Take that Olive Garden!

Still feeling crappy today, and was up super early because I could not stop coughing. I figured out that if I get up and move around I feel somewhat better, so of course that meant cooking!!! Before we start with the meals for the day, I have to give Buddy an appearance on the blog, because yet again this dog cannot get enough of the snow!!! And let me tell you we have soooo much! We have a big snow drift outside the back door as well so Buddy is in heaven! Also what I did all day was watch The Taste, it was on demand free so yes I watched all the episoides thus far! I love this show and wish I could be on it, but after watching it, I have a lot to learn about cooking! Maybe I can take a cooking class that would be awesome!

Here is my new best friend, Dole Shakers! The juice I added was V8 fusion Berry Juice and man this was great!!! I had a coupon for 1.00 off and they were on sale for 2.00 so thought I would try and I must say this was the best medicine yet for me!

Okay so for lunch today I was not sure what I wanted, but I knew I wanted to use the smoked gouda I bought! Now you're probably asking how expensive was that, well I got a nice big wheel of it at Aldi for only about 2.50!! I went with smoked gouda and roast beef quesadillas! OMG I did not want this to be gone that is how good it was!

Roast Beef and Smoked Gouda Quesadilla

I just made one so here is what I did:

3 slices of deli roast beef

Grated Smoked Gouda... I used my cheese gratter for this

Onion sliced thin

2T butter

1T brown sugar

1/4t white wine vinegar

Okay so in a pan on the stove melt your butter, add thinly sliced onion, brown sugar and white wine vinegar. Let cook for alittle. While this is going on melt some butter and brush on the back of your tortilla. Put some of the gouda down on the tortilla. Place some roast beef diced up on top of the gouda then add the onion mixture. Put more gouda on top and then place another tortilla on top and brush with butter. Place in 350 oven for 10 mintues, 5 each side, or until browned!!! OMG is all I have to say! I forgot to take a before picture but here is an after.

Next, I decided to make soup, since I do not feel great, and it is sooooo cold out! I wanted to use the gnocchi from earlier in the week too! So I found a copy cat Olive Gardner Gnocchi Soup. This as well was very delicious!

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

I used my chicken from earlier in the week as well ( you can use as much as you want)
2T butter
2T oil
1 quart evaporated Milk (or half and half)
2c chicken stock
Celery, chopped
1/4c flour
2 garlic cloves minced
Shredded carrot
1 small onion diced
1 c fresh spinanch
1/2t dried thyme (I did not have any so I used basil)
salt and pepper to taste
and of course my favorite Gnocchi!!! (again used the homemade from earlier in the week)

Melt butter with oil in soup pot. Add your onion, celery, and garlic and cook for about 5 mintues. Add flour and stir until well mixed. Cook for 1 minute. Add evaporated milk.  Meanwhile drop your gnocchi into boiling water until they float. Add the carrots and chicken to the soup pot. It will start to thicken slightly. Add your chicken stock, gnocchi, spinanch, thyme, salt and peper. After I did this I transfered it to the crock pot and put it on keep warm. You can Serve it right away if you would like. I of course had to add bread sticks like the Olive Garden which I got on sale at Aldi for 1.25 a box. Just what I need for this cold!! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!