The Park Steakhouse - Park Ridge, NJ

Hi all! My husband and I just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary (can’t believe it!) We wanted to find a local restaurant that wasn’t a chain. We live near a bunch of malls, and most of them contain chain restaurants. After some searching and reading great reviews, we decided on The Park Steakhouse. It was a bit of a drive from us – maybe 30 minutes – but was well worth it once we got there!

The restaurant is described as an “old-fashioned chophouse with a refined feel turning out dry-aged meat, seafood dishes and drinks.” We went on a Friday night, and thankfully we made a reservation – almost every seat was filled by the end of our meal! The place is on the smaller side which makes it nice and intimate. I believe there is also a room downstairs to have bigger parties of people.

Now onto the food. It was great! I had the lamb special and my husband had the suckling pig. Both were delicious. We also ordered a side of the Famous Lumpy mashed potatoes – loved them. Mashed is my favorite, and I love a good hearty thick mashed. We both ordered specialty drinks to start and got a glass of wine with dinner. We got a few scoops of sorbet as dessert (we were honestly stuffed) and a Sambuca. We were really impressed with how tasty the food was, and loved the atmosphere. Great place to talk, have a few drinks and eat some good food. Will definitely come back with our parents for a birthday or another special occasion!

Pepperoni Pizza Dip - Guy Fieri Recipe

Football season is back! What better way to celebrate than make fun football food? This pepperoni pizza dip will definitely satisfy your craving for pizza and a nice crunch. 

Look at all that cheesy goodness!

Major yum!

We used Guy Fieri's recipe with a few slight tweaks. We didn't add the mushrooms or the shallots. Once you prep everything, pop it in the oven for onl 20 minutes for the most satisfying game day dip! Original recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/pepperoni-pizza-dip-recipe.html

Homemade Gnocchi

Hi friends! My husband and I just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary - woohoo! We did a ton of fun things together to celebrate, one being making homemade gnocchi. We used Michael Chiarello's Potato Gnocchi recipe (click here for that).

We love to cook together, and had some time on our hands and figured - why not make gnocchi?! We both agreed that it was well worth the prep and the wait - they came out awesome! They could have been a touch lighter, but not bad for our first time.

I wish I documented the steps better, but I had to concentrate since it was our first time making it HA! Here's one prep photo I took - this was when you had to make a mound out of the riced potatoes, and dig a little well in the middle for the ingredients. After combining everything together, we cut the mount into 4 parts, rolled them out into a rope, and cut into 1/2 inch little pillows as seen above!

Heavenly! These photos are before they were cooked, of course. We made a delicious alfredo sauce to top it off with. It doesn't photograph well (the sauce) so the finished product just went straight to our mouths HAHA. Hope you guys enjoyed!

Cheese Souffle

Hi friends! This was our first attempt at making a cheese souffle. The recipe is from America's Test Kitchen. I've never had souffle before, but after having this one I think I need more of it in my life. The flavor, texture, smell, everything was wonderful. Here's how we got there, with some photos along the way. 

1. Grease pan with vegetable oil or Pam. Use 2 tablespoons Parmesan to dust the dish (2 court size Corningware).

2. Melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium heat.

3. Whisk together dry ingredients: 4 tablespoons flour, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 salt, 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/8 white pepper, pinch of nutmeg. Add dry mixture and whisk for about a minute until raw flour taste is gone. Add 1 1/3 cup whole milk slowly while whisking. Simmer for about a minute.

4. Remove from heat. Add to mixture 6oz Gruyere cheese, 6 tablespoon Parmesan. Whisk until lumps are gone, cheese is melted. Smooth mixture, cool for 10 minutes.

5. Separate 6 eggs. Add only yolks into cheese mixture with 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley. Whisk together.

6. In KitchenAid mixer: Add egg whites only and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar into mixer. Medium to low speed with whisk attachment for about one minute until foamy. Then mix on medium high speed until stiff peaks are achieved, 3-4 minutes.

7. Add cheese mixture into peaks, mix for about 15 seconds.

8. Pour into souffle dish, add until about an inch from rim. Add another tablespoon of parmesan on top.

9. Bake on 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.170 degrees internal temperature or take 2 spoons and crack through the top - still moist but not soupy. 5 minutes until it deflates. Add parsley on the top.

Happy baking!

Cheeseboy is my Homie

Behold – the most beautiful sight for sore eyes after a long road trip. What is this, you ask? WELL – let me break it down for you.

