Deliciously Unique Dessert at PF Changs

I took my honey for dinner to PF Changs (after he took me to see Pirates of the Caribbean - which was so-so) as a "let's end our vacation / kick off the new week with a treat" treat. I don't know why, but we hardly ever even glance at the dessert menu there. However, this past Monday, we decided to split a couple appetizers and an entree to save room for dessert (guess we were on vacation mode still...lol). We got Wonton Soup, Peking Dumplings (aka Potstickers), Moo Goo Gai Pan, and this fabulousness:

It's called the Lucky 8 and my SO and I were feeling pretty lucky we had ordered it. It's basically Phyllo dough brushed with chocolate, rolled up, deep-fried and served with gooey toffee and heath bar crumbles. You dip the chocolately sticks in the toffee, roll them around in the candy crumbles and voila! A deliciously unique dessert.

Now, I'm a pretty big dessert connoisseur...not so much that I claim to have expertise in the area, but I've eaten out at a lot of restaurants over my lifetime, and I have a huge sweet tooth, so I've seen my fair share of good desserts. Let me tell you, this is one of the best and most unique I think I've ever had...off the top of my head, this is in my Top 5, and that says a lot for anyone who knows me pretty well. For anyone headed to PF Changs any time soon, you simply must try this. If you don't think you can finish it all, our waiter told us (after we had him box two sticks up for us) that we could have ordered a half-order. Oh well...you live, you learn, right?

Giant Sugar Cookies a la Martha Stewart

This weekend, I finally remembered to buy some sour cream to make the yummy-looking "Giant Sugar Cookies" I've been wanting to make from the Issue 41 Everyday Food. I even got to use my vintage Pyrex mixing bowl (very carefully, of course):



I've been trying out different sugar cookie recipes for awhile now and out of four batches, these are the best! If you subscribe to Everyday Food, I highly recommend trying this recipe out - it's on the last page.

Mine ended up a little more well-done than I had intended - I guess some ovens bake faster, even when you shorten the smallest time by two minutes! Watch your cookies! :)

If you don't subscribe, there are a couple other recipes on MarthStewart.com - click here for one

Leftover Spaghetti Sauce = Baked Ziti Dinner

My sister came into town Friday night and after a bit of indulging at the French bakery, I decided to keep dinner simple with spaghetti. After making tons of sauce on Friday, though, I had plenty left over this weekend and I thought...hey, I should use this instead of freezing it. What can I make with leftover spaghetti sauce, I wondered. Aha! One of my honey's faves - baked ziti!






I added a can of tomato sauce to the leftover meat sauce b/c I like my ziti kinda saucy. Meanwhile, I cooked some ziti pasta - I just eyeballed how much would go with the sauce. When the pasta was done, I drained it and added it to the sauce, mixed and poured into a glass casserole dish. I topped the pasta with mozzarella cheese and baked for about 20 minutes - till the cheese was slightly browned on top. I made my favorite garlic bread recipe - a Rachael Ray recipe - to complete the meal. Well, bread and a new Martha Stewart recipe - Giant Sugar Cookies from Everyday Food issue 41.

Chic Homemade Lunch a la Martha Stewart

I've been subscribing to Martha Stewart's latest mag - Everyday Food - so far so good. After weeks of eating turkey sandwiches for lunch in an effort to save money during the day, I've been on the lookout for some good, new lunch recipes. I decided to try my first Everyday Food recipe - Chicken Club Salad:

I decided to substitute Bibb lettuce for the pictured Romaine. It came out pretty good, although I will say you need to watch your bacon if you prepare it a la the recipe - it will burn if your oven cooks too quickly! I made a second batch of bacon for day 2 of the Chicken Club Salad lunch and microwaved it over a sheet of paper towel for 2 minutes - they came out nicely, took less time, and made less mess.

I'd definitely give this one a try if you're thinking about it - but I will definitely cut the chicken into smaller bites next time or possibly even shred it (or use rotisserie chicken...hmmm) - the possibilities are endless!

Where Have I Been?

Ok, so sorry for the delay...I'm sure (or maybe hoping) that a couple of you noticed that I haven't been posting hardly at all lately. You're probably (maybe) wondering where on earth I've been.

Well, I've been super busy the last 3ish weeks with two back-to-back craft shows:

My friend and I each setup a table at a couple shows around town. This is a photo from day one of the first show - it looks nice doesn't it? The weather was actually ridiculously hot...actually I'd say painfully hot, but we still had a pretty time and had a pretty good show. The second show was another story altogether - it rained the entire first day, then was windy the second and to make matters worse, people were shopping for cheap junk jewelry (think imported from overseas less than $10 crapola) so we hardly sold anything. :( We still had a good time, though, and met some interesting people, so not too shabby overall.

Look, the cotton candy matches my dress!