Like everybody else on the face of the earth, I’m ridiculously obsessed with Pinterest. Sure, I could do without the proliferation of twee inspirational quotes in interesting typefaces and living rooms that I’ll never be able to afford, but there is no better website out there right now for random dinner inspiration.

I saw this pin for baked spaghetti, and immediately knew that I wanted to try it. Cooper, like most three-year-olds, loves pasta, so I’m always looking for new recipes. This particular baked spaghetti recipe involves ground beef, which I don’t eat, and canned tomato sauce, which I don’t have. However, the best thing about pasta is that it’s infinitely customizable, so I took the basic idea and just went with it.

Baked Spaghetti

• 8 oz. Spaghetti
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 diced onion
• 1 tbs Italian seasoning
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups mozzarella
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Cook your spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, quarter your onion and dice it along with the garlic in the food processor. Put diced onion in a large bowl. Put diced tomatoes and italian seasoning in food processor and process until you get most of the chunks out. Add the tomato and spice mixture to the diced onion. Add tomato sauce and mix everything together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked spaghetti to sauce and stir, making sure to coat spaghetti evenly.

Transfer mixture into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle mozzarella on top and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is hot and bubbly.

Kid Tip: Since you’re using a food processor, this is a great opportunity to get some extra veggies into your kid without them noticing. Throw some baby spinach, zucchini, and/or broccoli in the food processor along with the diced tomatoes for some extra nutrition.

I don’t remember if it was on Facebook or on Twitter, but I came across The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for pasta with pesto cream sauce and I was inspired. I’m a total brown thumb, but each year I try to convince myself that this year’s the year I’m going to grow something awesome. I bought some basil plants from the farmer’s market a few months ago, and lo and behold: they’re not dead yet. In fact they’re thriving so much, that I need to start using some of it before I’m overwhelmed by a basil forest.

The thing is, I’m also in the middle of a Sons of Anarchy marathon on Netflix Instant, so I didn’t want to go to the grocery store. That meant that actually making her cream sauce was out, since I don’t have heavy cream on hand. So I searched around and after many weird and unappetizing recipes, found this one for a low-fat cream sauce. It’s great because the ingredients are pretty common, but it’s also hilarious because I’m not entirely sure you can count anything that has flour, butter, Parmesan cheese and an egg as “low fat.”

My pesto recipe was similarly ad-hoc. Although it’s close to Deb’s classic pesto recipe, I didn’t actually measure anything. I also added some spinach instead of parsley, which I never really use for anything. The key though, is the lemon. I used an entire half — I love the tang it adds.

I also toasted the pine nuts first, which gave it a delightfully nutty flavor.

The spinach also makes the pesto a little bit milder and obviously gives it the added benefit of all of those spinachy nutrients.

After you’re finished with the pesto, try to restrain yourself from digging out a loaf of bread and eating it all right there. It’ll be hard, because it’s SO GOOD. Instead, boil a pot of water for the pasta. and follow the directions for the cream sauce — I was impressed with how thick it actually got.

While you’re waiting for that to thicken, slice some grape tomatoes in half and saute them. They’ll add a little burst of sweetness to the finished product.

Once the cream sauce is finished, add the tomatoes and the pesto and mix together.

Toss with your choice of pasta. I used ziti because short pasta is easy for a toddler (Cooper loved this, by the way), but if it were just me, I’d use angel hair.

Word of warning: this recipe yields a crapload of cream sauce. Either be prepared to make a lot of pasta, or dust off those math skills and halve the recipe.

I mentioned in my Recipe Roundup this week that Epicurious’s recipe for fettucine with peas, asparagus and pancetta was on the surface rather ordinary but attracted me just the same because the ratio of pasta to “chunks” was just my style: chunky! It was gnawing away at me, so I cooked it.

There’s nothing ordinary about this recipe, unless you consider perfection to be run-of-the-mill. I suppose this is an example of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” theory. Sure, the combination has been done before, but it’s tried and true for a reason, and that reason is perfection.

It was fairly easy to make and the directions were very well-written. I like it when I don’t have to alter anything in a recipe because they’ve clearly tried it out and accommodated for what you’ll run into while preparing the recipe. The only substitutions I made (c’mon, you know I had to substitute something) were plain Greek yogurt for the whipping cream and pecorino romano for the parmesan, because that’s what I keep in my house.

It was embarrassing at my dinner table. You would have thought we were eating our last meals on death row, the way we were ooing and ahing over every bite. But it’s not just us who’d love this recipe. As I was making it, I thought of the CliqueClack Food writers and their food quirks, and I realized that they’d all adore this dish as much as we did:

Jeff: Italian bacon. Wait — not enough to attract you? The vegetables are cooked in the pancetta grease. You’re all over this one now, aren’t you?

Kona: Asparagus. Just leave out the green onions and pancetta and add a little extra garlic and you’re good to go.

Bob: It’s pasta and bacon doused in cream and cheese … as good as yours.

It’s been a week for reminiscing and I’ve got pasta on the brain. Now that I know how to make my own pasta, thanks to Kona, I’ve been revisiting some of CliqueClack’s original pasta recipes to find a sauce befitting my newly found addiction. We’re finding that we’ve been sticking to pesto a lot, as it’s light enough to let the homemade pasta taste and texture shine through. We toss in some grilled or roasted veggies and some sausage and that’s that. I really do want to mix it up a bit, and looking for inspiration from my fellow food writers makes sense.

Pasta with lobster, butter beans and chives — It’s the whole toasted cumin seeds that make this dish … or is it the leeks and capers? I can see this recipe working well with the hearty spelt pasta we’ve been making.

Kona’s three simple recipes: tortellini with olive tapenade, penne with feta and corn and spinach tomato pasta all make me think of my homemade raviolis. If only I could get Keith to eat olives, that tapenade would be the first one I’d try with some white bean and sun-dried tomato ravioli.

My leeky Greeky pasta, full of  Brussels sprouts, figs, radicchio and feta cheese would be wonderful with homemade pasta, and I might even make cheese and fig raviolis to go with this.

