Date Night with the Hubs Friday 01/27/12

At least once a month, Jared and I try to escape ours hectic lives and devote a night to each other. Friday just so happened to be our night to do that! On these nights you will not find me in the kitchen creating a craving, instead I'll just be out enjoying one. This particular date night was centered around going to the Comedy Club at 7:30 so Jared and I needed to pick somewhere that had a great Happy Hour. Somewhere cheap, that offered a variety of choices, and great atmosphere. Naturally we chose the Cheesecake Factory. Now normally I would not put the Cheese cake Factory and cheap in the same sentence, but they have a surprisingly reasonable Happy Hour menu with a wide variety of choices. If I had to guess I'd say anywhere from 30 to 50 "small plates" ranging from $3 to $7. Not to mention Happy Hour Includes $5 specialty drinks, $5 well drinks, $4 wines, and $3 beers. It lasts from 4 pm to 6 pm Monday through Friday, but if you get there any later than 4:00, you might as well just turn around and leave. Happy Hour is first come first serve tables and CCF fills up fast!

Now for the food. my husband and I share the same theory, "When its cheap, eat eat eat!" And we did. We started off with the Tex Mex Egg rolls and Buffalo Blasts. These were roughly around $5 a piece. In my mind I'm thinking there will be 2 or 3 pieces to a plate....wrong! There were 6 egg roll halves and 6 buffalo blasts that were the size of Jared's hand. This literally was a meal in it self but we weren't stopping there.



Tex Mex Egg rolls with spicey avocado ranch



Buffalo Blasts with Ranch

We decided to go a little lighter for round 2, we ordered the house salads on the Happy Hour menu, $3.50 and substitute ranch for the house vinaigrette. As for drinks I had J.W.'s pink lemonade and 2 margarita's. The lemonade was okay, but the margs were Delicious. Jared had a Long Island Iced Tea which he wasn't a fan of and a beer. So 2 apps, 2 salads, and 5 drinks later we were at $46.00. I'd say that's pretty good.

I will be on the look out for a copycat recipe for the Tex Mex egg rolls. I think I found one for the buffalo blasts. I will give it a try and let you know. Maybe Super Bowl snack?
CHEESECAKE FACTORY'S BUFFALO BLASTS(copycat recipe)

pack of wonton wrappers (large squares)
one egg white
1 chicken breast or canned chicken for a short cut
frank's buffalo style hot sauce
grated cheese (I'm gonna try the Kraft Mexican Blend with Philadelphia)
bread crumbs (both plain large crumbs and italian style)

Bake the chicken breast at 375 until done. Shred the breast (I only use the inside because it's the most tender).

Lay out the wonton wrapper and lay chicken breast inside with cheese and drizzle hot sauce over it. I like to add a little garlic powder to mine. Moisten the edges of the wonton with water or egg white and fold it horizontally, pressing the edges closed. Use a pastry brush and brush egg white over the outside and cover with a mix of the italian and plain bread crumbs.

Place them two at a time into a deep fryer at 375 until they're golden brown. Make sure to turn them. Place on a napkin or paper towel to drain excess oil off.

Serve ranch or blue cheese dressings