Monday, February 18, 2008
The Most Perfect BROWNIES
Pasta e Fagioli
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I iced it!
FINALLY!!!!!
Wilted Spinach Salad with Feta
Monday, February 11, 2008
Broiled Parmesan Tilapia
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Monkey Bread
Monday, February 4, 2008
Taco Chicken
Several of us WC nesties get the Kraft magazines sent to us. When DH and I flipped through the most recent edition, we both saw this recipe and knew we had to try it - one problem: I didn't think potatoes really went with it. So I modified the cooking technique since I had some microwavable brown rice on hand.
The original recipe can be found here.
TACO CHICKEN FOR 2
2 chicken breasts
1/2 pack of taco seasoning
1/2 - 1 cup of hot salsa
mexican blend shredded cheese
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I lined an 8x8 baking dish with foil. I sprayed the bottom with non-stick cooking spray. I sprinkled a coating of taco seasoning into the bottom of the pan. I layed the chicken breasts in the pan and sprinkled taco seasoning on top of the chicken breasts until covered. I spooned about a 1/2 cup to 1 cup salsa on top (I recommend 1 cup so you can get some sauce when it's done baking). I covered with foil and baked for 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven. I removed the foil covering and sprinkled with cheese, and continued to bake a few extra minutes until melted. Serve with rice and sour cream - it was SO easy to prepare and really satisfying - you should definitely try this one if you haven't already!
Husband's Fave: Lemon Chicken
Sunday, January 27, 2008
I love my WC sis :)
Hot-cha-cha!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Potato Soup sans Shrimp
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The long awaited Shrimp Scampi
Well folks, I've had this recipe bookmarked for 7 months!!!! And I don't even know if this "nestie" is still around because I haven't come across her blog in a long time (good thing I bookmarked it!) because I'm not motivated enough to set up googlepages - so I visit blogs by clicking on the links in peoples' siggies. Anyhow, there was a series of events that led up to my finally being able to make this dish:
1. I've recently become obsessed with Trader Joe's, and I bought a bag of frozen shrimp - something I've never bought or cooked before, and
2. My husband was on night work - again - and he doesn't like shrimp.
Ok, that wasn't so much a series of events, but they were events nonetheless. And so I was 1 hour from leaving work today, and I was scrolling through all of my bookmarked internet favorites, and came across this long-buried link. LIGHTBULB!! But guess what - I don't normally stock lemons or fresh garlic in my house. So, a trip to the grocery store was necessary.
So off I went to the grocery store, grabbed what I needed, along with a beatifully fresh ciabatta roll to go along with it, and set off home and immediately began arranging my ingredients for dinner. Ok, I'm rambling. So here's the recipe with my notations in italics!
SHRIMP SCAMPI FOR TWO
adapted from Gourmet, April 2006
about 12-14 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used 24 frozen shrimp - the bag said they were large, but they looked small to me, so I read the servings sizes on the package - sure enough, 12 shrimp per person)
3 Tbsp - 1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white wine (I used pinot grigio)
zest of one lemon
1 Tbsp lemon juice (I used 2 Tbsp because I love lemon in my pasta)
crushed red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used my handy microplane for this)
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley (I used dried parsley, because I don't do fresh herbs - didn't measure, just sprinkled however much I liked)
1-2 Tbsp unsalted butter
salt and pepper
1/3 box of long pasta (I used linguini)
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1. Boil and salt water and cook pasta according to package directions. Before draining, reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water.
2. Heat oil over med-med high heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Saute until pink and firm (about 1-2 minutes - do not overcook). Remove shrimp and set aside.
3. Add minced garlic to pan and saute until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
4. Add lemon juice and wine. Cook to reduce just a pinch.
5. Add crushed red pepper (to taste), lemon zest and parsley.
6. Add butter and cook until just melted.7. Return shrimp to pan. Transfer drained pasta to pan. Mix together.
8. Add as much of the reserved pasta water as is needed until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
Serve with or without parmesan cheese - I meant to, but was too eager to EAT it so I forgot, and it was FABULOUS! HIGHLY recommend! Thanks Honeybear a/k/a Rach257!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
3 Bananas
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Trader Joe's Eggplant Cutlets
So the first thing I decided to try was eggplant lasagna because I had some fat-free ricotta and some shredded mozzarella on hand from earlier in the week when I tried to make calzones (they're not in my blog for a reason, lol). This was absolutely delicious!!! And low-fat! I only used about a half cup of ricotta, a 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, and just a light sprinkling of parmesan/romano to make 2 servings. I used enough eggplant cutlets to make 2 layers and lightly fried them in a little EVOO. For someone who is a convenience cook (that's me, by the way) this totally worked. This will definitely be something I make on a regular basis when the hubby is on night work (cuz yeah, I married the kind of guy who hates vegetables).
WC Recipe Exchange
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Italian Wedding Soup
Friday, December 28, 2007
Holiday: Chocolate Chip Cookies
I did want to add my notes because I messed up an entire batch by not chilling the dough enough. The trick I found that worked best for me was to go all the way up to the forming dough ball part, and twist to get 2 halves, as instructed. But then what I did was I put each dough ball onto some parchment paper and stuck them in the fridge for about an hour. It helped the dough chill quickly enough for me to not have to wait too long to bake them and resulted in a PERFECT cookie. I even made a batch with NO chocolate chips because my friend Jess and I really just love the dough sans chips. They were also a hit!
Holiday: Cream Puffs
Thank you, Katie, for inspiring me to give these a shot! They were a hit! And SO easy!
Basic Cream Puff Dough
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil.
3. Stir in flor and salt until the mixture forms into a ball.
4. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl.
5. Using stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well.
6. Pipe onto prepared baking sheet in Tbsp size.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
8. When shells are cool, pipe the cream into the shells.
9. Dust with powdered sugar.
(Note: Pipe cream into shells before serving. We piped the night before and the next day they were not as good as when we first piped them that night. And piping takes no time at all so it's really no big deal. Lesson learned!)
For the cream, we used this Williams-Sonoma recipe.
