A "Thank You" Dinner

As any pet owner knows, whenever you leave town you have to arrange care for you animals. We have 3 cats. Yes, I managed to talk my husband into 3 cats, all adopted at different times though. And as much as he loves them, 3 is a lot and it's hard to ask anyone else to feed and clean up after so many kitties. So, when we left town we asked our friends to check on them. Thankfully, they said yes. As a thank you, I left a gift basket of goodies and then when we returned home, a nice dinner.

This is Julia Child's recipe for a cheese souffle. I don't have a souffle dish so it's a little flatter than it normally would be, but it was delicious and surprisingly, really easy to make. The cheese I used was a Gruyere/cheddar mix that it now being sold at Trader Joe's.


Pan-fried gnocchi. I know it sounds weird and I was hesitant to try it, but I saw Nigella make it on the cooking channel and I trust her recipes. It was so worth it. Deliciously crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.


Cranberry Bread from the Sister's Cafe blog. This was actually the reason I did a take on breakfast for dinner. I saw this blog post and since I had all the ingredients I knew it was meant to be. The bread is wonderful and is going to make a great addition to the baked goods I give out as presents for the holidays.
Here is a link to their blog.
http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/2010/12/grandmothers-famous-cranberry-bread.html