Bob’s got the right idea with his simple yet perfect pasta with autumn sage cream sauce. I want to try a pumpkin ravioli with this recipe — wouldn’t that be the perfect complement?

Seafood pasta with tomato, baby spinach and capers is screaming for lobster ravioli … I can do that. Or maybe crabmeat ravioli….

OK, I hadn’t really thought of this, but now I’m wondering how my spelt pasta would translate into Cate’s pasta e fagioli. A pasta and bean soup … it’s got promise.

Is my famous tuna pasta worthy of homemade pasta? I’d stick with a simple linguine for this one, but this may just be the first one I try.

Pasta with scallops and bacon is no longer complete without a cheesy pesto ravioli. It has spoken.

Bob’s beef Bolognese would be amazing on any type of homemade pasta, and the grape tomato sauce he made for his campanelle makes my mouth water. Anchovy paste … bring it on.

Fresh tomato basil sauce would be excellent with any homemade pasta. It’s simple enough that you could choose to make a cheesy ravioli, yet it’s so flavorful that you could rock the linguine and no one would ever second guess you.

Which is your favorite CliqueClack Food pasta recipe?

I might have mentioned once or 87 times that Kona’s got me addicted to making homemade pasta. I started with what came out to be a cross between fettuccine and linguine for my pasta with green beans, artichokes and capers. It was delicious, fun, satisfying and all that other good stuff, but my real motivation for making homemade pasta was because I desperately miss raviolis.

Sure, I’d snitch a bite if Keith ordered them from a restaurant, but it’s not the same as enjoying a whole meal of them and it’s very difficult to find wheat-free raviolis. These were my first attempt, based on a Hawaiian recipe which was a little too crazy for my first foray into ravioli-land. I simplified the flavors and made it more traditionally Italian, since that’s what I had been craving for years anyway.

I liked the recipe because I had everything in the house and there was no cheese filling, which my son definitely didn’t need. They got the seal-of-approval from the five-year-old, so the cheese was not missed (though I will be making some cheese-filled ones at some point).

Homemade Sun-Dried Tomato Raviolis

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup white beans, cooked and drained (I used canned)
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes, re-hydrated
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water from the sun-dried tomatoes reconstituting
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil

Cook the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil and then add them to a food processor, along with all the other ingredients. Blend, and add more sun-dried tomato water to get your desired consistency.

Make your pasta dough like Kona did, or try making spelt flour pasta, my favorite! Roll the dough out to your desired consistency, cut into ravioli-sized squares and plop some filling in the center of each square. I just wet the edges with a little water, put another pasta square on top and pinched the raviolis shut.

Toss raviolis into boiling water and cook until they float, which is not very long at all, just a few minutes. Serve with your favorite sauce, or try the one below.

Tomato & Feta Cheese Sauce for White Bean Ravioli

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces diced tomatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons feta cheese
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white wine

Cook onion in the olive oil until tender, then add wine, balsamic vinegar and tomatoes to pan. Cook to reduce slightly then stir in all other ingredients. Serve over raviolis.

The ecstasy of being able to eat raviolis again has been unmatched by any other food experience lately. Oh stuffed pasta, I missed you so … I’m very glad you’re back in my life.

I mentioned in a recent post that Kona has turned me into a crazed homemade pasta maker. I’ve yet to write up those recipes — they’re coming — but I have been collecting quite an array of ravioli recipes, now that the world is my oyster. Really, it may seem silly to you, but being unable to eat wheat and craving filled pasta has left me feeling like the greyhound chasing the rabbit, for years.

The results have been nothing less than thrilling, and trying these new raviolis are tops on my list.

Roasted portobello with caramelized onion ravioli would have been the first one I tried, if I had those ingredients in the house. I love that this recipe doesn’t have cheese in it so I can control the amount of cheese that goes into my food sensitive child by just using a sprinkle of cheese in the sauce. But I’ve been feeling caramelized onions in a ravioli… oh yeah.

This recipe, originating from Hawaii, has got some really interesting flavors. White bean and sun-dried tomato ravioli includes chipotle in adobo and cumin, along with more traditional Italian flavors. I riffed off of this recipe for my first ravioli recipe, which I kept more traditional, just in case. Trying this unique version could happen though.

I’ve been dying to make pumpkin ravioli, but I’m having trouble deciding which recipe to try. This Wolfgang Puck pumpkin ravioli recipe probably doesn’t suck (and I love that he uses spinach dough), but there’s enough heavy cream in the raviolis to put my son into a dairy-induced coma, so I probably won’t attempt it. Martha Stewart’s pumpkin raviolis sound delicious, but there are crumbled up cookies in them. Beyond being weird, we don’t eat wheat so we’ve defeated the whole purpose for making homemade ravioli.

So I’m exploring the amateur chefs to see what they’ve got for me. These butternut squash raviolis can be made with any orange squash and they have some parmesan cheese which I can substitute with pecorino romano (sheep’s cheese) and my kid will make it through the meal. This one’s a distinct possibility.

One more — a dairy-free pumpkin ravioli recipe! I’ll forgive the vegan for being vegan about it, because this recipe sounds delicious from start to finish and not at all what I was expecting from a pumpkin ravioli. I’m really excited to try this one.

Which one sounds best to you?

I have the tendency to fall into cooking ruts. For a while, I was making a big pot of curry about once a week. These days I’m doing the same with homemade pizza. It’s true what they say, practice makes perfect, and through all of my pizza making, I have learned a few tips that have really helped my pizza improve.

I figured that many of you would be putting together some homemade pizza pies for the big game coming up this Sunday, so here are some tips for you.

