Passing the Time

I'm sitting up here at the school waiting for 5 o'clock to roll around so I can head home and trying to keep my eyes open. I'm soo bored. Mondays are always the hardest because I'm at the school from 12 to 5pm doing tutoring. The worst part is sitting at a desk so long. Even when I'm at home watching TV I'm up doing something; sorting, folding and putting away laundry, washing dishes, or cooking in the kitchen. I definitely like to be up and about.

Last night I was in the mood to cook. I made meatloaf, cheesy Gnocchi, and homemade deep dish brownies. Matt was busy yesterday afternoon smoking some meat at a friend's house for a Super Bowl party and surprised me by bringing home smoked bologna, polish sausages, and country style ribs for dinner. Smoked 100% beef bologna is one of my favorite foods and he always tries to throw some on the smoker for me.

It's pretty funny when all this manly cooking is going on. Apparently, smoking meat is a science, and (according to Matt), he's a master of it. It cracks me up how he'll get all bent out of shape when the temperature gets too low and how he can't step away from the smoker even for a second of the 6+ hour process. I do have to admit that what he cooks is pretty good though. Last summer we had a decent crop of corn in our garden and he made several batches of smoked corn on the cob. I'd never even heard of smoking corn before, but it was so yummy! I'm going to have to request it again this summer. Probably weekly.

So, it's meatloaf for dinner tonight. I'll have to share the recipe sometime because it's very delicious and super easy. We did enjoy some cheesy gnocchi with our BBQ though. It was pretty good, but I think it's been better in the past. I don't really measure the ingredients and think I may have skimped a little on the amount of cheese I used.

Here is a pic of the gnocci and oil that I used

Cheesy Gnocchi

1 pkg Potato Gnocchi

1 cup shredded cheese, I use a combo of cheddar and colby jack

3 Tbs butter, melted

3 Tbs olive oil, I like using Garlic & Onion flavored oil. If you can't find it, regular olive oil with a sprinking of garlic powder would be fine

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F


• Boil the gnocchi as the package directs, about 3-4 minutes and drain


• Place the potato gnocchi in an 8"x8" baking dish and drizzle the melted butter, oil, salt and pepper over the top. Toss to coat and add 3/4 cup cheese, tossing to combine


• Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese and bake about 15 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted

*I find the gnocchi and the flavored olive oil at Target under the brand Archer Farms.