Baked Lemon Pasta with Shrimp

If you haven't noticed I love the Pioneer Woman! Ree is so damn funny and is so flipping talented it makes me want to vomit.

Here is the Pioneer Woman's site.

Now her version is just pasta, but you know us down in the south we like something to go with it. A co-worker (Vernola)...(she's cajun french by the way)'s cousin still lives down the bayou and he shrimps. So I bought some shrimp from her when she went down and boy they were beautiful. I got 10 lbs and we only have one more bag left...thankfully she's planning a trip down in a few weeks and we'll get more then.

Any who both Mr. B and I loved this dish. I was quite worried Mr. B wouldn't but he surprises me sometimes.

Ingredients

1 lb Thin Spaghetti
6tbl of Butter (Which is 1/2 stick plus 2 tbl)
4 tbl EVOO
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
Juice of 1 Lemon
Zest of 1 Lemon
2 C Sour Cream
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Parsley, Chopped


The deed.....

Pre-Heat your oven to 375.
Cook Spaghetti until Al Dente.

In a skillet melt 4 tbl of butter and 2 tbl of EVOO on low heat.
When butter is melted add the minced garlic....take a second to thank the Good Lord that they came up with cooking garlic in butter and EVOO because it honestly is one of my most favorite smells in the entire world.
Squeeze lemon juice into the pan.
Turn off the heat....remember this one!!!

Add Sour Cream and stir together.
Add Lemon Zest and Salt.
Pour mixture over drained spaghetti (which should be in some kind of baking dish)
Mix around a bit.

Bake covered for 15 minutes.
Then remove foil and bake another 7-10 minutes.

At this time add 2 tbl of butter and 2 tbl of EVOO to a pan.
When melted throw in your shrimp.
Season with S&P and Slap Ya Mama (any cajun seasoning).
Cook over medium heat.
Shrimp will turn a beautiful shade of pink when done...only will take about 5 minutes.

Take out pasta bake. Squeeze with a little more lemon.
Add Parmesan cheese and Parsley.
Top with Shrimp.

Voila!

Inspiration

So I saw the previews for the movie Julia & Julie. It's based somewhat on Julia Childs' life but also about this girl named Julie who has a boring life and decides she's going to make a recipe from Julia's book every day and blog about it.

Well I don't have Julia Child's book but I do have quite a few others. I first picked up the Fine Dinging in Louisiana book but quickly realized that would be silly because some of those amazing recipes could only be reserved for the weekend...not something I'll have time to whip on on a week night.

So then I pulled out my 2008 Southern Living Cookbook. What's great about this cookbook is it'll have a few recipes in certain months based around the holidays and a few recipes in a specific food category...but then it'll also have a full on meal with main course, side, dessert, and sometimes drink. So those can be reserved for Saturday and Sunday's.

Now of course not every night will be a Southern Living night because Mr. B travels and sometimes we may want some takeout or we'll be out of town but my goal is to try and do as many in a month as I can.

Whoo I'm excited.

I won't start until Sunday because I have two awesome recipes to try Friday and Saturday.

Friday I'm going to be making Shrimp & Cheese Grit Cakes with Bacon Vinaigrette. I got this out of my latest issue of Food & Wine.

Saturday I'm going to be making Horseradish & Herb Crusted Beef Roast with Prosciutto Garlic Asparagus. Even though I didn't get this out of the magazine per say when I was looking on the site for Friday's recipe (Since I was at work and didn't have my magazine with me) I found this gem and was salivating at the mouth. Now granted the asparagus is actually a side I came up with a year and a half ago and love it....I thought it would go nicely together.

And don't forget the wine...wine is good haha

Baked Potato Soup

I must apologize for being such a loser. I have a ton of recipes that I really need to write about but haven't.

Good thing is Mr. B is out of town the rest of the week so tonight I'll have time. I can even upload a picture of my yummy soup.

I got this recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. She has set out to make a meal in the crock pot every single day. She does main courses, sides, breads, desserts, and even drinks. She just came out with a cookbook.

Now generally Mr. B doesn't like a lot of stuff in the crock pot because the flavors all blend together and I have to admit this does happen a lot....but this soup....this soup oh I loved it!

Ingredients
Let me preface this by saying you're going to get a whole lot of soup here. We ate a total of 4 bowls and I froze the rest. This is easily a serving of 8 but I'd say more like 12. Next time I will probably cut it down.

