Apple Chips, Gnocchi, Everything Salmon, and PomPom Toy

On the plate:  Apple chips, everything salmon, homemade gnocchi, and naked tomato sauce (I know...I was quite ambitious the past few days.)

Soundtrack to cook to:  Jamie Cullum's Twenty Something - nice and relaxing for a cold, gloomy, and rainy day

Ahhh, the Internet, so full of great ideas!!  I've been perusing this one website and have been inspired by so many recipes and do-it-yourself projects.  (If I haven't already told you about the website, then I'll tell you about it after the holidays, because you'll probably be getting a gift from me that was found from the website.)  On rainy days such as these, I found some fun little activities to do with toddlers.  I tried one of the do-it-yourself projects and Alexander loved it!

Pushing little pompoms through holes that
were cut out of a sour cream container. 

Who would have thought that he would love
this little toy so much??  It definitely keeps
him busy.  He's got his thinking face on. :)

I got another awesome idea from this same website for a little snack.  While Alexander was napping, I decided to whip up a quick and healthy little snack for the little guy to eat when he got up.  I cored two apples and cut them up into thin slices.  I spread them onto parchment paper, sprinkled them with cinnamon and baked them for 1 hour and 30 minutes at 275 degrees F.

Before baking...

and after baking.  Delightfully crunchy, sweet, and spicy apple chips.  

"Alexander, would you like an apple?"  "Apple??!!" said Alexander.

"Umm...that doesn't look like the apples that I know," thought Alexander.

"Oh well, I guess I'll try it," Alexander thought as he shoved the
whole apple snack in his mouth.

"Hey!  These aren't too bad!  I don't mind if I'll have another one,
thank you very much!"  (That's what I imagine Alexander was saying
in his own mind...as he kept asking for, "Mooore!").

After Joseph and I put Alexander down to sleep, I for some reason, had a fire lit under me and was feeling quite ambitious.  I decided to make my own marinara sauce that evening.  It's actually quite simple.  You boil about three pounds of tomatoes, peel them, smash them, and cook them down.  After doing all of the prep work, I set the tomatoes to simmer, and settled down on the couch and watched Boardwalk Empire with Joseph.  The smell of sweet tomatoes, basil and garlic filled the house....absolutely fantastic!

As the tomatoes are cooking, I like to add in 4 cloves of minced garlic
and a handful of basil that has been chopped.  It adds a little more
flavor to the original recipe.

The next day, I took Alexander to his gym class.  Afterwards, it was time to get his "holiday haircut" as the women at the kid salon kept calling it.  I suppose you could call it that, since he's getting his haircut to look nice for his relatives during the holidays.  This was Alexander's third haircut at a local business called "Snip-Its".  It's a fun little place where kids can get their haircut and they're entertained at the same time.

Before the haircut - a little shaggy.  He had his
little snack trap full of crackers and raisins to keep
him entertained.

During the haircut...

completing the finishing touches.  What a dapper
little gentlemen, huh?  Lisa, the stylist, did a fantastic job!

After his haircut and a nap, Alexander just played around the house.

I told you that I was feeling a little ambitious, right?  Well...I really went crazy with cooking food.  I decided to make my own potato gnocchi.  

Boil potatoes and skin them.

Mash them into a fine grain - this was my mistake right here.  I
followed Rachael's recipe and she said the tines of a fork would work....
big mistake, but I pressed on.

Form the potatoes into a ring, then sprinkle about 1 cup of flour,
and place one egg in the well of the potatoes.  I used whole wheat
flour, which is why the gnocchi turned out a different color. 

Cut the gnocchi dough into 8 equal pieces and roll them into logs.

Cut the logs into bite-sized portions.  This recipe made a lot of gnocchi.

I followed a Rachael Ray recipe, and let's just say that next time I make this recipe (if I ever do....it was quite time consuming), I'll be using a ricer or possibly a food processor in order to get the potatoes to the consistency that they should be.  In Rachael's recipe, she said that one could mash the potatoes with the tines of a fork - which resulted in making it into a mashed potatoes consistency, but really, the potatoes should be much more fine.  Thus, my gnocchi turned out to be like boiled mashed potato balls.  Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad thing either.  I ended up freezing the rest and will serve it with a pan gravy and possibly steak or pork tenderloin in another meal.

Now, making your own gnocchi is ambitious, but making another recipe on top of that for one meal?? That's just crazy!  (Just kidding.)  I made Rachael Ray's "Everything Salmon."  It's her nod to an everything bagel.

Coat the salmon and cook.  I didn't end up using poppy seeds.
This recipe comes with a sauce, and I highly recommend you make
it because it's delicious.  I used non-fat Greek yogurt with salt and
pepper, chopped green onions, and about 1 tbsp of dill.  It paired so
beautifully with the fish.

A perfect plate! :)

After all that cooking, I was pretty pooped.  It was a nice meal, but could definitely use some tweaking for next time.  Although the gnocchi was kind of a flop, the salmon was a big hit.  Both Joseph and Alexander gobbled it up!!  Oscar enjoyed the skin. :)  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki