Green Goodness Quinoa Salad

Everyone these days is singing the praises of quinoa. And with good reason! Quinoa is a complete protein that is also high in fiber, magnesium and iron. It is actually the seed of a plant but is cooked like a grain and can easily replace less nutritious grains and starches like rice or pasta. Best of all it is very easy to make and extremely versatile.

There is an Asian marinade I have made for years that works really well with salmon, chicken and pork. (I will post the recipe soon) This weekend I was craving my omega 3s so I went for the salmon. I knew I wanted to keep the meal as healthy as possible so quinoa seemed like an obvious choice for a side. Keeping in line with my asian marinade I began to think of Japanese flavors and came up with this salad. If quinoa weren't healthy enough for you I've thrown in edamame beans, avocado, spring onions and cilantro. Quite unintentionally everything turned out to be green, hence the name. And it's chock full of goodness - nutritionally and deliciously!

The evening I made this dish we enjoyed it warm, right out of the rice cooker. The warm quinoa was a nice contrast to the cooler vegetables and the vinaigrette. However, I made sure to make enough so that I could stash some in the fridge to eat over the next few days and believe me, it tastes just as good cold the next day.

Green Goodness Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup (180g) uncooked quinoa
1 cup (165g) shelled, thawed edamame beans*
1 avocado, diced
1/3 cup (about 2 large) spring onions/scallions
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro 
*You can get edamame beans in the freezer section of Asian markets, some supermarkets or Picard here in France

Vinaigrette:
(You will not need all of the prepared vinaigrette but it is handy for other salads)
2 Tablespoons (30 ml) rice vinegar
3/4 Tablespoon (10ml) Soy Sauce
6 Tablespoons (90ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon (15ml) Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Minced Ginger (from a piece of ginger about the size your thumb knuckle and up)
1/2 clove of garlic, minced

To make the Quinoa:

Most quinoa you buy in stores has been pre-rinsed but it doesn't hurt to give it a rinse just in case. This removes the saponin which can make the quinoa taste bitter. Simply place the quinoa in a mesh strainer and give it a good rinse.

Cooking quinoa is like cooking rice. The ratio is 2:1 (2 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa) and you can use water or stock. I like to make mine in the rice cooker because it is easy but you can do it on the stove too. Place 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of liquid (if you use water you may want to add a bit of himalayan or sea salt for better flavor) in a medium sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce temperature and cover and simmer over a very low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit for another 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the edamame beans, diced avocado and scallions. To make the vinaigrette: in a separate bowl or in an empty jam jar, whisk (or shake) together all the vinaigrette ingredients.

When the quinoa is ready, add it to the edamame and other vegetables and toss. Start by adding 3 Tablespoons (45 ml) of the vinaigrette and the chopped cilantro. Add a bit more vinaigrette if you want. (I used 4 tablespoons total).

Voila! 

Provencal Stuffed Vegetables - Vegetarian Style

Vegetable Farci is one of my favorite traditional plates here in the south of France. It's pretty hard to top a lazy Sunday lunch sat in a sunny square with friends, a glass of rosé in hand and a warm plate of local vegetables stuffed with sausage, cheese and fine herbs.

When beginning my Clean Cuisine challenge and trying to think of creative vegetarian dishes that would satisfy my meat-loving husband it seemed like a no-brainer to try and recreate these veggies we love so much without the meat.  At first I considered stuffing them with quinoa or whole grain rice but decided that would be altering the dish too much. I wanted to keep the stuffing soft and a bit cheesy like its sausage predecessor. So, in the end I decided on eggplant as the base. It is combined with roasted peppers, mushrooms and a little bit of cheese to make a lovely interior for roasted vegetables. 

This is a great dish for entertaining because it is easily made ahead of time and just placed in the oven once your guests have arrived. It does require a bit of work but they are worth it!

The full recipe makes enough for 4-6 people as a main course, depending on what you are serving with it. The photo below shows how many I made more recently when cutting the recipe in half.