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
1 teeny onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
2 quarts chicken broth
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onion or chives as garnish (optional)
And if you know me I added in some salt, pepper, and Slap Ya Mama...I eye balled it. Whatever you think would be good to your buds.

Now onto the action!

Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker.
Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware.
Add onion and garlic.
Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4.
You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. (I used the blender and I just think it gave it that creamy texture I was looking for)

After smashing the potatoes, crumble in both packages of cream cheese, and put the lid back on.

(Now I didn't do this right. I actually added the cream cheese and let it cook the allotted time then did the immersion blender. It worked out fine. So either way is good.)

Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved.
Stir a few times during the 30 minutes.

That's it! Now top with your favorite toppings...and let me tell you...it does taste just like a baked potato and it's sooo yummy.

We ate this when it was 95 degree's outside. Yes Mr. B gave me some slack about it but even he enjoyed it!

Menu 6.21-6.27

Sunday- Pasta Bolognese from The Pioneer Woman

Monday- Leftovers

Tuesday- Beef Enchilada's from Scrumptiously Sassy with Spanish Rice

Wednesday- Shrimp Baked Lemon Pasta from The Pioneer Woman &myself w/ Spinach Salad

Thursday- Teriyaki Glazed Pork Chops from Sweet Savory Southernw/Rice and Spinach Salad

Friday- Beef Stroganoff from Stephanie Cooks with Spinach Salad

Saturday- Not sure yet. May go out to eat or I'll cook. If I do I'll update.

Pasta Carbonara

In light of our recent trip to Europe I figured Mr. B was probably convulsing since he hasn't had Pasta Carbonara in oh say 10 days. Between him and my aunt and I think they consumed about 15 servings of this stuff!


I had made it once before and it was good but not as good as this one. I found this recipe in my Food & Wine Magazine for this month.

Ingredients

6oz pasta (I used Spaghetti and I'm pretty sure I used more then 6oz ha ha)
1 tbl EVOO (which I didn't use)
4 oz Pancetta cut into 1/4 inch thick cubes (I didn't have time to get any so I used bacon)
1 Shallot chopped
1 Garlic Clove chopped (next time I'll use 2 because I luuurve garlic)
1 C Heavy Cream
2 Tbl Parmigiano-Reggiano (I didn't have the good stuff but it still was yummy..oh and I used more then 2 tbl)
4 Lg Egg Yolks
Salt
2 tbl Parsley (which I totally forgot to use even though I bought it)
Ground Pepper (which I'm a loser and my grinder is out..however normal pepper did just fine)

Boil water until al dente, reserve 3 Tbl pasta water (which I forgot to do..no biggie)

In a large pan use the EVOO (which I didn't because I was using bacon it had enough fat). Cook Pancetta until most of the fat has been rendered....about 7 minutes.

Since I used bacon I cooked my bacon in a different pan...then just poured about 1 tbl of the bacon grease into my pan to cook my shallots and garlic.

Add the Shallot and Garlic for about a minute.

Add the cream and let simmer about two minutes.

Add hot pasta and stir to coat, about 1 minute.

Remove from heat and put in big dish. Pour in remaining 3 tbl pasta water (if you forget no biggie), cheese and egg yolks.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add some cheese on top and parsley.

No picture because we ate this so fast we forgot. Next time I will make sure that the pasta has enough time to heat up with the cream mixture...but it was still warm enough. And I think freshly ground pepper will make a huge difference but like I said I was out.

None the less pairing this with my Chateau St Michelle was good enough for me!

Corn on the Cob w/ Chipotle Lime Butter

I got this wonderful recipe from a girl whom I've just fallen in love with! http://elizabethsedibleexperience.blogspot.com/search/label/Sides

Ingredients
1 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
6 ears corn, shucked

Now since it was just for Mr. B and I, I cut down the butter and corn.
I used a 1/2 stick but had a lot left so 1/3 would've been good and 2 ears of corn. I left everything else because we like seasoning.

Pre-Heat Oven to 400 degree's

Coat each ear with butter generously.

Roll in foil.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Serve with a little more butter on the side.

Super yummy. The corn wasn't the best but out where we lived that is to be expected but it was juicy and flavorful!

Cocoa-and-Chile-Rubbed Pork Chops

I also got this from my recent issue of Food & Wine.