• Don’t over-sauce: If you’re like me, you love tomato sauce. For a long time, I was a little heavy with the amount of sauce I was using on my pizzas. Sometimes, it would even leak over the side of the crust, dripping into my oven and making a big mess. Even if it doesn’t make a mess, it makes the crust kind of soggy. My advice is to go light on the sauce, and if you love it as much as I do, add some to the top of the pizza after it comes out of the oven.
• Pizza stones aren’t all they are cracked up to be: I’ve always had bad luck with pizza stones. For one, they are hard to get pizza onto. You need a peel, and I just don’t have room in my kitchen for one. Plus, my pizzas have always stuck to the peel when I have used one. I’ve found that a nice pan with holes in it does a great job in getting a nice, crisp crust.
• Easy on the fresh mozzarella: If you like to use fresh mozzarella, as I do, you have to be very careful with it. The stuff melts and flows like crazy. If you’re going to use it instead of the more conventional cheese, make sure that you slice it very thin and don’t cover 100% of the pizza. There is going to be some spreading of the cheese, and if you have too much on, it’s going to run off the crust and make a mess on the bottom of your oven. I usually go for 75-85% coverage and find that it works really well.
• Pierce the crust: Avoid those big crust bubbles by taking a fork to the rolled out dough. It’s also a great way to work out your frustration, wildly stabbing at the dough. I love doing it, but maybe that’s just me.
• Salt the crust: This is really important. Right before popping your pie into the oven, sprinkle some salt around the crust edges. The result is a tasty little surprise when you reach the end of your slice.

I hope your pizza turns out as well as mine have recently.

For better or for worse, pasta is a staple in many vegetarian diets (and that sentence is how I am able to justify this as a “Hold the Meat” post [brilliant!]). A lot of times, I’ll pretend to be healthier about it by buying whole wheat pasta and/or organic noodles. However, sometimes I”ll just throw the $1.00/box stuff in there too.

The other day though, I was reading All & Sundry, and she was talking about how she’s recently been making more food from scratch. This is something I’ve been trying to do as well, especially now that Cooper is a bit older and is eating human food (as opposed to, you know, dog food). So I clicked through to some of the recipes that she’s used, and holy crap! Why the hell didn’t anybody tell me that there are only three ingredients in pasta, and that they’re all things that I have in my house right now?

2 1/4 cups flour, 3 eggs, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. That’s all! It’s super-easy too. You just beat the eggs, and put them into a little flour nest in a large bowl, like so:

Then you mix it all together until it forms a ball of dough. Knead it about five minutes, and then put it in some greased plastic wrap (I just sprayed some cooking spray on it) and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, at which point you can get your sauce on the stove. After that, take about 1/4 of the dough and roll it out.

This part was actually pretty fun for me, because it was the first time I’d actually used a rolling pin (I know, I’m really pathetic).

Roll it out until it gets about as thin as you would want a noodle to be. Then, roll it up like you would a jelly roll and cut it into little wheels:

After that, just unfurl them, and put them aside. Do this for the three remaining quarters of your dough, then boil the pasta for about 5 minutes, until it’s firm but tender. The noodles start to float when they’re done; it doesn’t take long at all. After that, you’ve totally got pasta– without even having to have a pasta machine.

For a first try, I was really impressed with how it came out. Other than the 30 minutes the dough has to rest, it’s actually a pretty quick process. I made it kind of slow, just because I was nervous about it, but in general you can do this pretty quickly. It’s important to note that you don’t really have to roll the dough up– you can just roll it out and cut strips. I’ll probably do that next time, because the noodles ended up being a little thicker than I wanted them to be.

Going forward, I’d like to experiment with filled pasta, as well as different kinds of flour– maybe I’ll even use Debbie‘s favorite, spelt flour. But for the first time I wanted to keep it as straightforward as possible, and I’m quite pleased with the results.

I’ve mentioned before how I have recently become obsessed with making homemade pizzas. I bought the perfect pizza pan and my local Whole Foods market just makes it too easy. All it takes is a quick trip to the market and I can grab some fresh, delicious dough, sauce, cheese, and any toppings that I might have a hankering for. It even makes enough that I can have a few slices for leftovers at lunch the next day.

In the last few weeks I’ve made some particularly delicious pizzas that you may not have considered.

I was looking for something different to do with my pizzas. I was sick of the same veggies and meats and wanted something unique and delicious to get me excited about my homemade pizza. Instead of raiding the salad bar at the grocery store to find toppings, I headed over to the antipasto bar. I figured some salty/vinegary treats on my pizza would do the trick. I ended up with some fresh olives, roasted tomatoes, balsamic marinated pearl onions, and marinated mushrooms. I gave all the ingredients a rough chop and topped my pizza with them. The results were really terrific.

This past weekend I made some homemade pulled pork to christen the brand new crock pot that I received for Christmas. It was delicious, but made an enormous amount of pork, so I had a ton of leftovers. I figured that a pulled pork pizza might be a a fun and different way to use up the barbecued pork butt. I spread out the pulled pork on the crust and covered it with fresh mozzarella and fresh tomatoes. I had really hoped for some smoked mozzarella, but I couldn’t find any at the market. Tragic, I know. Regardless, the pizza turned out really well.

Next time you’re thinking about something different to do with your pizzas feel free to try one of these ideas, I think you might enjoy them.

As much as I love pesto, after the pesto pizza last night, I didn’t feel like doing our usual pesto pasta with roasted veggies. So I went back to an oldie but goodie and did a balsamic vinaigrette instead. This pasta dish has just about everything you can think of in it:

• roasted broccoli
• roasted garlic
• roasted onions
• roasted red pepper
• roasted zucchini
• roasted crimini mushrooms
• smoked turkey and chicken pesto sausage
• sun-dried tomatoes
• fresh basil leaves
• balsamic vinaigrette (pretty much equal parts balsamic vinegar and olive oil)
• crumbled feta cheese

No wonder I’m wanting to lick my lens … and I ate the stuff too!

Bolognese has been my friend for a very long time now. We frequently hang out at the dinner table, but I admit I do most of the conversing. My friend Bolognese is quiet but spectacular, but always seems to be a little bit different every time we meet. Sometimes she’s light and saucy, other times she’s chunky and rich.

That’s not a bad thing, since I’m notorious for not measuring ingredients while I cook, but I have fine-tuned my veal Bolognese recipe to something that requires a second helping, even when I’m already bursting at the seams. I still don’t measure, but there are some secrets that I use every time to get the right formula.

