Gianfranco's Pizza

This is going to be a pretty short post because I have only gotten food from Gianfranco's once, but it is definitely worth discussing.  We moved out to Westchester a few years ago, but I live in the city now so the time I spend out at my house is rather scarce.  When I do go out there, I usually either eat at my house or we go out to our usual few restaurants.  But, this past weekend was different because I got to spend a few days at my house and had just had a minor surgery, so instead of being extra careful with what I ate I gave in to temptation.

I speak to my mom multiple times a day, and usually at least once a week I catch her while she is picking up food from Gianfranco's, a pizza place in Bedford Hills.  I had never been, but she goes a lot to pick up some of their pastas and main dishes to keep in the fridge, since it always tends to be a crowd pleaser in the house.  While I was out at the house this week, I decided that I would pick up lunch from there one day and finally get to eat their famous wrap, the Boss Wrap.

This wrap creation seems so genius, that you would think every pizza place offers if.  But no, I have never heard of such a wonderful creation until Gianfranco's.  Inside the wrap is just three ingredients: penne alla vodka, mozzarella cheese, and chicken cutlet.  You really can't go wrong with that combination, and it is even more delicious than it sounds.  It is a pretty hefty wrap so I ate half for lunch and then re-heated the other half for dinner, but it was well worth it.  The penne alla vodka was amazing, the chicken cutlet was great, and the cheese was nice and melty.  While it may seem odd at first to have pasta in a wrap, put your skepticism aside and try the Boss Wrap-- you won't be disappointed!

Telepan

Tonight was part two of our restaurant week escapades, and our stop was Telepan, a farm to table inspired restaurant on the Upper West Side.  We always try to go to at least one new place, and my sister chose this as our new place since she had read great things about it.  For some reason I thought it was an italian restaurant at first, but it is American inspired and focused on fresh ingredients.

They really embraced the whole spirit of restaurant week here, and offered pretty much all of their menu options.  For the three courses, you have the option of choosing three savory courses or two savory courses and a dessert, but everyone at the table has to agree on which option to choose.  So, if you are going with a bigger party it may be a bit difficult for everyone to agree, but since it was just my sister we easily settled on the dessert option.  For the appetizer, I chose the seasonal salad and my sister chose the smoked trout appetizer, which was a $3 supplement but it is one of their most popular dishes.

The salad was really light and fresh, and had a very interesting combination of flavors.  It looks like a simple salad upon first glance, but there was a very unique blend of lettuces, spices, and vegetables with a light coating of lemon dressing.  I definitely tasted some licorice which I was not expecting, and there was some corn and radishes as well.  There were a few more things that I was unable to identify, but it was all delicious.  My sister really enjoyed her smoked trout appetizer, and said that it got even better after a few bites.  I should also mention that before the appetizers came, the waiter came over with a large bread basket and you were able to choose from 4 different types of bread.  I chose one that had a lot of seeds on it, and it was good but I only ate half to save room.  The waiter also brought an amuse bouche to the table, which was four little cheese puffs.  This was a nice little touch, and was a really great way to start the meal.

For the main course, I got the roast chicken (which is my standard dish of choice in most restaurants), and it came with some egg pasta and roasted mushrooms.  My sister had a harder time choosing what to order because there were a few things she wanted, but she ultimately settled on the burrata mezzaluna with veal meatballs.

The chicken was really delicious, and was cooked perfectly.  It was served over a nice sauce with egg pasta, mushrooms, some spinach, and something that was crunchy (but I couldn't figure out what it was).  The portion size was perfect and all of the components of the dish worked great together.  The burrata mezzaluna was also great.  The mezzaluna were pretty thin so they weren't overly stuffed, but the cheese on the inside was still super creamy and came oozing out when you cut into it.  I didn't try any of the meatballs because I don't eat veal, but my sister said they were really good (which is evidenced in the fact that the plate was cleared). 

Both of my courses felt light and fresh, so I was definitely ready for the dessert course!  For me, the choice was a no brainer and I ordered the S'more.  I used to go to sleepaway camp over the summer, so having s'mores was always a summer staple for me.  When I saw it on the menu, I got really excited because it felt like a much more decadent way to enjoy the classic treat.  

The presentation of this was spot on, and the taste definitely lived up to the hype.  This dish had every component of a s'more that makes it so good, but it was elevated to an even higher level.  The bottom was a dark chocolate brownie, then a layer of fluffy marshmallow with crushed graham cracker around the border, then graham cracker chocolate chip ice cream, and finally a dark chocolate square to top if off.  The plate was also surrounded with dollops of toasted marshmallow and dark chocolate ganache, which not only made it look prettier but it made it taste better.  Every aspect of the dessert was perfect, and it was just what I had been craving.  The brownie was really chocolatey and rich, the marshmallow was super sweet and fluffy, and the ice cream actually tasted like graham crackers!  I finished this whole thing up, and did not look back for a second!  My sister got the cheesecake sundae as her dessert, and while it was good it did not live up to her expectations.  It was basically a parfait of cheesecake ice cream and blueberry sorbet with crushed graham crackers on the bottom, which she said was fine except for the fact that she was expecting actual cheesecake and felt a little duped. 

As opposed to our last restaurant week experience, we left feeling satisfied with the food and the service.  The servers at Telepan were much more friendly and attentive, and all of our courses came out pretty quickly.  Even though it was really crowded, they did not seem overwhelmed by it and I still felt like they paid personal attention to each table.  When they brought the check, they also gave us two little coconut macaroons.  I waited to eat mine since I was stuffed, but this really reinforced their attention to detail and focus on good service.  This was a great restaurant week experience, and even though I am usually weary of trying new places, this one passed the test!

TBar Steak & Lounge

Tonight, my sister and I got the nice treat of going out to dinner with our Grandparents.  There are one or two restaurants that are on our usual list of places that we go to, but my sister decided to suggest TBar to change things up a bit for tonight.  TBar is a great American restaurant/lounge on the Upper East Side that we used to go to a lot, but I hadn't been there in a while.

Since I have last gone, the menu has changed a bit but the main staples have remained the same.  I used to always get the caesar salad which was great, but that has since been removed from the menu.  Instead, they added a bunch of new salads that sound really interesting, like the Kale & Apple Salad and the Watermelon & Feta Salad.  These all sounded great, but to start I decided on the Vegetable Summer Rolls, which come with some carrots, mushrooms, lettuce and soba noodles inside a very thin rice paper wrap with some hoisin sauce on the side.

These rolls were really delicious and light, so it was a great way to start the meal.  The wrapper is very thin so it does not overwhelm the taste of the vegetables and noodles on the inside, and the hoisin sauce added nice flavor.  My grandma got these to start too and she really liked them as well.  My grandpa got the tomato and burrata salad which looked delicious, and my sister got the half dozen oysters which she really enjoyed.  

