Love ‘em or hate ‘em raspberry truffle brownies

With just one bite you’ll know why these are ”love ‘em or hate ‘em” brownies. I almost didn’t write this post because I can’t decide if I like these or not. I figured out why – the brownies are unexpectedly rich and I cut them into regular “bar size” treats. Well, as with any truffle, one small bite is heavenly bliss, but more than that and you’ll be racing to drink straight out of the milk jug.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease a 9-inch pan. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the 1-1/4 cups semisweet chips with the butter. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar and eggs. Stir in the vanilla and chocolate mixture.

Dissolve 1 teaspoon coffee granules into 2 Tablespoons of hot water; add to the chocolate mixture.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking soda; gradually add to chocolate mixture. Spread evenly in pan and bake at 350˚ for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely.

Truffle frosting: Melt 1 cup semisweet chips and 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.

Gently beat in the powdered sugar and raspberry jam until well blended. Beat in the melted chocolate. Spread over cooled brownies.

1-1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (I use one Starbucks Via^® – 1 pack contains the teaspoon for the brownies and the 1/4 tsp for the frosting)

2 Tablespoons water

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the truffle frosting:

1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup raspberry jam or preserves, I use seedless

Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease a 9-inch pan. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the 1-1/4 cups semisweet chips with the butter. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar and eggs. Stir in the vanilla and chocolate mixture.

Dissolve 1 teaspoon coffee granules into 2 Tablespoons of hot water; add to the chocolate mixture. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking soda; gradually add to chocolate mixture. Spread evenly in pan and bake at 350˚ for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely.

Truffle frosting: Melt 1 cup semisweet chips and 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gently beat in the powdered sugar and raspberry jam until well blended. Beat in the melted chocolate. Spread over cooled brownies. Chill for a few hours. Cut into small pieces. The frosting is sticky so if serving to guests, place individual brownies in mini cupcake or truffle papers.

Reese’s® P.Bitty Bars

Sometimes, there’s not a long story to tell. I made bars and I called them Reese’s P.Bitty Bars because they are so good there should be a rap song about them. I brought them to a hockey party and now I wish I had kept some at home.  

The bottom and top crumble layers are made with creamy peanut butter, oatmeal, and butter. There is a gooey chocolate layer in the middle, with mini Reese’s candies tucked neatly inside.  

Get ready, bake! Preheat oven to 350°. Beat 3/4 cup softened butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until well blended.

 

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

 

Stir together flour, oats, salt, and baking soda.

 

Gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.   

Batter will resemble cookie dough. Set 2 cups of the batter aside.

Press remaining dough into a greased 13×9 inch baking pan.

Prepare the chocolate layer: Melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan over low heat.

Stir in cocoa and white sugar.

Add 1 can of sweetened condensed milk; stirring constantly over low heat until smooth and thick. Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Spread chocolate mixture evenly over oatmeal dough in the pan.

Sprinkle the mini Reese’s candies over the chocolate.

Crumble the reserved two cups of dough over the candies.

Bake 25 minutes or until the top is lightly brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. These take a few hours to completely cool, so make them a day ahead of when you plan to devour share them.

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup peanut butter

2 cups packed brown sugar, light or dark

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick butter)

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/3 cup white sugar

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups (10 ounce package) Reese’s Mini Pieces

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat 3/4 cup softened butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir together flour, oats, salt, and baking soda; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Batter will resemble cookie dough. Set 2 cups of the batter aside. Press remaining dough evenly into a greased 13×9 inch baking pan.

Prepare the chocolate layer: Melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in cocoa and white sugar. Add 1 can sweetened condensed milk; stirring constantly over low heat until smooth and thick. Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Spread chocolate mixture evenly over oatmeal dough in the pan. Sprinkle the Reese’s candies over the chocolate. Crumble the reserved two cups of dough over the candies.

Bake 25 minutes or until top is lightly brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

{New spirit for vintage dairy crates}

When I visit a new town, there are two things I hope to find — a fabulous, locally owned restaurant and an antique store. There’s something charming and mysterious about antique stores that allures me in the door.

Antiques are intriguing. They are tiny bits of history; fragments of family memories and untold stories.

I like the materials. You won’t find much plastic in an antique store. There’s lots of glass, wood, tin, metal and iron. And really old books.

On a recent visit to an antique store in Pipestone, MN, I picked up this old milk bottle crate and repurposed it as a wine rack. I can think of other possibilities – towel and wash cloth holder for the bathroom, magazine or newspaper rack, or hang it on the wall in the kitchen and place rolled dish towels and dish cloths in it.

