Try this for the sauce alone!

Weight night tonight! And I've lost - but only a half a pound! I know I shouldn't say ONLY because as a leader I always used to say "it's still a loss!" and just like my post last week - I probably didn't even deserve to lose a half! So to ensure this 'getting away with it' doesn't come back to bite me on my big bum, I have a plan!

You may have noticed that today is the start of Lent - the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter where you abstain from something you like! I remember as children going off sweets for lent and if we were given money (usually 10p), we'd be straight out the door to Mc Cormick's shop to buy some sweets to put into a box. Likewise if Mammy and Daddy went anywhere, they'd bring us back sweets for the box. Our eyes would get bigger and bigger as the boxes got fuller and fuller and it would end on Easter Sunday - up at the crack of dawn to stuff our faces and then be as high as kites for the rest of the day.

There is also the issue of St Patrick's day in Lent. Depending on when Easter falls, St Patrick's days is usually (and best placed) when in the middle. In Ireland, the 'rule' is you can break Lent on St Patrick's day. My husband, friends and colleagues here have never heard of this 'rule' and are actually making me doubt that it is a 'rule'at all - but part of me also thinks they're just jealous because they're not Irish! So fellow paddies - am I making it up, is it just a Monaghan thing, or indeed just an O'Hart thing?

Right - so my plan involves giving up sweet things for lent AND taking up the gym (I've not been back since my spin class over a week ago!) This should help the weight loss along and I'm already thinking ahead to March 17th when I can have a curly wurly!

Here's what we had tonight:

Gnocchi with broccoli and parmesan cream sauce

As the title suggests - this sauce is DELICIOUS, so even if you can't get gnocchi it would also be great with chicken, pasta or spaghetti.

This is from the BBC Food website

Serves 2

18 pp per recipe/9 pp per serving

1 tsp butter

1 garlic clove , crushed

pinch chilli flakes (optional)

150ml vegetable stock

4 tbsp half-fat crème fraîche

20g parmesan,finely grated

250g broccoli , (I didn't have enough so finely chopped some green cabbage and it worked well too)

250g gnocchi

1. Heat the butter in a small pan then cook the garlic and chilli (if using) for 2 minutes. Add the stock, bring to a boil then reduce by 3/4. Whisk in the crème fraîche then stir in the parmesan to make a sauce. Keep warm on a low heat.

2. Cook the broccoli in a large pan of boiling salted water until just tender. Scoop out the pan with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain. Add the gnocchi to the same boiling water and cook following pack instructions. Drain. Toss the gnocchi and broccoli with the sauce and serve in warmed bowls.

um um ummmmm