Cookie Dough Dip and Alfredo Sauce

It's been another busy week around here! After two weeks in the hospital, dad finally got to come home, so things are getting back to normal around the house. I managed to make a couple of tasty treats this past week, but unfortunately didn't snap any pictures as I was whipping them up.... but I didn't have anything else to write about, so just use your imagination and picture them. Better yet, try them out yourself!

Recipe #1 - Homemade Alfredo Sauce

This is one of my favorite dishes to make from scratch! It's so simple, yet soooo delicious! In the past couple of years, I've made alfredo sauce many times and tried probably 3 or 4 different recipes for it, so this time I decided to make it without one and hope for the best! (I mean, how can you go wrong with butter, half-n-half, and cheese?) So, here's my recipe:

Ingredients:
4 T butter/margarine
1 clove minced garlic/1/2 t garlic powder
2 T flour
16 oz half-n-half
1/2 t pepper
6 oz shredded parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Step 1: melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium/med-low heat. After it's melted, add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. (note: you can use more/less garlic. I don't like an overwhelming garlic flavor in my sauce, so I only use a little. If you love it, use more. If you hate garlic, just omit it all together.)

Step 2: add flour and mix until it forms a paste.

Step 3: add the half-n-half and pepper and mix until all is combined and it comes to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. Stir frequently until it starts to thicken.

Step 4: Add parmesan cheese and stir until the cheese has melted into the sauce. If it's too thick, add a little more half-n-half until it reaches your desired consistency. Add salt to taste. (note: freshly grated parmesan cheese is the way to go with this dish! It gives it a much better flavor. However, if you're like I was this week and looking for an easy dinner one night, it's still going to be delicious if you use pre-shredded cheese.) 

Step 5: Serve immediately over your favorite pasta (I like to use the tri-color veggie pasta... makes me feel good knowing I'm getting at least a little bit of extra veggies... sort of... ok, and it's pretty) and enjoy!

Once you taste homemade alfredo sauce, you're never going to want jarred sauce again! (but if you're like me, you'll still use it when you want something fast... it just doesn't taste as good any more.) And it's so simple! It just takes about 15 minutes of standing in front of the stove, but oh is it worth it!


Recipe #2 - My other treat I made this week was Cookie Dough Dip.

Personally, I don't think it tastes much like cookie dough... It's more like cookie dough meets cream cheese icing. But whatever the case, it is yummy! I actually found this recipe on Pinterest, so I'm just going to link over to it from here. I like giving credit where credit is due. Click here for cookie dough dip! The only thing I did differently than this recipe is that I used mini chocolate chips instead of regular ones, and I used half a cup of Heath pieces with chocolate instead of a full cup of just plain toffee pieces. My husband says there's too much chocolate in it... I say NEVER!

It's delicious and so simple to make. So here you have it. I've given you a great recipe for both dinner and dessert! Sorry for the lack of pictures and exciting things. I'm going to try to do better next time... Until then, enjoy! I'm going to go get my cookie dough dip out of the fridge right now and enjoy some myself...