30 Min Meal | Gnocchi Bake Recipe

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For stay-at-home moms, working moms and work-from-home moms alike, getting dinner on the table every night can be challenging.  Not only do you have five million obstacles working against you (ie. "the witching hour", toddlers, bosses, deadlines, bed times, etc.) , but it can also be tough to just simply figure out what to make.  However, if making a home-cooked meal for your family is a priority, with a little planning and a whole lot of patience, it is possible. Planning ahead for the week (including meal planning and shopping for all the ingredients you'll need) and sticking to slow-cooker recipes, 30 min meals, or meals you made ahead over the weekend, is key.  Below, I'm sharing one of my favorite new 30 minute meal recipes, that I created and shared on Insta-Stories recently–a Gnocchi Bake with beef, bacon and spinach.  This gnocchi recipe is so good and so easy to make and I promise, your hubby and your kids will loveit! We have done BLW from the beginning, so my 17 month old son has always eaten whatever we eat and I make it a point for us to have dinner together as a family 90% of the time (the other 10% my husband may have a work event or need to work late).  Between the three of us, this recipe makes enough for two meals, which is great as that only leaves five additional days out of the week to cook and in all honesty we often eat out once a week, so having two nights already figured out is AMAZING!

A few tips to ensure success and a make the whole process go as quick as possible:

  1. Gather all of your ingredients first and set out on the counter, including the pots and pans you plan to use

  2. Do all the chopping (spinach, basil and onion), so it's ready to go!

  3. Cook your bacon while the meat is cooking. I prefer cooking in the microwave, 4 pieces at a time, layered on paper towels, cooked for 4 min (just because it's quicker) but you can also bake as well. I do not recommend frying it as you want it to be crunch but not greasy for this recipe.

Follow these steps and I promise you will have this meal on the table in 30 mins.  It took me 40min start to finish and that was with a toddler "helping" and me also filming, snap-chatting/posting to insta-stories and writing down each step as I went, so I promise you it's totally possible.

Use the below photo, as a list of everything you will need to make this meal and then scroll to the bottom for the full recipe and a short little video tutorial. 

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Beef, Bacon and Spinach Gnocchi Bake Recipe

Ingredients: 

  • 1 lb ground beef

  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic

  • 2 cups of chopped baby spinach

  • 1 cup chopped basil

  • 1 packet sazon

  • 1 chopped yellow onion

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

  • 8 slices of bacon (baked or cooked in microwave)

  • 25oz (1 jar) of your favorite tomato sauce

  • 1 packet of gnocchi

  • fresh mozzarella

  • parsley for garnish

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  • Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large pan over medium heat.

  • Add minced garlic to pan and sauté for 2-3 min.

  • Add ground beef, break up, sprinkle in one packet of sazón and add chopped yellow onion, let cook till meat is done.

  • Meanwhile, start boiling water in a medium pot, add salt generously.

  • Once meat is cooked all the way through, push to the side and add cropped spinach and basil. Let cook for 2 min then mix well.

  • Sitr in pieces of bacon.

  • Pour in sauce and continue to simmer until gnocchi is done.

  • Add gnocchi to boil water and cook per instruction on package (typically 3 min).

  • Stir gnocchi into sauce, let cook for 1-2 minutes.

  • Transfer all to a baking dish and top with sliced mozzarella.

  • Bake at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling.

  • Remove and let cool for 10 min, then serve and enjoy!

A delicious, hearty meal that only takes 30 minutes to make. For the full recipe, please visit http://www.casadefallon.com/30-min-meal-gnocchi-bake-recipe/