We Made Room For Dessert 11 - 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookies with only 3 ingredients? Yes please!  Gluten free?  You got it!  Super easy so that even people who don't care to bake can make a simple and delicious dessert?  Check!!!
The recipe this week makes room for dessert, with no flour or butter.  And even though I am baking (something I rarely do), it's so fast and easy you will want to make these too!  I found the recipe via Facebook from The Southern Lady Cooks blog.  Click the link and you can find her original post there.  But for the recipe, see below!

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg

***Even though you really only need these ingredients, some great and simple add-ins would be chocolate or peanut butter chips.  I'm going to try the chocolate chips next time I make them.  Also, with Super Bowl coming up, a great way to make them a football friendly dessert would be to shape the cookies in to football instead of circles.  Then draw on some lines with white frosting.  How easy and festive would that be???

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.  Mix all ingredients together.  Form in to balls and flatten slightly on a cookie sheet.
Bake 10-14 minutes.  Let cool.
Enjoy!

NRFD 2013 in Review

What a great food year 2013 was!  This post is going to review what happened on this site in 2013, and talk about some goals for No Room For Dessert in 2014.
I mentioned last year that my blog at the end of 2012 had 7,000 page views, and my goal in 2013 was to double that... Goal achieved!!!  We more than doubled our page views, ending 2013 with a little over 16,000 views.  I am so amazed and thankful for this.  I am glad I have so many readers!
I also mentioned last year that I found out a lot of my friends were closet foodies and visited my food blog regularly.  Well in 2013 even more people came forward to tell me they read all my posts.  I have some really great friends!
I brought you 36 posts in 2013, about 3 posts a month.  22 of these posts were recipes, and in 2014 I hope to double that!  I want to bring you at least 50 new recipes by the end of the year.  I am off to a slow start, with only one so far, but I am going to start amping that up.
We started a new category in 2013, Simply Sides.  This year I will continue to add to that, and I am working on coming up with a new category as we speak.  I'm not sure what it will encompass yet, but I'm thinking something about slow cooker recipes.  I like to keep things interesting and one way for me to do that is to give you something new to look forward to.
The most popular post (that I wrote in 2013) was for my Savory Cheese Pies.  And boy are they delicious!
My Baked Croissant French Toast recipe was also popular, as was my recipe for Chili Cheese Pie,  Check them out if you haven't yet!
I hope 2014 will be another great food year, and I am looking forward to cooking new recipes and writing about them, as well as trying new restaurants.  Stay tuned to the blog!  Everyone have a great year and thanks so much for reading!!!

Simply Sides 9 - Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks

Who doesn't love a cheesy garlicky bread stick??? I could live off them if my body would let me (sadly, it won't).  These are super simple to make, and are a great addition to any pasta or pizza meal (any meal really!).

Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks

Ingredients:
4 tbs garlic compound butter (see recipe below pictures)
1 batch of pizza dough (you can make your won or get it at a grocery store like I do, my local Publix has great dough for under $3)
1/4 parmesan, grate
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (or mozzarella, or your favorite cheese)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 500.  Let dough rise for at least an hour (up until all day) - if you don't, you'll have the big puff ball I did!  Punch dough down, and with your hands or a rolling pin, flatten onto a well-greased baking sheet (or pizza stone).  Spread softened butter (leave at room temperature for an hour or two, or microwave for 10 seconds) all over dough.  Sprinkle on parmesan, sprinkle on cheddar.  Bake at 500 for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Garlic Compound Butter
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
pinch of salt and pepper
*Blend all ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Roll up in wax paper and refrigerate.  Use as needed!

Special Post - Holiday Season 2013

What is one of the best things about the holidays?  Why, the food of course!  Whether it's a big sit-down dinner, or a cocktail party, or a family-style buffet, food brings family and friends together.  A great dish I came across this year is Lil Smokie wrapped in bacon and baked with a butter/brown sugar sauce.  You can't even imagine how good these things are!  They are relatively easy to make, the only somewhat time-consuming part is wrapping each individual smokie in bacon.  People love them, guests at Christmas dinner devoured them literally in 10 minutes.  Perfect as an appetizer, great to bring to a gathering, or just to eat as a snack, I think you should make these soon!

Bacon Wrapped Lil Smokies w/Brown Sugar Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2 12oz packages little sausages (I use Hillshire Farms, all beef Lil Smokies)
• 1 lb bacon, cut into thirds
• 1 stick butter
• 2 cups brown sugar, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Wrap each sausage in a piece of bacon.  Place them on a rack on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile melt butter over medium-low heat and stir in one cup brown sugar.  Cook til sugar is dissolved.  Remove from oven, place in baking dish.  Top with brown sugar butter.  Sprinkle remaining cup of brown sugar over smokies.  Bake and additional 10 minutes.  Turn heat to 425 and bake 10 more minutes.

Enjoy!

Restaurant Review 17 - Olive Garden

Oh the chain restaurants!  Some people love 'em and some people hate 'em.  For me, it depends on the restaurant.  But I will tell you, I LOVE Olive Garden!  I don't care if it's "fake" Italian food, it tastes pretty good.  Some of my favorite items include fettuccine alfredo, the portabello ravioli, the eggplant parmigiana, and of course, their salad.  *As a side note, they now sell their salad dressing in grocery stores.  I found it recently at Walmart for around $3.  A good dressing, not exactly like the restaurant version, but pretty close.*

On a recent visit to the Olive Garden, I tried one of their new dishes off their Tastes and Toasts of Italy menu, the Crispy Risotto Bites. Delish! For $5 we got 6 rice balls.  Risotto and cheese are rolled in bread crumbs, fried til crisp, and served on a bed of marinara (with more cheese on top if you choose - and we did!).  They had good flavor, were crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside as promised.  Also off that menu I chose a cocktail, the Moscato Aperol Cocktail - light and refreshing, this is a must try.  

Normally I get the fettuccine or the ravioli, but for lunch today I got the eggplant parmigiana.  It was a great size portion for lunch, but I was a little surprised the price was comparable to their dinner prices.  Disappointing.  My companion got their new Italiano Burger.  I forgot to take a picture but let me tell you, I had a bite and it was one of the best burgers I've had in a long time.  Covered in prosciutto, mozzarella, arugula, and marinated tomatoes, and a creamy parmesan garlic aioli...  Mmmm mmmm mmm.  Get there for lunch, you WANT to have this burger.  

They have a multitude of dessert options, my favorite being the Black Tie Mousse Cake.  But on this visit I had one of their Dolcinis, little tastes of dessert.  I went with the chocolate mousse dolcini.  It was good, the perfect size for a small sweet bite.  It satisfied my dessert craving without pushing me over the edge.  I am a little upset about how high some of their dessert prices have become, I remember when the mousse cake was only $4 and now it's over $7... Just seems a little excessive.

Olive Garden is still one of my favorite chains.  I eat their a few times a year, usually when they are running some kind of special, like the Buy One, Take One deal.  For $12.99 you got a full size meal there (mine was the asiago fettuccine alfredo - yum) complete with salad or soup and bread sticks, and then an entree to take home (I chose the Five Cheese Ziti al Forno - a new favorite!).  That promotion is over, but it was such a great deal, and I hope they bring it back soon.

To learn more about Olive Garden, and to check out their menu and current specials visit Olive Garden

Bread Sticks

Berry Sangira

Zuppa Toscana