Fajita Marinade

I've held onto this recipe for over 8 years! It dates back to our newlywed days and when I use to hand write recipes and keep it in a tangible binder. :-) We lived in a small apartment complex in downtown Huntington Beach. Our next door neighbor was a friendly, vivacious lady and she shared this "TOP SECRET RECIPE" (don't you love that phrase ?? hahaha) from her ex-husband's popular local Mexican restaurant.

And we finally used it this summer for the first time! The internet took over recipes long ago, and my poor little black binder in the kitchen has not been opened very many times since.

I needed to write this recipe down on the blog since my paper with recipe on it has gotten really raggety and prob time to discard. This is the only pic I have of using that marinade. Altho we tried steak the first time with the marinade, it didn't really do much for the steak. So the next time, (and always now) I use chicken, which I think is awesome. And I started marinading veggies, too, in a separate container or ziplock. We've used it as skewers, and also for fajitas. And even leftover fajitas into quesadillas - which were quite amazing.

Marinade awesome for Chicken and Veggies.

3/4 cup orange juice

3/4 cup pineapple juice

1/8 cup Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce

1/8 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon Lawry's salt

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic (I use 2 fresh garlic cloves minced)

MARINADE OVERNIGHT. (Separate veggies from meat.)

Suggested Veggies:

Sweet or Red Onion

Bell peppers (any color)

Grilled Pork Loin and Cabbage Avocado Edamame Salad

Salad recipe adapted from Trisha Yearwood's "Ty's TPalahai Salad"

I only bought the red cabbage, but should have bought the nappa cabbage as well. But didn't because I only needed a small size salad for our little family. I would definitely use both cabbages next time. I also added a splash of apple cider vinegar to the dressing as well as a 1/2 of a smashed up avocado to make it creamier.

We also made a grilled delicious pork tenderloin last night. However, we didn't get to eat it until 9pm!!! It took almost 5 hours to cook! Yikes. It was large at 4 1/2 pounds. I was using a Paula Deen recipe (from her book "Southern Cooking Bible") which calls for a 3 pound loin grilled in BBQ for 1 hour. It was rubbed and marinated with 4 finely chopped and smashed garlic cloves with 1.5 teaspoons of salt and pepper, and 1/4 cup of olive oil.

 It was on the grill as stated in her directions for an hour, glazing with sauce every 30 minutes. but since we didn't know the accuracy of the temperature, we moved it inside to the oven at 250 degrees for an additional 3 1/2! LIVE AND LEARN!! :-)

We also used Paula Deen's "Daddy's Tangy Grilling Sauce". We loved it! It was the bomb! The same ingredients as Palace Cafe's Shrimp Tchefunte Sauce. 

1 cup Worcestershire sauce
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
Juice of 2 lemons

Mix ingredients together in medium saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes.

Shrimp "Monica"

I love Jazz Fest back home in New Orleans. The last time I went was with Jeremy in our newlywed days, and I'm so glad I got to take him. I remember it rained the entire time we were at the festival. Kind of a bummer, but you just make do. I love camping out listening to live music at the different stages. Better than Ezra is always a favorite. I also love looking at all the crazy interesting people everywhere. But I think what I like the best is the FOOD!!! My favorites that come to mind are Crawfish Monica (creamy, spicy pasta dish with lots of crawfish) and Crawfish Bread (french bread stuffed with lots of monterrey jack cheese, cajun seasoning and crawfish tails). 

I found a copy-cat recipe for Crawfish Monica years ago and tucked it away in my recipe binder that has been neglected to my online recipe searches for the past few years. I pulled it out the other night because I was craving a creamy pasta and I had raw shrimp tails in the freezer.

This was seriously one of the BEST (and easiest) dinners I've made in a looooong time. And I gotta give credit to my sous chef -- Jeremy is always so helpful in the kitchen and helps the meal get made faster when someone is washing your green onions, stirring a pot, boiling and draining the pasta, and getting the frozen garlic bread from the wrapper to the oven. :-) Thanks Honey!

We WILL definitely be making this DISH alot!! Now I just need to go stock up on more frozen shrimp from Costco. I've always been impressed with it.