The options for the main course range from chicken, steak, and pasta, to fish, burgers, and pizza, so there really is something for everyone. Even with the diverse menu offerings, I always get the same thing here:  The Natural Amish Turkey Burger.  It is a turkey burger that is filled with spinach and cheese (in the center!) and is topped with caramelized onions, and it never disappoints.  On the side you can either get a salad or fries, but to me it seems like a waste to get a salad.  If you are going for it and get the burger, you might as well complete the meal and get the fries.

First off, I love the presentation of the dish.  The fries come in a cool take-out container, and the burger is stacked nice and tall.  I always cut the burger in half because I like to see what the center looks like, and it is too big for me to eat the whole thing.  Inside, there is a very generous amount of spinach and some cheese to add some creaminess to it.  The whole combination of the turkey with the spinach, cheese, caramelized onion, and ketchup is spot on and makes it such a treat.  The fries are also really great and have the perfect balance of saltiness and crispiness.  We also got a side of roasted carrots for the table, and while it may seem like carrots are just a distraction, they were roasted perfectly and had tons of flavor.

After the main course we were all really full, but made the mistake of looking at the dessert menu and obviously had to order something.  Their parfaits and sundaes are what they are most known for here, and I have previously tried each one of their offerings.  They have the strawberry sundae, which is layers of strawberries, meringue, cream, and shortcake in a huge bowl, the chocolate sundae, which is layers of brownie, chocolate sauce, and ice cream in a huge bowl, and the banana parfait, which is layers of waffle cone, vanilla ice cream, caramel, coconut, and caramelized bananas.  They all are huge servings, and can easily be shared with at least three other people.  While I am a true chocolate lover at heart and love brownie sundaes, the banana sundae was the one we settled on for tonight.  They actually offered a smaller version, which we got for the table instead of the larger one which they say serves 2-3 people, but in reality the smaller one serves 2-3 and the large one can serve probably 4 or 5.

This dessert was so sweet and delicious that my sister and I somehow managed to finish it even though we could not breathe because we were so full.  The best part was the caramelized banana layer on top, but it was extra good when combined with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  This was a perfect way to end the meal, and highly recommended for anyone who loves banana and caramel.  

While we had taken a hiatus from TBar for the past few months, I think it has officially been put back on the rotation. All of the appetizers, main courses, sides, and desserts were delicious, and even the bread basket was great (it came with olive bread, which, as I previously established, automatically gives a restaurant 5 stars in my book).  Our evening was filled with great company and great food, and you can't really ask for much more than that!

  

Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop

Ben and Jerry's is my absolute favorite brand of Ice Cream because they have such interesting and creative flavors, and they are all delicious.  While you can easily find the ice cream in every super market, it is so much better coming from one of their scoop shops.

I had minor surgery done yesterday morning, and knew that a trip to Ben and Jerry's was going to be my treat.  It seems counter-intuitive that you always end up eating worse when you are sick/have surgery, since you can't exercise and all you really do is lay down and sleep all day, but I went along with it and gave in to the ice cream temptation.

There aren't many scoop shop locations around, but luckily for me there is one in Mt. Kisco, which is only a 10 minute drive from my house out there.  I spent all day in anticipation of the ice cream, and ultimately decided that while I was going for it, I may as well go big.  So, I decided to get the Hot Fudge Sundae.

Unbeknownst to me, the sundae is a monster!  When I asked the worker there what was in the sundae, she said you pick two flavors of ice cream, either hot fudge or caramel, and two toppings.  For some reason I assumed that it would be served in the same cup that the small ice cream would be served in, since that also comes with two flavors, but boy was I wrong.  I looked away for a few seconds as she started to prepare the sundae, and it was too late to turn back.  All of a sudden, I saw in front of me what looked like a pint of ice cream.  It was smaller than a pint, but honestly not by much.

Since I am a chocolate lover, I obviously chose everything to be chocolate.  My two flavors of ice cream were Chocolate Therapy (dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and swirls of chocolate pudding--my favorite flavor here) and New York Super Fudge Chunk (chocolate ice cream with white and dark fudge chunks, pecans, walnuts, and fudge covered almonds).  On the bottom and coating the entire inside of the cup was the delicious hot fudge, and I chose reeses pieces and sno caps as my two toppings.  

This sundae was heaven for a chocolate lover.  The ice cream flavors were amazing, and the hot fudge sauce put it over the top.  I loved the toppings too, but I could've easily done without them, and ended up taking most of them off.  This is definitely something that I recommend only getting on a special occasion, since it probably contains a days worth of calories in the whole thing.  And, while it may look  a little daunting at first, I was surprisingly able to charge my way through and somehow ate it all.  Of course, afterwards I couldn't contract my stomach for hours and woke up the next morning still feeling full, but it was so worth it.

Amy's Spinach Pizza Pocket

Since I tend to go out to dinner and cook more over the summer, I eat my frozen meals less often.  Therefore, my freezer has been stuffed with various frozen meals, so I figured it was best to finally eat one of them.  I settled on the Amy's Spinach Pizza Pocket for tonight because I haven't had it in a while and have been craving pizza.

This is one of my favorite Amy's meals because it doesn't sacrifice flavor in order to be healthier.  The pocket itself has a pretty thick dough around it, which is my favorite part.  That is not to say, however, that the filling isn't great because it is.  It has the perfect ratio of spinach to sauce and cheese so that you can really taste each ingredient.  You can either heat it in the microwave or toaster oven, but I would highly recommend the toaster.  Even though it takes 25-30 minutes, it is worth it because the dough gets a nice crunch to it and the inside gets warm and melty.  I made the mistake of trying to eat it right away when I first made this, but after that first experience I learned that it is best to let it sit for a few minutes.  If you don't, the filling will fall to the bottom when you pick it up to eat, and you will probably burn your mouth like I did!

Overall, I highly recommend this Amy's meal for a delicious and easy dinner (or even lunch) option.  It is super easy to make and is much healthier than anything similar from a pizza place.

David Burke Townhouse

Today was the official start of Restaurant Week in the city, which is one of my favorite times of the summer!  It is a great deal because you get to go to really nice (generally expensive) restaurants and have a 3 course meal for only $38 (lunch is $25).  Each restaurant differs, but most of them have great options for each course, and the portion size remains the same but the price is just significantly less.  My sister and I always take advantage of restaurant week, and try to go to as many different restaurants as our wallets and stomachs will allow.  We generally choose places that we haven't been to before, but David Burke Townhouse is our annual tradition and is always on the list.  So, to kick off the month long restaurant week, we decided to go to David Burke Townhouse.

