Delicious Short Rib Gnocchi
This is the perfect recipe for those busy nights. Not only is it the tastiest recipe for gnocchi I’ve used to date, but best of all, the slow cooker does most of the work for you!
Sometimes, all you need is a good comfort meal – regardless of the season.
This is the perfect recipe for those busy nights. Sometimes all you need is a dish that satisfies after a hard day at work. Not only is it the tastiest recipe for gnocchi I’ve used to date, but best of all, the slow cooker does most of the work for you!
The soft pillows of potato-y goodness that is gnocchi absorbs the flavourful short ribs perfectly – definitely a match made in heaven.
I love this recipe, not just because I love short ribs, but because I love using the slow cooker. It takes so little prep time and everything cooks while you’re out working or doing whatever the day brings. After a hard day at work, you come home to a hot, freshly cooked meal. Now all you have to do is boil the gnocchi – which takes all of 10 minutes, and dinner is served. What can be easier than that?!
Slow Cooker Beef Short Rib Gnocchi
Serves: 2
Prep time:
Cook time:
- 5 lbs bone in beef short ribs
- ½ onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 can beef gravy
- 6 dashes worchester sauce
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 package gnocchi
- Add all the ingredients (excluding the gnocchi) to a slow cooker and let cook for 8 hours.
- Once meat is finished cooking, shred the short ribs using 2 forks
- Follow your favourite gnocchi cooking instructions
- Add a meat and some gravy to a skillet and gently saute with gnocchi
- Top with black pepper and shredded parmesan if desired
Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies
When life gives you lemons….
Typically on dessert menus I either go for something rich and chocolaty, or something bright and fruity. I have always had a weakness for desserts with a citrus note to it – lemon meringue, key lime pie…. So it is no surprise that I fell in love with these lemon lavender shortbread cookies.
tangy and floral lemon lavender shortbread cookies
When life gives you lemons….
when life gives you lemons
Typically on dessert menus I either go for something rich and chocolaty, or something bright and fruity. I have always had a weakness for desserts with a citrus note to it – lemon meringue, key lime pie…. So it is no surprise that I fell in love with these lemon lavender shortbread cookies.
These shortbread cookies are perfect for those spring and summer events.
The lively citrus notes go so well with the hint of floral from the lavender buds.
bright and floral lemon lavender shortbread cookies
the perfect dessert for spring and summer events
It is important to use culinary lavender and not the type that you would typically see in in flower shops – you don’t want to be eating all of those pesticides and other chemicals. You can typically find culinary lavender in specialty grocery stores. I have also come across some at my local Winners, Marshals and some Bulk Barns.
I have been dying to try a recipe with lavender since I picked some up at the St. Lawrence Market here in Toronto. The lavender is not overwhelming. You just get a hint of the floral taste afterwards.
These cookies are very rich and delicate and pair so nicely with tea. If you’re having a tea party or a shower this year, this is definitely the dessert you are looking for.
These pretty and absolutely delicious cookies are bound to impress your guests!
Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies
These bright shortbread cookies are perfect for spring and summer events
Makes: 3 dozen
Prep time:
Cook time:
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Zest from 1 ½ lemons
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon lavender buds
- Pre-heat oven to 325
- Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice on the medium setting using a hand mixer
- Add the egg and continue to mix
- Slowly add the flour, baking powder and lavender and mix until well combined
- Drop a teaspoon sized of the batter on to a cookie sheet and lightly flatten a bit.
- Garnish with a few lavender buds
- Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden
Photo Gallery Wall
I have tons of photos from my travels (the only souvenirs I need and collect!). But more importantly, I never made a photo album for our wedding photos. Instead, I framed the really good ones (we were lucky to have a lot of great shots) and created a gallery wall.
As you may know, the Mister and I recently moved into a new condo.
I absolutely love the new space, but since the layout is completely different from our previous place, this means redecorating from scratch.
The new place is more of an open concept compared to where we were before and I've lost a lot of wall space. While to most people, this may not seem like a big issue, in fact, it may seem like a bonus! But keep in mind that I'm a photographer first. I have tons of photos from my travels (the only souvenirs I need and collect!). But more importantly, I never made a photo album for our wedding photos. Instead, I framed the really good ones (we were lucky to have a lot of great shots) and created a gallery wall.
In my old condo, I made a 3x5 gallery wall (which you can see here) but I just don't have a similar wall space anymore. Instead, I opted to create a 2x7 gallery wall.
I got these 11x11 black gallery frames from Chapters-Indigo. I fell in love with the simplicity of these frames and love that they practically match any decor.
The first thing I did was lay everything out on the floor to decide which photos will go where. I mixed in a few photos from some of the places the Mister and I have traveled to - just to mix it up a bit.
After this came the hard part - how high do I hang them??
I have a really odd drop in the ceiling, bringing the ceiling height to 7 feet on the only wall that I could display my photos. I have read that the centre of your "wall art" should be at 5'5". This may work well with large pieces but I don't think that translated well with a photo gallery wall. Instead, i made the bottom row centred to 5'5". (When I did the 3 rows at my old place, I made sure that the centre row was centred to the height of 5'5".) Because I don't like nails or holes in my walls, I opted to use the Command Picture Hanging Strips to hang my photos.
I must say, I am quite happy with the final results (even if it did take me months to finally get around to!).
Easy Sugar Cookies
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that I make a lot of sugar cookies - for every season.
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that I make a lot of sugar cookies - for every season. To the point now, where if I don’t, my nieces and nephews get mad at me, and they aren’t afraid to voice their frustration.
It started with my niece’s first birthday. Then Christmas. Then more birthdays. They’ve now asked me to make it for every occasion possible – including Thanksgiving. (Did the pilgrims have sugar cookies? …did they have a turkey??)
I do decorate the cookies in their choice of theme for their birthday using royal icing. And quite frankly, I think they just love the cookies for the sugar rush. (we all need to get our fix somehow).
I have included my personal favorite recipe below but you could use a packaged mix. If you are using cookie cutters, you will need to make the packaged dough a bit drier so that it holds its cutout shape when you bake it. You can add a bit more flour and reduce the amount of liquid that the recipe calls for. For example, most recipes call for 3 cups of butter and I use at least half that. (I have to make up for the ton of sugar I use to decorate the cookies with so this is about as healthy as it's going to get!)
Once the dough is made, I leave it to sit in the fridge for at least an hour. Chilling the dough helps when you roll out the dough and keep the shape of the cutters you are using.
Try to leave some space between each cookie when placing it on the cookie sheet as the cookies expand a bit when baking. I can't tell you the number of times I took the cookies out of the oven only to see them morph together!
Once out of the oven, if the cookies are touching a bit, you can separate them using a butter knife as soon as they come out of the oven and are still soft. Once the cookies have cooled, separating them may be more difficult.
Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe
Makes: approximately 30 cookies (depending on the size of your cookie cutters)
Cook time:
- 1 ½ cups of softened butter
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- Instruction 1 In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. /li>
- Instruction 2 Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Instruction 3 Mix in dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and salt.
- Instruction 4 Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Instruction 5 Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Instruction 6 Roll out dough (I do mine in batches!) to about 1/2 or 1/4 inch thick and cut our cookies.
- Instruction 7 Place on baking pan 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking pan.
- Instruction 8 Bake for approximately 8 minutes or until golden.