Magical Paris-Day 4....

Well, since we had a quick dinner of pancakes last night (however, we did get "fancy" and threw in a cup of ricotta cheese;), I thought today would be a perfect day to finish up my posts about Paris.

Day 4 was the day we tried to squeeze in every last thing we wanted to see and we pretty much (ALMOST) achieved it! :)  We started our day with our newly discovered breakfast FAVORITE!!  I have no clue what it was called, but it was a pastry with a thin layer of custard, surrounded by chocolate chips...this was TO DIE FOR!!!!  Talk about the perfect way to start a day;)

After our sugar breakfast, we headed out to THE LOUVRE!!!!....

Where we got to see the "winged victory"...

Anddddd Miss Lisa herself:)  Yet, another moment I got teary eyed/awed in Pareee...I could not believe we were looking right at her:)

Well, the teary eyes might have actually been from the squinting...hahahahahhaa....she is that teeny tiny square on that MASSIVE wall! :) ....

But, needless to say, nothing ELSE in the Louvre was SMALL by any stretch of the imagination!  It was just as grande and massive as Versailles!!

And art makes you hungry, ya know??  So after hours of walking around the Louvre (and still only seeing 1/10000th of the place!), another treat was in order! 

Scott got a cheese stick and I got a Tarte au Sucre....soooo good!  One of my favorite treats!  (however, the thing that stands out most in my mind about these snacks was my HORRENDEOUS botched attempt to order them in French;)  ...it was ugly:) 

However, our view while we snacked made up for it:)

So after some tiptoing through the tuileries (gotta burn off that tart, no??)

And a stop at Place de la Concorde (to see where Anne Hathaway threw her cellphone in "The Devil Wears Prada":)

We headed off to the Paris Opera House!!!!  We planned on just stopping to SEE it, but I nearly FREAKED when I realized it was open to visit!!! (and just in time, as you see how quickly those dark clouds developed! ;)

And it turned out to be one of the BEST surprises of the whole trip!  I don't even have words to describe this place...it was just.....(insert jaw dropping)...

And as if we weren't blown away ENOUGH...JUST as we were LEAVING, we noticed a door open to the auditorium...

...Where my "Phantom of the Opera" loving self got to see the infamous CHANDELIER in person.  It was awe inspiring.  I'm tearing up as I type this;)  I STILL have no words for it;) 

After I regained consciousness (kidding, Mom...I'm just kidding:)  we headed out for the famous pastry shop, Fauchon's.  I will always remember this place as the single most expensive pastries I've ever eaten.  (and were they any better than our next door "cheap" bakery??  Not a chance!)  However, how can you go to Paris and NOT get a chocolate creme eclair with Mona Lisa's eyes?? 

We also got an infamous Baba Au Rhum to try (a favorite of King Louis XV...or so I hear;).  The little cup was layered with vanilla bean whipped cream (so good) and then the rum soaked pastry in the bottom of the glass...complete with 2 droppers of rum:)... 

And we also split this vanilla creme layered bar...I have no clue what the layers were, but it was tasty! 

After our 3rd dessert, we strolled around and headed for St. Chappell's Cathedral...a small church a few blocks from the Notre Dame.  St. Chappell is famous for it's 360 stained glass windows.....spectacular...

 We wandered around a bit more...

...before we headed for MORE food:)  Truth be told, this was my least favorite dinner of the whole trip.  Mainly because we were just looking for a place to eat quickly, since we had a tour scheduled for that night.  So we choose a little sidewalk cafe and I had steak with parsley butter and frites... 

And here was Scott's steak tartar...still not too shabby, but just not my favorite (I really wanted fondue, I remember;)

After dinner, we headed for our "Illumination Tour" of Paris....where we got to go up the Eiffel Tower at dusk and watch the city 'wake up' and twinkle below us.... 

Next we took a cruise down the Seine, followed by a bus tour to see the famous monuments up close and dazzling...

Our last and final sightseeing of Paris concluded back at the Eiffel Tower where we got to watch it twinkle and sparkle as the clock struck 10 o'clock.  It was spectacular!

And after four wonderful (and WAY too fast!) days, we headed for home the next morning.  It will always remain one of my very favorite trips ever (although they all hold a special place in my heart:)  But Paris combined spectacular BEAUTY ANDDDDDDD Deliciousness all in one:)  And with that, I'll leave you with some Cheese...

Till next time, Paris: Au Revior!

Chicken Chop Suey...

We went Asian again  last night!  Here was another potential high-fat, high-sodium take-out dinner made fairly healthy buy using less salt and TONS of vegetables.  I wish I had gotten a picture of my cutting board, because it was COVERED in Greeeennnnnn, all for Ellie Krieger's Chicken Chop Suey... (we did swap the mushrooms for beans sprouts because, come on, do I really need to tell you that bean sprouts are a MILLION times more awesome than mushrooms?? :)

Grant it, this seemed like a lot of prep work WHILE we were getting it ready.  Scott was in charge of the chicken, while I was slicing & dicing the vegetables, toasting sesame seeds & baking wonton crisps ALL at the same time.  But then, our of nowhere, the whole dinner pulled together.  It just was a BUSY half hour;) hahahahahhahahah....but totally worth it!  This was sooo great....

Made even better by the SOLE reason to make this dinner: The crispy wonton wrapper topping;)

And after dinner, I got to working on these babies:

I had been looking for an excuse to make these FOR-EVER (not that I really needed one), but a leftover jar of Peanut Butter from LAST WEEK'S PB&J bars was just the excuse.  Peanut Butter FILLED-Peanut Butter Cookies!!! 

