Picking up where I left off, on our staycation, we had some good eats over Labor Day staying home in the Washington, DC metro area.  Twice I cooked up something fierce.

French Toast… as seen on Giada’s Weekend Getaways at Cafe Nola in Seattle.  See recipe here.

I found the recipe to be delicious but husband wasn’t wild about the orange zest.

I used day old french loaf baked fresh from my local neighborhood Harris Teeter and real Vermont maple syrup – none of that crap that comes in a squeezable bottle.  I just don’t think that syrup tastes good unless its in a glass bottle or jar.  I digress.

Overall this was an excellent breakfast and I had a TON left over.

Next up, we had our dear friend Rick and Colleen over for dinner.  Colleen has food allergies, especially allergic to soy and gluten.  So I took on the challenge and found that cooking “soy and gluten free” was easier than I had initially anticipated.

I made tilapia in citrus sauce, with a side of Lundbergs gluten free wild rice and prosciutto wrapped asparagus.  The tilapia was very east to make.  I bought about 21/2 lbs from the Whole Foods fish counter.  The citrus sauce recipe was really easy… I used this recipe from AllRecipes.com which called for orange roughy but could be used on any white fish.  You really cant go wrong with lemon, lime, orange juice and butter. Yum-o!

The rice I just made according to the directions.  Lundbergs has a large variety of gluten free rices and while my husband and I do NOT have good allergies, we had already discovered and had been enjoying the Lundberg brand for quite some time.

Without a doubt, the star of this plate was the prosciutto wrapped asparagus.

Even if you don’t like asparagus, you WILL LIKE IT when its wrapped in crispy prosciutto.

The recipe is a cinch – buy a bundle of fresh asparagus and a 1/4 pound of sliced prosciutto from the deli counter at your local grocery store. Be sure to get fresh sliced prosciutto — the prepackaged slices do not work as well for wrapping. Pre-heat your oven to 425.

Wrap 4-5 asparagus spears in two slices of the prosciutto and secure with a wooden tooth pick.  Repeat until all is wrapped and ready.  Place the little asparagi bundles on a foil lined cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and stick in the oven.  Cook at 425 for 10 minutes, then flip the bundles and cook another 10 minutes or until crispy.

I promise you will LOVE it.

And to finish off this rather healthy dessert I made a flour-less chocolate cake. Again, I found a recipe from allrecipes.com and the reviews were so positive I just had to try it.  In a word, it was decadent.  Served with homemade whipped cream and Breyers vanilla ice cream (p.s. anyone notice that Beryers has jazzed up their branding?  I like it!)

After eating such a healthy dinner, I didnt feel bad about having a slice (or two) of flourless chocolate cake… a decadent ending to a wonderful staycation.