Game Night Snack's

We had Sweet & Sour Sausage Wontons, Cream Cheese Wontons & Pretzels!

I bought a large package of wonton wrappers and dove on in!

Sweet & Sour Sausage Wontons

2 pieces of Sausage (unwrapped cooked and crumbled) I used chicken apple sausage
4 tbls. Sweet n' Sour sauce
1/2 pkg of wonton wrappers
1 small bowl of water

 Add the sauce to the cooked sausage - mix cook down, remove from heat.
Add 1/2 tsp 1 tsp of mix to the middle of each wrapper.
Wet the edges and fold.
I did mine in the purse shape as directed on the package.
I also baked my wontons, feel free to deep fry them if you like.
350 degrees for 10 min.

Cream Cheese Wontons

1 pkg Cream Cheese
1/2 pkg Wonton Wrappers
1/2 C. Sweet & Sour Sauce (for dipping)

Add 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp cream cheese to middle of each wonton wrapper. Again I used the purse wrap (next time I will do it differently.)
Using water to seal the edges I prepped all of them.
Baked them at 130 for 10 min.
Next time I most likely will fry these but even baked they were delicious!

Pretzel Recipe

3 3/4 C. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. table salt
Rock salt for topping
1 tsp. Veg. Oil
1 tsp. Butter
3/4 C. Plus 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 1/4 C. 2 Tbsp Warm Water

Water bath recipe (for when pretzels are formed)
2 C. Warm water
2 Tbsp. Baking Soda

Prepare yeast (add to warm water allow to sit for 15 min)
Add oil to yeast and Stir
In separate bowl mix, sugar, butter, flour and salt.
Then add yeast mix.
Flour a surface & knead the dough for 10-15 min.
Add dough to a large bowl - cover & rest in a warm area (my suggestions are in microwave, oven ect)

Pre-heat oven to 425, separate into 8 sections.
Roll into long ropes, twist into pretzel shapes or into simple twists.
Dip each pretzel into water bath and then layout on parchment sheet.
Bake 10 min.
Brush with melted butter & sprinkle with rock salt.

All the food was delicious! I think I will prepare the wontons differently next time. 



 

The Cheesecake Factory ~ A Review

 The Cheesecake Factory, Murray, Utah.

For our 10th anniversary, hubby and I choose to dine together (childless!) at our local cheesecake factory.
Now I have some feed back and of course photos to share.
The first photo is my hubby's course.

It was fantastic.
Normally I don't really rave on food places ~ especially ones priced so above other normal dining.

However, besides having amazing food the cheesecake factory does a few other things RIGHT!
Lighting, music levels, plate sizes and color schematics are done well.
The color and presentation of the food, the quality of every piece that came out of the kitchen.

But what really throws them over the top?
The service.
Not kidding.
They have one person dedicated to an area.
I mean DEDICATED. He/she does not leave that area, not to turn in order slips, get food, extra plates, bread nothing.
Each server has a computer and 2-4 wait staff that support him in the running, fetching, cleaning, greeting, drink filling... well you get the idea.
This way you never have a hard time getting service.
You are never forgotten.
You never have to flag someone else down.
They are the best of the best of the best that the restaurant has to offer.
They are the "career" servers. The ones that made it up the chain, training and were promoted to the spot.

This is what really puts Cheesecake Factory over and above so many of the other restaurants.
Yes the food is amazing, yes the ambiance is great, but if you have a bad wait staff it won't matter.
One bad customer service experience leaves many people bitter toward a place.
This company should have 5 stars on service alone.
They really do know how to treat a customer right!

I highly recommend this restaurant, in any city, in any state - anywhere because its clear how much the corporation values excellence!