Shrimp "Monica" adapted from Gumbo Pages

• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled; 
• 1 stick of butter 
• 1 pint of half-and-half 
• 1 good-sized bunch green onions, chopped (tops, too) 
• 7- 10 cloves garlic, minced or chopped 
• 1 Tbsp.  (or much less if you don't want spicy) Creole seasoning to taste (I use Tony Cachere's Original creole seasoning, can be found at most regular grocery stores.) 
• 1 lb. cooked rotini pasta 
• Parmesan Cheese 

1. Cook pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain, then rinse under cool water. Drain again, thoroughly. 
2. Melt the butter in a large pot and saute onions and garlic for 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and saute for 3 minutes. Add the half-and-half, then add Creole seasoning, tasting before the next pinch until you think it's right. 
3. Cook for 12 - 17 minutes over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Add the pasta and toss well. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so over very low heat, stirring often. Serve immediately, with lots of parmesan cheese, and if you're my mom you'll probably want to add a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley.
   
   (We served with buttered garlic french bread. Delish!!)

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

So... I like to put recipes on this ole blog here that I want to remember, and use again. It's been a good place for me to store favorite recipes, and I often come back here when I'm trying to plan the week's meals or get recipes easy at my finger tips rather than search through my cabinet full of cookbooks for a recipe...

We made these last night given the lack of baking ingredients we had in the house. (were out of regular choc chips AND brown sugar!) But we did have lots of cocoa, regular white sugar and half bag of white choc chips. So we halved this recipe and it still came out with a litlte over 2 dozen cookies. and they were fabulous!! 

Photo curtesy of Allrecipes.com

White Chip Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from Allrecipes.com, yield 2 dozen cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened 
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup white chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. 
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Image credit: Kristina Gill via Design Sponge

I loved this recipe found on Design Sponge via Pinterest! (I would recommend clicking on the original recipe to see more of their beautiful photos of the process.) One of my favorite things to pick up at Farmer's Markets is Butternut Squash. I made soup with it last time I got it, and this time I was dying to try this new recipe, and it did not disappoint. I figured since I already had fresh mozzarella and a block of Parm cheese, it was the perfect time to make it. It was a bit time-consuming, but well worth all of the effort. It would be a lovely dish to serve to company. 

Butternut Squash Lasagna 

1 Large Butternut squash – Peeled, cored and sliced thin 1/4 inch
1 stick Butter, separated
¼ Cup Flour
3 ½ Cups Whole Milk
6 cloves Garlic
1 handful Spinach
1 bunch Italian Parsley
10 to 14 Pasta Sheets (I bought "no boil" noodles to avoid cooking noodles separately. I was tempted to buy fresh pasta sheets from local Italian Deli, but decided to stay on-budget :-)
3 Cups Shredded Mozzarella (I used thinly sliced fresh mozzarella from Costco)
½ Cup Parmesan (freshly grated is my fave - we usually have this on hand in fridge.)
10 each Sage Leaves – Sliced Thin
1 Lemon – Zest
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

1) Roast butternut squash:
Pre-heat oven to 375F. I used a large baking sheet and drizzled with olive oil and placed the squash slices on it, seasoned with salt and pepper, repeated another layer until all the butternut is layered. Covered with foil and baked for about 10- 15 minutes until the squash is cooked yet still firm enough to break apart.

2) Make cream sauce:
While squash is roasting, start on your roux: ½ stick of butter in the pot and melt until almost browned, whisk in the flour and continue to cook for about 30 seconds, slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, Add the garlic and continue to cook at a medium heat until mixture thickens (took me about 30 minutes total, I think.) Transfer the mixture to the food processor (or blender) and blend in the Spinach/parsley. Season with salt and Pepper.

3) Assemble and bake lasagna:
Rub the Baking dish with a little butter and begin the layers: Cream Sauce, pasta sheets, Mozza, Parma, butternut – Repeat. Make sure the top layer has cheese on top. Cover with Foil and Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 15 or until the top is crispy golden brown.

4) Serve with Sage/Lemon Brown Butter:
While lasagna rests for 10 minutes before serving, make your Sage/Lemon Brown Butter: In small sauté pan bring the remaining 1/2 stick butter to a light brown color – Very hot and bubbling add sage, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Spoon over a little on each piece.

