Dark Days Challenge Recipe: Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Holy crap, my friends! I want to testify that homemade gnocchi is dee-li-cious, and super easy to make. If you are asking yourself at this moment, "Great. What is gnocchi?", don't worry; I hadn't tried gnocchi until about 4 years ago, and it is an amazing food. It's essentially a little round potato-pasta-dumpling. What could you not love about that? For my Dark Days challenge this week, I borrowed a recipe from another participant, because these looked too good not to make. YOU are totally capable of making them, I promise. So without further ado;

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients: 
2 large sweet potatoes
source: local farm, 50 mile radius
1 egg
source: local farm, 50 mile radius
1.5-2 cups whole wheat flour
source: Westwind Milling Co., 50 mile radius
1 tsp nutmeg
source: not local, but sustainable
1/2 tbsp salt
source: not local, but sustainable
Directions:

• Steam or bake the sweet potatoes until they can be easily cut through with a knife. 
• Peel the sweet potatoes- they should be easily mushed once peeled
• Mash sweet potatoes and let cool for 10 mins
• Add the salt, nutmeg, and egg, and stir well
• Now add 1.5 cups flour, mixing continuously
• Knead into dough, add the extra flour as needed until dough does not stick to hands/counter
• Get a pot of boiling water ready on the stove
• Cut dough into quarters, and roll out each quarter into a long skinny log
• Now cut the log into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces
• Drop gnocchi into boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes; until every piece is floating

Serve with your favorite marina, pesto, or brown sugar and butter and enjoy!

Dark Days Challenge- Week 6- Sweet Potato and Eggplant Curry

Evidently I can only handle doing a recipe post every 2-3 weeks- I've not been keeping up with the Dark Days Challenge like I planned to! I've been making meals and home and they are mostly locally sourced, but I keep forgetting to take pictures, and pictures make it so fun!

Today's recipe is mostly SOLE (Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical), and it's about 3/4 local. There are some key ingredients that are not in season or do not grow here in Michigan ever- eggplant, for instance, is not prolifically growing outdoors here in January. BUT, I chose to feature this recipe because:
a) it is F*$^ing delicious
b) it features sweet potatoes that I bought & have stored, as well as some other local ingredients
c) it is F*$^ing delicious :)

Without further ado..

Sweet Potato and Eggplant Green Curry (vegetarian)

main ingredients

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes 
source: Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers' Market- 50 mile radius
1 medium eggplant
source: Ypsilanti Food Co-op- grown in the USA
1 tablespoons olive oil
source: Westwind Milling Co- 45 mile radius
1 medium onion
source: homegrown!
1 1/2 cups light coconut milk
  source: far away, bought it from Ypsi Food Co-op

  2 tablespoons green curry paste

  source: far away, bought it from Ypsi Food Co-op
  75 cups water
  source: tap water
  2 tablespoons lime juice
  source: far away, bought it from Ypsi Food Co-op 
  2 teaspoons lime zest
  source: far away, bought it from Ypsi Food Co-op 
  2 sprigs cilantro
  source: far away, bought it from Ypsi Food Co-op 
  1 handful of corriander seeds, ground-up
  source: harvest from my cilantro over the summer and dried!
  1 tablespoon salt
  source: far away, bought it from Ypsi Food Co-op 
  2 teaspoons soft brown sugar
  source: far away, bought it from Ypsi Food Co-op 

Directions:

• Heat the 1 tbsp of Oil to medium in a large frying pan/ skillet
• Peel and chop the onion. Then add to the frying pan once hot
• Add the green curry paste and let it cook with the onions for several minutes
• Add the coconut milk and water into the pan, and bring liquid to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes
• Peel and chop sweet potatoes into 1" size pieces, and add to pan. Let cook for 10 minutes
• Chop eggplant, squeeze lime juice, zest lime, and add all to pan. Let cook for 10 minutes
• Grind up corriander and salt and add to pan, or add pre-ground spices
• Once veggies are tender, chop up the cilantro springs and add them to the pan. 
• Let the whole dish simmer for 10-15 minutes, then serve!