Sweet Sunday....

Well, as predicted, the call of the "Sock-it-to-me" cake was just deafening in its cries of "HEY!  I'm ALMOST coffee cake-esq!  I'm TOTALLY a breakfast too!"  

So we obliged...;) 

Sooooo good with coffee:)

But never fear, to balance out cake for breakfast, we headed out to take Penny for a snowy walk in the park.  I, however, got in an extra workout trying to take larger strides to follow in Scott's "snow prints" rather than dunking my foot in the fresh new few inches that fell this past week:) 

I got a lot of knee lifts in there too:) hahhahhahahaa...

And Penny even snuck in some mountain climbing:) 

Lunch was my favorite deal of the week!  Locals:  Risoldi's had Fage yogurts THREE for A DOLLAR!  They're usually $2.00 A PIECE!  That deal made this honey one taste even sweeter:) 

And I had the yogurt along with some of my beloved Trader Joe's Peanut Butter filled Pretzels.... 

These (plus an apple around 3 o'clock) kept me full allllll afternoon... 

Till dinner time, of course:)  Since we were celebrating a friend's birthday, I decided to make some "fancy" lettuce wedge salads....

Which took all of hmmmmmm....9 seconds to make:)  I think that's why restaurants make them so" in vogue":)  All you have to do is quarter up a head of iceberg!  I topped them with TJ's bacon & some homemade Blue Cheese Dressing.  All you do is mix together:

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

And you're good to go:)

And of course birthdays require good eats (like cheesesteak pizza....yummmmm...:) 

And Sweet Treats! :)  I decided to try out a Curtis Stone dessert recipe & make little custard "Pots of Gold":)  The "gold" comes from a hidden layer of caramel underneath the custard:)  (I know, right???:)

First you bring a cup of sugar & a quarter cup of water to a boil over medium heat and still till the sugar is dissolved.  Once the sugar is dissolved, you swirl the pan occasionally until it goes from this: 

To this: 

Once the caramel has turned golden brown, you pour "the gold" into your custard cups (set in a roasting pan) and allow it to harden for 10 minutes... 

Meanwhile, you heat up:

• 1 1/3 cups of heavy cream
• 1 1/3 cup whole milk (I used 2% and it worked out fine)
• 1/2 cup sugar

Bring to a simmer over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. 

In a small bowl, whisk up:

• 3 large eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Slowly whisk in the egg mixture with the cooled cream.  Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a 4-cup measuring cup and pour the cream over the hardened custard: 

Next, you pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the custard cups.... 

And allow to bake until the outer rim is set, but the center is still loose.  (The book says this takes an hour at 275.  Mine took an hour and a HALF at 275 + 15 minutes on 350....so check them while they bake and adjust the time & temperature as needed:)

Finally:  Dig in:)

(There was actually a lot more "gold" in this cup but opppssss....it somehow didn't make it into the picture:)

Anyway...I hope you had a great weekend and are (HOPEFULLY) enjoying one more day:)  Since we are both lucky enough to have the day off, we're bouncing 'Salad Monday' for a day and I'm going to try out a new recipe with a brand new cooking technique since I have the extra time:)  Should be interesting:)

Enjoy your day! :)