Don’t be shy with the wine
I’m really not sure I could make a Bolognese that tastes the way I want it to without lots and lots of wine involved. In fact, the last batch I made, I simmered all of the ingredients in a bunch of wine, and then I added more and did it all over again. I really don’t think you could overdo it.

Less is not more — go heavy on the herbs and spices
Just like with the wine, use a heavy hand when adding your dried oregano and basil and your sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. It makes all the difference to the way the flavors all meld together.

Crimini mushrooms are a must
If you like mushrooms in your Bolognese, as we do, please spring for the extra 50 cents and get the baby Bella or Crimini mushrooms. The difference in taste is like steak versus cardboard. The rich flavor of the Crimini soaks up and amplifies the other flavors in the sauce to perfection.

Veal is a must
For some reason, it just tastes so much better than beef Bolognese to me. Veal is subtler yet richer and adds a complexity that you can’t get with beef.

The secret ingredient? Sun-dried tomatoes
I’ve only recently discovered how awesome a Bolognese can be when you spike it with sun-dried tomatoes. The sweet and tart pungency adds a vivid punch to the sauce that is pure pleasure to the taste buds.

No wait … the secret ingredient is fresh basil
Stat with 1/4 cup and just keep adding. I’m not sure you can have too much fresh basil, and the greenness and freshness that it adds to the long-simmering sauce is yet another important layer in this multi-faceted sauce.

Cream really is optional
Bolognese purists everywhere are composing hate mail to me as I type this, but for me, it’s true. There are so many delectable flavors in this sauce that the cream is incidental. It may smooth and mellow the sauce a bit and add a creamy richness, but it is is no way necessary, so if you want to leave out the calories and the hard-to-digest dairy, your sauce will still be divine.

Veal Bolognese with Crimini Mushrooms and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground veal
• 1 – 1 1/2 large onions, diced
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-6 cups chopped Crimini mushrooms
• about 20 ounces canned diced tomatoes
• 1-2 cups dry red wine
• about 8-10 sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted and chopped
• 2-3 teaspoons oregano
• 2-3 teaspoons dried basil
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, or more
• crushed red pepper to taste
• about 1 teaspoon sea salt, but don’t be shy, and season twice
• lots — and lots! — of freshly ground black pepper, about 1-2 teaspoons
• freshly grated pecorino romano

Brown the meat, then add the garlic and onions and saute. You can even take the meat out if you want to brown up the veggies really well. I go for translucent, or about 5 minutes. You can add the mushrooms at this point too, but I forgot last batch and added them late and it still came out great.

Add about 1 cup of red wine and cook for a minute or so, then add diced tomatoes. Stir in dried herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then add the sun-dried tomatoes and more wine to the consistency you like, and check herbs and seasonings. Remember the secrets: I don’t think you can over-season this one, and there’s no such thing as too much wine.

Serve with the pasta of your choice; ours was brown rice penne this time and it was delightful, and sprinkle with the cheese if you like.

For another take on the Bolognese, be sure to check out Bob’s recipe for beef Bolognese, which uses stew meat and veggies.

Last night’s pesto pizza with prosciutto, red pepper, onion, halved grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, feta, mozzarella and four-cheese blend … a visual masterpiece and taste sensation! This was a pretty easy one too.

Top our usual spelt bread machine pizza dough with our homemade pesto, the raw — yes, raw; they’ll cook when you bake the pizza — veggies and other ingredients. Bake for 15 minutes in a 450 degree oven and serve with gourmet mesclun salad.

Are you drooling as much as the six cheeses are dripping over the sides of the pizza slice?

I’m basically a lazy cook. If there’s a shortcut, I’ll find it, and if I can save a dirty dish in the process then I pretty much deserve a gold medal or something. It’s that mindset that prompted me to try making risotto in the rice cooker, a smashing success, I must say.

Sadly, our rice cooker recently bit the dust, so when I wanted to make a risotto to go with our rack of lamb, I had no choice but to use a regular pot (since when I went out to buy a new rice cooker, they didn’t have what I wanted so instead I left and went shopping for some new clothes … but I digress….). And I made a glorious discovery: you do not, I repeat, do not, have to stir risotto constantly and add the broth little by little. It’s OK to be lazy, like me. Your risotto will still come out delectably creamy and rich, I promise.

I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted out of the risotto, but I bought some fresh basil and edamame and somehow they just ended up in the risotto. Ah, the way good recipes are born….

Risotto with Edamame and Fresh Basil

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups short-grain brown rice
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/3 cup basil, chiffonade style (just slice it real purdy like)
• 1 1/2 cups shelled edamame (ready-to-eat)
• 1 cup freshly grated pecorino romano
• 2 tablespoons butter
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Add a little olive oil to your pot and cook the onion until translucent or even a bit browned. Then add the rice and saute just a minute or two to get it a bit toasty. Then add the chicken stock and cover, bringing to a boil. Turn down to simmer at low to medium heat for about 45 minutes to an hour, but keep a watch on it (through a clear lid if you have one, so you don’t have to keep opening the pot and letting the steam out). You’re looking for almost all of the liquid to be absorbed, leaving you with a nice creamy rice.

Add the edamame and heat through, then remove from heat and stir in the basil, pecorino romano and butter. Season with the pepper (you may salt if you wish, but my chicken stock is already salty enough for my taste) and serve.

Trust me … no one will ever know you didn’t stir … unless of course you share this recipe with them.

Stretchy mozzarella and sprinkles of Parmesan sit atop my work of art: homemade lasagna.

When you’re time-crunched (and who isn’t around Christmas), homemade lasagna fits into any schedule. It’s delectable, decadent, and perfect for any occasion.

I prepared my lasagna one day ahead of when I needed it. Isn’t it nice to be able to enjoy your extended family’s conversation, instead of rushing about in the kitchen? I think so, too! And to make things even easier for myself, I served my lasagna on very pretty, red paper plates. That way, as we all rushed out the door after eating dinner to attend my daughter’s ballet performance, I had no dishes waiting for me when we returned home.

This delectable, decadent lasagna will wow your dinner guests. Period.