We were driving back from a beautiful, scenic, alcohol-fueled weekend in Rhode Island and needed gas along the way. We stopped at a rest stop in Connecticut (Darien to be exact) and went on the hunt for something amazingly unhealthy to eat. And boy did we find it! Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have an unhealthy obsession with everything CHEESE related. I would rather have a plate of cheese than a piece of cake or dessert. So imagine my sheer delight when I stumbled upon Cheeseboy at the rest stop. We don’t have any in NJ, so I was eager to indulge. What you are looking at is Cheeseboy’s MAC N Melt, which is described on their menu as the following:

Mac ‘N Melt All-natural mac and cheese (made with local aged cheddar, Monterey Jack, cream, and spices), hickory bacon, and local aged cheddar on artisan white

Now – if this doesn’t sound good to you, I don’t think we will be close friends in the future. For those still interested and sane, let me tell you something. This sandwich wasn’t just good. It was REALLY freakin good. We aren’t talking passable rest stop food – it could easily have been served at a restaurant for lunch and I still would have ordered it. The gourmet type mac and cheese was delicious. The bread was toasted to perfection and I don’t need to explain how bacon makes everything better, do I?

I am so very sad that Cheeseboy doesn’t have locations in the Jersey area, however I guess I should count my lucky stars because I would be tempted to get this sandwich OFTEN. Cheeseboy has many other options as well – salads, buffalo chicken wraps, veggie melts and so forth. Count me a big fan.

Fresh Lemon Bars

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Hi friends! I got this amazing lemon bar recipe from Food Network - they are phenomenal. This is the second time I've made them and they were a huge hit. This recipe makes about 24 bars (depending on how big or small you want them) and they are almost all gone after a BBQ or party.

People have told me that they really like these, because often times people make or bring chocolate themed desserts to summer parties. This tart, citrus treat is a stark contrast to a heavy chocolate say, cake, and they find them refreshing and summery. Who am I to judge? Give the people what they want damn it! I also like the fresh crust  mixed with the tartness of the lemon - perfection.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

For the Crust:
Vegetable oil, for greasing
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, diced
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Filling:
4 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 8 lemons)


1. Make the crust: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with vegetable oil and line with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides; grease the foil with oil. Pulse the butter, flour, both sugars and the salt in a food processor until the dough comes together, about 1 minute. Press evenly into the bottom and about 1/2 inch up the sides of the prepared pan, making sure there are no cracks. Bake until the crust is golden, about 25 minutes.


2. Meanwhile, make the filling: Whisk the whole eggs and yolks, sugar and flour in a bowl until smooth. Whisk in the lemon zest and juice. Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the temperature to 300 degrees F. Pour the filling over the warm crust and return to the oven. Bake until the filling is just set, 30 to 35 minutes.

3. Let the bars cool in the pan on a rack, then refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. Lift out of the pan using the foil and slice. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.


And you're done! I've done this recipe both ways - made them the morning of a party and the night before. I think they set better with more time in the refrigerator, but didn't see a huge difference in texture when I made them the morning of. I'm a big believer in prepping ahead of time, and these will be just as good (if not a little better) if you make them the night before.

Both times I thought of halving the recipe, but I'm really glad I didn't - people wanted to take the extras home because they loved them so much! That's a success in my book. This recipe wasn't difficult to make either. The only part that I hated was squeezing EIGHT lemons to get the cup of lemon juice - what a job! Once I tasted the bars it was worth it though.

Here's the original post from Food Network:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/classic-lemon-bars-recipe.html

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend - back to the grind! 

These Mini Cupcakes Look Like Ice Cream Sundaes!

Hi friends! My coworker and I made these for our boss's birthday, and they were of course a big hit! The three of us are all bakers (strange but true) so we wanted to knock these out of the park and make something really cute and fun.

They are mini funfetti cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting (not ice cream!), hardened chocolate, sprinkles and a cherry on top! These little things were a huge hit and were probably on everyone's Snapchat and Instagram feed by the end of the party. There's also something so awesome about making your own funfetti cake vs. buying the pre-made mix - it's so much better and super easy! You can also control how colorful you want your batch to be by simply adding more sprinkles.

As many bakers do, we did have a few challenges along the way though:

• The recipe makes regular sized cupcakes - we made minis. We cut all ingredients in half, and had to watch the bake time so we didn't burn them. I find myself making minis most of the time - especially if other dessert is present, it's unlikely that people will eat a whole, regular-sized cupcake.

• Getting the cherries to stay on the top was hard, guys! Since the melted chocolate hardens into a shell, it's a little tough to balance the cherry on top and have it stay there. We made the cupcakes and iced them the night before, then put the on the cherries right before serving. I don't think they would have survived the commute!

•  This isn't exactly a challenge per se, but this is usually a lot more icing than I would have normally put. Since it's supposed to look like an ice cream scoop, there is a lot of icing on that tiny cupcake! Could be too much icing for some people.

Other than that, i'm so glad we went with making these. For original recipe, click here.

Thanks for reading!