Progress, Not Perfection

Wednesday's dinner:
Homemade ricotta gnocchi
with spinach and
cannellini beans 

When I was a kid, I read (and reread) a book called, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." I think about the book from time to time, but it really sums up about every day this week. From our cat having (unnecessary) surgery to a catastrophic work week, from an ocular migraine attack to bronchitis, it has been one for the books.

The chaos of the week taught me a valuable lesson: it's about progress, not perfection. 

For someone as Type A as me, that's a hard pill to swallow, and an even harder lesson to accept. But, it's true. By aiming for perfection, I'm trying to obtain something unobtainable. I must be willing to roll with life's punches. (And, no, not just when I get to control them.) If I can't have a perfect week, I have to make the week the best I can ... with what I have in front of me (even if that means pizza or burgers one night).

As much as I wanted to have a homemade, wholesome dinner every night this week, that just wasn't our reality. All the planning in the world didn't even help. How could it when the work day spans 12 hours, the commute is an hour, you have to pick up your cat before 8 and get the kids in bed by 8:30? (And that was just Thursday.) 

Regardless of a few days of unbelievable mayhem, we still put three delicious homemade dinners on the table:

Friday's dinner: Greek chopped salad

• Chicken tetrazzini
• Gnocchi with spinach and cannellini beans (the bonus of this recipe was the homemade ricotta gnocchi I pulled from the freezer)
• Greek chopped salad

We're going to put the chaos of the week aside and jump right into fall fun tomorrow. We plan a day of apple picking at an orchard in the foothills of the mountains and a dinner of roasted spaghetti squash and homemade applesauce.

* * *

Great-Grandma's Neapolitan Ricotta Gnocchi

     4 ½ cups of flour

     2 ½ cups ricotta (about 1 ½ pounds)

     1 tsp. salt

     3 eggs

Combine all ingredients in food process and process until all flour in well incorporated into the dough.  The dough will form a ball around the processor blade.  If pasta is too sticky, add additional flour by the tablespoon until the dough is easy to handle.

Flour a bread board.  Break off a small portion of the dough. Roll into a strand about 3/8 inch in diameter on the floured board.  Cut into ½ inch lengths and use these small pieces to “twirl” into pasta.

Place pasta on a cookie sheet.  Freeze until ready to use.  If not used on the same day, remove from sheet, place in a plastic bag and return to freezer until ready to use.

The frozen pasta is cooked by adding to rapidly boiling water.  When pasta is done, it will float to the surface.  Do not over-cook or pasta will become sticky.