Dark Chocolate Chip and Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches

Jeremiah recently attended an event that required a "manly dessert". He came up with a few ideas, but I thought this one sounded the yummiest. What're more manly than coffee and eating with your hands?

This beloved childhood dessert is spruced up with the high quality store bought coffee ice cream and dark chocolate. The crunch of the hardened drizzled chocolate compliments the softness of the cookies and the creaminess of the ice cream very well. 

Enjoy!


2 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup packed Light Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Butter, softened
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips
15 oz Dark Chocolate
Coffee Ice Cream

Preheat oven to 350 and set out ice cream to soft. 

In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. On low speed, add the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and beat until well mixed. Add flour mix in intervals and mix until just combine. Fold in 2 cups dark chocolate chips. 

Separate dough into ping pong sized balls, and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and soft in the center. Remove from oven and place on rack to cool. 

Once cookies are cool, scoop preferred amount of softened ice cream (we used about 1/3 cup for thick sandwiches) onto one side of a cookie. Smear evenly to the edges and top with the another cookie. Smooth the sides with a spatula and place in the freezer on a cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. 

While cookies are cooling.  Prepare a double boiler by filling a pot with a couple of inches of water and placing a glass bowl that fits tightly over it. Make sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Pour the last cup of dark chocolate chips into the bowl Bring water to a boil, and stir chocolate constantly. Once melted, remove from heat. 
Once

Chocolate chip cookie recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.

Portabella, Olive, and Sun Dried Tomato Red Sauce with Homemade Fetuccine

Saturday night, we decided to stay in for a dinner and movie date. We both love to cook, so when someone mentions having spagetti for dinner, it does not mean jarred red sauce and dried noodles in a box. Not that you cant get great pre-made sauce and pasta, but its not quite the same. The first time you experience homemade pasta, you will never want anything else. 

Pasta is a lot easier to make than most perceive it to be if you have a stand alone pasta roller or the pasta maker attachment for your stand mixer. Start to finish, you can have it done in half an hour. Give it a little more time, perhaps on the weekend, and you can make extra, hang it to dry, and have some for later. When cooking dried pasta, add about 5 minutes, but make sure to check them along the way. 

Just as you can make the pasta ahead, the red sauce can be made and frozen for up to 6 months. This can be packed in individual servings and heated for lunches or single dinners.  Creating your own past sauce is not only delicious, but much better for you because it does not require preservatives. 

Red Sauce
Makes 4 1/2 cups

1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 lg Yellow Onion, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup Carrot, finely grated
1 heaping tbs Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
2 (28oz) cans Peeled Whole Tomatoes, crushed by hands and juices reserved
1 cup Tomato Puree
16 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 cup halved Kalamata Olives
Kosher Salt
Fresh Parmesan, shaved

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, saute until golden and soft, approximately 8-10 minutes. Add carrots and spices, cook 5 minutes more. 

Add crushed tomatoes with juice and next three ingredients.Bring to a boil, stiring often. Lower heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Sauce will be thick. 

Add olives and season with salt to tastes. Serve over Homemade Fetuccine and top  with fresh basil and shaved parmesan. 

Adapted from Food Network

Handmade Fetuccine
Makes 5-6 servings

1 cup Flour
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Water
Pasta Maker


Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the egg. Stir to combine. Use your hands to create a firm dough. If the dough is too dry and will not come together, gradually add water until solid dough forms. Spilt dough into 4 equal part. 

Flatten out one quarter of the dough a little bit. Set the pasta maker on the largest setting of the sheeter. Run the dough through it 2-3 times folding it in half each time. Set pasta maker to second largest setting, repeat. Do this until you have ran it through the thinnest setting and the dough is smooth. Replace sheeter with pasta cutter attachment. Run dough through the spagetti or fetuccine cutter once. You may need some help from someone else to handle all of the dough. Repeat process with 3 other quarters of dough.

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add generous amount of salt and couple of teaspoons of olive oil to prevent sticking. Add pasta and cook for 3-4mins or until al dente. 

Remove from heat and strain. Plate with red sauce and shaved parmesan cheese.

Chickpea "Tuna" Salad

Most days, I have one hour to drive home, make and eat lunch, walk my dog (Spike), and drive back to class. That walk is very important to me, so I try to prepare something the night before, but that doesn't always happen. This recipe comes together in under 10 minutes, and it leaves you feeling full without being weighed down. 

I used to eat quite a bit of tuna salad, but that stopped once I decided to become a vegetarian.  There are many reasons I stopped eating fish, unethical fishing practices and mercury levels among them. Unfortunately, I also really like fish. To my pleasant surprise, this recipe tastes like tuna instead of like hummus, which was my first thought. Some recipes call for specific vinegars that add more of a seafood flavor. Originally, I was not going for a faux tuna salad, so I used red wine vinegar. It is still every bit as delicious. I replaced the traditional ingredient celery with diced red bell peppers to give it a bit of sweet crunch. It could always be added back in, but I am not a fan of raw celery. With or without, it's worth 10 minutes of my lunch! 

Next time, I will try this as an open face sandwich with melty swiss cheese. Yum. 


Adapted from thekitchn.com

1 (15 oz) can Garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup Light Mayo
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Red Bell Pepper, small dice
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
Dash of Cracked Black Pepper
Dash of Crushed Red Pepper (optional)
Lemon Wedge to garnish

In a large bowl, mash garbanzo beans with a fork or a potato masher until they are still slightly chunky. A potato masher will probably be easier. Also, you can pulse them in a food processor.

Add mayo, mustard, and the rest of the ingredients. Stir until evenly combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with whole wheat pita.