Voila, truly delicious and full of winning combination flavors. And yes, men like it, too.  :-)

Image credit: Kristina Gill via Design Sponge

Lasagna Soup

My sister Jessica told me about this dinner a little while ago, and I forgot about it until I saw it on Pinterest recently. To save a few bucks, I didn't add the Ricotta cheese or fresh basil at the end. But I did use fresh mozzarella cheese, which melted perfectly in the soup after serving, which I think I'd like better than Ricotta cheese anyways.

I adapted the recipe from A Farm Girl's Dabble. (Check out her photo, it is much more appetizing than mine.)

Lasagna Soup (Yield: 8 servings)

• 2 tsp. olive oil 
• 1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage 
• 3 c. chopped onions (I used one large sweet onion)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano 
• 1/4 - 1/2  tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (depends if you want it with a kick or not)
• 3 T. tomato paste 
• 28-oz. can diced tomatoes 
• 2 bay leaves 
• 6 c. chicken stock 
• 8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta 
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1- 2 c. shredded FRESH mozzarella cheese 

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. 
2. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color. Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. 
3. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. 
4. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the soup broth. 
5. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. 
6. While the pasta is cooking, grate your parmesan and mozzarella cheese. 
7. Serve soup with Sprinkled cheese on top and mix individually so it melts in the soup. YUM!

Blue Cheese Chicken Wing Dip

I made this for our housewarming party this weekend and it was the BOMB! Big hit at the party.
Our realtor Mel is a fabulous cook and also does cooking classes on the side gave me a cookbook with some appetizer recipes, and this recipe was on the first page. After reading it, I thought it sounded so tasty, and I knew Jeremy would love it.

I bought a rotisserie chicken from Costco and shredded the meat the day before, so 1/2 before the party started I dumped all the ingredients into a saucepan and cooked til bubbly. You can serve it with celery sticks (my favorite), carrot sticks, chips, or baguette slices.

Ingredients : 

• 1 large rotisserie chicken, all meat shredded
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 to 3/4 bottle (depends on the heat you can handle!!) of Frank's "Red Hot Wings Buffalo Sauce"
• 12-16 ounces (Lighthouse brand) blue cheese dressing

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan; heat over low heat until hot and bubbly. Stir constantly. Spoon into serving dish.

PW's Asian Hot "drumsticks"

Howdy. This was a fun and different dinner I made last night. I made a mental note while watching one of the Pioneer Woman's shows on the foodnetwork when she did Superbowl party food, including Asian Hot Wings. So the other day while at grocery I saw these beautiful big Chicken drumsticks on sale, and thought I'd love to make a dinner vs. appetizer with a similar recipe. Especially after I bought PW's newest cookbook, that has the Asian Hot Wings as well as Peach-whisky BBQ drumsticks. I used the "sauce" recipe from the wings, and the chicken cooking method from the drumsticks; served it with white rice and steamed zucchini --- and voila, a tasty meal, indeed. The drumsticks were cooked low and slow (300 degrees for 1.5 hours) and the result was a completely tender juicy meat. I will use this same method in future for drumsticks with just bbq sauce. The sauce was delicious, and I didn't have the guts to make it as spicy as hers. I used 1 tsp vs. 1 tbsp. of red pepper flakes. And I used 1/2 of jalepeno vs 3-4 whole hotter peppers. My sauce still had kick, but suitable for me and Pearce (our 2 yr. old).

I used half of the sauce and brushed it on the drumsticks before baking. By the end it had kind of melted all to the bottom of the pan. I saved the remaining sauce to spoon on top for serving.

Here is my adapted version of PW's Asian Hot Wings

10 plump chicken drumsticks
2-3 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup plum jelly (this was really hard to find. I called 3 grocery stores before finding it.)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons chopped red onions
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2-1 jalapeno, minced

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Place chicken in pan skin side down. Brown both sides, then move to large baking dish.
2.  Add the plum jelly to a bowl. Then stir in the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Add the brown sugar, ginger, red onions, garlic, red pepper flakes and hot peppers. Stir to combine, and then pour it into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the sauce until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Then turn off the heat.
3.  Brush/spoon the sauce over the top of each drumstick, reserving some sauce for serving.
4.  Cover and put dish in oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, then remove from oven.
5.  Serve chicken in dishes, and then spoon extra sauce over the top. Served with white rice and steamed zucchini.

