Ghiradelli Classic Brownies & Hot Fudge Brownie Sundaes

I just posted this delicious & easy hot fudge sauce recipe. These brownies I made to enjoy with the sauce in a delicious brownie sundae. They are classic, fudgy & delicious.

A friend passed along another recipe for Truffle Brownies in which she recommended using this as the base, but G is not a fan of PB in baked goods, so I went with the simple version instead. These did not disappoint- they were perfect and I was very sad when the last brownie was taken from pan after I was looking forward to enjoying it in my sundae ALL day at work. That's OK- it was probably a sign...

P.S. Brownie sundaes are not complete without hot fudge, a dollop of marshmallow fluff & sprinkles. Fresh strawberries will take it over the top!

Easy Fluff Hot Fudge Sauce

OH boy. This is delicious. Homemade stuff is way better for you than the store-bought stuff, right, regardless of amount of sugar? OK, phew. That was a close one. I've been treating this little jar of joy like its my medicine lately! If that doesn't tell you how much you need to go to your pantry, get the ingredients & make this right now, then I don't know what does. It is fabulous. It is easy. It is HOT FUDGE!

The key ingredient, the marshmallow Fluff, makes it so fluffy & gives it the perfect texture without any fancy tricks. PLUS, there will be a decent amount of the jar leftover, which I think is perfect on top of ice cream. :)

I first enjoyed this on a brownie sundae. Heaven.

Its also to die for over fresh strawberries.

If you sneak a spoonful here or there, no one will notice. I promise...

Chinese Chicken Salad Revisited

I've posted this delicious & easy salad recipe before, but it is just so awesome that I wanted to post it again. I make this at least once or twice per month- sometimes more! It's so easy to trhrow together and is aboslteuly packed with great flavors & textures. You can feel free to add & take-away toppings to your taste. One of my favorite flavors comes from the little "kick" in the chili paste on the chicken. Also, since I last posted this I found a delicious ready-made dressing that I actually prefer to use with it.

Another favorite slad of mine is Fiesta Chicken Salad. The pictures on my post do not do it justice. It uses a lot of the same ingredients as this salad, so its easy to get ingredients for both at the same time.

One tip- wash & chop up your veggies the first time you make it and bag the leftovers. The next day, leftovers couldn't be easier to make!


Chinese Chicken Salad
Makes enough for 2-3. Easily doubled!

• 1/2 bag coleslaw mix (you can throw away the dressing packet)
• 1/2 bag romaine lettuce
• 2 green onions, sliced into small pieces
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 small bag slivered almonds
• 1/2 package Ramen noodles, chicken flavored
• 2 TBSP butter
• 1 TBSP white sugar
• 1 chicken breast
• olive oil
• soy sauce
• salt & pepper
• garlic salt
• garlic chili paste
• Asian dressing of choice, I like low-fat Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame

Heat oven to 350. Wash and dry chicken breast, trimming fat as desired. Cover cookie sheet with foil & place cooling rack on top. Spray with cooking spray and place chicken bresat in the middle. Use a paper towel to spread olive oil & soy sauce on chicken. Season with salt, pepper & garlic salt.  Spread chili paste on top to taste. Bake for 30 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle. Cut into bit-size pieces and set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, melt butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add almonds and stir to coat. Once they start to caramelize and turn light brown they are done! Remove from heat and scoop onto a plate in 1 layer. Dab with paper towel to remove excess butter & set aside. Once cool, crumble into pieces. Set aside.

In a large bowl, place lettuce, coleslaw mix, green onion & red pepper. Top with warm chicken & candied almonds. Crumble ramen nooodles on top last. Add dressing and toss to coat. 

Enjoy!

Wine Tasting

About a month ago, G's friend, Michele, was in town from the UK, so we all did tons of fun things, like drive to the Texas wine country and taste lots of yummy wine. It was a beautful day, and here are a few pictures to share. Did I mention there was a Grape Stomp going on?

Enjoy!

Banana Cream Pie - Fail?

I mentioned a little while ago that I drove back to NOLA at the end of August to surprise my dad for his birthday. That was a success. :) What was not so much a success were my banana pie-making skills. Banana Cream Pie is one of my dad's favorites, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I wanted a recipe completely from scratch. I should have tried one with a pudding mix first though! The reason this was a fail was because my custard did not ever completely set up, even though I followed the directions to a T, except for maybe not chilling the entire pie the whole recommend time (due to the demands of starving people). If anybody has any suggestions, please let me know!

The reason this recipe stuck out to me was because the banana cream pie from Emeril's restaurant in NOLA is one of our FAVORITES. It's so delicious that my mom has tried to pick up a whole pie to-go, but they actually don't "do to-go orders" there! Can you believe that? They said if she came to the bar and had a drink then asked for a pie to go, that they could probably make it work though. I think we went with one from Camellia Grill at the time instead. Those are pretty tasty too. I will share the recipe with you because this pie was still delicious, but it just wasn't so beautiful for me.

You can find Emeril's recipe here, because I'm feeling too lazy to type all that up over here. Note that we used a homemade flaky pie crust instead.

Now here's a few photos of the process:

Vanilla Bean

My mom showing me how to make her delicious pie crust

Don't forget to strain the custard

Making caramel sauce

Small boo-boos are OK!

Making chocolate sauce

It looks pretty- right? The slices were so sloppy, I couldn't take any photos!

Happy Birthday, Dad!