Grilled Cobb Salad and Crack

So, the other night my husband comes home from work with something cradled under his arm.  I couldn't quite see it because his jacket was draped over the mystery container.  He removed his jacket and there it was...CRACK!!  I said to him, "Are you kidding me!!!  Why did you bring crack into this house??!!"

It's been a couple of years since I walked into a Trader Joe's...for a very good reason.  I cannot resist their Crispy Crunch (Crack) Chocolate Chip Cookies or any of their other naughty delicacies.  I have no doubt that I could put away every single one of those cookies in one sitting, sprawled out on the couch with my favorite throw blanket, while watching Eat Pray Love, my latest movie addiction..and I'm not exaggerating here!  I told my husband he better hide them from me, or it's going to be ugly!

I'll just leave it at that....

This salad is the perfect meal if you have also been guilty in overindulging.  This is your go-to salad when you are needing to use up some "here and there" items in the refrigerator.  The traditional Cobb Salad is made with blue cheese salad dressing, but I really like a creamy Italian dressing, which (my "fancy" version) is no more than equal parts prepared Newman's Own Family Recipe Italian salad dressing and Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing, whisked together...fancy, right?!

Grilled Cobb Salad
Makes 4 Dinner Size Servings

1 head romaine lettuce, washed, and chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled and diced
6 slices Applewood smoked bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
1/2 cup prepared Italian salad dressing
1/2 cup prepared ranch salad dressing
Asiago croutons

Combine the first seven salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Toss with the two salad dressings.  Plate the dressed salad on four dinner plates and finish with the Asiago croutons.

If you are still hungry after this amazing salad, you can have Chocolate Chip Crack for dessert too. Enjoy!

One Year Ago: Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Two Years Ago: Pork Wellington

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie and the Lodge Room

Ever since we returned back from our Oregon trip to Sunriver, I had been itching to re-do our guest room.  I was so influenced by the breathtaking lodges there, the textures and vibrant, yet soothing colors, I really wanted to bring a little of that back to Colorado.

My starting inspirations!

I took everything that was previously in our Guest Room and revamped our Master Bedroom...this ended up turning into a double bedroom makeover.

The new lodge Guest Room has ended up being more of "Country Americana" feel, with a few barn, lodge and sunflower accents.  The jean comforter was made for us in Minnesota.  We originally found them at a darling country fair there, made by a husband and wife team.  The crochet blanket was made by my Grandma and the bedspread and shams are from the Lady Antebellum collection.

I was able to keep our accent throw pillows and just recovered them with new overlay zip pillow covers from Hobby Lobby, on sale of course.  I also had our American Flag pillow from 4th of July and scored the red and blue paisley pillows on clearance at Target.  

We found these wonderful signs at our new store At Home.  Thank goodness it is a 45 minute drive for me to get there, because that place is very dangerous for any home accent shopping addiction.

I finished off our lodge room for our guests with a "Made In Colorado" basket.  Everything for our guests to enjoy during their stay comes from Colorado.

Of course, nothing says American like Chocolate Chip Cookies and this take on a pie is unbelievable. I could not stay out of it...brought back sweet memories of dunking cookies in milk for an after school treat.  Delicious!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

1 (13 ounce) package Chips Ahoy Original Chocolate Chip Cookies) - the crunchy ones

1 (9 ounce) ready made graham cracker pie crust

1 cup milk

1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip

Place milk in a measuring cup.  Dunk 8 cookies, one at a time in the milk.

Dunk each cookie quickly before it gets too soft and starts to crumble.

Place in a single layer in the bottom of the graham cracker crust.

Spread 1/3 of the Cool Whip evenly over the cookies.

Dip 10 to 11 cookies, one at a time, in the mile and place in a single layer

over the Cool Whip layer.  Spread Cool Whip evenly over the cookies.

Repeat to create one more layer of cookies and one more layer of the Cool Whip.

Cover and chill for at least 8 hours before serving.

Enjoy and Sweet Dreams!!

One Year Ago:  German Chocolate Bundt Cake
Two Years Ago: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Mayan Chocolate Cookies...and Memorial Model

Yes, once again it is school finals time in our household.  To sum it up, this means late nights, glue gun burning fingers and attention to the finest details.  I am happy to report that the girls have worked on their time management skills and not started projects the night before they were due.  Hallelujah!

One daughter for her History class, needed to create a memorial that represents World War II and the people of The Great Depression.  All semester, they have been reading "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw.

Once she decided on her memorial, she then had to make a model of it and decide where in the country it would be located and why.

She decided on Arlington National Cemetery for the location and did such a beautiful job depicting the most serene memorial site, complete with pillars engraved with the names from the book.

The other daughter for her Spanish class had to make a dish representing Guatemala and serve it to her class.  Thank goodness she chose a travel friendly dish that didn't require much for presentation.

These cookies were unbelievable!!  My husband, who is not a dessert guy, could not stay out of them. If you are attending a Cinco de Mayo event next week, these would be perfect to bring along. Coincidentally, while we were making them "Chocolate" the movie with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp was on...love that movie!  Great chick flick and there are several references to the Mayans and their spicy chocolate.

When you first bite into these, they taste like a normal chocolaty, chocolate chip cookie - then all of the sudden you feel that kick in the back of your throat.  Then, you can't stop eating them!!!

Mayan Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar (plus 3/4 cup for rolling)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened Cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl with electric mixer, cream butter, 1 cup sugar and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy.

Add eggs and mix well.

Add cayenne, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Blend well.

Add flour and blend.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Spoon out chilled dough with tablespoon or melon ball scooper and roll dough in hand to make a ball. Roll ball into remaining 3/4 cup sugar.

Drop onto a lightly greased (or parchment paper lined) cookie sheet.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes.

**Keep a tall glass of cold milk handy!!

One Year Ago: Taco (Bowl) Salad

Green Eggs and Ham - "Angus The Ham"

We take the boys to their spa for a shampoo, rinse and blow dry every 2 weeks at our favorite self-serve dog spa, Paws 2 Groom.

They have the best set up there for a DIY dog treatment area.  All the shampoo, combing/brushing accessories and dryers at your fingertips.  Spa day is by far Angus' favorite day every month.  He loves all the warm bath water and personal attention he gets for that hour.

There's King Arthur...and then there's "King Angus".

When blow dry comes, he gets up on his "throne", crosses his feet and gets this look on his face that says, "Serve me now, you peasant".  He loves to ham it up and work the room like he is actual royalty.  He walks out of there thinking he is pretty special and struts his newly clean coat.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day and my dog "The Ham", I couldn't resist by making Green Eggs and Ham (bacon in this case - that counts doesn't it??) for the first time in my life.

Heather and Matt came over for the festive dinner and I made this version of deviled eggs for our appetizer. Nothing difficult, just added green flood coloring to the deviled egg mix and topped it with a small piece of crisp bacon.  My husband and kids looked at the creation, looked at me and shook their head.  I blamed it on the blog...said I needed something fun to post.  They ate it and loved them!

We also had fun with making the secret recipe for a Shamrock Shake - delish!!!  My daugher perfectly got the taste of the original shake.

Since we didn't have enough green going around I also made a batch of cookies for the girls this week, green mini M&M's and mini chocolate chips.