When you sit at the table, each person gets their own mini bread basket which I appreciate as a carb-o-holic.  It has an olive roll, popover of some sort, mini baguette, and some scattered raw vegetables in the basket.  I also love olives, so whenever a restaurant serves olive rolls I am sold, and their's did not disappoint.  It is hard to control myself when presented with that many bread options, but I only allowed myself to eat the olive roll since I had to save room for the other courses.

What I love about the David Burke restaurants is that they pretty much offer their whole menu (with the exception of a few dishes that require supplements) as part of restaurant week, as opposed to just 2 or 3 select dishes for each course like most other restaurants.  This gives you a lot of great options to choose from and you don't feel limited by the menu.  For the appetizer, I chose the beet salad that came with some goat cheese, and my sister got the tomato gazpacho with crab meat and avocado.

I really enjoyed the beet salad, as it was very light and fresh.  I mean, it is pretty hard to go wrong with a beet salad since it is basically just roasted beets, lettuce and a light dressing, but I enjoyed the dish.  My sister also really liked her gazpacho as it was a very light appetizer with great flavor.

For the main course, I was super excited about the chicken dish.  It was crispy chicken "under a salt brick," (which i'm assuming is just how it was cooked) and it came with broccolini and truffle mac and cheese.  I generally always order chicken, but the truffle mac and cheese was the selling point for me.

The chicken on its own was pretty ordinary, since it did not come with any sauce or anything, but the sides made me love the dish.  The truffle mac and cheese was super creamy and cheesy, and seeing that I never really eat mac and cheese I appreciated it that much more.  The broccolini was also delicious, and was grilled really nicely.  I was expecting the dish to come with a small side of the mac and cheese, but they give you a HUGE serving of it.  While it was hard to control myself, I wouldn't allow myself to eat all of it.  To me, the standouts of the dish were the truffle mac and cheese and the broccolini, and the chicken was just a side note.  My sister got the scallops, and was a bit disappointed.  She is not good with spice, and the dish had a lot of red pepper flakes on it so she was struggling with the spice level.  It also came with just 2 1/2 scallops, which is a very small portion even for a fancy restaurant.

For dessert, I got the chocolate caramel bar and my sister got the passion fruit trifle.  The chocolate caramel bar was really chocolatey and delicious.  It wasn't too large, so I didn't feel too guilty about eating the whole thing, and it was mainly mousse so it felt very light and fluffy.  What I didn't like so much was the side of earl grey ice cream that it came with.  It seemed like a very strange combination and it had a weird taste to it.  The good part was that it stopped me from eating the ice cream, but I was a little disappointed with the flavor choice.  I also didn't really notice any caramel except for the sauce decoration on the plate, but it was still really good.  My sister really enjoyed her passion fruit trifle, and compared it to a deconstructed macaron.

Overall, I really enjoyed my food.  My sister was disappointed with her scallops dish and said that this was probably her least favorite visit, but she would still return.  I would also be doing everyone a disservice if I did not comment on their poor service.  After we sat down, they took our order pretty quickly and the waiter made it seem like they were going to be swamped, so I figured that our food would come out very quickly.  The appetizers came out super quick, probably within 5-10 minutes of ordering.  Then, there was at least a 30 minute lag time between when they cleared our plates and when they brought the main course.  I normally wouldn't mind waiting a little for the main course, but I would've rather the appetizer come out later so that there wasn't as much wait time between courses.  Also, between our appetizer and main course our original waiter disappeared and someone else took over the area where we were sitting, and he never came over to let us know that a switch was being made.  While we were eating the main course, not once did the waiter come over to ask how the food was, which seemed a little strange to me since this is such a nice restaurant.  After the main course, we again had a bit of a wait until the desserts came out.  In fact, the table next to us (who ordered after us and had all of their dishes come out after us) got their dessert about 5-10 minutes before us.  Once the desserts came to the table, again no one came over to see if everything was good.  Then, when I asked for the check, it was to a third waitress who had taken over the area where we were sitting yet again.

Since we had been here before, we remembered that you get a little box of chocolates with the check, and I even saw that the table next to us got them.  However, when they brought us the check we did not get anything.  When my sister asked, the waitress said she had to go check, which seemed very odd since everyone else had gotten them.

I understand that things tend to get hectic during restaurant week, but that doesn't really excuse poor service in a restaurant of this caliber.  The service we received at our past visits was far superior, so I can only take it to mean that this visit was a fluke.  Since it is our annual tradition to go to David Burke Townhouse during restaurant week, I'm sure we will return (especially since I really like the food as well), but we were just a little disappointed with our experience during this visit.

Chicken Rollatini

To change things up this week, my sister did the Sunday cooking instead of me.  Since chicken is one of the few dishes that we both enjoy, she settled on a chicken dish instead of fish (which is what she really wanted to make).  One of the recipes that she has had past success with is the Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana from skinnytaste (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-spinach-alla.html), so she decided to make that.  The only change that she made from the original recipe, per my request, was to use shredded mozzarella for the top of the chicken instead of slices of mozzarella because it melts better and has a better flavor, in my opinion.  I have never actually made this myself, but it is a more involved recipe than some of the others that I made.  You need thin pieces of chicken that are the correct ounces, so that they can be rolled properly.  Since we couldn't really see what all the chicken pieces look like before we bought the pack of chicken, my sister had to get creative and had to layer two of the smaller pieces so that it was the correct weight.  It is apparently also difficult when it comes to stuffing and rolling the chicken, but you would never know it when you see the finished product!

I ate mine with some broccoli on the side (some of it got eaten before the picture was even taken) and half of a Japanese Sweet Potato.  I know it sounds like a strange combination, but it worked for me.  This chicken recipe is delicious and does not taste like it is healthy, but it is!  The inside is stuffed with spinach, low fat ricotta, and part skim mozzarella, and it is topped with marinara sauce and just a little more mozzarella cheese.  While it is a bit messy and hard to keep the filling from oozing out, it is a great dish.  I highly recommend it as a creative chicken dish to add to the rotation.

Beyond Sushi

Whenever I go to a Japenese restaurant, I always struggle with which sushi roll to order because I love cucumber avocado rolls and sweet potato tempura rolls, but it would be too much food for me to get both (since I also always get chicken yakitori and salad).  Ultimately, my love of avocado pretty much wins every time and I order the cucumber avocado roll.  One of the last times that my sister and I went for sushi, I told her I had found a solution to my problem: order one roll with sweet potato tempura and avocado inside!  It sounded like a genius idea, but I felt too weird asking for it so I chickened out and got the cucumber avocado.  Then, when we were walking through Chelsea Market, we passed a place called Beyond Sushi, The Green Roll.  Intrigued, we stopped and looked at the menu only to see that one of their rolls, the Sweet Tree, has sweet potato and avocado inside!  It was close to dinner time so we had to pass it up, but I made it my mission to give Beyond Sushi a try.

