Raising Spirits

It's been a rough week at work - full of ups and downs and confusing messages. Yesterday we got some news that took us all by surprise. I thought morale would be low today so I decided to bring in a treat for everyone - banana cupcakes.

They were a hit. Morale wasn't as low as I was expecting, but the cupcakes were welcomed anyway. And it ended up being a long day/night as we all ended up working late. Which means having the cupcakes around became very appreciated as we got hungry as the hours ticked by.

But for me, sweets aren't usually my morale booster. I'd much prefer something warm and cheesy. So when I came home, I turned to my favorite pasta - gnocchi. Really, you can't go wrong with any type of sauce on gnocchi. I love them all. Browned butter, marinara, vodka sauce. But I do love a good cheese sauce. Typically you see gnocchi with a nice gorgonzola cream but we had blue cheese at home. Thatboy doesn't like blue cheeses in general - although he does prefer gorgonzola. But this recipe wasn't for Thatboy. It was for me. And sinking into the couch with a nice bowl of hot, creamy, blue-cheesy pasta was enough to cheer up any bad mood.

Gnocchi in Blue Cheese Sauce
2 strips of bacon
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1 pkg of gnocchi

1. Cook bacon in a skillet until crispy. Remove bacon, but leave the remaining drippings.
2. Add the heavy cream and blue cheese to the bacon drippings. Cook, stirring until the blue cheese melts into the cream and the sauce starts to thicken.
3. While sauce is thickening, cook gnocchi.
   
4. Drain gnocchi and add to the cream sauce, tossing to coat gnocchi.
5. Divide into serving dishes and crumble bacon over.