Half the recipe, unbaked.

Provençal Stuffed Vegetables - Vegetarian Style
(4-6 servings)

Ingredients

2 large or 4 small/medium eggplant (about 1200g/2.5-3lbs)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

4 oz (114g) leeks, sliced in half lengthwise, washed and thinly sliced (pale green and white parts only)

5 oz. (140g) mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon capers, minced

1 teaspoon ground himalayan or sea salt

ground pepper

1/3 cup (35g) finely grated parmesan cheese plus a small handful for sprinkling

1 handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

For stuffing:

6 small or 3 medium vine-ripened tomatoes

4-6 round courgettes (zuchinni) or summer squash (or 4 small/2 large long courgettes)

1 large red pepper or 2 small
(This depends a lot on size too - if the tomatoes and round courgettes are pretty large they can be cut in half and stuffed. If they are cuite small they can be stuffed on their own. You have to use a bit of judgement.)

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Rub the eggplants with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Place in the oven and roast the eggplant until soft on the inside, about 45 minutes to 1 hour or more depending on the size of the eggplants. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. When they are cool enough to handle pierce the skin with a knife and peel away the skin. Discard the skins and chop the eggplant.

Turn the oven from bake to broil (grill) and roast the peppers. You can do this by placing the whole peppers on a tray lined with aluminum foil and placing them directly under the heat. You have to watch the peppers and rotate them once each side is nicely charred. Alternatively, you can cut the peppers in half and scoop out the seeds. Place each half, cut side down, on your aluminum covered tray and place directly under the heat to roast until charred. I prefer this method because you don't have to flip the peppers or deal with the seeds in the next step.

Once the peppers are charred remove them from the oven and place them immediately in a bowl and cover the bowl with cling film to allow the peppers to steam. Once they have released their steam and are cool enough to handle, peel off the charred skin and remove the seeds (if you roasted them whole). Cut the roasted peppers into a dice. 

While the peppers are roasting, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat and cook the leeks until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté another minute until fragrant.  Add the mushrooms and sauté until they are soft and have released their juices. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the roasted eggplant and peppers to the pan and sauté 7-10 minutes, being careful not to let the mixture burn. Season to taste with one teaspoon of salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in the capers, 1/3 cup of cheese and the parsley. 

To prepare vegetables for stuffing: Slice a small bit off the bottom of the tomatoes and round courgettes to allow them to sit perfectly upright in a dish. Slice the top off of the tomatoes and round courgettes and, using a melon baller or spoon, scoop the seedy insides out of the vegetables. Alternatively, if they are on the big side, cut them in half first and then scoop out the seedy insides. If using long courgettes, slice them in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Cut in half crosswise if they are very large to make nice serving sizes. Cut the peppers into 4-6 pieces each to make nice stuffing size pieces. Generously salt and pepper the insides of the each of the vegetables before stuffing with the eggplant mixture. 

Place the stuffed vegetables on a lightly oiled baking sheet or dish. Sprinkle the tops with more grated parmesan cheese and roast in a 350F/180C oven until vegetables are soft and stuffing is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Serve with a nice tossed green salad and crusty bread.

Voila!

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter "Ice Cubes"

Since starting this blog - as with life in general - I have had moments of high and low. The first week I started the blog I was under the naive impression that I would add a recipe every day (HA!!) After one frenzied week of non-stop cooking, followed by frantic photographing (while our hot meals sat there getting cold as I desperately tried to decipher the pictograms on my camera), and nights sat on the couch until past midnight trying to convert pounds to grams and think of something clever to write, it finally dawned on me If I continue like this for 8 more weeks James will divorce me!  And he would have been justified!  

My house was a mess. There were mountains of unfolded laundry scattered around the house, strategically placed by me in the hopes that they might blend in with the furniture. The kitchen perpetually looked like I was having a car boot/garage sale of healthy ingredients while hosting a dinner party for 20 - at the same time! And that oh so willing husband of mine was being forced not only to eat vegetarian meals but to eat them cold at 9 pm. If I continued at that pace I would be healthier in 8 weeks time but I might also be single. That was a low.