Brown Sugar Pecan Salmon & Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Thyme and Garlic

almost shoulda coulda taken a pic of this tonight. i haven't even posted on this bloggie in forever, and i'm pretty sure the only people who have this on google reader is Elise and maybe Shannon. :-) So hello!!!

BUT -- this dinner was so flippin good, I was just gonna email the recipe to myself (which inevitably gets lost in my inbox) then I remember this blog, and thought this is a much better place to keep it to use for future. B/c this one will definitely get used again. Probably when we have company over for dinner and get a larger piece of salmon from Costco, vs 1 pound from local grocer.

Salmon Fillets With Brown Sugar Pecan Glaze
Adapted from SouthernFood.About.com

4 tablespoons coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon water
4 salmon fillets, about 6 to 8 ounces each
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

In a small nonstick pan, brown the pecans lightly over medium-low heat for a few minutes. Add the brown sugar, butter, and water; heat until simmering (about 3-5 minutes). Set aside.

Heat oven to 425°. In an ovenproof skillet (I used an All-Clad pan, but I also read in the comments section that someone transfered salmon and olive oil from pan into glas baking dish) over medium-high heat; heat the olive oil. Once oil is hot, add salmon, skin side down and sear for about 2 minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast the fillets for 5 minutes. Spoon glaze over salmon fillets and continue roasting for about 5 minutes longer, or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.  (We ended up cooking ours for about 15 minutes total, but it's because our fillets were pretty big and thick.) Turn the oven off and let salmon stand in the oven for 2 minutes.

Thyme-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Adapted from Epicurious

4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
Fresh thyme leaves from about 2-3 sprigs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (for just a tad bit of kick!)

Preheat oven to 450°F. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and toss. Arrange potato slices in single layer on heavyweight rimmed baking sheet or in 13x9-inch baking dish. Place on top rack of oven and roast until tender and slightly browned, about 30-40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Also served plain white rice to round off the plate. :-) Those pecans with the brown sugar caramelized were seriously like candy. I wouldn't mind adding more of that topping.

Pumpkin Scones ** Starbucks copycat ***

 I've been craving Starbuck's pumpkin scones a lot lately. I don't get them often, even though I love them. And it doesn't help that we are 25 miles away from the closest Starbucks. I did a quick search for their copycat recipe, and found several sites that had the same recipe, so I figured it was probably a good one. 

These are so delicious, and taste sooo much better FRESH/home-made. They are much more moist and soft than at Starbucks, but still have that great pumpkin & spice flavor. They're kinda time consuming to make, but not too bad, the only part I don't like is cutting in butter. The recipe makes 6 scones, and only uses 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, so I saved the reminder of the puree from the 15 oz can. I'm very tempted to make these again in the morning. They are soooooooo goooooood.

I found this blog had a good picture-by-picture play of the recipe.

SCONES:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup canned pure (unsweetened) pumpkin
3 tablespoons half and half cream ( I did 1 1/2 Tbsp of whipping cream and 1 1/2 Tbsp. of whole milk, because that's what I had on hand.)
1 large egg
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes

PLAIN GLAZE:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
1 tablespoon milk (any kind)

SPICED ICING:
3/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
1 to 2 tablespoons milk (any kind)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. (I just rubbed some butter on a baking sheet.) Give it a light dusting of flour on top of that.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (through ginger).

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half and egg.

4. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut butter into the dry ingredients. Continue cutting until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

5. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then form the dough into a ball. The dough will be wet, but if it seems super sticky... just go ahead and sprinkle a little more flour into the dough until it's easier to handle. Remember, you want it to be somewhat sticky, and that's okay- but you also don't want it to stick to the baking sheet. Pat out dough onto the lightly floured baking sheet and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle that is about 9-inches long and 3-inches wide. Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal squares. Cut through the three squares diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Gently pull the triangles apart, leaving about 1/2-inch space between each one.