Ingredients
2 quarts water
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
Kosher salt
Four 1 1/2-inch-thick boneless pork loin chops
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon pure ancho chile powder
Extra-virgin olive oil for brushing
Slap Ya Mama or any cajun seasoning optional

I just glanced at this recipe and luckily Mr. B was late because I didn't realize I had to brine the pork chops but it made it well worth it~!


In a large bowl, combine the water with the red pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and stir until the salt dissolves. Add the pork chops and let brine at room temperature for 1 hour.

Let me just say it was raining again! So I just cooked these on our stove on a heat of about 4 so a little lower then Med High heat.

I cooked on each side until a little crust had formed then I flipped them each one more time on a little lower heat of 3.

Light a grill and create a cool zone. (For a charcoal grill, rake the coals to one side; for a gas grill, leave one side unlit.) In a bowl, mix the cocoa, sugar and ancho powder with 1 tablespoon of salt.

Drain the pork chops and pat dry, removing any bits of crushed pepper. Brush generously with olive oil. Roll the pork chops in the cocoa rub and pat to help it adhere.

Grill over moderately high heat for 4 minutes, turning the chops once or twice until lightly browned. Transfer the chops to the cool zone, cover and grill for about 15 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the chops registers 135° for medium meat.

Let the chops rest for 10 minutes before serving

I would go light on the dry rub because in some areas it was too much but these came out great and Mr. B loved them. Success!

Italiano Potato Wedges with Parmesan and Parsley

I got this lovely recipe from http://mrssacspurplekitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/Potatoes.

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
kosher salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded(I only had grated but it came out yummers)
Slap Ya Mama or any cajun seasiong optional

Preheat the oven to 425.
Cut potatoes in half, then slice again into wedges.
Add to a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients and add to potatoes and toss to coat.

On a lightly sprayed baking sheet lined with foil, spread out potatoes and add to the oven.

Bake for about 40 minutes turning a couple of times.(I say it probably only needed 35 minutes because mine were kind of dark and crunchy hah)

With about 3 minutes left, remove form oven, add cheese and parsley and bake for another couple of minutes till cheese melts.

Cheddar BLT Burgers with Tarragon Russian Dressing

Ok I got this lovely recipe from Food & Wine. So happy I subscribed to that magazine when the kid down the street forced me to buy something for his fundraiser haha.

I made a few changes from the original recipe but it turned out so good!

List of Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon grated onion (I just used finely chopped)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon (I didn't have any so I used Coriander (I know so diff) but it worked.
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
12 ounces thickly sliced bacon
1 1/3 pounds ground beef chuck (I used 1 lb of this)
1 1/3 pounds ground beef sirloin (To keep it semi healthy I used the 90/10 lean instead 1lb)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 6 slices (I just bought slices from the store)
6 hamburger buns, split and toasted
6 iceberg lettuce leaves (we used spinach instead)
6 slices of tomato
6 slices of red onion (I used a white onion since that was all I had)
Onion Powder & Slap Ya Mama (or any cajun seasoning optional)

Now I didn't do exactly like the F&W's but hey that's what's good about this cooking deal. Interpretation.

In a medium bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the ketchup, red wine vinegar, onion, parsley, tarragon and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and refrigerate.

Cook the bacon over moderately high heat, turning once, until crisp, about 6 minutes. Drain and cut the bacon into large pieces.

Light a grill. (It was raining out and even though we have a covered area I didn't feel like dealing with the grill so I just cooked these on the stove.) Gently mix the ground chuck with the ground sirloin, salt and pepper. (I also added some garlic powder and Slap Ya Mama because we need spice. Form the meat into six 4-inch patties, about 1 1/4 inches thick.

Transfer the burgers to the grill and brush with some of the melted butter. Grill over high heat for 9 minutes for medium-rare meat, turning once or twice and brushing occasionally with butter.

Top the burgers with the cheese during the last minute of grilling and let melt.

Spread the Russian dressing on the buns. Set the lettuce leaves and tomato slices on the bottom halves and top with the burgers, red onion and bacon.

Been way too long

Ok so I'm a hot mess when it comes to my food blog. I have been cooking but my camera broke and then I just got flat out lazy. So sorry.
Anyways I'm back so here we go.

Valentines Day Dinner

We had a couple of friends up for Vday dinner and really had a fantastic night!