Cook’s Note: I prefer Ronzoni’s Oven Ready Lasagna over the other brands, but that’s just my preference. I used Ragu’s vegetable medley marinara (smooth, not chunky is best, especially if kids will be eating it). Use your favorite spaghetti sauce. I added a couple ingredients to the lasagna recipe on the back on the Ronzoni lasagna box.

Luscious Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground round
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (I used the already minced garlic in a jar)
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce (1 pound, 10 ounces)
• 14.5 ounces tomato sauce (use 8 ounces tomato sauce if you prefer it less saucy)
• 16 ounce package no-bake (oven-ready) lasagna noodles
• 15 ounces part skim ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon basil
• ¼ teaspoon oregano
• ¼ teaspoon Mural of Flavor
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 cups whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Brown meat, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt. Drain fat. Add minced garlic, stir. Add meat mixture to a bowl with spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce. Stir, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 2 beaten eggs, and the next three spices. Stir well.

Spray baking pan with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray. I used a 9×13 (3 inches deep) Pyrex pan. Start by ladling ¾ cup of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Lay 3 oven-ready lasagna noodles on top. Put 1/3 of ricotta mixture, 1/3 of meat mixture, and sprinkle ¾ cup of mozzarella over the layer. Repeat two more times (lasagna noodles, meat mixture, mozzarella). Doing this, I use 9 total oven-ready Ronzoni lasagna noodles. The largest portion of mozzarella is sprinkled on the top. For added taste, sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top of the last layer of mozzarella cheese. Be sure to cover all the edges of the lasagna noodles with sauce.

Bake, covered with foil, at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes (my lasagna took 60 minutes to bake). Uncover and continue baking the lasagna for about 5 minutes, so that the cheese is melted. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. Makes 12 servings.

If you want to make it a day ahead, prepare as above. Do not bake. Cover the lasagna with plastic wrap, then put foil over top. Refrigerate the lasagna. When you pull it out the next day, bake as above. What is your favorite way to make lasagna?

I’m aware that I put capers in almost everything lately. There’s definitely a caper energy permeating my household these days … and why not? They add a subtle saltiness and tang to any dish and I love the complexity that capers add to something that could be humdrum without them.

That doesn’t necessarily apply to this pasta recipe, because I don’t think there’s anything hum-drum about it. I have Emeril to loosely thank for my inspiration for this dish, with his fresh seafood pasta recipe, but beyond the seafood, tomatoes and white wine, they really don’t have a lot in common.

I was going for something distinctly tomato-y, but with some unexpected flavors, and I think I accomplished that, but without offending any traditionalists with a weird taste sensation. It’s traditional with a twist and it was a big hit tonight.

Seafood Pasta with Tomatoes, Baby Spinach and Capers

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces pasta, cooked to package instructions
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound mixed seafood (we used the Trader Joe’s seafood blend with calamari, scallops and shrimp)
• 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon pesto
• 14-ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons capers
• about 4 good-sized handfuls baby spinach
• a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (about 2 tablespoons)
• 2 pinches sea salt or to taste
• lots and lots and lots of freshly ground black pepper
• pecorino romano cheese, freshly grated

Cook the onions and garlic over medium heat in some olive oil until translucent, just a few minutes. Add the seafood and saute for about 3 minutes, before adding the tomatoes and white wine. Cook for about 5 minutes of until seafood is done. Add the pesto, capers and beans and heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in a drizzle or balsamic vinegar and the spinach, folding until spinach is wilted. Serve with grated cheese.

Just 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and cumin and a 1/4 cup of currants or raisins would change this dish dramatically, giving it a Moroccan flair. Try it for a fun and exotic meal.

I bought brown rice tortillas this week, and that means quesadillas in our house. The little tortilla pies are not something we indulge in very often because they just don’t come out great with corn tortillas. Since Owen and I don’t eat wheat, and we find it hard to work with the texture of the sprouted grain tortillas, we weren’t really left with much choice until I stumbled upon these little beauties at Trader Joe’s.

Of course we couldn’t keep it simple — it’s like unleashing a newly released prisoner in Las Vegas, right on Brothel Street. It’s hard just to ease into it once you’ve been given permission to let loose. We made two different kinds of quesadillas tonight, and it was our melding of two cultures that created the masterpiece.

Yes, we put pesto in a quesadilla, along with homemade sausage from the local meat market, two kinds of cheese and some caramelized onions and mushrooms. A little drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar and a thing of culinary beauty was born.

Quesadilla with Pesto, Sausage and Caramelized Onion

Ingredients:

• 2 tortillas (we used brown rice ones)
• about 2 tablespoons pesto (we used our homemade pesto)
• gourmet sausage (about 1 per quesadilla; we used sun-dried tomato basil), casings removed
• 1 onion, thinly sliced and caramelized
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced and sauteed until just browning
• mozzarella cheese, shredded
• feta cheese, crumbled
• aged balsamic vinegar (10 years of syrupy sweetness)

Cook up veggies while scrambling the sausage in another pan until browned and cooked through, about 5-10 minutes.

Then assemble the quesadilla in the following order: bottom tortilla, mozzarella cheese to taste, sausage, onions, mushrooms, feta, more mozzarella, top tortilla.

In a 12-inch skillet over low-to-medium heat, place the quesadilla with a smaller skillet on top, to squish things together so the cheese acts like glue when it melts. Try for about 5 minutes a side, or until cheese is melty and tortillas brown to taste.

Cut with a pizza wheel into four piece and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar just before serving.

You may never go back to a Mexican quesadilla again.

Happy Halloween everyone. I hope you all are having a good Halloween. I thought about writing a piece about some cool spooky Halloween kind of dish. I came up with the idea of making a meatloaf into the shape of a hand or a foot or something. Then I came across the Not Martha website. This is a cool looking meatloaf and my wife and I thought it would be fun to make one of these the next time we get the whole family together so I am now on the hunt for a hand shaped mold. So now that the meatloaf body part has already been perfected by someone else I decided to go with my original idea and give you my lasagna recipe instead.

I like to make a big pan of lasagna because it will last a couple of days and it is easy to make. The prep time is a little more involved, but you will not be spending the whole day slaving over a hot stove.

