While attending church one Sunday we got into a conversation with the mom of a young family who very excitedly invited us over for dinner the following evening so she could pick our brains about traveling full time. Trade information for good company and amazing food? No hesitation. When asked if we’d like Italian or Mexican for dinner, I randomly chose Italian since we had just had burritos the previous evening. Boy did I pick right. Her husband’s family is Italian and over the years she has challenged herself to cook the part. In fact, there’s a little rivalry between his full-bloodied Italian Grandma and herself that I found quite amusing.
She made something called Gnocchi, and I watched in fascination as she rolled, cut, and pressed these weird looking pasta/potato/roll looking things before boiling them in water and covering them with the most delicious sauce EVER. My kids were also big fans, so when we ran into the Gnocchi all packaged up and pretty on the shelf at Costco they BEGGED me to get them.
“But I want to try making them from scratch,” I said. “Scratch always tastes better.”
“No, mom. This will be WAY faster. PLEASE?” Andrew replied.
Sigh. Okay. Twist my arm. I texted my new friend for the recipe and she came back with a list of ingredients and “Well, I just sort of make it up” instructions. Perfect. I never measure anything anyway. Basically the recipe is a combination of a marinara and alfredo sauce. Just pick your favorites and mix them together and voila!
So, here’s my “non-recipe” plus a fun little video of how we actually made it in the Airstream. Buon Appetito!
Gnocchi Sauce (all ingredients are extremely approximate – use your best judgement)
2 tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves
1/2 small onion
2 tbsp Italian Seasoning
2 tbsp Flour
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
8 oz Cream Cheese
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp Chicken Bullion
2 tbsp milk
Saute garlic and onions in butter until translucent. Mix in Italian Seasoning and flour. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Stir until combined. Add cream cheese in chunks and stir until melted in. Add butter & chicken bullion. Add milk a little at a time until sauce is the desired thickness. Heat through and serve over Gnocchi.
Although everyone on Facebook had gushed over how Savannah, Georgia was their favorite city and we just HAD to visit, I didn’t want to. I was tired of city. We needed something else and I just couldn’t be tourist that day. Cobblestone streets and old houses were not going to do it for me. Just outside of Savannah, Georgia, however, is Tybee Island. As it is just a short hop from 
We have visited nearly all our beaches in the off-season, and Tybee Island was no exception. Plentiful parking, few people, beautiful sand, and wide open spaces. It was chilly enough that I didn’t want to get in the water, but our kids had no such reservations.
We started 2013 not at home, but in Denver, Colorado. A wedding shoot for Jess on the 28th of December turned into a weeklong trip through the snowy mountains of Western Colorado to Denver for the New Year. Jess took pictures, Sam worked remotely, and we explored Denver.
We left about 9pm to drive the hour back to our camping spot. The kids were exhausted and Cara immediately fell asleep in the truck. After arriving to our campsite to see our cute tree lit up in the darkness, we quickly got about getting the kids to bed pausing normal routines just long enough to lay out cookies for Santa. Within minutes, the kids happily fell asleep.