6. Bake 14 to 16 minutes on prepared baking sheet. Scones should begin to turn light brown.

7. While scones are cooling, prepare plain glaze by whisking ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix until smooth.

8. When scones are cool, use a knife to cut them apart and then pull them apart so that they are ready for glazing. Use a brush to paint a coating of the glaze over the top of each scone.

9. As the white glaze firms up, prepare spiced icing by whisking the ingredients in another medium bowl until smooth. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone (or brush it on) and allow the icing to dry before serving.

Paula Deen's Choc Chip Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange zest
Whipped cream, for serving
Zucchini ribbons, for serving
Directions
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.

Birthday BBQ

Jeremy and I both LOVE BBQ. We had a little family birthday party for Jeremy, and I thought it was the perfect time of year for a BBQ menu. I originally wanted to make a home made bbq sauce and follow Tyler Florence's recipe for BBQ pulled pork, but once the day got here, I figured I should go for easy as well as tried and true. I had no idea what his BBQ sauce would taste like, so last minute I decided to just use our favorite "Sweet Baby' Rays Original Sauce"

BBQ Pulled pork sandwiches:

7 pounds of Pork shoulder (bone out) - [fed 17 people]

Salt/pepper

1 large bottle of Sweet Baby Ray'z Original Barbecue sauce

Potato roll buns (I like these because they are soft and a little bit sweet, and they are smaller size than large hamburger buns. Perfect size for kids, and for adults too with sides of potato salad and beans).

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Salt and pepper the pig on both sides. Put the pork in a roasting pan (fat side up) and roast it for about 6 - 6.5 hours. An instant-read thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the pork should register 170 degrees F, but basically, what you want to do is to roast it until it's falling apart. (We pulled it out a couple times and tried to start pulling meat apart with 2 forks, until it actually was "pulling apart" rather easily.)

While the pork is still warm, you want to "pull" the meat: Grab 2 forks. Using 1 to steady the meat, use the other to "pull" shreds of meat off the roast. Put the shredded pork in a bowl and pour the sauce over. Stir it all up well so that the pork is coated with the sauce.

To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto the bottom half of each hamburger bun. Bon appetit!

Baked Beans (a mixture of my friend Kelly McDonald and Pioneer Woman)
3 Large cans (28 oz) pork and beans (I like "Bush's" brand) and drain a little of the liquid
1 med (sweet) onion chopped
1 lb cooked bacon cut up in pieces
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 - 3/4 cup brown sugar
a splash of cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

Cook Bacon. Then stir together all ingredients, place in baking dish, cover with foil and bake for a long time maybe 1 1/2 -  2 hours on 300 degrees.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad.
I have this recipe posted here, and I doubled it for the amount of people we had over.

Baja Shrimp Tacos

I did a quick search for "shrimp taco" and the first hit I checked out was a short video of Gwyneth Paltrow making baja style shrimp tacos. She made it look pretty easy, considering you have to make beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, and still grill the shrimp. I took it just a step further, since Jeremy requested a "sauce" to go with the tacos. I pulled out my Our Best Bites cookbook and made "creamy lime-cilantro dressing", which is her knock off from Cafe Rio. The whole combination was really tastey. Jeremy smeared beans on his taco before layering everything else, and he really like it.

Baja Style Shrimp Tacos (Servings 4)
2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons olive oil
the juice of one lime
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 dozen corn tortillas
pico de gallo (see recipe below)
guacamole (recipe below)
lime wedges for serving
Creamy lime-cilantro sauce (see recipe below)
crumbled cotija or feta cheese or monterrey jack cheese (optional)

1. Preheat your grill (or frying pan in my case) over high heat.
2. Toss the shrimp together with the olive oil, lime juice and salt.
3. Grill until cooked through, about 2 minutes a side.
4. To serve, heat the tortillas in in the leftover frying pan right before ready to serve.  (Wrap them in a tea towel to keep warm.
5. Pile a few shrimp on top of each tortilla and serve with a bit of pico de gallo, fresh lime juice, guacamole, some cilantro lime sauce and a little of the cheese if you’d like.

