon Truffles

makes 15 to 20 truffles

Ingredients:

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

zest of 1 lemon

3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp lemon extract

2-3 drops yellow food

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Place the white chocolate chip in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the lemon zest.  Stir in the heavy cream and scald,( bring just before boiling) the mixture.  Pour the cream mixture through a fine mesh sieve over the white choclate chips.  Add the lemon extract and optional food coloring, then stir until the mixture is smooth.

3. Cover and refrigerate the chocolate chip mixture until the mixture is firm enough to handle (about 30 min)

4. Scoop heaping teaspoonfuls of the chocolate chip mixture and form into balls.  Roll the balls in the powder sugar.

Refrigerate the truffles for at least 30 min before enjoying.

by Jamie Sherman

Recipe Notes:

Store the truffles in the refrigerator for up to 7 days  Freeze for up to one month