Raise your glass. Cheers to Zaiser’s Dairy which is no longer in existence. And cheers to the person who, instead of discarding this old dairy crate, kept its spirit alive by selling it at an antique store.

I’d love to hear about antiques you have repurposed!

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{To-live-for Pumpkin Butterscotch Coffee Cake}

I brought this cake to work in celebration of Kari’s birthday. On Monday, Mary sent me an email with the subject line “to die for”. She wrote: “The pumpkin brown sugar cake/coffee cake/whatever it is called was extremely delicious. I told Paige that my plan to just eat half and save the rest for the next day worked for about 12 seconds. I checked your blog but didn’t see the recipe there. Please share!”

So this one’s for you, Mary! And for those of you who have thrown out all your muffin recipes except the butterscotch muffins I made for the cops, this is very similar so your recipe box is getting even lighter.

The aroma of this cake baking in the oven is intoxicating. It is THE cake you want to bake if you have guests coming, your house is on the market and you’re holding an open house, or you can’t get the smell of your kid’s hockey bag out of the back entry.

1 cup butterscotch chips

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup pure pumpkin

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Streusel

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Top the cake with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Make it:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a regular-sized Bundt pan. Melt 1 cup of butterscotch chips over low heat on the stove or in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, vanilla and melted (and cooled to room temperature) butterscotch chips. Gradually stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture, stirring until well combined.

For the streusel, in a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, chopped pecans, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.

Pour half of the cake batter into the Bundt pan. Toss the streusel mixture evenly over the cake batter. Pour the rest of the cake batter over the streusel. Bake at 350° for 60-65* minutes, or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven, turn the Bundt pan upside down onto a cooling rack and let cool for 15 minutes before lifting the pan off the cake. When cake is completely cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

*My Bundt pan is the Pampered Chef Stoneware Fluted Pan so the bake time may be longer than what it would take in a metal Bundt pan. You may want to check the cake after 50 minutes of baking time.

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Have you fallen in love with the pumpkin and butterscotch flavor combination?

Noir Bars | Luscious Chocolate with a Hint of Espresso

I hope you are enjoying your winter so far! I’m on a week-long holiday, the kitchen is overflowing with homemade sweets, and after years and years of trying to like wine, I’ve finally found two that I love. All is merry and bright!

My Christmas baking this year included Noir bars. It’s the first time I’ve made them. It won’t be the last. I can’t open the refrigerator this week without eating one.

If you aren’t a coffee or espresso drinker, don’t shy away from this recipe — the espresso simply intensifies the chocolate flavors. The filling includes a frothy, creamy combination of cream cheese, powdered sugar, cinnamon and chocolate.

The recipe is from one of my Betty Crocker^® magazines. Click here to view the Noir Bar recipe.

What new recipe(s) did you try this holiday season?

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{Peanut butter pie with a story of loss and love}

It’s a story that will leave you wiping tears from your eyes. But it carries an important message. So please take a moment to read “for mikey”  from In Jennie’s Kitchen, http://www.injennieskitchen.com/2011/08/for-mikey.html. I’ll wait for you to come back.

I don’t know Jennie, but the reminder of painful loss that cuts so deep you don’t know how you’re going to pick yourself up again, is real. We somehow forget that we are God’s children – here on his time, living his plan. Our eternal life is not lived here. Death crushes our spirit and tests our faith because we love so freely, so intensely and then death sneaks in and rips everything we know away, leaving our lives crumbling all around it. Our hearts are wrapped so tightly with love that when we lose someone, we are never the same.

Jennie posted her story in early August. I couldn’t make the peanut butter pie that Friday so I made mini pies the next day and delivered them to three of my teenage nephews who live near me. (The pie is extraordinarily delicious – I can see why it was Mikey’s favorite.) I didn’t post this story at the time, but I was reminded again recently that today may end differently than I think. And it could mean living with one less person in my life that I love. It could mean I am not here tomorrow. Today is the perfect day to “make that peanut butter pie for Mikey“.

{Thanking the Cops with a Muffin Stop}

My friend, Tracey, is unpredictable. And randomly sweet. Which is why I love her. One day, she commissioned me to bake three dozen muffins to bring to our local police department.