Cheesy Lasagna

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound lasagna noodles
• 1 can (12 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 large onion diced
• 1 pound Velveeta cheese
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 pound shredded cheddar cheese
• oregano and garlic

Cook the noodles in a large pot. If you want to use the ready bake noodles it will save some time. I have tried these and prefer cooking my noodles.

While the noodles are cooking, brown the ground beef in a large frying pan with the diced onion.

Add the tomato sauce. Add the oregano and garlic to taste. Simmer the meat and sauce for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Drain the noodles and set aside to cool.

When the noodles are cool lay a layer of the noodles in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Add a layer of the meat and sauce. Next add a layer of Velveeta slices. You can get the large brick of Velveeta and cut into slices, or you can use the sliced Velveeta.Now add a layer of the mozzarella cheese and the cheddar cheese. Instead of using the mozzarella and cheddar you can use your favorite blended cheese.

If you like cheesy lasagna this is the way to go. I don’t know how many calories are in a serving of this lasagna, but I do know I have to loosen my belt after eating a plate of this delicious dish.

I hope everyone has a happy, safe, and scary Halloween.

Oh and Rich — I want to thank you for your Candy Pyramid post. When my wife read it and found out why we never seem to get any trick or treaters she banned me from handing out candy. Me and the dogs will be watching the World series game uninterrupted tomorrow night.

If you’ve been following along at home, you know that I’ve never made baked ziti before. Part of me knows why I’ve been avoiding it: it’s a lot of steps, and a lot of dishes! But this particular recipe had a hook that convinced me it was time to try it. It makes enough for two casseroles, and one pops right into the freezer. I’ve become a monster when it comes to having easy meals ready, so I thought it would be worth the time and the mess.

What’s the verdict? Was it worth the sink full of dishes and the time spent on the multiple steps to make this casserole?

I’m on the fence with that answer, mostly because I’m a food snob. Baked ziti … wait for it … is a plebeian dish. When I can make a pasta dish that is more innovative than this one, with more unique flavors and less steps and dishes, I’m not sure why I’d choose this sausage and pepper baked ziti recipe.

That said, we couldn’t stop eating it, even though it was in the back of my mind (and yes, it did come out of my mouth too) that this was a meal that would fit in with the all-you-can-eat pasta buffet at the likes of Olive Garden. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but for a food snob, it does become a factor.

In all honesty, it was very delicious and with just a few tweaks it could be pretty amazing:

• I’d add some frozen spinach next time.
• It also needed some spices, so I’d probably just mix in an Italian spice blend or Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. This was in the back of my mind while preparing it, but I wanted to be true to the recipe for a test drive, and I thought maybe I was underestimating the sweet Italian sausage.
• Fresh basil would go a long, long way in this dish.
• As would some feta cheese.
• The vegetables would have more flavor if browned instead of (essentially) steamed.

By the way, I was right — it was a huge mess!

I attended a wedding a few weeks ago for two of my friends. The bride is a vegetarian, so I knew that whatever the vegetarian option was at the reception, it was going to be good. After all, she’s not going to just feed herself crap, right? I was correct in my assumption, but I was not prepared for exactly how good it was going to be.

Pasta is always an easy choice for vegetarians, so it didn’t surprise me that we had a gnocchi dish. However, this is not your ordinary gnocchi dish– this is out of this world. Sauteed spinach, mixed mushrooms, cubes of butternut squash all covered with a healthy topping of feta cheese and a splash of red wine. It was sweet, savory, and I did not want it to end. Alas, however, it did. So I decided to continue its legacy in my own house.

The cool thing about this is that I was able to make the dish using several organic ingredients. At Super Target, I was able to get organic gnocchi and baby spinach, but they were out of butternut squash, so we had to end up getting a bag of frozen organic squash from the regular grocery store. For the mixed mushrooms, we had some dried mixed mushrooms that we had gotten from Costco, so I decided to rehydrate those and throw them on in there.

Here’s the problem: the only time I had ever used that frozen butternut squash was when I was straining it into baby food, so I’ve never cooked with it before. It was cut in blocks, and my intent was to get them crispy on the outside, so I decided to saute them in garlic, olive oil, and a some salt and pepper. That did not work. By the time I added the other ingredients and started sauteing them all together, my blocks of squash had broken down, and basically created strained squash all over my other ingredients, which is why you can’t even really see it in the picture.

Even though the squash broke down, the dish ended up tasting basically the way I wanted it to. The dried mushrooms ended up being fine, but in the future, I’m definitely going to get both fresh squash (which I guess I’ll roast?) and fresh mushrooms. Other than that, this is a super-easy and super-quick meal to make that uses a lot of really interesting ingredients that, chances are, you’re not eating on a daily basis. While the dish I ended up with may not quite be up to Clyde’s standards, I highly recommend you give it a shot yourself. Or, if you’re in the D.C. area, just go to the restaurant and have them do it for you.

All appetizers, all the time… that’s what’s cooking this week. Last weekend my siblings and I threw a surprise retirement party for my Dad and I was in charge of appetizers. I wanted to do something fun and different so a-hunting I went for fresh and new recipes.

I didn’t make all of these, but I’ll be sure and report which I did make and how they fared with the crowd.

Chickpea pizza is an appetizer recipe I couldn’t help but file away for another day. This one’s gluten-free and sounds just perfect for my wheat-sensitive kid, with lots of fun flavors to please even people who can eat everything.

Sugar pumpkin, feta and cilantro quesadillas didn’t make the cut for the retirement party, but only because my dad is infinitely weird about cilantro. Since I was catering to him that day, it just wouldn’t have been right to make an appetizer that I lusted after.

Cherry tomatoes stuffed with marinated feta seemed so simple to make, but don’t discount the giant pain in the tutu it is to scoop the flesh out of a cherry tomato. Other than that, it was easy and worth it. I liked having a cold appetizer that was pop-able.

Oh yes, I made the prosciutto filled with happiness, and happiness they brought to everyone who sampled them. You can’t go wrong stuffing that salty meat with toasted pine nuts, currants, gorgonzola crumbles and arugula, probably my favorite green in the universe.