Insane, right??  And they were as good as they looked!  Try out the $1,000,000 Pillsbury bake off Winner for YOUR Peanut Butter fan!  You will NOT be disappointed! 

Holy Mole!

I have been on a MAJOR mole kick lately!  The 2 times I've been out for Mexican within the last month, I've ordered mole....so when I saw this recipe, I knew I HAD to try it!  And it was a delicious dinner made even better by the fact that this Redeye Mole Chili had been simmering allllllllllll day in my slow cooker!!

I couldn't put my finger on what was the BOLD flavor that was throughout this chili, however it might just have been the combination of coffee, cocoa, cinnamon & cardamom that created that delicious, smoky taste! 

And ya know, the REAL reason to have chili: the cornbread!  I hadn't made cornbread in AGESSSSSSSSS and was so excited that I had leftover thyme & buttermilk as an excuse to make this Thyme Corn Bread.  Warm, flavorful and a perfect compliment to the MOLE! :)

THIS was a winner, winner, mole dinner....and totally Cinco De Mayo appropriate! WHICH, I CAN'T BELIEVE, is already NEXT WEEK!!!  However, I think I may already have a few menu options working out in my head for that day;) 

Happy Wednesday! :)

"Leftovers" Salad

It's almost sad how much JOY I get from using up leftovers in the fridge;)  It's the combination of the fact that we had enough food leftover TO stretch it for 2 meals (unlike the old days where we used to polish off EVERYTHING between the two of us), anddddd that NOTHING is going to waste.  Pure joy.  It's sad.  I'm ok with it;)

 

Which brings us to our Monday salad of the week...all thanks to Sunday nights dinner....

In this mix we have:   

• Leftover Garlic & Thyme steak
• Leftover Roasted Onions, Tomatoes & Green Beans
• Carrots
• A sprinkle of sesame seeds
• Craisins
• Onion

It was REALLY good...seeing as how I don't ever think I've had steak on a salad.... 

And since I was making a SMALL attempt at an "Asian inspired" salad (even though I got, pretty much, as far as the sprinkle of sesame seeds;), I mixed in a little of this Sesame Ginger dressing.  This one is really tasty...

So, a delicious salad + a clean fridge = a happy Donna;)  What equals a HAPPIER Donna, is the fact that I currently have dinner bubbling away in my slow cooker, so it'll be all ready for me when I get home.  Yeah!  And it should be an interesting one....;)  Have a good Tuesday! 

Lazy Sunday....

Yesterday was spent exactly the way I had hoped:  With some cooking & a lot of "Ghost Adventures" :)  Scott even asked me to make HIM a Green Monster for lunch...so we had dueling "monsters" along with the ghosts & ghouls (nerd alert...I'm aware;)

I had a Cinnamon Roll "Monster" yesterday, made with 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 scoop protein powder, a 100 calories Cinnamon Roll yogurt and a few ice cubes.  Between Scott & I, we actually managed to polish off an ENTIRE bag of spinach in our 2 drinks...I thought THAT was quite an accomplishment;)

Before lunch (in my attempt to hold off from sneaking bites of food:  I tend to try to cook things in the mornings when I'm not really in the mood to 'sample' too many things.  It works...sometimes;) I had made Bethenny Frankel's "Zesty, Cheesy, Healthy Mac & Cheese" for lunch for today.  (don't worry...I'm splitting this four ways!!!  It's not one serving!! :)  But you had 3 cheese, no butter and the beautiful orange color comes from BUTTERNUT SQUASH!  NOT that orange, chemically powder stuff!  Loves it!  I'll let you know how it tastes later:)

I was still a little hungry after the Green Monsters, so I split a mini bag of this with Scott...

Here's an example of where I'd rather eat a small amount of "real food" rather than a large amount of "low fat" food.  I'm NOT a fan of the "94% fat free popcorn" business.  I've tried, but I'd rather eat air popped popcorn, honestly.  But these mini bags of "Natural" popcorn were really tasty.  And as you can see...they are loaded with pepper!  (which was great for me, since I'm not a huge fan of pepper = instant portion control;)

Dinner last night was Garlic & Thyme flank steak with garlic chip mashed potatoes and roasted string beans...

We marinated the steak overnight in olive oil, garlic & thyme and cooked it at 350 for 40 minutes.  I made a horseradish sauce to go along with it, with Greek yogurt, horseradish and applesauce.  As strange as it sounds...it was my favorite part!

The string beans were roasted along with the grape tomatoes & pearl onions in olive oil, salt, pepper & garlic powder.  I roasted em for a half hour, but I think next time I'll try 45 minutes.  They were still a little tough for me.  (And I might add balsamic to the mix too...;)

We couldn't think of the LAST time we made mashed potatoes!  I honestly want to say it's been over a year:) hahahahahhahaha....but we made these with garlic sauteed in garlic oil, milk, a little garlic butter, a handful of parmesan and salt & pepper.  Yum!

We went "Amish" again for our dessert...since we had bought a shoo-fly pie at the market!!  Well...HALF a shoo-fly pie to be exact!

And I mean HALF.  I laughed that they even sliced the pan in an exact half;)...

Shoo-fly is a molasses/brown sugar pie...and oddly enough, one of Scott's favorites since we tried it in Lancaster a few years ago:)  But I can't blame him...this was good eats:)

So after a lovely weekend...we're brought to a rainy Monday:(  Like, REALLY, can't it just rain any OTHER day of the week???   Oh well, one day closer to NEXT weekend, right?  RIGHT??? :)