So, today I braved the scorching heat outside and made my way to Beyond Sushi by Union Square.  They only make vegetarian sushi rolls, pieces, and rice paper wraps, which is perfect for me because the only sushi I eat is vegetarian.  They also use either six grain rice or black rice for their rolls, which is really unique, and they have a wide array of special sauces that are paired with each roll.  A lot of the menu items peaked my interest, but I of course had to get the Sweet Tree.  It has sweet potato and avocado on the inside, and six grain rice with alfalfa sprouts on the outside.  It also comes with their toasted cayenne sauce, but I chose to swap that our for the sweet soy mirin sauce.

I got there early so there were seats available, but I decided to take it to go.  If you are planning to go during the peak lunch hour, you should plan on taking it to go because the seating is extremely limited. Also, there was only one person making the rolls when I went so you should also factor in some wait time.  Each roll comes with 8 pieces, and when you get it to go the sauce is in a really cool tube on the side (if you stay, the sauce is on top).   

This roll was really delicious, and just what I had been craving.  The rice is really nice and there is not too much of it, which I appreciated. The combination of sweet potato and avocado on the inside was perfect, and the alfalfa sprouts added a nice crunch.  I highly recommend getting this with the sweet soy mirin sauce instead of the toasted cayenne that usually comes with it.  It kind of reminded me of an eel sauce, which I always pair with sweet potato rolls.  This roll is even better than what I would've gotten in a regular sushi restaurant because the sweet potato is not tempura, so it is much healthier.  

Some of the other rolls that they have here are the Mighty Mushroom, which is six grain rice, enoki, tofu, shitake, micro arugula and shitake teriyaki, the Spicy Mang, which is black rice, avocado, mango, english cucumber, spicy veggies and toasted cayenne sauce, and the Nutty Buddy, which is buckwheat noodles, cashews, carrots, cilantro, jalapeno peanut butter, avocado, sesame oil, tofu, romaine, and sweet soy mirin.  They also have individual pieces like Mango, Carrot, and Baked Tofu, so they really have a great range of options.  Of course you have to be open to strictly vegetable sushi to truly enjoy the food here, but if you are like me and love vegetable sushi rolls you should definitely give Beyond Sushi a try.

Aperitif

Friday night, to celebrate my Aunt's birthday, I braved the rain and went out to Long Island for dinner.  We went to Aperitif, which is a really great French restaurant in Rockville Centre right in the heart of the town.  It is one of my favorite restaurants in the area because they have a really diverse menu and the food is always great.

They have a really large bar area by the front, which is a good place to wait before you sit at your table.  They also just expanded, so it is a pretty big restaurant, but it gets very crowded at night so you should make a reservation.

On the menu, they have French classics like Coq Au Vin and Bouillabaisse, in addition to small plates, a raw bar, steaks, and many other options.  I ordered the chopped salad to start, which is tomatoes, romaine, cucumbers, onion, bell peppers, and avocado in a lemon dressing.  For my main course, I got the Coq Au Vin, which I have had before and is one of my favorite chicken dishes.  Their Filet Mignon Sliders are also really good, but I never order those I just tend to have a bite if someone else at the table gets them.  My sister and dad's favorite item on the menu is the tuna tartare which comes with guacamole.

Even though the top photo doesn't do the chopped salad any justice, it is really good.  It is not like a typical salad, since there is no lettuce, so it is basically just chopped up vegetables in a lemon dressing.  My favorite part was the avocado (which is really the only reason I order it) so once I finish all the avocado I generally stop eating the salad.  It is a very big bowl so after a while it gets a bit boring.  

For the main course, the Coq Au Vin was delicious.  It comes with a half chicken sitting in a pool of red wine sauce with some vegetables and a side of mashed potatoes.  The chicken itself was cooked perfectly and was really tender.  The red wine sauce pairs perfectly with the chicken and since there is a big pool of it on the bottom of the bowl, there is more than enough to coat the chicken with.  While the mashed potatoes were good, there was nothing too special about them in my opinion.  My sister got the bouillabaisse and really enjoyed it, and some other items ordered at the table were branzino, fried calamari, filet mignon, and steak tartare.  Overall, everyone really enjoyed their dishes here. 

The only thing that was lacking a bit was the service.  Our waiter was very inattentive and seemed irritated and annoyed with us from the get go.  Since I have been here before, I know that some of the other waiters are better, but there have been multiple visits where the service is not on par with the food.  The Coq Au Vin here is delicious and I find myself constantly craving it, so they just need to work on their service and they would be a top restaurant in my book.  

Dos Caminos

I never used to be a huge fan of Mexican food, but throughout the years I have grown to love it.  And, something about summer always makes me crave it, so I have been dying to go to Dos Caminos for weeks.  Finally I got to go for dinner today, and it really hit the spot.  

I went to the one on Park Ave and 26th street because that is the closest one to me, but there are a few locations throughout NYC to choose from.  If you check in on Yelp when you get there, you get a free prickly pear shot.  The prickly pear is one of their specialty frozen margaritas, and the shot was perfect because my sister was able to taste it before committing to the whole drink.  It had a nice fruity sweetness to it, but was also very strong, and she ended up ordering the margarita.  

When the waiter brought over our menus, he promptly asked if we would like some guacamole for the table.  It would really be a crime to go to Dos Caminos and not get their guacamole, so we got a small order (mild, because neither my sister nor I are good with spice).  Before the guacamole comes to the table, you get a big bowl of chips and three different salsas with various spice degrees.  I tried the mild one because I new I could not handle anything more spicy, and it was very good.  But, I didn't want to eat too many chips because I wanted to save them for the guacamole, so I held out until the guac came to the table.

The picture shows the bowl of guacamole after I had taken some out, so it comes with more than is shown.  Even though it is on the pricey side, it is a very generous portion for two people.  I generally don't like guacamole, but theirs is amazing because it is very fresh and creamy.  It pairs perfectly with their homemade chips, and I could easily finish the whole bowl and call it a meal.  But, I had to stop myself since the other menu items are delicious as well.

The menu is very large and they have a bunch of different classic options in addition to more unique things.  I was intrigued by their plantain empanadas, which is in the bocaditos (starters) section of the menu.  Since I didn't want to fully commit to getting an order of these and wanted to try some other bocaditos, I got the Bocadito Trio.  The trio came with two plantain empanadas, two chicken taquitos (which is pulled chicken and sweet potato in a crispy corn tortilla), and two mexican city street quesadillas (corn masa turnovers stuffed with chicken, almonds, and salsa).  While the tacos and some of the entrees sounded delicious to me, this seemed like a good way to be able to taste a few of their offerings.  My sister chose to get the Dos Enchiladas, which is roasted chicken in corn tortillas with some cheese and a mole sauce and a salsa verde sauce.  