Pico de Gallo
1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons finely chopped white onion
coarse salt
squeeze of lime
as many finely chopped serrano or red jalapeños as you’d like (optional)

Combine the tomatoes, cilantro and onion together in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and lime.

Guacamole
A lesson in simplicity—the best guacamole is a showcase for ripe avocados. A little salt, lime and cilantro go a long way. Again this serves four and is ready in 10 minutes!

2 ripe avocados
2 tablespoons minced white onion
3 tablespoons cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1 lime
coarse salt

Cut each avocado in half. Scoop the avocado into a mixing bowl and mash gently with a fork—you don’t want it to be completely smooth. Stir in the onion and cilantro. Cut the lime in half and squeeze in enough juice to taste. Season the guacamole with salt, and either serve immediately or stick the pits in to keep it from browning (remove the pits before serving).

Creamy lime-cilantro sauce (curtesy of OBB)
1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa ( I used her recommended La Costena brand)

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend 'er up. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

Black Beans

By adding a few aromatics to a can of black beans, you get that Mexican restaurant flavor without hours of soaking and cooking. Serves 4 as a side dish and will be done in 20 minutes.

1 can of black beans

4 cilantro stems

1 garlic clove, crushed

pinch of salt

Combine everything together in a small pot and simmer over low heat for about 15-20 minutes (I do this while I’m preparing the rest of the meal).

Be sure to simmer the beans long enough so that they’re not watery.

chicken chow mein

I got Jeremy the book "Jamie's Food Revolution" for his birthday. We both read through the whole book within a couple days of getting it, and we both wanted to make this dish first! We got some lovely baby bok choy at a local Farmer's market and we gave it a go! It is fairly simple to make and pretty quick. A couple days later I improvised the same recipe but was missing about 3-4 of the ingredients, but still tasted good. So what I learned from this, is that Jamie teaches you how to use a wok and basic components and you can start making up your own stuff with what you have in your fridge and pantry.
I highly recommend the book.

chicken chow mein (my slightly modified version):
[2 servings]

• a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a squirt of Sriracha sauce
• 1 large skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 green onions, sliced
• a small bunch of cilantro
• 1 bok choy (he says spinach is a fine substitute if you don't have bok choy)
• a bundle of medium egg noodles
• vegetable oil (if I had peanut oil, I would have used that)
• 1 heaped teaspoon corn starch
• a small can of water chestnuts
• 2–3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 small lime




To prepare your stir-fry
• Boil a pot of water (for the noodles and bok choy)
• Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic
• Slice the chicken into finger-sized strips and lightly season with salt and pepper
• Cut the ends off your green onions and finely slice
• Pick the cilantro leaves and put to one side, and finely chop the cilantro stalks
• Halve the bok choi lengthways

To cook your stir-fry
• Preheat a wok or large frying pan on a high heat and once it’s very, very hot add a good lug of peanut (or vegetable) oil and swirl it around
• Stir in the chicken strips and cook for a couple of minutes, until the chicken browns slightly
• Add the ginger, garlic, chilli, cilantro stalks, and half the green onions
• Stir-fry for 30 seconds, keeping everything moving round the wok quickly
• Add your noodles and bok choy to the boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, no longer
• Meanwhile, add the corn starch, water chestnuts and their water to the wok and give it another good shake to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom
• Remove from the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• Halve the lime, squeeze the juice of one half into the pan and mix well
• Drain the noodles and bok choi in a colander over a bowl, reserving a little of the cooking water
• Stir in the noodles and bok choi, with a little of the cooking water to loosen if necessary, and mix well
• Have a taste and season with more soy sauce if needed

To serve your stir-fry
• Use tongs to divide everything between two bowls or plates, or to lift on to one large serving platter
• Spoon any juices over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the green onions and the cilantro leaves
• Serve with lime wedges

Thai Peanut Noodles

Like I said yesterday, I love the Our Best Bites cookbook. This recipe is from their cookbook, as well. This was Jeremy's birthday dinner request. I've had it flagged ever since I bought the book. This was delicious, and I quote Jeremy "heaven in my mouth". Pretty simple and quick to make. Chicken is listed only as side note as optional. However, I think it's a must! Especially when you are feeding a hungry man. :-)

This recipe has been added to our regular dinner rotation.

