Shrimp Etouffee

Shrimp Etoufee... defintely one of my {go to} recipes when I am having company for dinner, but it's also a great, quick week night dinner!

As most of you know, I really try and cook with only fresh ingredients.  Usually, it makes for a very affordable dinner, and you won't hear me complaining about that!

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Saute the onions and celery in butter, add the garlic, cook for a few, and then add the shrimp, cayenne pepper and salt.

When the shrimp are pink, mix the flour into the water and slowly add to the pan.  Wait until the sauce thickens, and then cook for 6-8 minutes.  Add the scallions and parsley and cook for two more minutes.

You can certainly adjust the cayenne pepper up or down depending on preference.  The amount in this recipe gives just the right amount of kick without being too peppery.

  I like to serve this over plain white rice, with garlic bread of course.  Generally we have a salad, but opted not to tonight.

Not bad for a Monday night dinner!

Lasagne

My son was having his little friend for a sleep over tonight and I actually had the foresight to ask him what he likes to eat.  He said that lasagne was his "favorite thing in the world".  He was in luck because we haven't had lasagne in awhile and...I happen to make a mean lasagne.  It's my Dad's recipe and never disappoints! 

Pretty simple ingredients: hamburger, pork sausage, tomatoes, tomato paste, a couple different cheeses and a few spices.

Brown the meats separately, and then add in the tomatoes, tomato paste and all the spices.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.

I have absolutely no patience for boiling lasagne noodles and then ever so carefully pulling them out of scalding water with tongs, just to have them rip apart as I am trying to lift them out.  No thanks.

 I buy these oven ready ones and they go straight from the box into the dish!  Just like the box says: 'cuts preparation time in half'!

Start with a layer of the noodles, then add some meat sauce, the ricotta parmesan mixture, and then a nice dose of the mozzarella.  Repeat three times.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes and let stand for 15 minutes when it's finished so it will firm up.

 There was only two pieces of this left when dinner was finished.  My son's friend said it was the best meal he'd ever had, even better than Mcdonald's.  That's a 7 yr old for ya!

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Fettuccine Bolognese

Pictures do NOT do this dish justice!  Although it looks like traditional spaghetti sauce, bolognese sauce tastes totally different, and I must say, everyone loved it!  There's a little bit of everything in this dish... wine, milk, red pepper, parsley and nutmeg to name a few.

The simple ingredients were inexpensive and most of them, I already had on hand.  Do use the fresh oregano over the dried.  I definitely think that had an impact on the taste!

 

The recipe calls for chopped pancetta.  I tried to chop it up with a knife... not so much.  The food processor is definitely the way to go!

Start by cooking down all the vegetables for about 15 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients.  Talk about an easy dinner!

This made enough to serve four adults and two kids with a little left over.  It was so flavorful, I couldn't believe it!

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You can even make this sauce ahead and freeze it... perfect for those busy evenings!

Pulled-Pork Tacos

This is quite possibly the EASIEST dinner that I have ever made.  It literally took me 2 minutes.  Yes, that's right.... 2 minutes.

This dinner cooks in the crock pot for 8 hours, requires no attention AND I had everything but the roast and cilantro already on hand.  I love dinners like that! 

I asked the meat department at the grocery store to cut me a small (2 -3 lb) boneless pork shoulder roast.  To the crock pot I added salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa powder and salt.  Set the roast in and coat with the salsa and spice mixture.

When using a slow cooker, resist the urge to lift the lid until the dish has cooked the minimum amount of time specified in the recipe.  Each peek allows heat to escape and can increase cooking time by as much as half an hour!

After 8 hours on the low setting, this is what you have.  Well, I had to pull it apart with forks when it was finished, but still.  How delicious does this look?

  Make sure you strain most of the juice out of the meat... you will have soupy tacos if you don't! 

I used the small fajita sized tortillas.  Add a little bit of the pulled pork, top with some extra salsa, a few sprigs of cilantro, some fresh squeezed lime and sour cream.

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I served these with Mexican rice, refried beans and strawberry margaritas. 

This dinner literally cooked itself!  I started the slow cooker when I got up in the morning.  Almost 8 hours later and 20 minutes before dinner time, I made the rice, beans and margaritas.

