Light and flavorful!

Hello bloggers,

Oh yes..I know that I often have cheesy titles, but one of these recipes is actually a cheesy dish. Win, win. I hope you guys are having a good week...I'm usually no complainer but I'm having quite a craptastic one, so these tasty meals helped. Also, I have been watching way too much Friday Night Lights, so be weary of me throwing down the "ya'll" anywhere in this here blog. I've also been watching The League (way too much TV watching), which is frightening because I feel like I actually may be starting to like football a little bit not sure not really maybe. So instead of overdosing on fantasy football jargon, I went over to my LOVELY friend Laura's apartment and overdosed on peach bellinis instead. Whoops. Anyways, these two recipes are the result of a weekend of TV watching and wondering why celebrities choose to give themselves so many awards.

Cheesy Quinoa Cakes

What ya need:

2 cups cooked, cooled quinoa (about 1 cup uncooked will yield 2 cups cooked)

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Dash of cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

What ya do:

*Place all ingredients, except for the oil, into a mixing bowl and stir together until well combined. Season with salt and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.

*Heat oil into a large sauté pan over medium heat. Form ¼ cup patties with the quinoa mixture and place in the heated sauté pan, 3 or 4 at a time.

*Cook quinoa cakes for 3-5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining patties until all of the cakes have been cooked.

Balsamic Mushroom Gnocchi

(copied from my favorite blog, www.howsweeteats.com)

What ya need:

1 pound gnocchi (fresh or packaged)

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

3 tablespoons garlic basil butter (1/4 cup softened butter, 1 tsp chopped basil, 1 tsp minced garlic, combine ingredients!)

What ya do:

Heat a small saucepan over high heat and add balsamic vinegar. Allow vinegar to come to a boil them immediately reduce to a simmer. Simmer until vinegar reduces by half of the amount – about 8-10 minutes. Set aside and let cool.

Heat a skillet on medium-low heat and add 1 tablespoon garlic butter. Add chopped peppers, onions and mushrooms and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. While veggies are cooking, boil water for gnocchi and cook according to directions – they only take a few minutes, so make sure the veggies are almost finished cooking.

Drain gnocchi and add to veggies in skillet. Add vinegar reduction and garlic butter and stir to combine. Top with parmesan if desired. Serve and devour!