GNOCCHI

by Rita Mascaro

Sammysgrammy

What is gnocchi? A little dumpling made with either baked potato, flour and egg or made with ricotta, salt and flour. We are going to make the latter. The gnocchi is served under a blanket of sauce (suggestions to follow). It is a main course, served with a salad of fresh greens. Or, in a much smaller portion, it can be the first course of a large holiday meal.

For 4 servings, you’ll need:

• 1 pound of ricotta
  
• 1 pound of flour (2 cups)
  
• tsp. or so of salt.

If the ricotta is soupy/watery, drain the water off.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the ricotta, salt and the flour together, forming it into a dough. Knead the dough on a flour dusted counter until it’s nice and smooth. Let it rest for about 10 minutes with the mixing bowl inverted and covering the dough.

Divide the dough into fourths. Leave the quarters you’re NOT working on under the inverted bowl. Pinch off a piece of dough about the size of an egg and on the floured counter, roll it out with your fingers to form a little less than an inch thick snake. With a knife, slice the snake up into approx. 1 ½” pieces. Run your finger or a fork, very lightly down the center from end to end of this little piece (creating an indent and causing the little gnocchi to curl slightly – this indent will catch the sauce you dress it with). Do this with your whole mound of dough. As your little gnocchi are made, remove them to a towel covered cookie sheet. At this point, they can be frozen or stored in the fridge for boiling later. It won’t hurt them to sit on the counter awaiting the others to join them. It’s actually good for them to dry out a bit before they get boiled.

Note: I never said this wasn’t labor intensive, but it’s worth it!!!

Note #2 VERY IMPORTANT: The snake rolling part of this recipe is the part you get the kids to do. They love it. It’s just like playdoh. Plus, because they made it, they’ll eat it!!

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Carefully drop the gnocchi into the boiling water. Boil until they come to the top (just a couple minutes). Remove carefully with a slotted spoon (or spider) into a serving bowl and dress with a little sauce.

Sauces: Almost any style of sauce is wonderful on gnocchi. The simpler the better because the gnocchi is the star of this show. Therefore, just a little melted butter with a tad of olive oil added into which a clove or two of garlic is warmed (and removed) poured over the gnocchi is my favorite. Herbs can be added to this. i.e. chopped fresh basil, and/or parsley, and/or rosemary, and/or sage.

A thin, light, vodka sauce, or marinara sauce, even store bought Alfredo is excellent over the gnocchi. But, remember, very little sauce. The gnocchi wants to shine.

The scripture I chose for this post is

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have been invited to that meal, by the seashore, of fish grilled over an open fire, prepared by Jesus Himself?

The whole Word of God is the rich, satisfying meal He’s prepared for you and I. See John 6:33 where He said

Vs. 35 Jesus said, “I AM the bread of life”

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Some of our fellow CAST-ers have wonderful items in their shops that greatly facilitate meal making. I’m sure they’d love it if you paid them a visit.

by Rita of sammysgrammy





This meal is very simple, fast, economical and satisfying. It can be prepared for two people to twenty by simply adjusting the amounts. I’m going to give you the amounts for a four serving meal.


3/4 pound of bowtie pasta, cooked according to package directions.

As you set the pasta water on the stove to bring to a boil, begin to prepare the “condiment”*.

Brown about 4 oz. of chopped pancetta or bacon over medium heat in a 12 inch fry pan. As the meat is browning, add 1 small chopped onion, cook until just beginning to brown. Remove the fry pan from the heat until the pasta is done. When the pasta is done, put the fry pan back on the heat.

Just before removing the pasta from the boiling water, add 1 cup of fresh or frozen peas to the water.**

Remove the pasta and peas from the water (reserve the water) with a “spider” and add immediately to the condiment. Heat all ingredients together for a couple minutes, stirring to incorporate.

Add about ¼ cup of the pasta water to the pasta in the fry pan, so your presentation will be a bit more juicy.

Remove the pasta into a serving dish. I garnish with a tablespoon or 2 of extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with fresh chopped Italian parsley.

Each diner may add a sprinkling of Romano or Parmesan cheese and then………….Mangia!!

*Condiment is the dressing or sauce for the pasta.

**We just want to barely cook the peas. We want them nice and plump and green.



A Bible Verse for this economical recipe:

Proverbs 31: 17-19 in the New Living Translation

vs. 17 - she is energetic and strong, a hard worker
vs. 18 - she watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night
vs. 19 - her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber NLT

by Rita of sammysgrammy

by Phyllis Ducey
pfdoriginalartworks


"God did not give us a spirit of fear

If you missed my last post on March 15th, you may feel like you are being dropped into the middle of a thought. Here is the link in case you would like to read "Spirit of Fear". In that post I stated this verse has meant a lot to me throughout my Christian walk. The beginning and the end of the verse were the sections that carried me through the times when I believed lies that told me I was not capable or worthy of being a true follower of Christ.

The words "but of power" came alive to me about 7 or 8 years ago as I studied Ephesians. Did you ever read a section of the Bible over and over and all of a sudden one day a word or phrase popped out at you like you had never read it before? The word "power" kept popping out at me.

I'd ask myself how we as Christians had power? I know we do because this verse in 2Tim 1:7 states that God did not give us a spirit of fear... but of power.

Not to sound overly geeky but I am really into definitions. I love to understand the meaning behind a word and often even its roots. So bear with me as I go into definitions of how a word is being used in the Bible. As with so many words, there are different root languages and nuances that they possess. Power in many verses may refer to (this is not all inclusive) strength, might, force, valor, or authority. But in the verses that I am using all of them are from a word meaning ability.

"...and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength..." Ephesians 1:19

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

"When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" Acts 3:12

In the verse from Ephesians above it states that power is like the working of God's mighty strength. In Acts 1:8 we see that we are empowered from the Holy Spirit and in Acts 3:12 it is not by our own abilities.

"Of power" brought me to realize that yet in another way I have the ability to conquer my fears, not only that but I have the strength through God's mighty hand! In my last post Spirit of Fear, Sammysgrammy stated in her comments: "I heard it said that the bible contains 365 "fear nots", one for each day of the year. That would make a good study." She is right, it would make a great study and if you did the same thing with a study on power, you would be amazed at how many times in the new testament that it refers to us having power to do something beyond our own abilities.

When I began ruminating on this concept of being empowered by the Holy Spirit it helped me understand that I can do nothing by myself and that it is only through God who works within that anything can be accomplished.

"Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matt 19:26

"For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power..."




Victorian circles by SpectacularPrintable

Wristlet by cathystotes


Felt flowers by TwoAngelsSupplies



Flower hat by Avictoria


Gift tin by amycornwell