Thai Peanut Noodles:

1 chicken breast, very thinly sliced
1/2 c. chicken broth
3 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
1-2 tsp. Sriracha chili sauce (1 is mild with a bite, 1.5 is medium, 2 is hot)
1 1/2 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh minced ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
8 oz. Udon or linguine noodles
Chopped green onions
Chopped cilantro
2 limes, cut into quarters
Chopped peanuts

1. Cook noodles in salted water.
2. Stir-fry very thinly-sliced chicken in some olive oil with a couple cloves of garlic, some fresh ginger, some green onions, soy sauce, and a small squirt or two of Sriracha chili sauce.
3. In the meantime, combine chicken broth, peanut butter, chili sauce, honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk until smooth and remove from heat.
4. Toss cooked noodles with sauce and divide among 4 bowls. Sprinkle with green onions, cilantro, chopped peanuts, and garnish each serving with 2 lime quarters.
5. Before eating, squeeze lime juice over noodles and stir to combine.

Cheese Steak Sandwich

I found this recipe in my Our Best Bites cookbook (which I absolutely love). Sometimes I forget that you can serve a sandwich for dinner...but since this is warm, and involves steak, I think it's totally appropriate for dinner. Both Jeremy and I loved this sandwich, we had it again the next night.

On a side note, my SIL Brittany just told me there is a Our Best Bites cookbook signing in Seattle/Bellevue next weekend! It's now on my calendar!

Cheese Steak Sandwiches:

1 lb. steak (you really can use any cut; since you’re going to slice it up and season it heavily, there’s really no need to splurge on a fillet mignon.)
2 Tbsp. butter
1 green bell pepper
1 medium yellow onion
Provolone
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Hot sauce (our favorite is Crystal)
4 Hoagie French rolls

1. Cut steak VERY thin, and set aside. (Get your husband to do it, if he's good with a knife. :-)
2. Slice bell peppers and onions. Set aside.
3. Heat 2 Tbsp. butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add steak and stir-fry. Season heavily with salt and lots of freshly-ground pepper.
4. When meat is about half-cooked, add peppers and onions. Stir occasionally, cooking until most of the liquid is evaporated and meat is cooked through.
5. Season with hot sauce to taste. Just a little bit for me.
6. Turn broiler on high. Position sliced buns on baking sheet and spoon steak mixture inside. Top with cheese and place under broiler for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is slightly toasty.

This sandwich is JUICY GOOD!

Stuffed Spinach Shells

(I'm really embarrassed about the lame photos for this post. I'll try not to use iphone anymore!! But still wanted to post this recipe b/c it's really yummy!!!)

I've always loved food. I grew up in New Orleans, and in my opinion ate at the best restaurants in the world. Ok, I guess I can't say "world", because I'm definitely not a "world traveler"- The only place I've been out of the country is Mexico. Anyways, my heart (and taste buds) are in New Orleans. When I was in High School, I applied to a favorite local Italian restaurant, Figaro's, close to my (childhood) home on a whim, and was hired that same day. One of my favorite things there was their Stuffed Pasta Shells. And it also reminds me of my mom, too, she would always order it. So I tried to find a close enough recipe to resemble this said stuffed shell recipe. After searching around, this is what I found.

On a side note, my 14 month old LOVES LOVES LOVES this. She wanted to eat the whole pan. And she had leftovers again and again until they were all gone.

Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Shells
(Makes 6 servings)

6 oz jumbo shell pasta (1/2 a standard box or about 20 shells)
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 can (or jar) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 cups grated Fontina or mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg
salt
freshly ground black pepper
24 oz jar marinara sauce



1. Cook pasta shells according to package directions, drain well and let cool.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Combine ricotta, garlic, spinach, artichokes, 1 cup Fontina, 1/4 cup Parmesan and the egg. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper (you won’t need much salt since the cheese is salty).
4. Spread a cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish.
5. Fill the cooked shells with about 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture. Arrange the shells in rows in the baking dish. Spoon the remaining sauce over the shells and sprinkle with the remaining Fontina and Parmesan.

