Crisis Averted!

I have found my camera! Thankfully it is not currently residing in Panama, but rather is attached to my computer at the moment! Lets talk food shall we? The word of the day was "Experimentation"! I don't know about you, but I hate feeling like I am in a food rut! I don't think I could ever be one of those ladies who plans out the weekly meals to the point where you know that Monday is casserole night, Tuesday is pot roast, etc. Variety is the spice of life, and my palette craves some spice! I'm not talking crazy experiments, but taking a rather over done, played out favorite, and tweaking it with something new. That's how tonight's dinner came to be!

Everyone knows spaghetti with meat sauce is pretty much a staple. Change certain things about it though, and dinner is something familiar, but something new too. I boiled off some egg noodles tonight, grabbed a trusty jar of sauce (Fire Roasted Sweet Red Pepper, nummms), and for protein? Not hamburger, no Italian sausage but your getting closer. I reached instead for Andoullie. I have a love affair with it! Its a smoked pork sausage that I was introduced to as a kid.  I wish I lived closer to New Orleans to get the real stuff, but I have found in a pinch that Johnsonville's is actually not bad. There is a slight spicy hint to it, but its not overpowered by crushed red pepper, its just enough to add a kick to plain pasta and sauce, and it plays well with the sweet red pepper in the sauce. Garnish with Parmesan cheese if desired, and savor.

Dessert was an old time favorite! Ice cream sandwiches! Who doesn't love them? Now I wanted to make a cookie as close to an actual store bought ice cream sammie! Soft, dense, chocolate-y, stuffed full of my favorite ice cream. I looked through my multitude of cookbooks, and for once in my life came up with NOTHING. And that's a LOT of cookbooks! So what is a diva to do? TO GOOGLE I GO!!! After about 5 minutes of searching I came across a recipe that seemed promising.Cookie Recipe

I was disappointed though. I am very meticulous about following recipes to the 'T', but it never looked, right. Mixed up a batter that looked more like, peanut butter, than a chocolate cookie. Rolled in plastic and chilled in fridge.  Let set for about 45 minutes, brought out and attempted to slice. I got a flat, mushy slice. Decided that rolling into balls and pressing on to cookie sheet was the way to go. Popped them into a 350 degree oven, and baked for 8 minutes. They still looked like peanut butter cookies! Let them cool a bit, and assembled my sammie. It looked promising, but looks are deceiving. This cookie was bland, bland, bland. No flavor at all, and was waaaaaaaaaaaaay too soft. Not one I will be trying again. But that's how it works sometimes. Not every trial will be a success, sometimes you have to remember that life is not about the final destination, its the journey there.

Oh! And before I leave you, I'd like you to meet Gator & Penny! They share my kitchen with me. :)

xoxo The Delish Diva