Shrimp & Grits

A co-worker of J's is coming over for dinner tonight with his wife and before we hit the Wii to play Madden Football, we're having this to eat:

Shrimp
2 1/2 pounds shells-on shrimp, washed & peeled
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil

Put washed & peeled shrimp in fridge, soaking in lemon juice & milk.

Heat olive oil and saute remaining ingredients. Once soft, turn to low and leave for about an hour.

Shortly before eating, add shrimp and cook until pink.

Cheese Grits
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 cup uncooked quick grits
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp feta cheese
1 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
3 Tbsp butter
2/3 cup milk
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes Tony Cachere's seasoning
4 eggs, lightly beaten
dash paprika

Bring water and salt to a boil. Add grits and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and add cheeses, butter, milk and Tony Cachere's, stirring until butter and cheese are melted.

Add eggs, stir well.

Pour into lightly greased 2 quart casserole dish and sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 350 for one hour or until thoroughly heated and lightly browned.

Green Beans
16 oz. frozen thin green beans
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Mix all together and roast at 400 for 15 minutes or until desired tenderness.

Chicken, Broccoli & Rice

Split chicken breasts were on sale this week, so I bought three packages for a total of about 10 pounds of chicken. I cooked 8 of the chicken breasts in the crock pot, pulled the meat off the bone and froze 9 cups of cooked chicken. Here's what I did with the four remaining breasts:

4 split chicken breasts, bone in, no skin
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 "can" water
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 1/4 cup uncooked rice
2 broccoli bunches, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Place chicken breasts in 9 x 13 pan.

Mix rice, soup, mustard and water together.

Pour over chicken.

Put chopped broccoli on top.

Top with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Crock-Pot Spiced Pork Roast

Boston Butt pork was on sale yesterday, so I thought I'd try modifying the cinnamon maple pork chops that we had a while back to a different cut of meat. Here's what I did:

4 lbs. Boston butt pork
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/4 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 cup white wine (from freezer)
1/2 cup water

Mix spices together.

Roll pork in spices.

Cook in crock pot on low for 8-24 hours. I cycled it from low to warm and back several times, as I thought of it. If you've got enough water in the crockpot, it's difficult to overcook a Boston butt.

I poured this glaze over the roast:
1 tsp. butter
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup

We had this with instant mashed potatoes (yes, I am a true Philistine) and English peas.

There was plenty of pork left-over, which I'll freeze for us to have again in a few weeks when I'm in need of an easy meal.

J found the spices a bit too much, so I'll probably make this again, but I'll cut back on the amounts of the spices. I'll also pour the glaze directly over the pieces as I serve them, which will mute the spices more effectively.

Barbecue Chicken Pizzas

One of my recent goals is to attempt to cook meat early in the week that we can re-use in different ways throughout the week. I was inspired by Jaime & Andy's recipe to make these tonight with left-overs from Monday.

1 cup left-over white wine crockpot chicken
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
mozzarella cheese
mild cheddar cheese
feta cheese
3 10" flour tortillas

Place tortillas on two cookie sheets.

Spread pizza sauce amongst tortillas.

Spread barbecue sauce on top of pizza sauce (or, more efficiently, mix your two sauces before spreading, which I didn't do because I was unsure of the ratio until I tried it once).

Top with chicken, pulling the diced chicken into even smaller pieces.

Sprinkle desired mozzarella cheese, then cheddar.

I topped with about 1 Tbsp feta cheese on each pizza.

Cook at 450 for 12-15 minutes.

We're having these with a mixed green salad, topped with sliced strawberries, diced appples and sliced almonds.

Chicken, Grains & Green Beans

I desperately need to grocery shop and am putting it off for one more day. In an effort to feed both my family and our out of town guest, here's what we're having tonight.

Chicken
2 lbs. chicken, partially defrosted
1/4 cup white wine
salt
pepper

Place all ingredients in crockpot on high for 1 hour, then low for 1 additional hour.
Remove chicken, cut up and return to crock pot for 2 additional hours or until done.

Grains
1 1/4 cup harvest grains (blend of couscous, orzo, quinoa)
1 3/4 chicken broth

Bring broth to a boil.
Add grains, bring back to a boil.
Reduce to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Green Beans
1 16 oz. package frozen string green beans
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry roasted almonds

Mix ingredients together.
Roast at 400 for 10-15 minutes until desired tenderness.

