Fibber

You know what they say, life happens.  Well, today it did.  There was no shrimp curry made in the OSK.  There was Shrimp Alfredo.

Shrimp Alfredo with Mushrooms

1 lb. shrimp, tail-off, cooked

1 package spaghetti, cooked

1 8 oz. can of mushrooms

1 T. EVOO

1 sm. onion

2 cloves garlic

3 wedges Laughing Cow cheese

1 c. milk or cream

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

S&P to taste

Directions

Heat the EVOO on medium, put the onion and whole garlic cloves and sauté until translucent.  Add in the mushrooms and continue to cook.  Add in the milk and let it begin to warm.  Once it is too warm to touch add in the Laughing Cow cheese and melt it into the milk.  Add the parmesan cheese and whisk until smooth.  The parm will thicken the sauce.  Season with S&P to taste.  Add in the cooked shrimp until they get warm, and then toss in the spaghetti to coat.  If you want a thinner sauce just add a bit of the pasta water into the sauce.  Serve hot.  Garnish with parsley.

This is incredibly easy.  It’s so easy I forgot to take pictures of the cooking process.  It comes together in approximately 10 – 15 minutes.  That’s about as long as it takes to cook your pasta. 

I’ve mastered simple and quick.  Really.  No joke.  Simple and quick.  Well, you’ll see soon enough.

My Dirty Little Secret

This isn’t going to be an all-food blog.  There, I said it.  I have other interests.  They involve life, not just eating.  Well, unless there is bacon or cheese.  Then all bets are off.

You should know that I’m imagining bacon and cheese right now.  I’m going to need a minute.

…crickets…

Ok.  I’m back.

This blog is going to be a little bit of everything.  It’ll be about life.  My life.  There will be funny things.  There will be real things.  Probably some clothes stuff.  Definitely some purse stuff.  A bit about the fam.  Exercise…When I do it that is.

But for today I couldn’t find a recipe to post.  Why?  Because I spent the entire day at the hospital with my husband.  He got eye surgery.  Actually, intraocular implants.  He was supposed to have the procedure done at 9:30 am.  However, he was bumped by some emergencies and at 3:30 pm he finally went back.  He’s very pleased that he can see without his glasses.  I’m happy for him.

Tomorrow is another day.  Tomorrow there will be food that doesn’t involve a drive thru.  Tomorrow there will probably be Green Curry Shrimp.

Spring On a Plate

It’s been spring here in South Texas since February.

Honestly, it’s summer.  There’s no denying the fact that today the temperature reached 100 degrees.  It made me want to cry, but I was too dehydrated from the heat that it was moot.

I can’t help feel like spring could stick around a bit with a dish like this.

Pasta Primavera

1 sm. to med. zucchini

3 cauliflower florets

1.5 cups broccoli

1.5 cups carrots

5 portobella caps

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic

2 T. EVOO

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup cream cheese

Chop all of the veggies.  It should look like this:

I left the garlic whole and added it to the 2 T. of EVOO.  Then I added the carrots, onion, broccoli, & cauliflower.  I cooked it for about 10 minutes, then I added in the zucchini and cooked it for another 5 minutes or so.  Once it seemed that everything had cooked down enough I added the mushrooms and tomatoes.  Stir in the cream cheese if you choose to use it.

It turned out great, I just wish my pictures had turned out better.

All of the veggies were in the dish even though you can’t see them.

Sorry it’s a crappy picture.

Easter Dinner

Yes, we celebrate it.  No, we’re not traditional.  If I were in Costa Rica this week would have involved being at the beach.  There would have been fish and seafood.  There would have been family and friends.  Even though I went a non-traditional route as far as dinner, it was a perfect Easter for us.

On the menu?

• Cold Boiled Shrimp (Oxymoron?  Yes, please.)
• Asparagus in Brown Butter
• Caprese Salad
• Rolls
• Wine

Cold Boiled Shrimp

2.5 pounds tail-on raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 lemons

3 quarts water

1 – 2 Bay Leaf

1 – 2 T. coriander seed

1 – 2 T. Mustard Seed

1 – 2 T. All Spice

3 T. Salt

Take all of the ingredients and bring them to a boil.  Once boiling, add in the shrimp, bring to a boil again.  Let boil for one minute.  Turn it off, remove it from the heat and walk away.  Don’t look at it.  Don’t touch it.  Walk away.  In 15 minutes you can touch it.  No sooner.  Put it in the fridge to cool.  Serve chilled.  I like to serve it with lemon slices and cocktail sauce.

