over-indulged

Pretty sure I was chained to the kitchen stove this weekend (where I should be, right Nic?!)! I whipped up some pretty delicious food, along with a REALLY delicious baked item that I definitely over indulged in. I now remember why I decided to give up baking - I have ZERO self control when it comes to eating this stuff!

Here's what I cooked:

Tzatziki sauce - my own recipe. I could live on this and wheat thins the rest of my life. It.is.that.good.


Tabbouleh - when life hands you a huge beautiful bunch of parsley you have to make this! I've never made this before and wasn't sure if I would be able to find bulgur in small town Iowa. But Hy-Vee came to my rescue (and the awesome new manager who orders sweet items to stock the shelves with!) This is always on my list of things to pick up when we come across a Trader Joe's.  This recipe that I used wasn't as great as TJ's but I am sure I can tweak it in the future.

Normally I eat tabbouleh with a pita or wheat things, but found out that it is traditionally eaten with romaine lettuce hearts. As our fridge is already busting at the seams with greens, Nic and I improvised and rolled up the tabbouleh in some other kind of lettuce.

Slow cooker lemon chicken - Somewhere at Mom's is a great recipe for roasted lemon chicken with croutons. I improvised yesterday and came up with a great slow-cooker version.

In the slow cooker:

• 2 chicken breasts
• about 1/2 cup to 1 cup white wine
• 1 slice lemon
• about 1/2 sliced red onion
• lots of pepper
• crumbled chicken bouillon cube

I cooked this on low for about 6 hours, which was way too long, but it still turned out very good. Served it up with a side of rice (cooked with the remaining slow-cooker juice and enough water to cook the rice).

And my over indulgence....

Nic MADE me make this date pudding that he ate a few months ago while visiting an ex-Amish family for a traditional Amish meal.  It is basically a date cake crumbled into a bowl and topped with a date sauce. Holy yum. We both ate a HUGE bowl of it after dinner. No matter how many times I told myself it was okay to eat whatever since I did run 10 miles that morning, I felt terrible after eating as much as I did!  I told Nic to get it out of the house before I came home from work today - I cannot be trusted with the date cake!

Date Pudding:

For the cake:

• 1 1/2 cups chopped dates
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1t soda
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup sugar (?) half brown/half white
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 t salt
• 1t vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1t baking powder

Combine the dates, butter, soda and boiling water. Set aside
Combine the egg, salt, vanilla and sugar (I used 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 cup white - the amount of sugar was not included in the original recipe, so I just guessed)
Add sugar mixture to date mixture. Then add flour and baking powder. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (9x13 pan)

For the sauce:

• 1 cup dates
• 1 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1T butter
• 1/8 t salt
• 1 cup nuts

Cook sauce until thickened, adding nuts when you remove from heat.
Break the cake into pieces, and layer in a bowl with sauce. Top with homemade whipped cream.
YUM
The homemade whipped cream is what really set me over the edge!