The top photo is the Bocadito Trio and the bottom is the Dos Enchiladas.  In the Bocadito Trio, the one on the left is the Mexican City Street Quesadilla, the middle is the Plantain Empanadas, and the right is the Chicken Taquitos.  All of them were delicious, but the Chicken Taquitos were my absolute favorite.  The combination of the chicken and the sweet potatoes, with the crispy corn shell was just great.  I really liked the Mexican City Street Quesadilla as well, so I would recommend the two of those.  Even though I was most looking forward to the plantain empanadas, those were my least favorite.  They were too sweet and had a strange flavor to them, so I would not order those again.  My sister loved her enchiladas, and I tried a bite so can confirm that they were delicious.  She liked the enchilada in the tomatillo verde sauce the best, but the other sauce was really good as well.  

When we were done, we were both very full but had to look at the dessert menu.  We chose to order the Salted Caramel Tres Leches Cake, which has layers of caramel sauce, caramel cake, vanilla pudding, caramel crunch, and is topped with fresh strawberries.  

I dont know if it was the strange lighting or my phone was just acting up, but I was not able to get a decent shot of the cake.  So, try not to let the blurriness and low-resolution of the photo above fool you--this cake was absolutely AMAZING.  The cake was sitting in a pool of sweet vanilla sauce, and all of the layers of the cake were outstanding.  The thick caramel was super sweet and delicious, and went really well with the vanilla cake and the vanilla pudding.  Each layer was better than the next, and my sister and I finished this in under two minutes.  

I highly recommend coming to Dos Caminos for some great mexican food and a great experience.  It is a very popular restaurant in the city and gets very crowded late on the weekends because they have great drinks and great food.  If you come here, you must get the guacamole to start, and I highly recommend the Chicken Taquitos and the Dos Enchiladas.  And, if you are a sweets person, you have to get the Caramel Tres Leches Cake.  Even if you are full, just order it.  After you take your first bite, that full feeling will magically disappear and you will find yourself shoveling down bite after bite of cake. 

Clinton Street Baking Company

I have had a killer sweet tooth lately, and last night I got an overwhelming urge to have chocolate chip pancakes.  I even considered making a batch late last night, but seeing as it was 9:30pm I figured that was not the best option.  So, instead I spent the night thinking about chocolate chip pancakes and trying to figure out when I would be able to have them.  Since I finished my summer class last week, my Tuesdays and Thursdays are now free so I decided that I would take the plunge and have chocolate chip pancakes for lunch today.

When you want pancakes in the city, you must go to Clinton Street Baking Company.  I went there for the first time three years ago after reading about them incessantly online.  Since pancakes are my favorite food, I had made it my mission to find the best pancakes, and kept seeing Clinton Street's blueberry pancakes pop up.  I have never ordered blueberry pancakes because I don't like the tart flavor in my pancakes, so at first I was a little skeptical.  They also have banana walnut and chocolate chip offerings, so I decided that I would go and try out one of those options.  The first time that I went I chose to go for dinner because I had read about the crazy long waits, and the only pancakes offered at the time were blueberry.  Since I had traveled all the way to the lower east side, I put my doubts aside and try the blueberry.  They were so delicious and fluffy, that I chose to order the blueberry pancakes every time I went back, instead of my usual chocolate chip or banana.  I even went here for my birthday dinner just to have the pancakes.  While they are expensive for a stack of pancakes, they are SO worth it.  With the exception of Thomas' Diner that I previously posted about (I have hometown loyalty to them) these are the BEST pancakes I have ever had.

Anyway, to get back on point, I knew that a visit to Clinton Street was the perfect way to satisfy my chocolate chip pancake craving.  I even made sure to work out for an extra half hour this morning so that I could fully enjoy the pancakes without feeling the guilt.  When I arrived at 1130 (on a Tuesday morning) there was a 35 minute wait for one person!  While it is pretty small inside, it still goes to show you how good everything is here, because there are not many places that have that long of a wait on a weekday, and the location is pretty off the beaten path.

After waiting for about a half hour and dreaming of the pancakes, I finally got seated.  I looked at the menu simply to see what else they had for future reference, but there is no way I could ever come here and not get the pancakes.  I sat close to the kitchen, and I probably saw more than 10 stacks of blueberry pancakes leave the kitchen before I even ordered.  While it is clearly the most popular dish and what they are famous for, they also supposedly have great eggs, biscuits, and actual lunch/dinner foods like fried chicken, in case you are going with someone who is not a huge pancake lover.  I ordered pretty quickly, and after about 15 minutes my pancakes finally arrived.

Not only were there chocolate chips in the pancakes, but there was a huge pile of chocolate chunks on top of them!  You really can't get much better than that.  After I took my first bite, I was in pure bliss.  The pancake on its own is amazing, and the chocolate just makes it that much better.  All the pancakes here come with not maple syrup, but maple butter, which is basically a maple syrup/butter hybrid.  While it is very good, it is very rich so I never really use too much of it, especially since the pancakes themselves are pretty rich.  I would probably rather have maple syrup, but the maple butter is one of their signatures. 

The best part of the pancakes is the mountain of chocolate chunks in the middle that get all melty from the heat of the pancake. It is so delicious and sweet, and puts every other chocolate chip pancake to shame.  The chocolate chips were pretty concentrated in the center, so even though the outsides of the pancake were delicious, it was a bit disappointing that the chocolate wasn't more evenly distributed.  

Since they are so sweet and decadent, I was only able to get through about 1 1/2.  I, of course, was very strategic about it and ate the top pancake (the best one) and the center of the second most chocolatey one, leaving over the outsides and the third pancake.  I could not let the pancakes go to waste, so I took the rest to go.  I left feeling stuffed, yet happy that I satisfied my chocolate chip pancake craving. 

In NYC, if you want a great stack of pancakes, you really must come to Clinton Street.  There is a reason that they are on the top of every "Best of" list and have a 2 hour wait on the weekends.  The pancakes are the stars in my eyes and are the best I ever had, but they also have a ton of other delicious breakfast offerings to appeal to everyone.  They also sell baked goods that you can take home, like cakes, cookies, muffins and scones.  I have had the banana chocolate chip muffin in the past and it is delicious, but I of course could not get one today since I made basically the same thing for breakfast!  They also have "Pancake Month" in February where they feature a different specialty pancake every few days.  I didn't get a chance to go this year, but when I went two years ago they had coconut pancakes with passion fruit syrup.  Needless to say, they were heavenly.  

