Ricotta Gnocchi (OR My new favorite dinner ever!)

I'm going to apologize in advance for any typos/extra spaces/nonsense that ends up in this post. My silly cat keeps climbing all over the keyboard as I'm typing this. Hopefully spell check will catch everything ;)

So, this is my very favorite new recipe. I am absolutely in love with these tasty, cheesy little Italian dumplings! You can throw this together for dinner in less than 20 minutes, and yet, they look so fancy (and taste so yummy) that you'd think you spent hours slaving away on them. It's pretty inexpensive, and (because of all of the cheese) it's super filling. Therefore, it's one of the few dinners that Tye will eat that does not include meat! Are you sold yet? Cause you should be :)

This recipe had a tomato sauce recipe with it, but it was a lot of work for just being mediocre, so I use pasta sauce from a jar. I like Vodka Tomato Pasta Sauce (the Safeway brand is delish!) or just plain marinara. I also think an Alfredo sauce would be yummy, if you prefer that type of thing. Whatever your pasta sauce preference (homemade, store bought, or otherwise) just serve     it with these.

RICOTTA GNOCCHI:

1 cup Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (you can use the pre-grated kind if you wish, but use the nice kind. You should probably steer clear of the kind in the can)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder, or 2 cloves or garlic, minced)
1 cup flour, plus more as needed

First, fill a very large pot halfway with water. Put it over high heat until it boils.
While the water is boiling, stir together the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, and spices until blended.
Then add the flour. I start with one cup, but usually end up using one and a half cups, it just depends on how wet the ricotta is. You need to add enough flour to form a soft dough.
Then divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces.

Place them on a floured surface and (with floured hands) roll the dough into ropes about 1/2 inch thick. 

Cut them into one-inch pieces. These are your gnocchi. Repeat this with all of your dough balls.

SIDE NOTE:If your pot of water is large enough, you can boil the gnocchi all at once. My biggest pot was dirty because I made blackberry jam that day, so I used my medium sized pot and boiled them in 2 batches.

Salt the boiling water lightly and turn it down to medium heat. You don't want to boil these too high or they get kind of crazy and you can't tell when they're done. You just want to gently boil them. 

When then float to the top, let them cook for 1 1/2 more minutes (approximately) and they're done. I just use a gigantic slotted spoon and fish them out to put them into the pot of sauce that I had warming up on another burner.

Top with more freshly grated parmesan and some parsley or basil (if desired)

I like to serve this with some garlic bread and a salad, but I also think it would be good with some nice Italian meatballs, if you're the type of person that requires meat for dinner. 

So, there you have it. Best weeknight dinner ever? I sure think so :)

Also, I just noticed that spell check got all of the cat's typings! Hooray :)