Weekend Update with the Bowles

This weekend we kept plenty busy. On Friday it was chilly and rainy. I hadn't planned dinner yet for Friday or Saturday. I really wanted Olive Garden soup, but since we are trying to spend less money I decided to see if I could find a recipe online. I found THIS recipe HERE.
Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 quart half and half
1 14 ounce can chicken broth
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese – optional
1 pound potato gnocchi – can buy this in the gourmet section of many supermarkets
Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter, when the onion becomes translucent, add the flour, and make a roux, let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half.

Cook gnocchi according to package directions.

Into the roux add in the carrots, celery, and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings.

MY NOTES about this recipe:
I made this recipe exactly as written. Next time I will add some salt and pepper at the end before letting it simmer for a little bit. I will also make sure I have some fresh grated parmesan cheese on hand to top it with. We used some parmesan from the shaker in the fridge and it was good, but fresh would be better. Also the soup was almost better second day. The gnocchi was a little softer. You could add more chicken if you wanted, but it was pretty thick and hearty as is. Also, when you're looking for the potato gnocchi it will be with the dry pastas. I had to go to 2 grocery stores to find it, so you could call ahead to see if yours carries pre-made potato gnocchi.

So, it wasn't quite Olive Garden, but it was definitely yummy and I will be saving the recipe to make again in the Fall.

Saturday morning we kind of slept in, which was nice. Around 9 we finally got going on the den. We spent the entire day mudding. The kids were really good about staying out of the den and keeping themselves entertained. They did watch a couple movies though. Oh well. We got all of the first coat of mudding done. It is really starting to look like a room! We still have another coat of mud to do, then mud texturing, then painting, and molding. The goal is to have it all finished by the end of June when Ian's family will be visiting us.

Here's how the room looked by the end of the day.

Saturday night after Ian and I finally showered and we had all eaten dinner we took the kids to play at Arctic Circle. They had been cooped up all day so they had an extra good time running around and playing on the playplace. We came home, put the kids to bed, and curled up to watch New Moon. It was kind of fun watching it again. We were so tired though and I barely managed to stay awake through the whole thing.

Today it is still chilly so I decided to dress the boys in their "suits" for church. In the summer it's just too hot to be wearing so many clothes, but they like getting all dressed up. Aren't they handsome (and goofy)?!?