The highs have come from having not only friends but also perfect strangers write to me and say that they have tried my recipe and loved it! Woo hoo! One of those messages came with a photo of the Minestrone Soup she had made and a really sweet email. She was a mum herself, living near Monaco and a professional photographer and she wondered if I would like to get together to take some photos of my food. Hell yeah! 

So, one morning Emilie came over and we tried, each of us with baby in hand or a toddler glued to hip, to make and photograph some food. She took this photo of Siena (21 months) reaching very excitedly for these chocolates as well as the beautiful photo of my Thai Veggie Cakes and some other photos for meals I have still not had the time to write about (I decided I did not want to get divorced and slowed my pace down a bit!!). 

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter "Ice Cubes"

I called these ice cubes because I made them in a flexible silicone ice cube tray which I bought at Casa and I'm sure you can find them just about everywhere these days. You can also use a flexible mini-muffin tin or paper muffin cups but I think the small size of the ice cube tray is perfect.

Ingredients

(This makes 32 "ice cubes" - they will be gobbled up quickly but can be stored in the freezer for a couple months)

Peanut Butter Base:

1 1/2 cups (380g) organic, sugar-free peanut butter

1/4 Cup (50g) Organic Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons (30ml) Organic Maple Syrup

Chocolate Topping:

3/4 cup (67g) Raw Cacao Powder

3/4 Cup (150g) Organic Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Organic Maple Syrup

For the peanut butter bottom;

Melt the coconut oil if needed over a low heat. Mix it with the peanut butter and maple syrup until everything is well combined. Spoon the mixture evenly into the ice cube trays and then pat the tray on the counter to level the tops smooth. Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes or until hard.

Meanwhile, for the chocolate topping - melt the coconut oil if necessary and then stir the cacao powder and maple syrup into the oil until smooth. Pour the mixture over the top of the peanut butter and return to the freezer until solid, about 15 minutes. Keep stored in the fridge or freezer.

Voila!

Pink Detox Smoothie

Many of us on the Cote d'Azur had the pleasure of attending the beautiful Mimosa Ball last night - a wonderful evening organized by some lovely ladies to raise money for Cancer. It was great fun and a measurement of its success is that we all stayed up way past our bedtimes, danced our feet sore and drank a few too many glasses of champagne - but all for a good cause!

I finally bought a Vitamix this week so I have been blending things I never knew could be blended! I have been making my own concoctions as well as surfing the internet for healthy, healing recipes. This morning, in light of the fun-filled evening I was recovering from, I had one word plugged in to my search engine - DETOX. I found a good recipe on one of my new favorite sites, Oh She Glows, and changed it only slightly to make use of what I had in the fridge. 

So, if you are like me this morning and in need of a bit of healing.........

Pink Detox Smoothie

1 small-medium beet (cooked or raw if you have a blender that can handle a raw beet)

2 stalks of celery

1/2  an avocado

1 cup strawberries (frozen preferably)

1 apple or pear (I made this both ways and preferred the pear because it made it sweeter)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup cold water

4 ice cubes

Place it all in a blender and Voila!

Thai Veggie Cakes with Tomato-Lime Salsa

Everyone has their own vision of what Heaven must be like. Mine is Thailand. If I could wake up in the afterlife bathed in warm sun, surrounded by smiling faces and with an eternity of fresh, vibrant Thai food I would be in Heaven. 

 I try as often as I can to enjoy the flavors of Thailand from my kitchen in Provence. All it requires is a little know-how and an occasional trip to the asian market. 

One of my favorite Thai dishes (there are so many!) must be spicy thai fish cakes. They are intense in flavor while being moist and delicate in texture. Topped with a tangy salsa they are an explosion of flavor that I adore. So, when I decided to limit our family to vegetarian mid-week meals, trying to create a veggie-only version of this amazing dish was a priority. 

