Wheat-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I can't believe it's already December 1st! This year has gone by faster than ever, and I feel like I say that every year. It's just crazy. The fun thing about this holiday season is that it's our first holiday spent in our new house! Nick is like a child in that he can't wait to put lights up (we started last week) and buy a Christmas tree. We are actually buying our Christmas tree on Sunday, which is early because we usually buy it two weeks before Christmas. We're just really into the holidays this year (scratch that, HE'S into the holidays, I'm just soaking in that positive energy!). I have been heating cinnamon sticks and orange peels on the stove, and we even had our chimney cleaned out so we can start doing fires some nights. Ok, I'll admit, I'm into the holidays this year!

I already made plans with my mom to make our annual batch of chocolate waffle cones....



The Buckeyes already kicked some Michigan butt in the last scheduled game of the season...


And of course the holidays are impossible to escape when you work at one of the largest stores in town!!

And with the holidays comes cooking. Coco posted this sweet potato gnocchi a few months ago, and I finally got around to making it! This recipe was so simple. My favorite part about it was the short ingredient list;

Ingredients
(makes about 4 large servings)

2 large sweet potatoes

1 egg yolk

1/2 pound ricotta cheese (**I used reduced fat**)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (** I used brown rice flour**)

2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Cook the sweet potatoes either in the microwave or the oven (I chose the oven, 400 degrees for about 45 minutes)

2. Mash the sweet potatoes in a medium bowl

3. In a separate bowl, blend together the ricotta and the egg yolk

4. Mix together the ricotta/yolk and sweet potatoes

5. Add the flour to the above combination and form a soft dough

6. Create your gnocchi! (** I simply broke off ~1 T pieces and formed them into gnocchi by hand. This took some time, I will warn you**)

7. Throw the gnocchi into a large pot of boiling water, about 20 at a time (**I added a bit of EVOO to my water**)

8. When they start to float they are finished. (** It only took about 4 minutes for mine to start floating**)

CALORIES: ~350 in one large serving

Since I am an Italian who can't eat garlic or onion (and thus can't eat spaghetti sauce) I added canned stewed tomatoes (zero sodium) and parmesan cheese.

These gnocchi tasted fabulous. I plan on making these for my dad for his birthday, since he loves gnocchi. I would be really happy if he could start eating sweet potato gnocchi because at least there are some extra health benefits from the sweet potatoes and whole grain flour (beta carotene, alpha-carotene, fiber, vitamin C, more B-vitamins).

QUESTION: Have you ever tried gnocchi? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it?