Ok, PFA, it is time for me to make a small confession… last night I committed a deadly sin. But it wasn’t my fault… seriously!

See what had happened was… I was in the kitchen preparing one of my famous 5 minute meals when the DH recommended that we have something a little bit more delectable for dinner.  Now any other time, I may have taken offense to his insinuation that my was cooking delectable.  But this time we were in agreement…  I also did not feel like eating Sloppy Joes again for the 3rd night in a row.

We hadn’t been to the Olive Garden in awhile.  And they recently opened a new location within 3 miles of our house.  So we decided to go to this new location and this is how we wound up at the Olive Garden. By the way, this was also the beginning my descent into ravenous, sinful and gluttonous ways.

I was not planning to go there and act as if my stomach had no bottom. But it is hard not to.  They have endless everything… endless salad, endless pasta,  endless breadsticks (I absolutely love Olive Garden breadsticks!) … and no matter how much I wanted to put an end to the endlessness, I just couldn’t… and it seemed as if the food just keep rolling in and we keep wolfing it down.  Yes, horrible, I know.

Then for the past few months, I have wanted to try the Olive Garden’s stuffed mushrooms.  A friend of mine marveled about it so often that I just had to try.  And after tasting them, now I see what her excitement was all about.  Mushrooms stuffed with three chesses, clams and breadcrumbs makes for an excellent combination.  It was delicious.

But that was only the appetizer… so on to the main dish and deeper into my gluttonous journey. Seafood Portofino…linguine in a butter wine sauce topped scallops, mussels, shrimp… and more mushrooms.  Semplicemente Magnifico! Need I say more?

And the descent did not stop there… what better way to top off a sinful meal than with dessert?  In my case… this meant a slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.  Oh man… that cheesecake was the ultimate sin.  For a brief moment, I tried to rationalize it by reminding myself that there was a swirl of raspberries mixed up in all of that white chocolate and cheesecake.  But there ain’t no rationalizing sin… that cheesecake was just bad… so, so bad and yet so good.  ~~Sigh!

When we finally left… my belly was full and my pants were bursting at the seam, literally.  That is plain awful, I know.  But what can I say other than … It’s Olive Garden… home of the best Italian food on this side of the Atlantic.

There it is… my confession… my deadly sin.  If you want to get in on the sinful action too… a look at these Olive Garden deals:

- Get discounted Olive Garden Gift Cards and coupons on eBay

- Call Darden Restaurants Gift Card Services 800-248-493 (pick option 1) to get a 5% or 10% on Olive Garden gift cards valued at $500 or more

- Check the ad circular of your local newspaper, occasionally an olive Garden coupon pops up there

- Redeem 1400 or 3450 MyPoints or 1500 Bonus One points to get a Darden Restaurant gift card, which is accepted at all Olive Garden locations