How have the first few days of your year been so far?

Have you been staying on top of those New Year’s resolutions? You know, because I definitely have (shifts eyes downward guiltily)………..yeah definitely. So okay, maybe I’ve already rearranged some of my originally listed things that sounded like such a good idea a week ago and traded them with some more realistic goals, but I guess that’s better than nothing right?

Alright, so I haven’t made a gnocchi recipe in a really long time and I’m pretty sure I’ve only made the actual gnocchi itself 2 or 3 times. One of the biggest advantages that I love about making gnocchi is that it cooks very quickly, like 2 minutes and presto. Plus, if you use store-bought gnocchi then all you’ve got to make is just the sauce. Of course homemade from scratch is always going to be better and I completely recommend you try it sometime. I’m not gonna lie though, its kind of nice to short-cut things and use store-bought every now and then. In fact, it makes this a 30-minute meal when you do that, aren’t those the best kind at the end of a long day or a hard week?

Also, this is a one pot meal, meaning that you use minimal dishes for the finished product. You cook each part in the pot then after everything’s done you get to add it all together and you’ve got a simple, yet delicious meal that I think your whole family will enjoy! Total win win situation right here.

RECIPE

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 6 - 8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1/2 small head garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 3), cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium head broccoli
2 cups white mushrooms, divided
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups whole milk whisked with 2 tablespoons flour
1 -pound package potato gnocchi
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces cream cheese, room temp
additional sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine the onion, garlic, and 1 cup mushrooms in a small food processor or blender and pulse until minced (alternatively you can chop very finely if preferred.) Set mixture aside until needed.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large, high-sided skillet or shallow pot over medium high heat and add the broccoli. Cook, stirring often, for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly softened, then add the chicken pieces and mushrooms and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, or until chicken is fully done with no pink remaining. Scrape the veggies and chicken out onto a separate plate, cover with an inverted plate, and set aside.
Now add the minced onion, mushroom, and garlic mixture, along with another tablespoon of oil, and cook for about 2 minutes until starting to brown. Add the salt, pepper, chicken broth, and milk/flour mixture to the pot and whisk steadily as you bring it to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil add the gnocchi and cook uncovered until the gnocchi start to float to the top and the sauce starts to thicken, about 2 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium low and add the cream cheese and cream and use a rubber spatula to stir gently as the cream cheese melts into the sauce. Add the veggies and chicken back to pot and stir all together until everything is hot. Serve immediately.

Every time in the past that I have posted in the afternoon (my local time afternoon UTC -3) the payout has been awful. I just could not get this post together this morning, so here we are, an afternoon post. Well, let's see what happens.

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D5300 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.