Tricia Squashingroff-Schwartz and Officer Joe Fishbaugher from the Brookings Police Department

Tracey wasn’t trying to get out of any parking tickets, she just wanted to let them know there are people who appreciate the work they do. Our community had just experienced two senseless tragedies from two fatal car accidents in town, one of them killing a 17-year-old boy from the local high school. (Tracey’s 17-year-old daughter was about ready to get her driver’s license so I suspect she may have been experiencing some “mom” emotions – and rightly so.)

It was easy to pick the first two flavors because my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and Butterscotch  muffins are the ones I get the most compliments on, and the most requests for. The third flavor was triple chocolate. Chocolate in a breakfast food. Enough said.

 

I made extra pumpkin muffins and brought them to work. (Michal, here’s the recipe I promised you!)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Makes 36 regular muffins

2 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

6 eggs

2 1/4 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 cup water

4 1/2 cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 cups mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400°. Grease muffin pans or use cupcake liners. In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat the sugar, oil, and eggs together. Add pumpkin and water and stir. In a large, separate bowl, mix the flour, soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients just until combined. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. As with most muffin batters, don’t over-mix or the muffins will be tough. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Lightly spray tops of muffins with cooking spray – this gives the muffins a lightly crispy top. (A little restaurant trick my sister, Kalli, taught me.) Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

I used my square muffin tin which is a nice change from traditional round muffins.

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I gave these butterscotch muffins five stars on the Taste of Home website. You can view the recipe here. It quickly becomes a favorite go-to muffin recipe for all occasions. While you are on the site, take a look at this Cappuccino Muffins recipe. I haven’t tried them yet but I need to! 

My sister, Heidi, emailed me the Triple Chocolate Muffins recipe on Wednesday, April 18, 2001. (I printed the email and stuck it with my recipes.) I was eight months pregnant. All she wrote was, “Thought this recipe might also be one that you might enjoy!!!!” I wonder if I was having a pregnant-woman-chocolate-meltdown?

Triple Chocolate Muffins

3 cups flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

4 Tablespoons cocoa

1 1/2 cups milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 stick butter, melted and slightly cooled

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

Melt the butter first so it has time to cool. Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease 12 regular muffin cups or use cupcake liners. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cocoa and brown sugar. Mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sour cream and melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Stir in the dark chocolate and white chocolate chips. 

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

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Tracey’s gift to the Brookings Police Department is one of my favorite random acts of “sweet” kindness. I’m guessing they don’t receive appreciation as often as they should.

Enjoy the muffin recipes! Let me know if you bake a few dozen and give them in your own random act of “sweet” kindness.

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{Comfort Food for the Bigfork Construction Crew}

It was a cold and rainy morning when our construction crew arrived for rebuilding day #1. First on their agenda – build us a garage before the sometimes light and fluffy, but usually blinding and brutal, Minnesota snow flies. When I brought the guys warm cinnamon coffee cake straight from the oven, my dad said to them, “You’ll gain 10 pounds working here.” What a great way to be introduced to strangers! I knew we’d picked the right crew when one of the guys commented back, “That’s ok, winter’s almost here!” I just have to be careful not to make them too comfortable or they’ll still be here when the flowers bloom in the spring.

The coffee cake recipe is from Taste of Home. I added a few teaspoons of vanilla to intensify the flavor of the yellow cake, and I didn’t make the icing; not for any particular reason, other than I know the cake is moist and flavorful without it. (You may notice that the recipe on the Taste of Home website says to bake 30-35 minutes but both times I made it this week, I noticed that even in my convection oven, the cake took 45 minutes or so to bake completely.)

The chili is a ”throw in what you like” recipe so you can choose what types of beans and spices you use. This batch, perfect for the slow cooker, makes enough for six hungry guys, one hungry girl, and one serving for later. And because comfort food includes chocolate in my domain, I also made a batch of my Marshmallow Creme Crunch Brownies.

Beginning of rebuilding day #1.

End of rebuilding day #1.

You may be wondering why we are feeding our construction crew. The owner, Lyle Enger, and his crew are from Bigfork, Minnesota which is so many miles from here that they are close to the Canadian border. (As a food blogger, I think it would be awesome to live in a town called Bigfork!) Lyle is a long-time family friend of Jason’s and they know his work well. He owns, and built most of the Maple Ridge Resort on the edge of wilderness in northern Minnesota. (And don’t even get me started on owning a place with the word maple in it. Yum.) The crew is staying in a hotel 10 miles from our house so we felt that the least we could do is feed them lunch each day.  