I also made eggplant rolls, stuffed with pesto and mozzarella cheese. They were delicious, but I didn’t get the recipe online, so I’ll share it with you in another post at some point.

One word for you folks: Saltimbocca. Sage is one of my favorite herbs, and prosciutto is one of the greatest foods on Earth (I often like to joke, well half-joke, that my favorite three words are: wrapped. in. prosciutto.). It should be no surprise, then, that I am a huge fan of Saltimbocca. There is something about mixing the tender salty prosciutto with the strong perfumey sage that make a perfect dish.

Saltimbocca is a great dish because of it’s versatility. Because the real stars are the sage and the prosciutto, it can be made with just about any meat. I’ve seen recipes that use chicken, veal, pork, and even fish with the classic combination.

Saltimbocca is not the only beautiful marriage of these two tasty ingredients. One of my favorite appetizers to make is prosciutto and Gruyere pinwheels. It’s a simple and easy recipe, with the two title ingredients rolled in a sheet of puff pastry along with fresh sage leaves. They make for a great presentation and are just a little bit fancy (aside from being delicious).

This recipe for braised pork shanks with prosciutto and sage looks delicious and will definitely find its way to my “to-make” list. For me, sage always triggers happy memories of Thanksgiving stuffing, and this recipe puts these two ingredients together in just that, a stuffing. Sounds great. There are a couple other great recipes for this perfect pair, including Emeril’s prosciutto and mushroom ravioli with fried sage. How about something a little different? You can even have these two ingredients with fruit! This recipe for roasted pears with sage and crisp prosciutto sounds pretty awesome, and super easy.

Are you as big a fan of this flavor combo as I am?

Pasta. Talk about universal and unifying. Everyone likes pasta, and if they don’t, then you can quickly weed them out from the group of people with whom you should associate, because they are clearly insane. When I moved in with a meat eater, we would make pasta most nights, because it was an easy dish that we could both eat. Sure, maybe we gained a little weight during those first few months, but it helped with dinner before we got adventurous and branched out to other dishes.

While there are many variations that we would do, most of our dishes would center around red sauce. This is mainly because Alfredo sauce generally grosses me out, and pesto sauce is often a little too overpowering for me. Recently though, I’ve branched out and started doing the unthinkable: making pasta without sauce. One of the dishes I’ve been making for years, but the other two are quite recent additions to my repertoire. Because I’m awesome, I’ll share them with you now.

Penne with Feta and Corn

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This is the one that I’ve been doing for a while– ever since I had a similar dish at a restaurant. What I love about it is that these are usually ingredients I already have laying around the house (well, not “around the house.” Generally in the kitchen). We buy the super-sized jar of capers at Costco, so I often find excuses to use them.

• 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn
• 1 4 oz. container of crumbled feta cheese
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tbs. capers
• 1 box of penne pasta
• salt & pepper to taste

While you’re boiling the water and cooking your pasta, saute the corn in the olive oil and garlic and capers (I usually grind some pepper in here too) in a large pan until the corn starts to caramelize. Add the pasta and feta cheese and toss together. The feta cheese will get all melty and delightful.

Variations:

Sometimes, if I’m feeling extra-fancy, I’ll saute some sun-dried tomatoes and/or artichoke hearts as well.

Spinach Tomato Pasta

Light, healthy pasta with just a few ingredients. I love spinach, but I’m not a big fan of it when it’s a) by itself, or b) overcooked and stringy. This spinach gets cooked just enough to soften it up, but since there isn’t a sauce, there’s not enough moisture to make it all goopy.

• 1 box penne or other pasta (gnocchi is good for this as well)
• 8 oz. fresh baby spinach
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 1-2 garlic cloves (to taste)
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

whop up the garlic and saute it in the olive oil on med-low heat. Slice the grape tomatoes in  half and put them in the pan. Saute for about 3 minutes, then add the spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste. Saute until the tomatoes and spinach start to get soft. Toss in the pasta.

Cheese Tortellini with Olive Tapenade

This is something I just experimented with over the weekend. I found a really great recipe for olive tapenade, but I didn’t have any bread or crackers. I also didn’t have any pasta sauce or tomatoes, for that matter, so I decided to make up some cheese tortellini anyway and use the tapenade as a sauce. Tapenade is quite salty, so the cheese is key, since it cuts that a little bit.

• 1 package cheese tortellini or other cheese-filled pasta
• 1 cup green olives
• 1 1/2 tbs. capers
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbs. fresh cilantro

While you’re cooking the tortellini, combine all other ingredients into a food processor and process until chunky. Toss in some pasta. Remember, a little goes a long way.

Last week I talked about how much I love risotto. This risotto recipe is actually the one that inspired the post. It featured sauteed fresh garden zucchini (which I know you’re trying to get rid of this time of year), and reduced super-sweet balsamic vinegar. I served it with some steak, but to be honest, it really would have been perfect with some marinated grilled chicken.

Whatever you do, be careful when reducing the balsamic vinegar. I ended up having to do it twice because I went a little too far the first time and ended up with balsamic taffy instead of syrup. What a mess.

Zucchini and Balsamic Risotto

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of arborio rice
• 1 large shallot, finely diced
• 1/4 cup sherry or white wine
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar (approximate)
• 1 medium sized zucchini, quartered and sliced
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

Saute the shallots on medium high heat with a small amount of olive oil in a small pot for about five minutes. Add the cup of rice and cook for one to two minutes. Add the sherry or wine and let it cook until almost completely reduced. Add the chicken stock slowly, about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring the rice constantly. In a separate pan, saute the zucchini with some olive oil on medium heat. In a small saucepan reduce the balsamic vinegar over medium high heat until it is greatly reduced and thick and syrupy.

Continue to add the stock and stir the rice mixture until the rice is cooked to your desired doneness. Lower the heat and stir in the butter. Grate about half a cup of parmesan cheese into the risotto. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the zucchini and approximately two tablespoons of the reduced balsamic and stir everything until well mixed.