6. Bake covered with foil for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes until cheese is golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Breakfast Burritos

First of all, sorry for the lazy iphone photo. :-( Sometimes it's just too convenient. Every now and then I like to shake up the usual boring breakfasts (bagels with cream cheese and strawberries, cereal, Greek vanilla yogurt with granola and fruit, and our latest easy kick--cinnamon rolls from the refrigerated can) and make a yummy warm breakfast burrito. It takes more effort but boy is it worth it! I tried to copy my absolute favorite Breakfast Burrito of all time from Rooster Cafe in Costa Mesa, near my previous job at Rauxa.

So here is the rundown of what I like to put in my burrito:

• Thick slices of bacon, chopped in big pieces.
• Crunchy shredded hashbrowns cooked in above mentioned bacon grease
• Light and fluffy scrambled eggs (with a wee bit of milk mixed in egg mixture). do not overcook eggs!!
• Shredded (sharp or medium) cheddar cheese
• Freshly chopped cilantro
• Freshly made salsa - but that isn't always handy, so the salsa in the jar will have to do the majority of the time.

Greek Couscous Salad

This was my favorite dish served at Pearce's first birthday party! I LOVE anything with a vinaigrette, and I'm a pretty big fan of Greek food in general.

Since the party was at lunch time (12-2p), I wanted to serve a chicken salad sandwich and two different kinds of salads. Naturally I thought one of the salads should be a pasta salad...but then I wanted to do something different for the second "salad". I recently purchased the new "Our Best Bites Cookbook" for inspiration for the luncheon...and I was glad I did! I got several ideas from this cookbook. And as soon as I saw the picture for the Greek Couscous on the "Salad" intro page, I was pretty sure this would be the one.

This recipe is awesome as is!! i didn't change anything!! (Except I like to use fresh ingredients whenever possible - so I subbed fresh rosemary for dry- but I realize at such a small amount it doesn't make a big difference, so I would just use dry next time.) AND, I didn't pour in all of the vinaigrette, most of it though.

SO.. here is the awesome recipe that is found only in their new cookbook and NOT on their website.

GREEK COUSCOUS SALAD

1 (14.5-ounce) can chicken broth plus enough water to make 2 cups
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano leaves
1 teaspoon dry basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon crushed dry rosemary
1 (10 ounce) box dry couscous (about 1 1/2 cups) - I used the "Middle Eastern" brand from the box
2 cups diced tomatoes, or 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved- I used the latter
1 medium cucumber, diced- I also peeled it, because I don't like the peelings
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1/2 cup crumbled feta- I LOVE feta so I used a bit more
1/2 cup chopped parsley- Jeremy's not a big parsley fan, so I maybe used a heaping 1/4 cup


Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minnced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the chicken broth and water, oregano, basil, and rosemary in a small pot on the stove top. Bring to a boil  Add the couscous, cover the pot with a lid, and remove from heat. Let sit for at least 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork. Cool to room temperature.
2. Combine cooled couscous, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, olives, feta, and parsley. Set aside.
3. In a small jar, combine vinaigrette ingredients and shake until combined. Pour over salad, stir, and then refrigerate 2 hours before serving.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
4. If desired, garnish with fresh parsley, extra feta cheese, and lemon slices for squeezing on top.

Citrus Garlic Shrimp Linguini

This is one of my mother-in-law's recipes. It's so delish! I got the recipe after the first time we had it. It is  a Curfew family favorite, and especially in our home, too! I now keep frozen (raw) shrimp from Costco in the freezer, and use them for this fancy and easy meal. It only takes about 30-40 minutes to make from start to table. Here is the recipe...

Citrus Garlic Shrimp Linguini

1 pkg linguini

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup (fresh squeezed) orange juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tsp grated lemon peel
2 tsp grated orange peel
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
shredded parm cheese - lots and lots!!!
minced fresh parsley

1. cook linguini according to pkg directions. meanwhile in a blender or food processor, combine the next eight ingredients; cover and process until blended.
2. pour into a large skillet. heat through. add shrimp. cook for 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. drain linguini. toss with shrimp mixture. sprinkle with cheese and parsley.