Semolina Gnocchi (Gnocchi alla Romana)

Laura, my cousin-in-law, is sort of obsessed with my Semolina Gnocchi (aka gnocchi alla romana.) I made them for her, her husband (i.e., my cousin Mark), and their children once they came over for dinner like two years ago and apparently they’ve been on her mind ever since.
I gave her the recipe (THIS recipe, word for word) but she swears that the gnocchi she makes are good but do not come even close to mine.
I’m quite confident that it has only to do with the fact that memories are always better than reality — this recipe is so simple and easy that it’s almost impossible to mess up. It’s actually so straightforward that after making it a few times, you won't need the recipe at all.
Just seven ingredients — each one a common staple, except perhaps for the semolina flour — are all you need to whip up this classic Italian main dish.

(Paleo) Broccoli Au Gratin

I know I said it over and over again but it doesn’t hurt to say it one more time: broccoli are a deal-breaker. Like beets in (almost) anything or asparagus. It’s nearly impossible to mention broccoli without at least someone in the room saying “ew”.
Which is the very reason why I like to procrastinate and share yet another recipe with broccoli today.
Because I want to show you guys that cruciferous vegetable is actually delicious if cooked the right way.
Enters (Paleo) Broccoli Au Gratin: broccoli topped with an amazing paleo bechamel sauce and baked to cheesy perfection. Delicious.

Easy Rice and Mushroom Casserole

Our weather has been incredibly and ridiculously cold recently (although it seems like months) — a seemingly endless string of days of bone-chilling temperatures.
This type of weather makes me crave comfort-type food — something warm and filling.
In my opinion casseroles are the quintessential all-American belly-warming one-pan comfort food.
Hearty, nourishing, and simple to make, they can make nights a little easier by keeping dinner contained to just one pan.
No dishes to wash and heat of stove and oven to warm home naturally. Kinda like kill-2-birds-with-one-stone.

Cabbage and Potato Pie

You know, sometimes you make something and you think "Oh man, what have I done?"
But then it exceeds your expectations and goes way better than you planned.
I just love that, don't you?
This Cabbage and Potato Pie do that to me.
I had an idea in mind for a vegan/vegetarian version of my Cottage Pie for a long time but never managed to make it.
Until I found this recipe on the Financial Times a couple of weeks ago.
I know that the Financial Times is not the first newspaper/magazine that comes to mind when in need of recipes, but truth to be told they have a great recipe section.

Easy Zucchini Gratin

There is something rather awesome about vegetable gratins. You start out with ingredients that are usually not considered healthy — a memorable pile of shredded cheese, heaps of crème fraîche, butter — but then you add a glorious amount of veggies to the equation and the result is a pretty healthy dish. Because if there is a vegetable in it, it must be healthy food, right?

Eggplant Lasagna

I love lasagna, I know I’m not the only one: Creamy, rich, comforting, it’s hard not to love it.
Pasta noodles baked with bolognese sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese into something delectable and truly irresistible.
I would go as far as saying that it’s an epic dish. Oh sure, it looks like an ordinary broiled mass, but it’s so much more.
However, lasagna isn’t a dish for the calorie conscious — it’s incredibly, let me say that again i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y rich.

Creamy Caprese Rice Casserole

Don't you just love when you have a recipe that can be a favorite week in/week out? One you keep making and loving?
For me it’s the Creamy Caprese Cauliflower Casserole.
There's something about that dish that I found quite special. It has a rich, comfort-food feel that you would never expect from a dish made with cauliflower and tomatoes.
It's easy and delicious. Plus it makes great leftovers — not to mention everyone I have served it to has gone crazy for it.
So I thought it was time to make another caprese themed casserole.
Enters the Creamy Caprese Rice Casserole.

Creamy Baked Ziti with Broccoli and Provolone

Most of my understanding of the category of baked pasta is that it falls in the category of dump casserole.
Basically just combine all the ingredients, dump them into a casserole dish, and let the oven do the rest. Also known as the ultimate unfussy comfort food.
Italian-American baked pasta classics include: Chicken-Spaghetti Casserole, Baked Ziti with Meatballs or Chicken Tetrazzini. Then there’s lasagna, which is just a more refined version of baked pasta.

Quinoa Enchilada Casserole

I love enchiladas and I love enchilada casserole.
But sometimes I don’t feel like making enchiladas or enchilada casserole because, let’s be honest, it’s pretty time consuming (especially if you’re making (cauli) tortillas from scratch) and it might not be a great solution for a weekday night dinner.

The Best Baked Spinach Rice

Last week was not my week in the kitchen, guys.
I had earnest, ambitious designs on a beet curry that would be pink and pretty and spicy and would finally put the word “end” on my quarrel with the red/purple root.
But as the week went on and as failures occurred — unnaturally purple, watery, and nothing like what I had in mind — my enjoyment of the project plummeted.
But because I’m one of those persons that no-matter-what follows through and finishes what he started, I did, and lo, it was acceptable, you know?
It’s just that I’m not a beet person and I can tolerate it only when juiced and I forgot?
None of this matter because the pot fell, spilling the curry. As I crouched on the kitchen floor scooping the curry into the garbage, I started questioning my life choices.
Why forcing myself to like something just because a bunch of other people like it?
I should know better…

Eggplant Parm Rice Casserole

This is dope.
So dope, it’s going to send you into a tailspin.
The cheesiest, tomato-iest, eggplant-iest, DOPEST casserole tailspin of your life.
For realz.