I love strawberries. Always have. As a child, I would dip them in confectioners sugar and savor every sweet and scrumptious bite. As an adult though, I have a bit more of a sophisticated take on how I love my berries – smothered in fine chocolate. Mmmm….

So I got creative the other afternoon, and decided to take some of my spare chocolate and create some lovely fruits for dessert. I had these strawberries in my fridge, and they really needed to be used before they were unusable.

There really is no recipe for this – it’s just too simple for that. First I melted milk chocolate (3.5 ounces of it). Then I dipped the clean strawberries and swirled them so that the chocolate was pretty even all the way around. Then I carefully placed them on a sheet of parchment paper.

Next I melted about 1 ounce of white chocolate. Using a spoon, I drizzled it over the milk chocolate for a nice artistic effect.

Then I just let them set for 1-2 hours, and transferred them to this lovely serving dish.

Oh and were they ever good. My husband stole a few before I could even photograph them. He was wowed.

I won’t tell you about standing in the kitchen feeding them to each other. That’s a little too corny for me to describe . . . but it did happen.

. . . making some really scrumptious creations. Pastries mostly, as I have a killer sweet tooth. So I was thinking, I should lay it all on the table and if anyone knows some awesome recipes for these things, then by all means let me know. After all, learning to make new things is one of my favorite parts of cooking.

So here it goes, my dream creations list, in no particular order:

• Chocolate croissants
• Napoleons
• Black and whites
• A delicious and super creamy strawberry milkshake
• Tortillas (soft)
• Red clam sauce
• Brown basmati rice that is cooked all the way through (it’s a big problem for me with this type of rice)
• Palek Paneer
• Garlic knots (NY pizzeria style)
• Flan

So have it my semi ambitious list. What do you think? What recipes do you dream of?

It’s Sunday and that means that it’s time for Kalyn’s Weekend Herb Blogging and Cate’s Weekend Dog Blogging. Be sure to check both places later tonight for their roundups.

For WHB this week, I whipped up a yummy pasta that is pretty easy and very delicious. This is one instance where I strongly recommend that you don’t substitute dried herbs for the fresh because it just isn’t the same without the fragrant fresh basil.

This recipe is a lower calorie version of a dish my mother used to make. The longer you let the brie and tomatoes sit, the better because the acidic tomatoes will “melt” the cheese to make a creamy dreamy sauce.

Tomato Brie Pasta
Serves 2

2-3 ounces Brie, cut into pieces (freeze for 5-10 minutes before cutting to make it easier)
2 plum tomatoes, diced
10-12 basil leaves, torn into pieces
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup pasta

Combine Brie, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper and olive oil in a medium bowl and stir well.

Set aside and let stand for at least 30 minutes.

Cook the pasta until al dente.

Toss tomato brie mixture with pasta and serve.