To be honest, I thought it would take me a few tries to get this right. The original dish is soooo good that these little veggie cakes had big shoes to fill! Much to my surprise, after my first attempt my husband (a complete non-vegetarian) actually said that he thought they were "just as good, if not better, than the original." Wow! So I stopped there.

I hope you like them as much as he did. 

One of the keys to the success of these cakes is the contrast in texture. It is important to get a nice crunchy crust on the outside of the cake to enhance the soft inside of the cake.   

Thai Veggie Cakes with Tomato-Lime Salsa

(I am so used to cooking for large groups that this recipe makes about 24 cakes. Reduce by half if you wish)

Ingredients:

Cakes:

1 lb (450g) carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks

1 lb (450g) sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks

1 cup (160g) canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cup (100g) shredded zuchinni (courgette)*

1 cup (25g) coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)

1 scallion (green onion), chopped

1 cup dried whole wheat breadcrumbs or panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) 

2 1/2-3 Tablespoons (about 50g) good quality Thai Red Curry Paste

1 egg

1/2 cup (100 ml) heavy cream (crème entière)

1 - 1 1/2 cups (160-200g) cooked quinoa (optional)*

More Breadcrumbs or Panko for coating cakes**

Vegetable oil for shallow frying (Avocado oil is healthiest for high-heat frying but you can use what you have in the cupboard)

*I made my first batch without the quinoa and they were delicious. I added quinoa to my second batch and they were just as good. If you want the extra protein add quinoa but don't worry if you don't have it in the pantry. 

**When I made these I used whole wheat bread crumbs in the cakes and panko to coat the outsides because I love the crunchiness of panko.

Place the carrots and sweet potato in a steamer or a large pot with a steaming basket and steam the vegetables until soft and easily cut with a knife. 

Place chickpeas, zuchinni (courgette), cilantro, and scallion in a food processor and process until everything is chopped very finely. Tip contents into a large bowl. 

When the carrots and sweet potato are tender place them in the food processor along with the curry paste and process until just smooth. Add the cream and egg and pulse really quickly until just combined. 

Pour the sweet potato mixture into the bowl with the chickpeas and stir everything well to combine. Pour in the breadcrumbs and quinoa, if using, and stir to combine. Refrigerate the mixture one hour or overnight to allow flavors to blend and mixture to firm up a bit. (If you are just reading this and want to serve dinner in 20 minutes go for it - they will still be ok!)

 Form the mixture into little cakes. Fill a plate with more breadcrumbs or panko (I prefer panko) and coat both sides of each cake with crumbs. 

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Heat oil in a large sauté pan and shallow fry each cake until they are golden brown and crunchy on each side. Place the cakes on a baking tray and place in the oven for an additional 4 minutes.

When done top each cake with a little bit of salsa and serve the rest on the side.

Tomato-Lime Salsa 

6 Plum Tomatoes, seeds removed and diced

2 Scallions (spring onion), finely chopped

2 limes, zest and juice

2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 teaspoons sugar

1 Tablespoon Fish sauce*

1/2 cup (100 ml) light olive oil or 50 ml sunflower oil and 50 ml extra virgin olive oil

1-2 small chiles, seeds removed and chopped (optional, I don't use the chile because the cakes have enough spice for me but they definitely would in Thailand)

*If you are vegetarian you can substitute this with thai soy sauce. If not - use fish sauce - the flavor is fantastic.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve.

Healthy Quinoa Moussaka - a Veggie Version of the Greek Classic

In my experience as a chef I have concluded eggplant to be a girlie vegetable. Women love it, men don't. I think it has something to do with texture. Of course, I know that there are exceptions to this rule but I haven't met many along the way.            

The best way to make a non-eggplantarian eat eggplant is to smother it with tomato sauce and top it with cheese. And clever Greek grandmothers figured out a long time ago that if you throw meat into the mixture, even the hairiest non-epplantarians will come running! 