J brought home a rosemary peppercorn bread that was a great complement to the meal. And the multi grains blend (which we picked up at Trader Joe's) was wonderful. Every one of us loved it. I'll be stocking up the next time we go.

Mexican Fudge & Salsa

We had a Mexican night with some friends last night. Lots of yummy food. Here's what I brought to share:

8 oz. colby cheese, shredded
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
8 oz. green salsa (salsa verde)
3 eggs
3 Tbsp. jalapeno peppers, finely chopped

Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
Place 4 oz. of colby 4 oz. of mozzarella in bottom of pan.
Mix eggs and salsa and pour over cheese.
Put remaining cheese on top.
Sprinkle jalapenos on top.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips.

This dip is a nice alternative to Ro-tel dip or queso dip because it's cheesy, but firmer. The original recipe calls for cheddar and monterey jack, so these could be used as well. If I had it on hand, I would have used a pepper jack and left out the jalapenos (which were my addition to make it feel a bit more Mexican).

Another great addition to our night was my friend's salsa. Here's her recipe as well:
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
10-oz. can Rotel original, drained
14.5-oz can diced petite tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup (a good handful) of cilantro

Process the garlic and onion in food processor.
Then pour in the drained cans of tomato and Rotel. Process.
Then toss in cilantro. Process briefly.
All done.

For a salsa from canned tomatoes, this is marvelous. It tasted SO fresh. If you're looking for a taste of summer before those ripe red tomatoes grace our vines in July, try this!

SW Stew

My mother-in-law is in town visiting and requested a beef dish. I didn't grocery shop this week (I'm trying to go 10-14 days between visits instead of 7 to stretch things out), so here's what I made with what I had on hand.

12 oz. strip steak, cubed
1 lb. ground beef
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup dried pinto beans
1 packet ranch seasonsing
1 packet taco seasoning
Splash of red wine

Brown cubed steak and ground beef, drain and set aside.
Cover beans in water and bring to a boil. Leave covered and soaking for 1 hour.
Drain beans and add remaining ingredients, along with 3-4 "cans" of water.
Simmer until read to eat (I let it simmer for 2-3 hours).
Serve with cheese & corn chips.

I would normally add chopped onion and chopped colored peppers, but I forgot to add them when browning the beef and was honestly just too lazy to do it. While they would have boosted the nutritional content somewhat, it didn't make a huge difference in taste.

For the left-overs, we put this over left-over rice to make it a bit different for the girls and even more like a stew.

Sweet Potato Burritos

I took a meal to a friend with a new baby today. They are eating dairy free, so I thought this crock pot meal would be an easy solution.

3 medium or small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 cup frozen corn
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup water

Mix all ingredients together and cook on low in the crockpot for 4-6 hours. Serve on flour tortillas (with sour cream and cheese, if you are not dairy free!).

Farewell Winter

Today it really feels like spring is finally on its way, so I'm a farewell to winter dinner of lasagna, Italian broccoli and garlic breadsticks. Hopefully, it will another six months before we want a dinner this heavy. (As it will almost certainly be another six months before I make lasagna again!)

I made lasagna a few weeks ago that was more elaborate, but if you read my other blog you'll recall from last night's post that I'm letting myself off the hook on occasion in order to promote sanity. So here's an easy version.

Lasagna
1 bottle spaghetti sauce (whatever you have on hand)
9 lasagna noodles (uncooked)
15 oz. ricotta cheese
6 oz. frozen spinach
1 cup plain yogurt
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Mix ricotta, spinach and yogurt together.

Spread thin layer of sauce over bottom of 9 X 11 pan.

Top with three lasagna noodles to fill pan.

Spread half of ricotta mixture on noodles and top with thin layer of mozzarella, then sauce.

Repeat layers of noodles, ricotta mixture, mozzarella and sauce.

Place three more noodles on top and pour remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 10 uncovered.

Italian Broccoli
2 bunches broccoli, cut up
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
oil
balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Steam broccoli until bright green and still crisp.

Add tomatoes until just warm.

Mix oregano, basil, oil and vinegar and pour over veggies. Toss to coat. Top with mozzarella cheese.