Brown Butter Asparagus

1 stick of butter, unsalted

1 clove garlic, sliced

S&P to taste

Stove

Take the butter and begin to melt it slowly.  Slowly.  Slower.  It will begin to turn the color of caramel.  It’s going to start foaming, watch for little brown specks.  Remove the butter from the heat.

In a skillet sauté the garlic and asparagus in pieces until tender.  Pour the brown butter over the top.  S&P to taste.  Serve hot.

Caprese Salad

4 Roma Tomatoes

8 oz. Mozzarella packed in water

6 large leaves of basil

1/4 cup EVOO, the purest you can find

S&P to taste

Chop the tomatoes & mozzarella.  Add the EVOO and S&P to the dish.  Mix it up.  Tear…TEAR the basil and add it to the salad.  Chill.

I got the rolls at a bakery.  Not too hard.  The wine was a nice 2006 La Crema Pinot Noir.  Yes, I like red wine enough to eat it with seafood.

This turned out to be a very easy Easter dinner.  I was going to make a leg of lamb, but I got to Costco too late.  This worked out great though.

I like things simple.  The only thing I had to do when it was time to eat was cook the asparagus.  I’m not kidding you, this was a 10 minute dinner.  Give or take the shrimp and salad prep.  All in all, I’d do it again.

There might have been some undocumented chocolate chip cookies and strawberry cream pie.

Happy Belated Easter!

Still Not Home

I’m strange. I’m at a conference out of town. I’ve stayed at my hotel for the past two nights. Maybe not strange. Boring. Yes, that’s more like it.

Delivery Greek…

Dessert…

Lemon sugar cookies. Sugar and lemon rind on top. Heaven!

I can’t wait to go home! I miss the Orange Spice Kitchen. Mostly though I miss these guys…

He enjoys food too.

He likes to cook. Yay!

Not From the OSK

Mini Tuna Tacos – tuna, macadamia nuts, mini tortillas, wasabi!

Fries with Ranch. Mmmmmmm, gourmet.

Time for bed. There may have been a couple of glasses of wine along with these eats.

Teriyaki Salmon

At the request of the youngest member of this household, salmon was on the menu.  He’s not a picky eater at all.  His one complaint?  There wasn’t enough avocado on this.  There may have been tears.  From me.  I had to give up my avocado.  By give up I mean he’s fast with a fork and he took it off my plate when I got up to get some water.  He may have said get over it.  Maybe.

Teriyaki Salmon

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup water

2 T. vinegar

3 T. mirin

2 T. tomato paste

1 T. garlic powder

1 T. onion powder

1/2 t. ginger

2 T. brown sugar

1 lb. salmon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Take all of the ingredients except for the salmon and whisk them all together.  Lightly coat a Pyrex dish with non-stick spray and put the salmon filets in.  Pour all of the marinade over the top.  Cook for 20 minutes.

I served this with rice, green beans with turkey bacon, and avocado.

I’m heading out of town tomorrow.

There will be pictures of food I didn’t make.

Black Bean Salsa

What happens when you take Black Beans, Corn and Salsa?  Heaven on a corn chip.  That’s what.

I freeze real lemon juice into ice cubes.  Then I can thaw them as needed.

Secret spices… Lizano is from Costa Rica.  You can replicate the flavors by using cumin, vinegar, molasses and a little tomato paste.

It’s not pretty, but it is delicious.

This is a recipe that you can make to your own liking.  It’s all about what you think will work for you and your family.

Ingredients

1 can of white beans, rinsed

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 can of tomatoes with jalapeños or Mexican style

1 cup of corn

2 T. lemon juice

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. onion powder

2 T. Lizano (or your mixture)

2 T. cilantro paste

2 T. chili & lime spice (can be substituted with some cayenne, salt-free lemon pepper, and salt)

Directions

Mix it all up.  Add things that you like, increase flavors, omit items you don’t like.