Brownie-stuffed chocolate chip cookies

Yes, you read that correctly. There is an entire brownie stuffed INSIDE an enormous chocolate chip cookie. A little excessive I'll admit, but we were celebrating a special occasion - last week's Bachelor watch party was also a Welcome Home party for my sister who had been traveling for the past 7 weeks. Everyone was so excited to see her, that we had full attendence to watch the Bachelor- on Valentine's Day. I love our groups' dedication! Anyway, back to the cookies - these are insane. You make a batch of brownies from a box, then a homemade chocolate chip cookie dough (which is fabulous in it's own right) to wrap the brownies in. The cookies are gigantic, and they taste. so. good.

Balsamic onion salad

We made this balsamic onion salad from Ina Garten a few weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to posting about it. This has a very strong onion flavor, so you've been warned, but it is DELICIOUS. We served it as a side with her penne with five cheeses, which we gave an average grade of B-. This salad definitely stole the show, and we'll be making it again and again.

Chicken fried rice

We tried this chicken fried rice recipe from Cooking Light last week. It tasted good, but strayed a bit from typical fried rice (no egg?), which I guess it part of making it healthier considering the source. I subbed green onions for leeks (personal preference, and leeks are so time-consuming to clean), and it was still a hit. I prefer a more traditional fried rice, but this is a good healthy alternative.

Frozen peanut butter bites

Question: could this recipe for frozen peanut butter bites be any easier? Answer: no. Just 4 ingredients and no real cooking involved - I even took a shortcut and melted my chocolate in the microwave instead of the stovetop. This recipe made more than the 20 bites specified - closer to 30, if I remember correctly - which was plenty for my Monday night Bachelor watch party!!