Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Peas with a Baslamic Sage Brown Butter and Goat Cheese Sauce

Bri was still on break for my first week back to school.  So, he came up to Madison with me and it was great!  We had a lot of fun hanging out together after school/work and it was nice to have the company since Madison is so dead right now with Winter Break still going on.  During the days, I had school and work so Bri worked a ton on his thesis.  It worked out perfectly that he had so much to do because I was so busy all day long.  However, at night we were able to get in some really fun activities around Madison!

On Tuesday, Bri got into town pretty late so he got a bite to eat at Potbelly's and then we discovered a new frozen yogurt place called Cherry Berry.  It was pretty awesome and it's really close (too close) to where I am teaching.

The next night, we made dinner and dessert. It was a really nice time.  The dinner we made was Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Peas in a Brown Butter Balsamic and Sage sauce and then for dessert, Creme Brulee. Everything was delicious and people thought it was our anniversary or something.  Nope, just Wednesday night.

On Thursday, we went to Ella's Deli for dinner on the way to the movie theater.  We saw Les Mis.  It was fantastic.  It is my favorite musical to begin with and now I can watch it whenever I want.  Anne Hathaway truly deserves her Oscar nomination.  I bawled my eyes out at the end and was a tad embarrassed leaving the theater looking like a splotchy mess.  We were able to make it to the 6 p.m. movie time, which was great since it was almost 3 hours long and I was exhausted after my long day of teaching/work.

Friday was when Bri had to leave to get back to Chicago before his long drive back to school so we went to Panera for a quick lunch between school and work and then it was time to say goodbye.  It was really nice having him around for the week.  It felt like a little preview of what next year could be like with me teaching and him in law school.

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Peas with Balsamic Sage Brown Butter Sauce and Goat Cheese
(adapted from Aida Mollenkamp)

Ingredients:
1 16 oz package Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Gnocchi
3/4 cup frozen peas
2 oz. goat cheese
4 tbsp unsalted butter
12-16 sage leaves
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 shallots, chopped
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1.  Cook the gnocchi according to the directions.  Drain and set aside in a large bowl.
2. Cook the peas according to directions and add to the gnocchi.
3.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  When it starts to foam, add in the sage leaves and cook for a few minutes.  Remove the leaves and place them in the gnocchi bowl.  Return the butter to the stove and add in the shallots.  Cook until butter browns, stirring often.  Scrape the brown bits from the bottom and remove from heat.  Stir in the balsamic and pour over the gnocchi.
4.  Top with goat cheese and season with the pepper to taste.  Toss everything together and serve!

Enjoy :)