Risotto is awesome. Is that news? I was making a steaming pot of it this past weekend, thinking about just how awesome it really is. It’s a great comfort food: it’s hot, creamy, soul-satisfying, and definitely sticks to your ribs. I think it might just be the greatest food for the single folk. There’s something nourishing in standing over the stove, stirring the gooey rice. I feel like risotto is something you can curl up with in the couch, eating it right out of the pot you cooked it in. It’s like food and a friend.

There’s more to risotto than the comfort, though. I love it because it’s so versatile. The rice, slowly cooked in broth to bring out the natural starches, is a great flavor and texture base. There is no end to the things that you can add to risotto. You can chop and saute vegetables (from peas and carrots, to zucchini, mushrooms, or even broccoli) and stir them in at the end.Or, you can even add various meats, like prosciutto or grilled chicken. Just about any fresh herb can really add a punch to your risotto. One of my favorite variations uses tomato sauce and a little cream to make a luxurious pink rice. Risotto can serve as a great side dish, or it can be an entire meal in and of itself. You have to appreciate that.

Sure, it’s not the easiest or fastest dish to make. Risotto takes a whole lot of love to make right, cooking it slowly and constantly stirring it to make sure all the natural starches make it creamy and delicious. All that effort pays off in a big way though. I think that a lot of the best food takes some love and attention. Sure, some people say that you can make risotto in the slow cooker, but it seems like sacrilege to me.

If your appetite is whetted for risotto now, you can check out this recipe for mushroom, prosciutto and fresh pea risotto.

Should you decide to take a trip to Las Vegas, you will inevitably encounter three things: extreme heat (in the summer, not the winter), thousands of slot machines, and buffets. While you can avoid the heat (air conditioned hotels) and the slot machines (plenty of places to shop) you can’t avoid the buffets. Especially in a town that has increasingly been connected with pricey, celebrity chef venues. Which means, of course, mucho dinero.

As many of these new restaurants feature small portions for high prices and long waits (even with reservations), the lure of the buffets seems even stronger. Even at some of the higher end places, such as the buffet at Wynn’s, the amount of money dished out gives you a much better selection of food. Thing is, there are so many buffets in Las Vegas that it’s hard to choose one or two for your gorging pleasure. Well, if that’s your issue don’t worry. Here are 10 tips to make your buffet experience a successful one.

1. Do your research — Thanks to that wonderful invention called the Interworldweb, there are plenty of research options to find buffets t0 pique your interest. For example, lasvegasadvisor.com has a whole section on buffets that includes photos, costs, and customer reviews (Garden Court Buffet at Main Street Station is one of the best, while the Emperor’s Buffet at the Imperial Palace is rated one of the worst). You can also go to the individual hotel websites for buffet information. Though, they may be somewhat biased in the opinion of their own services.

Another form of research: ask the locals. These are folks who go to these buffets on a regular basis and can separate the good from the bad. Instead of pointing you to some of the larger resorts, these folks may direct you to the smaller, local establishments that normally cater to the local citizens. It’s these places that are normally the best in town.

2. Bigger doesn’t always mean better – Just because the buffet, and the dining room it stands in, seem huge, it doesn’t mean the quality of food is the best. Take the Round Table Buffet at Excalibur. It looked impressive from the outside; however, once I got in and saw the selections … well, I might as well have been dining at my local Old Country Buffet or my high school cafeteria. On the other hand, while Harrah’s Flavors, The Buffet was small it had some very good food.

3. More expensive doesn’t always mean better – See number 2, just replace “large” with “costly.” Just because a dinner buffet is $35 doesn’t mean you’ll get the best quality and selection of food. Again, research these places before paying $100 for you, your wife, and your kids. You may get some very expensive slop instead of good food.

4. Get there early — Especially when 1) You’re hungry, and 2) You’re in the city during a big convention or heavy vacation season. This is particularly important for dinner. Arrive any time after 6:30 at most buffets and expect to wait in line. After a long, hot day pounding the flat pavement of Las Vegas Boulevard you’re not going to want to wait to eat.

5. Small portions! Small portions! – I know your first instinct at seeing all of the food surrounding you is to grab a plate and load it to the point that it’s heavier than you are. Bad idea! You’re going to waste a lot of those items, and get fuller faster with that plan. Instead, give the buffet a once-over and select some items you want to sample. If you enjoy what you eat then get some more during your second or third time around. Don’t worry, there will be plenty for everyone.

6. Try something different — Here’s a simple rule: if the selection you’re looking at is not something you make at home give it a try (unless it has something that will give you an allergic reaction). Many of these buffets now feature not only Italian and Mexican specialties but Chinese, Japanese, and even Korean items. There’s no harm to try something new. If you don’t like it then push it aside on your plate.

7. Chew, swallow, repeat — Don’t worry, the craps table isn’t going anywhere. No need to shovel the food down your gullet. All that’s going to do is make you feel bloated and increase the difficulty of walking down the Strip during those chilly 106-degree summer days. Just chew, swallow, take a sip of liquid, and contemplate the flavors of what you just ate.

8. Eat a vegetable, for Pete’s sake! — Take a good look at the buffet. See those leafy things in the bowl, or the stringy, beany things on that plate? Those things are called vegetables and they should be a part of the buffet experience. Not only will they aid in digestion, but it will give you the energy required to stay awake for that 10:30 topless review show.

9. Watch the desserts — They may look wonderful, they may smell wonderful, but the taste may be less than wonderful. Unless you’re buffeting in a resort that highlights pastry shops in their selection of dining items (Paris and Venetian, for example), be wary of the dessert offerings. Especially the cakes and pies, which can look like your mom’s original recipe but taste like your drunk uncle’s recipe. If you’re dying for some sugar you can always tackle the sundae bar or, like at Harrah’s, grab some tasty gelato.

10. When done, take a walk — Believe it or not, Las Vegas is a walking city. So, when you’re done eating your and your wife’s weight in crab legs, get up, stretch your legs, and walk around the streets and shopping midways of Sin City. By the time you reach your hotel you’ll be ready for that $7.99 steak and shrimp special.