Stir Fry Veggies with Gnocchi (Dinner in under 10 minutes)

I don't get home from work until around 6:00 most days of the week.  I get home hungry and tired, and sometimes just don't want to cook.  Take-out always sounds good, but that adds up and can drain a budget and widen your waistline!  Colin and I are really trying to eat out only twice in a week.  It's a real motivation to cook, because you want to save up your eating out meals for something really good and for when you're really desperate not to cook!  That also means I have to figure out leftovers to have for lunch through the week!

All that said, I'm always looking for a quick meal.  There are times I like really complex meals that takes several steps, but the majority of the time I just want something fast with minimal clean up!

This is one of the quick, minimal clean up meals.

Grab a box of gnocchi and a bag of frozen stir-gry vegetables.

Start cooking the veggies according to the package.  I stir fried them in a little butter instead of oil to give the veggies a buttery taste :).  If you can't find a stir-fry package, just cook up some veggies like green beans, snap peas, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, etc.

Once the veggies start cooking, boil that gnocchi according to the package directions.  The gnocchi only takes a few minutes to cook.

Once the gnocchi and veggies are cooked, pour the gnocchi in with the veggies.  Top with cheese of choice and stir.  The cheese helps meld it all together.

This is filling and great as leftovers (lunch the next day!).

I'd love to hear if you have any quick and easy recipes!

Roasted Snow Peas and Corn

Roasting.  What a marvelous thing.  It has helped me eat more veggies and learn to love veggies I otherwise hated.  That's powerful.  So this blog post is a toast to the wonder of oven roasting.  To oven roasting!  (Raise your glass in the air as we toast!).

Since we've been buying a lot of fresh produce lately, I'm trying to find ways to save money.  Produce can be costly and has to be restocked often.  Did you know that fresh food doesn't last as long as canned and boxed food?  (Of course you did.)

I found these peas on sale and threw them in the freezer since I knew it would be a few days before I got to them.

I also got out a bag of frozen corn.  I like fresh corn on the cob better, but I think frozen corn is a good second option.

Toss the peas and corn with olive or canola oil.

Put on a baking sheet in a 450 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven and on the amount of food you're roasting).

Whip up this sauce while veggies are roasting:

-2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar

-1 tbsp of soy sauce (I used soy sauce alternative)

-2 tsp of toasted sesame oil

-2 tsp of maple syrup

-pinch of cayenne pepper

Whisk that all together.

(*See note at end of post)

Take the peas and corn out of the oven and drizzle this sauce over them.

Colin and I had this for lunch, but it would made a great side dish.  It's delicious and savory!

*If you look at the ingredients and think there's no point in buying rice wine vinegar or toasted sesame oil, because you'll never use them again....you might be wrong.  I thought that but went ahead and bought it to try out some recipes, and I've been using both quite a bit.  I have a green bean recipe on my Pinterest board that uses the toasted sesame oil, and those green beans are ahhhmazing.  You can make salad dressings with the oil and vinegar and so much more.  Go ahead and buy them and expand your cooking.  I promise you won't regret it! (At least I hope you won't!).

---Roasted pea inspiration and dipping sauce recipe from Edible Perspective.--