If my rave review of the pancakes isn't enough, just go on Yelp and read all of the reviews and look through the 1,000 pictures, and I'm sure you will be convinced to pay them a visit!

Petite Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Loaves

In my opinion, the best bread/muffin combination is banana and chocolate chip.  Banana bread is good on its own, but once you add chocolate chips it makes it that much better.  In January when I started my Muffin Tuesday tradition, I made a list of all the recipes I wanted to try, but the one staple missing was a healthy banana chocolate chip muffin recipe.  I had seen a recipe on Skinnytaste for Petite Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Loaves, but I did not have a mini loaf pan and for some reason it didn't seem like it would be as good to me if I adapted the recipe for muffins.  So, after a few months passed and my sister kept looking at the recipe, she finally decided to cave in and buy a mini loaf  pan.  Once the pan arrived in the mail, I immediately made the loaves. 

What is great about these is that they are bigger than muffins, but the same amount of points on weight watchers (5)!  I halved the recipe (though my sister wishes I would've made eight) and pretty much made no other changes.  The recipe (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/petite-chocolate-chip-banana-bread.html) has a lot of banana, flour, baking soda, salt, egg white, applesauce, vanilla, a little bit of butter, and chocolate chips.  I upped the amount of chocolate chips to 1 oz because it was the same amount of points when I put in the recipe to weight watchers, and who doesn't love more chocolate!  

When you put the batter into the pan, you can tell right away how big these are going to be!  They go into the oven at 325 degrees for 40 minutes, which is a bit torturous to wait for.  What makes it even harder is that the whole kitchen (and if you live in NYC, the whole apartment!) starts to smell like banana bread.  

These come out of the oven looking like perfect little banana bread loaves!  It looks even better than a muffin because you get your own personal loaf, and, lets be honest, who doesn't want their own banana bread!  These have such a strong banana flavor because that is the prominent ingredient, which is what I love.  The chocolate chips do not overwhelm the banana flavor because there are not many chocolate chips in the recipe, but you appreciate it more when you reach a chocolatey bite.

If you are a banana and/or chocolate lover, you should give this recipe a try.  You can play around with it and switch out the chocolate chips for nuts, or simply just make them as banana bread, though I do recommend keeping the chocolate chips.  They are really delicious and bigger than muffins, so they are more filling too!

Italian Turkey Meatball Subs

Since I did not cook last weekend and ate frozen meals for dinner most of the week, I knew that this weekend I definitely had to cook something.  One of my favorite recipes from Skinnytaste that I have made is the Skinny Italian Turkey Meatballs (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/12/skinny-italian-meatballs-turkey-1-pt.html) and it has been a while since I last made them, so I decided that today would be the day.

The recipe makes 6 servings of 4 meatballs, which is perfect because between me and my sister we have dinner taken care of for 3 nights.  For me the recipe takes longer than it is supposed to according to Skinnytaste (I started at 3:45 and finished at 5:10), but it is pretty simple.  The sauce has crushed tomatoes, garlic, a little olive oil, oregano, fresh basil, salt, pepper, onion, and a bay leaf, and you just let it simmer while you prep the meatballs.  For the meatballs, you just need 1.3 lbs 99% lean ground turkey, seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, egg, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Since it makes 24 meatballs, I weighed out the meat to make sure that all of the meatballs were the same size, and it came to exactly 1 oz per meatball. The recipe says that the meatballs should take about 20 minutes on simmer, but on my stove it takes about 45 minutes.  I'm not sure why there is such a large discrepancy, but if you are making them just make sure that you check the meatballs after 20 minutes, as they probably will need more time.  

You can choose to eat these with pasta or some other side, but my sister and I prefer to make them as meatball subs.  I found these really great subs in Gristedes, Calandra's Italian Rolls, which are really big and only 90 calories!  The package comes with 6 subs, which is perfect for the recipe.  To make them even better, I follow the package directions and re-heat them in the oven for 10 minutes (wrapped in foil so they remain very soft and fluffy).  

After I took my first bite, I remembered why this was my favorite recipe.  The meatballs are very juicy and flavorful, and the sauce is really delicious as well.  Having it on the sub is definitely the way to go, especially when you heat it up, because it tastes like it is fresh out of the oven.  The sandwich is extremely satisfying and filling and it is hard to believe how healthy the recipe really is!  While there are a lot of recipes that I love to make, most of them pale in comparison to this one.  If you are looking for a  lighter way to satisfy your craving for meatballs or a sub, definitely check this recipe out and i'm sure it won't disappoint!

Gotham Bar & Grill

One of the restaurants that I have wanted to try for a while is Gotham Bar & Grill.  My sister had been there a few years back during restaurant week and she said that everything there was really good.  Recently, we were reminded that we still had yet to go here, so I looked at the menu online (like I always do) to make sure that they had options for me since I am pretty picky.  I noticed that there was a Greenmarket Price Fix Lunch Menu for $28, so I looked there first.  There are three options each for an appetizer, main course, and dessert, so not only are there great options but it is an amazing deal.  They only offer this deal during the week, so my sister and I had to plan out a time that we would both be free for lunch during the week, and we decided on July 4th.

We had a 12:00 reservation, which is when they open, and there were already a few people waiting.  We got seated right away, and the first thing I noticed was the beautiful decor.  It is very classic and elegant, and the lighting is really pretty as well.  As we were looking at the menu, they came over and brought a warm sourdough roll which was delicious.  I decided to order off of the greenmarket menu and got the strawberry and arugula salad and the slow cooked chicken.  The menu was slightly different than the one online, but everything that I wanted was still on it so I was happy.  My sister ordered off of the regular menu because she is a seafood/fish lover and there were many more options on the regular menu.  After hearing the recommendations from the waiter, she got the seafood salad and the miso glazed cod.  The only thing that was a little misleading was that online it says the 3 course price fix is $28, when really it is $28 for the appetizer and main course, and an additional $6 for one of the three greenmarket dessert offerings.

(The top image is the strawberry arugula salad and the bottom is the seafood salad)

The strawberry and arugula salad was very fresh and light, and was really delicious.  It is a pretty big portion so I could not finish it because I was trying to save room for the rest of the meal.  The salad came with fresh greenmarket strawberries, hazelnuts, goat cheese, radishes and was coated in a light balsamic vinaigrette.  My sister also loved her seafood salad, which came with scallops, squid, japanese octopus, lobster, and avocado in a lemon vinaigrette.  

For the next course, I got the slow cooked chicken breast, which came with couscous salad, grilled eggplant, and a golden raisin chutney. 