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Make-it-Your-Way Rainy Day Chili

3 pounds ground beef

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 (15-ounce) can red beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15-ounce) can chili beans with sauce

2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (46-ounce) can tomato juice

BBQ sauce, approximately 1/4 cup

a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

a couple tablespoons of prepared yellow mustard

cayenne pepper

salt & pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

ground cumin

hot chili powder

onion salt

1 tablespoon or so of brown sugar

Let’s make the chili!

Season the ground beef with onion salt (to taste) and cook with chopped onion until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Put the beef in the slow cooker and add all the beans and the tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, mustard and Worcestershire (all to taste), stirring to combine. Add the can of tomato juice and then add the spices. This truly is a “make-it-your-way” recipe so add any spices or sauces you like. I’ve also been known to add steak sauce and hot pepper sauce. Stir all the ingredients until well combined. Cook until piping hot. Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, and diced red onions.

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What kinds of beans and spices do you use in your homemade chili?

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{Thanks for the Good Cry Starbucks. Twice.}

Dear Brooke, Dave, Andie, Sean, Nicole, and Amanda from Starbucks in Brookings, S.D.,

I hope your parents read this, and your managers and the store owners. Because they will be proud of you. Your parents will know they raised you well – well enough to go off into the world and make a difference. Your employers will know that the culture they instill in employees is worth every effort.

I am not part of the regular Saturday crowd at Starbucks so you didn’t know me. I am part of the drop-the-kids-at-school-and-get Starbucks-before-you-go-to-work-crowd, and I can’t wait to share with your manager (Karen Andersen) what you’ve done! 

Thank you for the brownies that morning. Thank you for the $100 Hy-Vee gift card that you gave to my family.

You were moved by my story.

But I want people to be moved by yours. You taught my kids a lesson about thoughtfulness and unexpected gifts of compassion. And I am grateful.

For those of you who are curious, here is a fairly short and sweet version of the story.

On Friday, 1 July, a severe storm ripped through our 22-acre, rural Minnesota property; demolishing most everything except our house. My kids and I were at home.

The car was in the garage. The roof is now in the grove and the garage doors are wrapped around trees.

The barn crashed down. It was an earlier 1900s dairy barn.

A silo toppled over onto a semi trailer.

And another…

The workshop blew away.

And the fallen silos crushed everything in the workshop. If you look closely below, you can see our buried ATV. (An Arctic Cat two-passenger that we LOVED and they don’t make anymore.)

Oh, and one of my saddest moments was extracting my old Honda Shadow.

Here’s where our heavenly “luck” came into play. Three large trees, any one of them would’ve crushed half of our house, were ripped out of the ground. But all three landed strategically around the house. One of them kicked over the propane tank, so that was super scary but other than the siding being cracked by debris and our front door shattering, the house is ok.

The good news: our beloved redneck (Intex) pool survived! The bad news: although it survived the winds, the pump and filter was powered from the garage so we ended up losing it anyway.

Back to the Starbucks crew. The storm happened late in the afternoon so we picked up what we could and salvaged items from the garage until it got dark. Since we didn’t have power, Jason stayed at the house and the kids and I spent the night in Brookings.

In the morning, we stopped at Hy-Vee to get a few things for our morning clean-up crew (our amazing families) and we stopped at Starbucks on the way out. It was the beginning of the long Fourth of July weekend so everyone was buzzing about their plans at the lake, picnics, fireworks, etc.

When the barista asked us what fun things we had planned for the weekend, I calmly explained that we were beginning a very long clean-up process from a storm hitting our property. Other than being anxious to get my coffee and get out of there, I don’t think I was very emotional but once the Starbucks employees heard what happened, they were very sympathetic and asked if they could give us some free brownies to brighten our morning. The sheer kindness from these young employees broke me and I cried. It was very touching and my kids were witness to a random act of kindness.

So why did I get all teary-eyed at Starbucks a second time? A few weeks later, the kids and I were making a rushed trip into Hy-Vee to grab a few items and get home. We buzzed passed the Starbucks kiosk and were headed to the dairy section when I thought I heard someone yelling my name. I finally turned back to see Brooke, from Starbucks, following us. She said they had been waiting for a long time to see us again and she was so happy we were there.

You see, Brooke, Dave, Andie, Sean, Nicole, and Amanda had been so touched by what had happened to our place that they put their money together to purchase us a gift card to the Hy-Vee grocery store. A $100 gift card! They didn’t know my name so they had gone back through the garbage that morning to get my name off the receipt. You guessed it, teary-eyed again. That gift card was extremely appreciated. Cleaning up from a storm costs A LOT of money and this helped us pay for some gas and bottles of water and some food for the weekends when people were here helping us.