My husband is Exhibit A. Doesn't love eggplant. Loves moussaka. Key to its success - Lamb. There aren't many dishes that contain lamb that this handsome man raised in Wales does not love. So, you can imagine my hesitation in serving him a moussaka made with quinoa (Quin-what?) instead of lamb. A friend gave me the idea and it was just too good to pass up. So, way too late one Friday night (I started cooking at 8!!!) I made the exact recipe that he adores and the only change I made was to replace the lamb with that protein-packing, grain-like seed we hear so much about. And.............he liked it! (And not just because he was starving and half-asleep by the time we ate.)

Quinoa Moussaka

Ingredients

3/4 cup (135g) quinoa, rinsed well

1 1/2 cups (355ml) water or vegetable broth

5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

3 1/2 pounds (1.6 kg) eggplant, cut into 1/3 inch slices

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

3 14 oz(400g) cans of chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons dried or 2 tablespoons fresh mint

Salt and Pepper

Topping:

2 1/2 Tablespoons (33g) butter

3 1/2 Tablespoons (50g) flour

1 1/2 cups (355ml) milk

1/4 pound (114g) feta

1 large egg beaten with 1 large egg yolk

1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

 

Make the quinoa: Place the quinoa and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for about 15 minutes until all the water has been absorbed and quinoa is cooked. Set aside.

Preheat the grill/broiler. Place the eggplant slices on lightly oiled baking trays and rub the eggplant slices with 2 tablespoons of oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill/broil the eggplant slices until they are golden brown. Flip the slices and brush the under sides with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Place back under the heat until they are cooked through and golden brown. 

Meanwhile, heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large sauté pan and when hot add the onions. Sauté over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and sauté another minute. Add the cinnamon and allspice and toast the spices until just fragrant. Pour in the tomatoes and mint and bring mixture to a simmer. Gently simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes. Add the quinoa to the sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes. Set aside. 

To make the topping: Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes, whisking the whole time, to make a roux. Gradually pour in the milk, whisking, and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower heat and gently simmer for a couple minutes. Stir in the feta cheese and stir over low heat until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat and season with pepper. Cool the sauce for 5 minutes. Slowly pour the beaten eggs into the sauce, whisking to incorporate.

To assemble the moussaka:

Lower the heat on the oven to 200C/400F. Oil a large pyrex or other casserole dish. Line the bottom of the dish with half of the eggplant, slightly overlapping the slices. Pour the tomato-quinoa mixture over the eggplant. Layer the rest of the eggplant over the tomato mixture, overlapping as before. Pour the feta cheese sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle the top with the parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven until bubbly and golden, about 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Voila!

Chocolate Crunch Bars with Peanut Swirl

I found this recipe on the Oh She Glows website which is a beautiful vegan cooking website. Our version did not come out nearly as beautiful as the picture posted on Oh She Glows but my Little Chef had fun making them and Baby Chef had fun eating them. 

The original recipe calls for brown "rice crispies." I had to add a bit more cereal than was called for in the recipe and I used organic puffed rice cereal because that was my best option here in France but you can play around with what you have available. It's a fun 20 minute recipe to make with the kids. 

Like many raw sweets these are best kept in the freezer. Putting them in a lunch box for school will probably end up in a chocolatey, sticky mess so reserve them for after-school snacks and dinner dessert.

Coconut oil is a much healthier alternative to butter and other oils but it definitely makes everything taste a bit coco-nutty! My kids like that. Hopefully yours will too. It is available here at all the Bio markets and a friend just sent me a text to say she found it in the big Carrefour in Antibes. Hooray! 

