Recipe of The Day: Simple Shrimp Scampi

My local Kroger has been good to me. They had a meat sale that started on Sunday and ended today. I really scored some good deals. One of those deals was a nice package of jumbo shrimp.

I love me some shrimp! Really, I could indulge on seafood any day! I just love seafood...period! The package of shrimp I purchased, contained about 22 jumbo shrimp. I knew I wanted scampi, and I already had a basic idea of how to make it. So I just pretty much threw this together. I do not have white wine, so I substituted with Rice Wine Vinegar...which seemed to work pretty good. I didn't use a lot, but if you can get either Vermouth or White Wine you can use those.

Prep Time: 20-25 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Serving Size: 2 hungry people (4 if your not that hungry lol)

Ingredients:
1 package of Jumbo Shrimp or any size you want really (my package had 22 shrimp)
5-6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon dry cilantro
1 teaspoon dry chives
1 teaspoon dry parsley
1 teaspoon Adobe Season
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice


Oh my goodness! I forgot to say please clean and devein your shrimp before you do anything! Duh! lol

In a large skillet over medium heat, drizzle in your Olive Oil. Add in your garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Do not let it get brown or burned. Add in your shrimp and seasonings. Saute shrimp a couple of minutes. Add in your lemon juice and rice wine vinegar. Saute until shrimp are done. Adjust seasonings to your liking if need be. That's pretty much it!

This shrimp was so flavorful and so good I was in food bliss! lol I paired it with some penne pasta tossed in olive oil and parsley. You can top with fresh Parmesan cheese. Your mouth will thank you for it! :)

~Feather


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Recipe of The Day: Creamless Potato Corn Chowdah

The weather outside is frightful! Well...to me at least it is. The cold is starting to drift in. Days like these make me feel so blah. But, a good pot of hot warm chowder makes me feel great!

Unless this were a cheat day I would have pulled out all the stops and used heavy cream and bacon in this recipe. Since, I can no longer indulge in such flavorful fattening goodies I have to improvise. I had to think of a way that I could make a good tasting chowder that used no cream whatsoever. I tried to scour the net for some recipes. But, due to some malfunctions...thanks to Firefox that quickly ended. I figured a bunch of taters and some milk would give me the creamy results I was looking for. So here is what I came up with. Feel free to alter these measurements and tastes to your liking. JP and I like things spicy. Spicy to the degree that we would burn our throats in agony for some goodness! So here we go...

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Servings Size: 4-6 People



Ingredients:

4-5 large potatoes (any variety you like)
2 cups of 2% Milk
1 1/2 cups of frozen or fresh corn
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 large white onion
2 stalks of green onion
salt, pepper, garlic salt, and cayenne pepper to taste

Chop all of your vegetables. Spray pot with Olive Oil spray or use a tiny bit of regular Olive Oil. Saute bell pepper and onions in pot on medium high heat. Saute until soft. You can remove from heat and set aside. Chop and peel your potatoes. Put pot back on stove and add in potatoes corn and milk. Bring to a boil and then bring down to medium low heat. Watch your pot and be sure not to scald the milk. You can add in your seasonings. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add more season if you need to.

This is a really quick dish. It's a great alternative to a chowder that uses heavy cream. JP threw some shredded cheese in his and said it was good like that too. I also sprinkled some parsley on top of mine. It added a nice touch! :) Very nice for those cold nights. I just finished a bowl and can say I am fully satisfied!

Enjoy!

~Feather



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Recipe of The Day: Whole Wheat Pizzas!

I have been slacking on the site! I really have no excuses either. :( I've been cooking some good things, and I need to get them on here ASAP.

Last week I wanted the kids to do something fun. So I decided we should make pizzas! Not to mention they would probably eat pizza everyday of the week if we let them.

A few months ago I started buying whole wheat graham flour. I use it to make all kinds of things. On the back of the box there is a recipe for whole wheat pizza crust. The recipe is extremely simple and doesn't take all the work of a normal pizza crust. If you are expecting some pizza hut type results, well then you need to find a recipe like that. This recipe is very simple and boasts a dense thick crust. You can jazz it up to your liking. You can also determine how thick or thin you want it. I personally like thick crust, so it's really up to you. The kids really enjoyed making their pizzas. They are always asking me to help out in the kitchen. So I know they enjoyed themselves.

Here is the recipe:

Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Graham Flour Wheat Pizza

1 package of Active Dry Yeast
1 cup warm water 115° F
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Graham Flour
2 tsp. granulated sugar (or sub with sugar substitute)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups of White Flour (I use regular all purpose)

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, and 1 cup unbleached white flour. Knead in remaining white flour by hand; about 5 minutes (the dough will be smooth and elastic).

Spray a medium-sized bowl with no-stick cooking spray(you can use some olive oil I used an Olive Oil spray). Place pizza dough in bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 15 minutes. Spray a one 14-inch pizza pan or two 10 inch pizza pans with no-stick cooking spray (or grease lightly with oil). Stretch pizza crust to fit pan and flute outer edges of pizza dough to hold fillings.

