February 11th: butternut squash gnocchi, play dough

This is the second time I've cooked this meal, and the third time I've eaten it. My friend Janice made this for us at our Christmas cookie exchange in December and it was good and easy, so I made it for us awhile back. At that time, Olivia didn't like it, and Sadie ate a goodly portion. Tonight, Olivia ate a bit more than last time, and Sadie hardly ate a bite. Who knows?

This one comes from Michael Smith; I found a copy online that called for making your own gnocchi, but I used store-bought, the fresh kind.

Sadie Sous-Chef

Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Sage Butternut Squash Sauce


50 ml (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
2 onions, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut in 1-cm (1/2-inch) cubes
250 ml (1 cup) water
2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
Lots of freshly ground pepper
Leaves from 1 bunch fresh sage, thinly sliced (or 1 tbsp/15 ml dried sage)
1 pkg prepared fresh gnocchi, 500 g (1 lb)soft goat cheese, to taste
toasted nuts, such as pecans (optional)


In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; sauté until textures soften and flavours brighten, 5 minutes or so. Toss in butternut squash, water, salt and pepper. Gently stir together, combining flavours. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a slow, steady simmer, cover tightly and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until squash is soft and delicious, another 15 minutes or so. Mash sauce lightly with a potato masher, but don’t turn it into a paste.

Meanwhile, cook gnocchi according to package directions, timing it to be ready when the sauce is (good luck!). As soon as sauce and gnocchi are ready, add sage and gnocchi to sauce and stir, stir, stir.

Serve topped with goat cheese and nuts, to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

The only drawback to this meal is that it is heavy; I felt a little ill after eating a probably slightly larger portion than required. Likely should have made a salad on the side.


Alas, I had to make play dough for school. Remember last year? Beautiful sky blue play dough? This year it looks like I'm sending a human liver to school. Olivia and I discussed orange, but oopsy, we ran out of yellow food colouring early on, so I used up all the red, thinking maybe it would end up an orangey-pink after being mixed with all the white flour and salt. Nope. Liver red. Yum yum.