The chicken not only looked really pretty, but tasted delicious. It was cooked to perfection, as it was still very moist on the inside but crisp on the outside.  The sauce made it even better, and the raisin chutney was amazing.  The couscous was also good, but the chicken and the chutney were the stars of the dish.  Even though chicken can be pretty generic at many restaurants, they really do it justice here.  My sister also raved about the miso glazed cod, which is their signature dish, so if you like seafood you should get that.  I tried the sauce and rice that it came with, and can vouch for the fact that the sauce is delicious.  She usually is pretty critical of cod since it can be a hit or miss, but she absolutely loved this dish.  

Once we were done, the waiter brought over the coveted dessert menu.  Since I had already scoped out the menu online, I knew what dessert I was getting; the Gotham Chocolate Cake.  It is the most popular dessert, and luckily for me it is offered as part of the price fix.  My sister did not plan on getting dessert since she did not do the price fix, but the seasonal offering today was the coconut dacquoise so she gave in to temptation and ordered it.

  

Oh. My. God.  The chocolate cake was so amazing!  This was one of those situations again where I went into lunch with good intentions of only eating half the cake, but ended up finishing it.  I was left with no guilt, however, as it was TOTALLY worth every single calorie.  The reviews I had read online did not adequately describe the amazingness that is the Gotham Chocolate Cake (which is actually more like a spongy mousse than a cake).  It is so rich and decadent, yet light and fluffy at the same time, and it just gets better and better with each bite.  It also came with a small scoop of salted almond ice cream and some chocolate crunchies, which were ok but could not even compare to the amazing flavor of the cake.  My sister is not a huge chocolate cake lover, but she took one bite and had the same reaction as me.  In fact, she told me I had to finish it otherwise she would!  The dessert that she got was really good as well, but it just could not compare to the chocolate cake in my opinion.  It had fresh pineapple slices, pineapple cream, and little coconut cookies (like macaroons), and a strange ice cream that she didn't like.  At first she loved it, but after having a bite of my cake she quickly changed her tune.  While it was good, she said that it was not nearly as worth it as the chocolate cake, and she should've ordered the cake so that we could've had two!  (As a side note, I can not remember the last time my sister ordered a chocolate dessert, so that really says a lot!)

Overall, this was an amazing lunch experience.  The decor is very nice and elegant, the service was impeccable and the servers were all very friendly and attentive, and the food was outstanding.  They really pay attention to the details here and every aspect of each course was fresh and flavorful.  The two stars in my eyes were the chicken and the chocolate cake, and my sister said her two favorites were the cod and the chocolate cake.  While it is pricey, we will definitely be back here.  The greenmarket price fix lunch is an amazing deal and you really get your money's worth.  There are many expensive places in the city that are over-hyped and pretentious and the food doesn't live up to the price tag, but at Gotham it is totally worth every cent.  I looked around at the other tables, and everyone was smiling and raving about their food.  Basically, you should save up your money for the week and splurge on a visit here. It will be worth it!  

Spreads

A new sandwich place just opened near my apartment, Spreads, and it has been on my list of places to try.  Lunch is always tricky for me because I usually either bring something to work or have something in my apartment, so it is a rare occurrence for me to eat out during the week.  But, today I didn't have to go into work so I used it as an opportunity to finally give Spreads a try.  They have a lot of interesting sandwiches and salads on their menu, but the one that caught my eye was the Nutella sandwich.  I know, you are probably thinking that this doesn't sound like the most balanced lunch, and you are probably right.  However, after reading that the sandwich consisted of Nutella, Peanut Butter, carmelized rice puffed cereal, and banana on grilled challah bread, I did not really care!  This sounded like a killer combination, and I had to give it a try.

I originally planned to only eat half of the sandwich because I figured that it would be huge and rich, but it was surprisingly small.  After I took my first bite, I was very disappointed because I could barely taste any Nutella or peanut butter!  The banana slices were pretty thick and there was a lot of the rice puffed cereal, but only a very thin layer of Nutella on one side and peanut butter on the other.  All I could really taste was the challah bread, and it wasn't even that good.  Since I had already committed to having this as my lunch, I ate the whole thing because I knew if I only ate half I would be hungry within the hour.  

I left there feeling very disappointed and unsatisfied.  What originally seemed like a sandwich that could not possibly be bad turned into one of the worst I have had in a while.  If I get a craving for this combo again, I will just make it myself and I am sure it will be 20 times better.  I cannot comment on the other sandwiches there which I will say looked good, but I would not recommend getting the Nutella sandwich.  It is not worth the cost or the calories.  

Bareburger

Something about July 4th always gets me in the mood for a good burger and fries.  Even though it isn't until tomorrow, my sister and I decided to have our burgers a day early and we paid a visit to Bareburger.  I love Bareburger because not only is it only 5 minutes from my apartment, but everything there is organic and they have a large selection of different meats to choose as your patty.  Inside, there is a very cool "hippie" vibe, which I think goes along with the natural, organic theme.  You can really get creative here with your choice of burger, bun, toppings, cheese, sauce, etc., but I tend to keep it pretty simple.  In the past I have gotten their beef burger which is very delicious and juicy, but today I decided to go for the turkey burger.  In addition to those, they offer a veggie, bison, elk, ostrich, and lamb burgers (there may be more I just can't remember!), and they even put a little informational card on all of the tables that has the fat breakdown of each option so you can be fully informed before making your choice.  All of the patties are 6oz, which is the perfect size.

For the buns, I always go for the brioche because it is soft and delicious, but you can also get multigrain, gluten free, or even a lettuce wrap.  I chose to go for the classic lettuce, tomato and onions as my toppings, but they also offer pickles, avocado, cheese, bacon, etc.  They also have a lot of specialty sauces that you can get, and I decided to try the honey mustard.  I also got a side order of french fries because I can never eat a burger without having fries with it!  My sister got the california burger, which has cheddar, avocado, watercress, onions, tomatoes, and salsa verde, in a lettuce wrap.  It is recommended to have the veggie burger with that combination, but she chose to get the bison burger instead.

The turkey burger was juicy and delicious, and exactly what I had been craving.  The combination with the onions, honey mustard, ketchup, and the soft brioche roll really elevated it and I would definitely order this combination again.  I only ate half since I was trying to control myself, but it was a struggle.  

The fries here are amazing also.  While they are a bit salty, they are nice and crispy.  Again, it was a struggle to not eat all of them and I really had to put my self control to the test!  My sister also enjoyed her bison burger, even though it was very messy because of the lettuce wrap.  