Appetizer
Herb Ricotta Stuffed Tomatoes

Main Courses
Seared Flank Steak w/Creamy Horseradish Sauce
Grilled Red Fish w/Crispy Onions

Side
Cream Parmesan Risotto

Dessert
Bread Pudding w/Jack Daniels Sauce

Baked Chicken

I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman but changed it slightly

Ingredients

24 Chicken Legs or whatever you prefer.
2 sticks of Butter (however maybe able to use some butter and some EVOO)
1 tbs Cajun Seasoning (I use Slap Ya Mama)
Garlic Power (If you wish)
Onion Power (If you wish)
1/2 C lemon Juice.

Now I'll just preface this by saying I think I picked up the bigger chicken legs and so there were about 6 of those. Mike doesn't like legs so I picked him up 6 Chicken Wings. That way we both got what we want.

Pre-Heat oven to 400 degrees.

And since I wasn't making as much I only used one stick of butter. I did use the tablespoon of Slap Ya Mama but also sprinkled in some Garlic and Onion Power.
Mixed all of that together until hot.

Place chicken leg/wing one by one in the mixture coating. Place on pan. When all are complete drip over remaining sauce and then sprinkle Slap Ya Mama over it.

Bake for 30 minutes.

I would suggest sprinkling some seasoning on both sides because Mike thought the one side was too bare.

I would also put the broiler on just for a few minutes after your 30 minutes to get that skin a little more crispy.

This was a great meal though and pretty healthy. Yes even though you're using butter most of it falls off and the fat drippings are left at the bottom.

Bread....in a Crockpot

Yes you heard me right~!

Okay I've seen a few blogs where you can make bread in a crockpot but yesterday when I went to the store I couldn't find yeast on it's own. So I just bought a box that you would normally make in a bread maker.

It was the same.
I added warm water to the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes. I then added it to the rest of the mixture with 3/4 C more warm water.

Kneaded sp? right...it and let sit for 10 minutes.

Put it into my greased crockpot and cooked/baked on high for 2 hours. Yummy bread!

Menu for the Week

Monday
Taco's with spanish rice

Tuesday
Spinach & Brie Stuffed Chicken

Wednesday
Pasta Carbonara with Bacon

Thursday
Sweet & Spicy Salmon

Friday
Shrimp Garlic & Herb Fettucine Alfredo

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com

Fast Chicken Base
2 Quarts (8 C) Chicken Broth
1 Quart (4 C) Water
1 Store bought Rotisserie Chicken
3 tbl Vegetable Oil
2 Lg Onions (original recipe called for cut into medium pieces but I cut between small and med)
2 Lg Carrots, peeled and cut int circles. (I used 2 Lg and 1 med)
2 Lg Celery Stalks, sliced 1/4 inch thick (I again used 2 Lg and 1 med)
1 Teaspoon dried Thyme Leaves (I didn't have any)

Rest of the Ingredients
3 C Egg Noodles
1 C Frozen Peas
1/2 C Chopped Fresh Parsley
S&P to taste.

This said it was for 8 servings but I think it's more like 12-14.


Bring broth and water to a simmer over Med-High heat.
Meanwhile separate meat from skin and bones. Reserve meat.
Add in skin and bones to simmering broth.
Reduce heat to low. Let simmer 20-30 minutes. (I let simmer about 20 minutes would recommend doing 30).

Strain broth in a colander; reserve the broth and discard skin and bones.
Add oil into pot. Add in onions, carrots, and celery. Saute until soft about 8-10 minutes.

Add chicken, broth, and thyme. Bring to simmer.

Add in Egg Noodles (I actually added about 4.5 C because I love noodles)
Simmer about 15 more minutes.

Stir in 1 C of frozen peas. I added in about 1.5 C's because I thought pea's were the vegetable that my husband eats.....he doesn't....he picked them all out! ha ha But I really enjoyed them. You can definitely omit.

Also add in fresh parsley.

Add in S&P to taste. I added in a lot of Pepper and I added in Slap Ya Mama because it was kind of bland. I think because I only simmered the skin and bones for 20 minutes made the difference too.

I think that having a lot of vegetables did take a way from the chicken taste as well so next time I'll only do what it called for because my husband didn't like it that vegetabley even though I did.

Menu for this week

Monday-Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
Tuesday-Leftover Soup
Wednesday-Tilapia w/ some kind of rice and a spinach salad
Thursday-Chicken White Zinfandel (which I will most likely use a Pinot Grigio)
Friday-(If we're in town) Asian Beef w/snow peas and water chestnuts.