From the Archives: Gnocchi with Pancetta, Tomatoes, and Wilted Spinach

I rarely make a dish more than once and if I do, I usually don't blog about it.

I normally have a backlog of recipes to share, but these past couple of weeks have really thrown me off my usual routine. I can't really discuss much about the now ex-boyfriend and I's demise mostly because I don't think I fully understand what went wrong for him.. and he's probably reading this anyhow.

Sometimes I miss the way things were. It wasn't my idea to breakup and I had no idea it was coming. But honestly, I'm not as sad as I thought I would be. I'm viewing this as a new beginning of sorts.

Not only is it a chance for me to focus on creating a healthy, active lifestyle for myself, I even can put more focus on my career. I hesitated going for a master's degree while he was still working on his bachelor's, but now I have all the time in the world.

Anyhow.. on to dinner. I really did make this gnocchi again last night sans the whole wheat bread in the photo. And I'm using it to illustrate a point I made over on the WeightWatchers' boards.

One member was having difficulty fitting in vegetables. I admit, I'm a reformed veggie hater. And it's recipes like this one that have helped me love veggies. An easy trick is to find a recipe that has a lot of vegetables in it and double them. Voila. Lots of veg mixed in with other things. I can handle that. I can't always handle a big pile of plain vegetables.

Here, the tomatoes soften to create a sauce and the garlic scents the whole dish. Even if you think you're not a fan of cooked spinach, try it in this recipe. It originally calls for watercress, but here in Columbus, watercress is not easy to find. Spinach is close enough. You could probably also use arugula with similar success.

Original post: Gnocchi with Pancetta, Tomatoes and Wilted Spinach.