In addition to the burgers here, they also make their own homemade sodas, milkshakes, cute little sliders, chicken fingers, onion rings, salads, and much more.  I love coming here because everything is organic and fresh, so you don't have to feel too bad about yourself after eating a burger and fries!  There are also not many places in the city where you can choose between a bison, elk, and ostrich burger!  Even though a Fatburger just opened across the street from them, you should definitely come here instead and enjoy a delicious and healthy(ish) meal.

Molly's Cupcakes

I have been taking a finance course over the summer (yuck!) to fulfill a requirement for school and to get it out of the way, and today was the final.  After a long weekend of studying and spending hours creating the world's most intense study sheet, I knew that I wanted to find some way to celebrate finishing the class.  Of course, I immediately thought, "what special food/dessert item should I treat myself to?"  Since I haven't had a cupcake in a while and have been craving one, I settled on that.  The next step was deciding where to get it from, because there are tons of places in the city that you can supposedly find the "best cupcake."  I have been to Magnolias, Butter Lane, Sprinkles, Georgetown Cupcake, and Two Little Red Hens, among others, so I have definitely gotten around to sampling some of NYCs best offerings.  Instead of going back to one of these places, I remembered Molly's Cupcakes- a place I have been meaning to try for a while.

I first looked them up on yelp and saw they have 4 1/2 stars, which is a very good sign.  Then, when I looked on their website and saw their menu, I knew I had to come here.  The first specialty cupcake listed on the menu is the Ron Bennington, which is a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter filling, chocolate ganache frosting, and a crushed butterscotch topping.  Needless to say, I was immediately sold.  I continued looking at the menu just to see what the other offerings were, and I couldn't believe I had never been here before!  Some of the other cupcakes that sounded awesome to me were the Cake Batter (vanilla confetti cake filled with raw cake batter, topped with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles), the Cookie Monster (vanilla chocolate chip cake, raw cookie dough center, buttercream, and a mini chocolate chip cookie on top), the Salted Caramel Butterscotch (vanilla cake filled with butterscotch caramel pudding, topped with salted vanilla buttercream and caramel drizzle), Peanut Butter Nutella (peanut butter cake filled with nutella, topped with nutella buttercream), and Flourless Molten Chocolate (flourless chocolate cake, dulce de leche ganache filling, french vanilla buttercream, and chocolate drizzle), to name just a few.  They also have a bunch of fruity cupcakes (mixed berry, lemon meringue, peach cobbler, blueberry cheesecake, etc.) but none of those particularly appealed to me.  Even though all of their offerings sounded delicious, I knew I had to get the Ron Bennington.

After much anticipation and a sigh of relief after finishing my final, I finally made my way over to Molly's Cupcakes.  It is a very cute shop nestled in the heart of the West Village, and is worth making the trip.  All of the cupcakes in the display case looked perfect, and even better than I had imagined.  While I could have easily bought a half dozen, I just got the famed Ron Bennington for myself, and the Cake Batter for my sister.  I took them to go, but if you are coming here with someone else they have tables to sit at where you can play board games while devouring your treat.  I made it back to my apartment at around 3pm, and opened the box to see the beautiful cupcakes staring at me.

Since it was only 3pm and I was trying to wait to have the cupcake for dessert, I had to immediately close the box.  The next three hours were torture, as I sat there on the couch thinking about this cupcake.  Finally, I finished dinner and it was cupcake time!  

Just when I thought I could not get more excited, I cut into this and saw the creamy peanut butter filling!  I finally took my first bite, and was in heaven.  You will happily know that it is even better than it looks in the picture, and that says a lot. Every aspect of this cupcake is delicious, and it is safe to say that this was the best cupcake I have ever had.  Yes, that means better than Magnolia's, Sprinkles, and all of the aforementioned cupcake establishments that I have been to.  The chocolate cake is so moist and chocolatey, and while I usually am disappointed by the base of a cupcake, this one was great.  The chocolate ganache frosting, however, was by far my favorite part.  It is so fudgy, rich, decadent, and chocolatey.  A lot of cupcakes with chocolate frosting are too sweet which overpowers the chocolate flavor, but these have the perfect balance.  Then, after a few bites of pure bliss, just when you are thinking that it couldn't possibly get any better, you reach the peanut butter center.  It balances out perfectly with the chocolate, and is a peanut butter lovers dream.  The crushed butterscotch on top also added a nice dimension to the cupcake.

If you are in NYC, don't buy into the hype surrounding the better known establishments like Magnolia's, and instead go to Molly's.  Their cupcakes are so unique and creative, and you will not be disappointed.  I HIGHLY recommend the Ron Bennington, and am already looking forward to the next time I will be able to return and enjoy my new favorite cupcake.  

(Just as a side note--this is the inside of the Cake Batter cupcake.  I tried a bite, and while the Ron Bennington is still my favorite by far, this one was very good too!)

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Like I have said previously, I am generally not a fan of muffins with fruit in them (unless it is banana) because when I want a muffin I am looking for something sweet, not tart.  With that being said, these blueberry oatmeal muffins are pretty darn good!  I mean, I probably would not end up making them if they weren't my sisters favorites, but I still think they are delicious.  Again, the recipe is from skinnytaste.com (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/03/insanely-good-blueberry-oatmeal-muffins.html), which is pretty much my go to blog for healthy recipes.

This recipe takes a little more time than my usual muffin recipes, but I wake up early enough that I don't mind waiting a bit longer for these.  First, you have to put the oats in a food processor and soak them in milk for a half hour.  I get pretty restless waiting for the 30 minutes to be up, but in the meantime I prep the other ingredients and preheat the oven.  Once the oats are soaked, it only takes about another 5 minutes to finish the mix and get them in the oven.  This is one of the only recipes that I don't need to substitute anything because it is already super healthy, and making any substitutes would probably taint the recipe.  Besides the oats, it has a very small amount of whole wheat flour to give them the muffin texture, and then it just has egg whites, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, a little bit of olive oil, applesauce, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and of course blueberries!  The muffin tins get filled pretty much to the top, but you don't have to worry about them spilling over because they don't really rise a lot in the oven.  Once the tins are filled, you just put them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 22 minutes, and then they are ready to eat!

I prefer this recipe way more than the Honey Coconut Blueberry Bran Muffins that I previously blogged about, because while those muffins tasted healthy, these still have the sweetness that I look for in a muffin.  The combination of the oats with the brown sugar reminds me of a nice bowl of oatmeal, and the blueberries do a good job of breaking up the sweetness.  This recipe put my distaste for fruity muffins to the test, and ultimately I do enjoy these.  It is a nice change from what I usually make, and they feel healthier than some of my other muffin recipes.  If you are someone that likes blueberry muffins, I would give this recipe a try.  It is a bit different from a traditional blueberry muffin because of the oats, but it is still very delicious!