How does Asian become Italian?!

WARNING: Post contains high quantities of sarcasm.  If you do not speak sarcasm, I urge you NOT to continue.

Do you ever have a hankering for something that sounds so good, its all you think about?  Tonight was one of those nights.  I could taste the peanut dressing on the salad.  I felt my body relax as I thought of the warm, mushroom soup.  My mouth started watering just visualizing the noodles and sprouts.  Only problem is....there isn't a Thai restaurant around me that's open after 9pm.

So I did what any person as random as myself would do...I went to store and bought tomatoes and basil to make homemade bruschetta.  I know! I know!  I had the same thought.  Asian and Italian taste almost the same.  But that's beside the point. 

I'm standing there decided on the best batch of basil when the cilantro caught my eye.  Then I thought - Hey!  I'm already making Bruschetta, why not whip up some fresh salsa at the same time.  Because when I think of some good Italian Bruschetta, Mexican Salsa is always my very next thought. 

So here's a walk through both... 

FRESH BRUSCHETTA:

Small Sweet Grape tomatoes, quartered

Fresh Basil

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder (I threw in som extra fresh garlic as well...My motto?  You can NEVER have too much garlic)

Olive Oil

Basically....Mix it all together, drizzle the dresssing and BAM!

Side note:  Have you ever met this cheese?  It has become my new favorite.  Who needs the powder parmesean, when you have THIS!?

When you put the two together, you can get something real nice...Looks professional, I know, but don't let it fool you.  It was just me.

While the Bruschetta was busy mixing its flavors, I whipped up some fresh salsa. 

I bought three of these babies, (Salerno Pepper, anyone?) but after I cut up one and did the taste test.  I decided to let the other two live long and whole lives, outside of the salsa.

Want to know my other motto?  You can NEVER have too much cilantro...

 Well, maybe you can.  This is what's left AFTER making the salsa!  My next job will be to research recipes with Cilantro in them.  Hmmm...

Fresh Salsa:

Tomatoes

Onion

Garlic

Cilantro

Salerno Pepper

Lime Juice

Salt

Pepper

Mix to taste preferences

Bruschetta recipe curtousy of M.A.Kovac. 

Chocolate Velvet Truffles

I found this amazing recipe on Polka Dots and Pizza's blog.  Her truffles looked amazing and I couldn't wait to try them!  Here's a picture of hers!

You can find the complete recipe at

Polka Dots and Pizza's Red Velvet Cake Balls

Here's the ingredients you'll need: 

Except you'll need to triple the amount of chocolate chips pictured!

(Which I found out a third of the way into the process!)

It never fails that I burn myself while baking.  Here's my latest war wounds. 

Note to self: bottom of glass bowl containing melted chocolate is VERY HOT!

Here's how mine turned out.  I sprinkled powdered sugar on top because they just weren't fattening enough.

Some tips on the process:

1. NOT a project for kids!  The red dye gets everywhere, so does the chocolate.  Which brings me to my next point.

2. Wear OLD clothes.  You'll notice the red dye on the cuff of my sweater.  Sure hope that comes out!

3. It takes forever, so put on your Martha Stewart hat. 

4. I thought the picture on the tutorial was the full batch that the cake mix made.  I was wrong.  Each batch makes about 50+ truffles.  (Something I wish I would have realized BEFORE I made 2 batches.)

5. Your car makes an excellent freezer.  (At least in Michigan it does), there were so many of them, I couldn't fit them in the fridge to harden.  Luckily, I had plenty of room on the car seats!

6. Let the cake balls air out a little before rolling them.  The cream cheese frosting makes them very squishy.  Give them about an hour to air out and solidify a little before rolling them in the chocolate. 

7.  To get the extra chocolate off and to keep your hands a little cleaner, toggle the truffle between two spoons as you would when separating an egg.

8. Clean out your chocolate melting bowl between each chocolate batch.  Otherwise the old chocolate will burn while melting the new chocolate. 

9. Use wax paper or something similar to place the rolled out balls on. Whatever they sit on will be dyed red.

All this being said, I hope I didn't scare you away from They are well worth the time!  So Yummy!  Thank you so much Polka Dots and Pizza for this recipe! 

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