Appetizer: Chocolate and Brie Panini. Brilliant recipe by Giada. I saw her make this on Oprah last year and I was very curious about it. And then Kim suggested it, I was like, “Yes!” It was definitely as delicious as I thought it would be. The chocolate, surprisingly, wasn’t very sweet and went very well with the brie. What a perfect Sunday brunch item.

Entree: Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe, Caramelized Garlic and Parmesan. This recipe did not turn out as well as expected due to a whoopsies. She misread the recipe and thought it said four heads of garlic, not four cloves. Needless to say, the gnocchi had an intense garlic flavor. So, really, I can’t say if this was a good dish or not, we’ll have to try it again at a later date, with the correct measurements.

Side Dishes: Pan-Grilled Tomato and Feta Salad and Honey-Glazed Carrots. The honey-glazed carrots are a simple side dish to whip up and will go well with any entree. The salad was interesting and flavorful. The lemon vinaigrette was a nice balance with the feta and tomatoes.

Dessert: Kristy’s Apple Cake. So, my old college roommate shared with me this awesome apple cake and I thought I would make it for dinner. It was a hit. The cake was moist, chockfull of shredded apples. The topping gave the cake a nice buttery, sweet crust. Thank you, Kristy, for this fantastic recipe!

Appetizer: Potato Chips with Blue Cheese Dip. Such an easy recipe, guys! So easy to whip together the dip and chill. And as long as you have a mandoline or something that can slice potatoes quickly, then you’re in good shape. I’m thinking I may have to just make these potato chips so I can have them around the house, way healthier than the bagged, fried ones. And I’m thinking the dip may taste fantastic on a baked potato, I’ll have to try that sometime.

Entree: Spaghettini with Oil and Garlic. This is a very straightforward pasta dish that is simple to make. I liked how light it tasted and it seems versatile if you wanted to add some protein to it, like chicken or shrimp. This is a great summer pasta, you don’t feel so full after consuming a plateful of it.

Side Dishes: Caesar Salad and Chard with Shallots, Pancetta and Walnuts. The Caesar salad was delicious as always, that dish never fails. The chard, on the other hand, was an overall thumbs-down. None of us were that impressed with it, maybe we all figured out we don’t like chard. There is a slight bitter taste to it and I’m not a fan of bitter greens.

Dessert: Fried Cookie Dough. Fun concept, poor execution. We had tremendous problems with the batter separating from the cookie dough so it was more of a “deconstructed fried cookie dough.” We ended up dipping the fried batter into the dough. Yeah, that was pretty much a fail. It didn’t taste bad, it just didn’t work how it was supposed to but we did get to eat cookie dough and we were happy.

So, this week’s menu can be chalked up to: “You win some, you lose some.”