One of my favorite restaurants in the entire world is conveniently located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Mas Tapas has awesome sangria, fun margaritas, and some of the best food I've ever eaten; and because it's a Spanish place, it's mostly Paleo without even trying.

It's been some time since I called Charlottesville "home," which has given me the opportunity to attempt to re-create some of my favorite dishes from Mas' menu. I'm almost there with a goat cheese and artichoke dip, but it still needs work. The bacon-wrapped dates, however, I hit out of the park on my first attempt (if I do say so myself).

This is one of the easier and still most delicious things you could probably ever make. You don't have to do anything to either of the ingredients, because both ingredients are inherently perfect. I do like to stuff them with goat cheese before wrapping them in bacon, though, because I'm wild like that.

Ingredients:

• As many dates as you want. (I would make 3-4 per person, though.)
• As much bacon as you want. (Each date gets half a slice.)
• Several tablespoons of softened goat cheese. 

Instructions: 

1. Split open each date with a small paring knife and stuff with goat cheese--I like to take a little spoon, get some cheese, and roll it into an oblong ball before just popping it right in.
2. Wrap each stuffed date in about half a piece of bacon. Place on a baking sheet.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until bacon is cooked through and the whole bite is caramelized. They're going to be really super hot, so give them a second to cool if you can. If not--I understand--just enjoy with caution! They're best when still quite warm. 

This post was originally published in June of 2012, but I've since updated the recipe and wanted to include a new photo. Old comments are kind of wonky since I switched from Blogger to Squarespace, but I now reply to everything right there in the thread.

Photo by Courtney of Sweet C's Designs, when we were in California together this summer.

I don't eat pasta too regularly these days, but when I do, I like to do it all the way. So when a couple of Rob's best guy friends came to visit us for a few days in Charlotte, I headed to BJ's Wholesale Club and picked up a bunch of groceries to make a nice big family dinner for all of us.

I grabbed some Barilla gluten-free penne and a couple other straightforward ingredients--I came up with an easy but delicious one-pot cheesy gluten-free pasta recipe, loaded with spicy sausage. I'm the only one in the group who's gluten-free, but it was a hit all around.

Ingredients: 

• 1 pound Barilla Gluten-Free pasta
• 1 pound of hot Italian sausage
• 1 small onion. diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup of tomato sauce
• 3 cups of chicken stock
• 2-2 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (I like a cheddar/jack mix)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• a couple green onions, sliced for garnish

Instructions: 

1. In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil. 
2. Add the hot Italian sausage to the pot and let them brown on all sides. Remove them from the pot once they're mostly cooked and slice into round pieces. Transfer back to the pot. (I'm sure you could do this when they're still raw but I like to let them cook first.)
3. Add the tomato sauce to the sausage and onion and stir. Once the sauce has covered all the sausage, pour in about two cups of the chicken stock and bring to a low boil/simmer.
4. Pour the pasta into the pot and combine well. Let it cook with the cover on for about ten minutes and add the rest of the chicken stock. Re-cover and cook for five to ten more minutes, or until the pasta is al-dente and the stock is mostly absorbed.
5. Throw about half the cheese in and give it a stir. Once it's melted, top it with the rest of the cheese and let it melt. Garnish with green onion and serve hot. Enjoy!

Make sure to check out Barilla's Gluten-Free recipe board on Pinterest for even more dinner ideas! 

Visit BJ's Wholesale Clubs on December 22nd and 23rd to see an in store Barilla Gluten Free pasta demo at select clubs.

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group®, Barilla®, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #GlutenFreeBarilla http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

There aren't too many dessert recipes that I make over and over again without fail, but this is definitely one of them. We have it at birthdays and engagement parties and anywhere our family and friends gather to celebrate. It's a flourless chocolate torte and it's absolutely perfect for the holidays--I start making it for Thanksgiving and don't stop until well after New Year's Eve--so when Nestlé asked me to use some of their products in a holiday treat, I remembered that people have been asking me to share the recipe on Freckled Italian for years, so I whipped another one up last night and I'm finally posting it.

This torte is super rich and luxurious, but it's incredibly easy to make and takes no time at all, giving you more time to watch holiday movies and spend time with your family. Here we go.

Ingredients:

• 13 ounces of good quality dark chocolate (I used Nestlé Toll House Dark Chocolate Morsels but you could also use bittersweet--here's a coupon)
• 1/4-1/2 cup agave nectar (depends on the sweetness of your chocolate)
• 1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup water
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) softened butter (plus a tablespoon or so to grease your pan)
• 6 eggs
• Optional: a couple ounces of white chocolate chips, melted and drizzled; slivered almonds; rasberries

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a saucepan, bring water and agave nectar to a boil. Turn heat down to low and add the chocolate, stirring constantly until melted and smooth.
3. Add the butter to the chocolate mixture and stir gently until melted.
4. In a separate bowl, gently combine the eggs (don't whip them--you want to combine the yolks and whites as gently as possible to keep them with as little air as possible).
5. Slowly pour the eggs into the chocolate and butter mixture and gently fold until combined.
6. Pour the batter into a buttered cake pan (cover the bottom with parchment paper and bake in a water bath at 350 for 45 minutes--I just get a big sheet pan and place the cake pan on top of it, then slowly pour water into the sheet pan.
7. Place the cake onto a platter (it helps to freeze the cake for a few hours so it pops right out), and garnish with white chocolate drizzle, slivered almonds, and/or fresh raspberries. 

Grab some coupons for your holiday baking right here, and check out Nestlé on Facebook and Pinterest!

This post is brought to you in partnership with Nestlé.