Iron Chef Phyllo Dough

Erik totally surprised me with Iron Chef Phyllo dough! I didn't see that one coming. However, it was tied with apples for the best iron chef ever!! Of course - this was also an ode to Erik's favorite foods :). If I would have added bacon and beer it would have beat everything else! I made:

• Caramel fondue with phyllo dough dippers - I made a homemade caramel sauce with brown sugar, heavy cream, corn syrup, butter and vanilla. Then made cinnamon sugar phyllo dough to dip in. Erik thought the phyllo dough as a vehicle for the caramel dip was great!
• Pizza roll ups - I put pepperoni and mozarella cheese with pizza sauce in phyllo dough and rolled it up with fresh basil on top. It was delicious and the lightness of the phyllo dough made the flavor of the pizza shine.
• Phyllo dough encrusted salmon with honey pecan sauce - This was amazing! I knew you could cook salmon in phyllo dough but didn't realize how moist and delicious it would be. Unfortunately I didn't know how long to cook it so I just kept cooking it :). It didn't burn though. I cooked it at 375 for about half an hour and was cooked perfectly. Maybe the phyllo dough seals in the moisture so it doesn't dry out or burn? Whatever - it was awesome!
• Phyllo and berry cream parfaits - I layered raspberries and blueberries with phyllo dough and a cream cheese/whip cream mixture. This was delicious but Erik mentioned that the phyllo dough was a little lost in all the cream and berries. I had to agree.
• Raspberry tart - I made a raspberry tart by arranging raspberries in a little pan with phyllo dough as the crust. Then I melted some sugar and strawberry jam together and poured it on top. Wow. Yum.

This iron chef earned me 16.4 from Erik and 15.4 from me with no dish earning less than an 8/10. I've never scored that high on taste for any of the iron chef competitions!

I had this fabulous idea (in my mind) to reach women at the abortion clinic. I bought 10 $5 Starbucks gift cards to give to the women going in the clinic for just coming to talk to us. I really want to reach these women - it's so hard watching them go in. Anyway, Friday was exciting in that one guy drove up to us. His girlfriend was not there to get an abortion, rather she was getting a DnC after a miscarriage. I gave him a card and some information from the Pregnancy Decision Health Center. Even so - someone came and talked to us which was exciting.

One thing in my life that has built my strong pro-life stance is something my Mother did long ago. My mother refused a DnC after a miscarriage prior to my youngest sister being born. That has had a lasting impact on me that she took such a strong stance on this. I hope to show my girls by my words and actions that unborn babies are important and loved as well.

I did terrible on quiddler with a dismal score of 57 losing the t, r, and l. But I made the word pliers which is slightly higher than insignificant in its importance :).