All hail delicata squash!  Since I stocked up on delicata (I am no almost out again!), much like when I went apple picking and made all things apple, this time I am trying to think of different says to use up the delicata squash – not that I don’t love my #delirings, because I do.  I could have those as a side dish every night and not complain.

But I thought – what about gnocchi?  I’ve seen butternut squash gnocchi on menus before, so why not delicata squash gnocchi?!

Tony took me to a little hole in the wall Italian restaurant near the airport many many years ago.  He was taken there by a customer probably 15 years ago now.  I remember him calling me and telling me “Biz, I have to take you to this place!”  Every time he had customers fly into O’Hare, he always took people to this place.  It’s called Basilico Ristorante in Norridge.  I’ll have to ask my friend Christina if she’s been there before.

The first time he took me I had a plate of gnocchi that was stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese with a creamy vodka sauce.  The portions were huge!  I told him when they placed that delicious plate of food in front of me that I was only going “to eat half and take the rest home.”  Nope.  I ate the whole plate.  Tony just laughed at me every time I said “I’m just going to eat one more gnocchi!”

Making this pasta dough is a dream.  All you need is a fork and a bowl.  That’s it!  I microwaved both the potatoes and the squash. Once cooled, just threw everything into a bowl, mixed with a fork, then put it on my counter and kneaded it a few times.

I divided the dough into 8 portions.  Each portion made 8 gnocchi, which I though was plenty for a serving, but double up if you like.  I put this into the WW recipe builder, and it came out to 3 points per serving.  I also added the recipe to My Fitness Pal and it came in at 140 calories, 23 carbs, 2 fat, 6 protein per serving.

I rolled each gnocchi into a ball, then using the back of a fork, made marks to make the gnocchi shape.

This is a very soft dough, so you must refrigerate for at least an hour otherwise they will fall apart in the water.  I boiled water, then turned the water down to a simmer, and cooked for 15 minutes.  I know that seems like a long time, but you’ll want to cook out the flour – so even if they float to the top after a few minutes, cook the whole 15 minutes.

For this dish, I finished them off in a pan that I just cooked baby meatballs in – just enough to get slightly crisp on one side – about 2 minutes.

This is my weeknight hack on making meatballs on the fly – just take the sausage out of the casing, make tiny meatballs out of them and they cook in a skillet with a lid on in about 5 minutes.  5 meatballs was an ounce for 3 points.

Love the crispy bits. 

The finished plate!  3/4 cup of your favorite marinara, chopped spinach and parsley, the gnocchi, meatballs and just a few more shreds of Parmesan cheese.

OMG, so much flavor going on!  The gnocchi are soft pillows of goodness, the spicy meatballs, the tang of the tomato sauce – I did sprinkle with a bit of crushed red pepper too, so this dish was slightly spicy.  

Um, in case you were wondering, this was the perfect bite 😀

[sp_recipe]

********

My breakfast yesterday – one of my apple coffee cake muffins, hard boiled egg, deli ham and sliced apple.  

Lunch was the leftover gnocchi I made above, and I sauteed zucchini and mushrooms to make it more of a meal.  So good!

And I made more #delirings!  This time, buffalo style.  I was making chicken wings for Jacob, and saw the wing sauce was only 5 calories a tablespoon and drizzled some of the sauce over the top of the rings – I didn’t want to lose any of the crunch factor.  My friend Helen had a great idea to add the buffalo sauce to the batter – duh!  I’ll try that next time.

Another bistro steak night in – 5 ounces of Certified Angus Beef petite sirloin, button mushrooms sauteed in a bit of butter with baby spinach, and the rings on the side.  12 points for dinner, or 421 calories.

My stats for the day?  Including half a baby apple pie I made last night and coffee creamer, and a banana on the train ride home – 33 points – or 1327 calories, 166 carbs, 21 fiber, 37 fat and 77 protein – macros:  51% carbs, 25% fat and 25% protein. 

I’ll try to balance out the carbs better today.  For the record, I only have 6 weeklies left for the week, and that would have had me in a panic to only have that little amount of points left and it’s only Tuesday!  But knowing what my calorie consumption has been, I am totally okay with it!

Have you ever tried to make gnocchi at home?  Let me know if you make this!

Happy Tuesday friends, make it a great day!