I would suggest not to make the edges to thick. Unless you like it like that. I added some pizza sauce and seasonings to the crust before we added the toppings. We topped our pizzas with ground Italian sausage, smoked sausage, boneless chicken breast, feta cheese, onions, green bell peppers, mixed shredded cheese. You can be creative and add anything you want. Whatever you like throw it on there! Have fun with it! Enjoy!

Here are the kids creations. They loaded their pizzas with tons of meat!


Here is my pizza. See how I made the crust a little thick? It was still good!

~Feather

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Recipe of The Day: Strawberry Yogurt Pie

You want something easy and delicious? Something that won't add thousands of calories to your waistline? I've got just the treat for you! Something to satisfy your sweet tooth without the guilt! Yay!

I can't take full credit for this yummy pie. My Mom, (who always made us ALL kinds of different types of foods) made this. I think when I became an adult I asked her for the recipe. I was surprised at how simple the recipe was. Every now and then I get a craving for it. It's so easy to make, and it really takes no effort. Since we've been eating healthier these days. I thought about this recipe, and figured it would be the perfect treat for our healthy lifestyle. I used all low fat or lite ingredients. If you can afford to use the full fat versions then go ahead.


Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook TIme: None
Serving: 4-6 folks


Ingredients:
1 tub of lite whipped topping
1 large tub of lite or low fat yogurt (any flavor I used Strawberry)
1 Reduced Fat Graham Cracker Crust
5-8 Strawberries



Pour all of the yogurt and whipped topping into a large bowl. You can start mixing them together. Mix well.

Cut your fresh Strawberries. Keep a few to the side for the topping.

Add your Strawberries to Whipped Topping and Yogurt mixture. Mix well. Pour mixture into Graham Cracker Crust pie shell. You can even the top out with a spoon or butter knife.


Cut the rest of your Strawberries and place them on top of the pie like so. Or make any other kind of pretty design you want. Cover the pie with seran wrap and place in the freezer. Keep in freezer until pie is firm and not soft. It can be frozen. Before serving, set the pie out to soften a bit. You can also place it in the fridge an hour or two before serving.

This is also a great summer pie. It's cool and refreshing. You can use many different types of fruits. You don't have to feel guilty about eating this pie and it won't hinder your dieting efforts! Enjoy!
~Feather




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Guess Who's Coming To Our Town???

Our burrito dreams have finally come true!!! *burrito dance* Yay! Yay!

It has been confirmed that later on this year, Columbia will finally get a Chipotle! *faints* Woo hoo! They have already built a location up in Greeneville. We knew it was coming, just didn't have a date. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the letter our friend Chris wrote to them. LOL But I cannot tell you how excited we are! You know how much we love them! Good thing they won't be to close, because all of our six packs and biceps may disappear! LOL

The aftermath after one of our many Chipotle excursions!

Link to news article about the new location: Chipotle In Columbia,SC

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Recipe of The Day: Stuffed Crescent Rolls

Here's a little something I made for the kiddies this evening. This recipe is easy and you can get creative with it.

I picked up some crescent rolls the other day, and knew I wanted to use them for something than just dinner rolls. I looked around on the Pillsbury website to get some ideas. They had a recipe on there for Crescent Pizza Triangles. I immediately knew my kids would love something like this. So here is what I came up with.

Prep Time:20-30 mins
Cook Time:15-20 mins
Serving Size:4-6 People

Ingredients:

2 packages Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped sausage( I used some Rogerwood Sausage I made the kids the other morning)
1/2 cup chopped pepperoni
pizza sauce
Pizza Seasoning or Italian Season
Shredded Cheese (any variety you want)
salt, pepper, garlic salt

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Then you want to start browning your ground beef. In large skillet start browning your meat and onions. Season meat generously with salt, pepper, garlic salt, and Pizza Seasoning. Once the meat is almost fully browned and onions tender, throw in the rest of your meat. Fry in a pan a few minutes and remove from heat.

Get your crescents out of the fridge and open them up. Unroll so you have one big square. Don't pull the triangles a part. Leave it as one big square. Press down on the perforation so that it's gone and you just have one big seamless square. Take your pizza sauce and spoon on a tiny bit of sauce at one end of the square. Then spoon on about a teaspoon full of meat mixture on top of that. Top with a pinch of cheese. Then you want to start folding the dough up into a square. Pinch all edges to seal. Make sure everything is sealed tight so nothing leaks out. Continue this until you have done both packages of dough. Place them onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Top them with shredded cheese and bake until golden brown.

I made the kids some some super cheesy mac n cheese and peas to go with this. They loved it! This will definitely go into my recipe archives. It's fun simple and kids like it! A fun way to have pizza night. I tried them myself, and wooo they were soo delicious! The flakiness and buttery flavor of the rolls make these tasty. You can pretty much fill these up with anything. You can check out the Pillsbury website for more cool ideas.



~Feather
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