  

Ingredients:

Bars:

1/2 cup (250g) coconut oil

1/2 cup (50 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

5 Tablepoons Maple Syrup

Pinch of sea salt

1 - 1 1/2 cups (around 50g) organic rice cereal 

Peanut Butter Swirl:

2 Tablespoons Organic Peanut Butter

2 teaspoons coconut oil, or more to thin the peanut butter

1 teaspoon maple syrup or agave nectar

Line a loaf pan or small casserole dish with parchment paper. Gently melt the coconut oil over a low heat until liquified. Stir in the cocoa powder, maple syrup, vanilla extract and salt to combine until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the cereal. Pour mixture into prepared pan and freeze 15 minutes or until chocolate is set. 

Remove from the freezer and cut into squares or bars.

For the Peanut Butter swirl - Melt the coconut oil in a small sauce pan and add the peanut butter and maple syrup and stir to combine. (I did 2 teaspoons of coconut oil but could have used a bit more because my peanut butter was so thick.) Scoop the mixture into a small sandwich baggie and squeeze it down into one of the corners of the bag. Twist the top of the bag and cut the tip off of the corner to create a small pastry bag. Hand the pastry bag over to your little chefs and ask them to swirl the peanut butter over the bars. Return to the freezer and wait for peaunut butter to set, about 10 minutes. 

Voila!

Fresh Pesto Gnocchi with Butternut Squash, Cherry Tomatoes, Green Beans

Trying to keep a meat-loving husband satisfied mid-week with vegetarian meals requires variety. There is only so much pasta I can make. This is why I love gnocchi. It's as easy as pasta, it can be made with the same sauces, and yet it makes for an entirely different meal. 

I love making my own gnocchi. Nothing is more satisfying than sitting in front of a bowl of gnocchi that you have prepared yourself. After making the potato dough you roll it into ropes, cut it into dumplings and finally - my favorite part - a quick flick of the wrist with a floured fork and the dumplings are transformed into little nests perfect for soaking up delicious sauce.  

But.....

this blog was started in the hopes of helping and inspiring my friends (and wonderful mystery readers) to prepare more clean, healthy dishes for their families. And there isn't a single mum I know who has a free hour on a Tuesday night to bang out some fresh gnocchi. Maybe, on a cold Saturday in January, I might try and rally some friends up for the task. Until then, however, we are very lucky here in the south of France to have fresh gnocchi available in most supermarkets. (I think in the US too?)

The one thing I will ask you to do is make a fresh pesto. I am not hiding in your pantry though so if you pull out a jar of pesto and whack it in instead I won't know. It just won't be as good (or as clean) as mine.

(No pressure..)

Ingredients (For 4 servings)

Pesto:

1 1/2 cups packed fresh basil leaves (from 2-3 bunch)

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves

2 Tablespoons (20g) pine nuts

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Himalayan pink salt or sea salt and pepper to taste

Gnocchi:
About 750 g of gnocchi (1 2/3 lb)*
1 small-medium butternut squash
Swig of olive oil
Salt and Pepper
200 g (7 oz.) green beans, 
250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
Pesto (the above recipe should make about 165g/6 oz)
4 Tablepoons Grated Parmesan
3 Tablespoons Panko or Bread Crumbs (optional)

*If you buy fresh gnocchi in 500g packs like I did just use the gnocchi for the kids the next day with a simple marinara sauce.

To make the pesto: Place all ingredients except the oil in a food processor and mix until everything is finely chopped and starting to form a dry paste. With the machine still running, slowly pour in the oil until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. 

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Peel the squash, discard the seeds and chop into large dice. Toss the squash with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven until soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and lower temperature to 180C/350F.

 Meanwhile, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil and blanch the green beans until just tender but still bright, green and slightly crunchy. At the same time, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and cook until they have risen to the surface and they are all floating on the top like little balls.

Drain and toss the gnocchi in  a large bowl with the squash, green beans, cherry tomatoes and pesto. Lightly oil a casserole dish and pour the mixture into the dish. Mix the breadcrumbs and Grated Parmesan and sprinkle over the top. 
Bake for 15-20 minutes until hot and parmesan has melted and gone golden. 

Voila!