Monday Night Dinner

Another Monday night rolled around, and at 6:45 I was at a loss as to what to make for dinner. It had been a long and rainy, dreary day, and we'd been out of town all weekend and I hadn't had a chance to go to the store. I opened the fridge to find some yogurt, pickles, lettuce and a bag of sugar snap peas. The cupboard didn't yield much either; I had a choice of canned soup, spiral pasta, couscous or chocolate covered walnuts. Then I remembered that I had some shrimp in the freezer, and my brain started to kick into gear...

I cooked the couscous, fluffed it with a fork and set it aside. After thawing out the shrimp, I quickly sauteed them in some olive oil (for high cooking temperature), butter (for flavor), garlic and red pepper flakes, then added the sugar snap peas, which I'd blanched and shocked in ice water. The result was garlicky, spicy shrimp and peas over couscous. A nice way to end an otherwise dreary Monday.

Kitchen Aid Artisan Mixer

After several years of wishful thinking, I bit the bullet and finally, finally bought the Kitchen Aid mixer of my dreams. With 325 watts of power, a whisk attachment, paddle beater, dough hook and a 5 quart mixing bowl, this mixer will make my baking a lot easier. Gone are the days of tired arms and a flour-covered apron - now I can switch on my mixer and walk away! And of course, I had to buy it in Darling Desserts' signature color, baby blue. My kitchen just got a lot prettier.

Orange Nut Squares with Chocolate

I always try to keep something sweet around the house for Eric. Often times, about 20 minutes after dinner, he'll say, "I want something sweet", and for breakfast, I think he would take sweet over savory anyday. Of course, my sweet tooth is equally as ravenous.

Yesterday at lunch, I was watching one of my many Tivo'ed cooking shows, Everyday Italian, and I saw a dessert that was super easy and was something that we could keep around the house for when his (and my) raging sweet tooth rears its head. They're called Orange Nut Squares with Chocolate, and they're incrediby easy to make.

Pat out a double batch of sugar cookie dough into a jellyroll pan and bake it at 350 for about 25 minutes. Once the cookie has cooled, spread your favorite jam/preserves/marmelade over the top, sprinkle with your favorite nuts and then drizzle it with some melted chocolate. Slice them into bite sized squares and - voila! - yummy sweet snacks for the next few days.

Nuthin' but Gnocchi

Monday nights aren't the best for providing a labor intensive meal. Eric is busy with work until the early evening hours and I am often busy with Darling Desserts once I'm off work. And yet, I still have to cook dinner. This Monday evening I decided to try something new.

I bought some gnocchi over the weekend at Ozark Natural Foods. I had a choice between spinach flavored gnocchi and tomato flavored gnocchi, and I thought the tomato flavor would go well with a tomato sauce. Gnocchi are delicious, fluffy little bites of potato dumpling, which are a virtual blank slate for any flavor. Instead of having the gnocchi with a sauce, I decided to make it into a type of casserole.

I chopped up some yellow bell pepper, zucchini, crimini mushrooms and shallots and quickly sauteed them in olive oil while I cooked the gnocchi in salted boiling water for about three minutes.

Once the gnocchi were cooked and the veggies softened but not mushy, I layered them in a small casserole dish between layers of our favorite tomato sauce and a mixture of mozzarella and paremesan cheeses. After 20 minutes in the oven, the finished product was the perfect way to end a Monday: soft, fluffy gnocchi flavored with fresh veggies, tomato sauce and plenty of melted cheese. Who could say no?

Delicious Alliteration - The Sequel

For last Sunday's dinner, I thought I would take advantage of Ozark Natural Foods' wide array of unique produce for our side dish. Although a bit pricey, ONF's produce seems of the highest quality and everything's organic - some of it's even locally grown. I skimmed past the bizarre looking radishes and the baby bok choy, only to come upon some of the oddest (and honestly, ugliest) produce there - locally grown purple fingerling potatoes. I picked a few out of the pile and decided to buy a few regular purple potatoes, as well, just for variety. A bag of parsnips and a trip through the express lane later, I was on my way home to cook dinner.

I sliced the potatoes and peeled parsnips in large chunks and tossed them with some olive oil, thyme and salt and pepper, put them in a roasting pan and put them in the oven until they were a nice golden brown. The result was delicious alliteration, the sequel: purple potatoes and parsnips, the perfect accompaniment to Sunday night's dinner.

Dinner Party

A few Saturdays ago, Eric and I hosted a dinner party at our house. Our friend Karen had suggested that we ladies cook dinner for our hard working men, while I give them a few pointers in the kitchen. So we did.

I spent a significant amount of time planning the menu, wanting to make sure that all the bases were covered - meat, grain and vegetable - and that nothing was too terribly complicated; I didn't want the poor girls covered in flour and slaving away at 9:30 at night, calling out, "I promise guys, we're almost ready!" I decided on Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic (a Provençal classic), Couscous with Currants and Pignoli, a Waldorf Salad and for dessert, Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Cake. I drew up shopping lists for each of the girls and wished them luck on finding their items.

Saturday rolled around and friends started arriving. Guests for the evening were Todd and Sarah, Cory and Karen and Tim and Cathy. While the guys sat outside on the porch, we ladies were cooking away in the kitchen. It was really fun giving the girls pointers and I felt that they were actually interested in what I had to allow. A few hours later, we were finally ready to sit down to dinner. Everything was delicious and I was so grateful to the ladies for helping out! And as my dad always says, "It was so nice to have all our feet under the same table." We will have to do it again.

Thanks for the pictures, Sarah!

Fall Fashion Show Tonight!

Tonight is the Mason's/Three Monkeys Fall Fashion Show at the Town Center here in Fayetteville. Darling Desserts will be catering the event with such delicious treats as lemon olive oil cake with fresh raspberries, flourless chocolate espresso cake and everyone's favorite, chocolate bundles, just to name a few!

The first 300 people through the door will receive a $20 Mason's gift certificate. Your admission ticket also puts you in the drawing for fabulous raffle prizes, such as Hobo bags, Tano bags, a $500 Sephora gift basket, a Bordino's gift certificate and a whole lot more.

Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door, and your entire admission fee will be donated to the Peace at Home Women and Children's Shelter. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 7:30. Come out tonight and support your local boutiques, your local shelter and of course, Darling Desserts!