I’m not sure which of you gave us the card that day but I asked her to write the names down of the employees who contributed to the gift card. I found out it was Brooke who gave us the gift card that day but she hadn’t included her name on the list. And although this comes a couple months later, I sincerely thank you. Your actions speak louder than words, and my kids and I will never forget the kindness you showed our family. Thank you. Staci

Ground Round Creates Local Buzz with VIP Party in Brookings

More than 100 locals gathered at Brookings’ new Ground Round Grill & Bar for a special VIP opening party on Saturday night. The new bar and restaurant replaces the Pavilion Bar and Grill in the Brookings Days Inn.

The transition only took two weeks but people anxious to see the new digs were treated to ice-cold beer, fine wine, and a lively variety of menu items from jambalaya with shrimp, andouille sausage and chicken, and Cajun chicken penne Florentine to a more traditional summer menu of BBQ ribs, boneless chicken wings, and coleslaw.

The restaurant opens opened to the public on Monday, 22 August at 5 p.m. and is the latest venture for owners Lance and Ann Park, who have owned and operated the South Dakota hotel, restaurant and bar property since 1998. (They also happen to be friends of ours so this is my “disclaimer” that I may be a little biased in my review.)

The interior has a new look which seems even more warm, welcoming and fun than the previous space. (Get a sneak peek in their Facebook page photo album.) In true Ann and Lance fashion they added a comfy outdoor patio complete with large tables and cushioned chairs, which I’m sure will graciously partake in many late-night summer parties.

So here’s the scoop (and my thoughts) on the menu items that guests enjoyed at the VIP party. (All items are listed on the Ground Round dinner menu or the dessert menu.)

• Cajun Chicken Penne Florentine: I’m a sucker for creamy, white-sauce pasta with spicy chicken so this dish was one of my favorite. The chicken is excellent.
• Jambalaya: The first dish on my plate was jambalaya and I almost passed it up – I’ve never tried jambalaya and had no desire to. I am glad I did though, as it was my favorite main dish! It has an amazing smokey Cajun flavor that will definitely entice me to order this meal again.
• BBQ Ribs and Coleslaw: The ribs have a nice, rich BBQ flavor and the coleslaw is cool and creamy. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m not much of a meat-on-a-bone kind of person but I took a stab at eating one and it was worth it. Ok, with a knife and fork instead of my fingers, but do you REALLY need to lick the bone to enjoy the flavor?
• Grilled Chicken and Spinach Salad: The roasted red peppers were fantastic! If you like spinach, bacon, and raspberry balsamic vinaigrette dressing, you’ll love this salad. I am more of a Caesar or garlic onion dressing kind of girl so I’ll be ordering the Buffalo Chicken Salad or the Chicken Club Salad next time.
• Mozzarella Cheese Sticks: Crunchy on the outside, hot and cheesy on the inside – who doesn’t love a mozz stick dipped in marinara sauce?
• Asian Zing Boneless Chicken Wings: Grab your ice-cold beer – these are gonna burn but you’re gonna love it. Yum.
• Buffalo Boneless Chicken Wings: Nice and spicy - we tried a few different flavors of the boneless wings and they are all excellent. The best part is that the chicken is a high-quality, white chicken that is real chicken, not processed meat.
• Choc’late Lovin’ Spoon Cake™: The dessert menu is almost always the first thing I look at on a menu. This one will not disappoint. Don’t let the menu description fool you on this cake – it’s not so much traditional “pudding” layers – it seems more like decadent layers of chocolate ganache. And although it’s called spoon cake, you’ll want to eat a large piece with a small shovel. I. Want. More.
• Rockslide Brownie: Do yourself a favor and leave room for this at the end of your meal. Or eat it first. You’ll thank me.

This is the only restaurant that I’ve seen BOTH of my kids’ favorites not only on one menu, but in one dish! Check out the Hound Dog Mac N Cheese. It’s even from the blue box. Once our kids see this menu, they won’t want to eat anywhere else.

Gluten free? They made a menu just for you.

Not driving? They made a menu just for you. (and me)

The VIP  party is over and the kitchen will soon be is now open to the public. There are many items to choose from and plenty of time for return visits so I’m making a list. The first thing I’m ordering from the lunch menu is the Turkey Pretzel Sandwich (shaved turkey, applewood smoked bacon, Swiss cheese, lettuce, mayo, tomato, and honey mustard on a grilled pretzel roll). And for dinner, I’m going Tex Mex with Chimichangas.

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What’s on your first-visit menu list?

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