Smoky Pork and Bean Soup

This Smoky Pork and Bean Soup is easy, tasty and smells just wonderful as it fills your home!

I asked the meat department at my local grocery store to cut me a bone-in 3lb pork shoulder roast.  If I had enough time, I would have slow cooked this roast in a crock pot the day before, so the meat would just fall off in shreds.  But, no time so I seasoned the roast with Kosher salt, garlic powder and pepper.  Then I baked it at 350 for about two hours.

It should turn out like this.  Cut all the meat off the bone and discard the fattiest parts.  (No one wants to take a bite of fat in a soup.  Ewww.)  Cut into bite size pieces.

While the roast is cooking, you can start the beans.  You want to rinse them off first, then boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.

While the beans are soaking, prepare your ingredients.  The secret to this soup is Liquid Smoke.  Used sparingly in most recipes, but not this one.  I used 4 Tablespoons.  It gives the soup a warm, full, smoky flavor.

Deceptively filling and flavored with ham hocks, pork shoulder roast, fresh thyme, onion, bay leaves, carrots and liquid smoke, this soup has easily made its way into my recipe box permanently.

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Baked Fried Chicken

This is the easiest and *tastiest* fried chicken I have ever found!

What caught my eye about this recipe, is that it DOES NOT require a cast iron pan (which I don't have).  Can I share a secret?  I am terrified of using cast iron because it's totally different than cooking in regular pans.  I used to be afraid of pie crust and now we're friends, so maybe next year I'll make nice with the cast iron.

Most kitchens will have all the ingredients required to make this:  milk, flour, salt, pepper, ground mustard, thyme, ginger, oregano, paprika and eggs.

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I buy a whole chicken and ask the butchers to cut it into fryer pieces for me, which they are happy to do.  Once I mix the spices together, I set up my "dredging station". 

One at a time, dip the chicken pieces in the egg and then coat liberally with the flour and spice mixture.  Carefully set them down in the heated oil and brown about 3 minutes on each side.  Only brown 4-5 pieces at a time as not to crowd the pan.  When they are brown, move them to a greased 9x13 dish. 

**Side note** How do you know when your oil is ready? I take a pinch of the flour mixture and toss it into the oil. When it hisses back at you, it's ready.

After all the chicken is browned, bake at 350 degrees 50-60 minutes.

Whenever I make fried chicken, I always serve it with cornbread.  I have been asked for my cornbread recipe more times than I can count!

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First I heat up the oil for the chicken, as it takes awhile.  Then I start on the cornbread.  While that's baking, I fry up the chicken.  Right when the cornbread's done, the chicken is ready to go in the oven.  While the chicken in cooking, I prepare the other side dishes.  This way, everything comes up at once.  Tonight the menu consisted of potato salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, corn bread and apple pie for dessert.

So easy and so delicious! Often times, I double the recipe and we have friends over for dinner.  You can never go wrong with this fried chicken!

Yankee Pot Roast Soup

There is this little hole-in-the wall soup kitchen several blocks down from my office.  Since we discovered it, the girls I work with and I have gone there every single day for lunch.  Every SINGLE day.  One day I tried their Yankee Pot Roast soup, and it was the very best soup I had EVER tasted!

The next morning, I called them and asked if they'd share their recipe with me.  His response to me was "You're out of your mind!"  I suppose you don't get to ask a local fave what's in their recipes :) !  He did share with me what the secret ingredient was though.. .we'll get to that later...

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I could tell most of what was in the soup just by eating it... cubed pot roast, celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, thyme and pepper.

Start by browning the meat in some butter.  I seasoned it liberally with onion salt, garlic powder, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

Pour off all of the fat and add in your vegetables, thyme, and some salt and pepper.  Then, add the beef broth and mix everything together.

Time for the secret ingredient:

I would never have guessed or thought to add cream to a beef broth based soup.  I am so glad that he decided to share their secret ingredient with me!

The cream makes the soup a tad richer than just plain beef broth, and really brings all the flavors together.  This is what it will look like when all the vegetables have cooked down and it's ready to serve.

I served this with just plain french bread... it was fabulous!