11 Tuesday Dec 2012
Posted in Amazeballs!, Food & Recipes
Seeds of Change
Easy Organic Rices and Quinoa
These are seriously the BEST THINGS since sliced, whole grain bread. Seeds of Change makes several kinds of certified Organic microwaveable pouches. These little babies are a staple in our kitchen. They go with just about everything and the kids love them! 90-seconds in the microwave and VOILA! You’re done.
11 Sunday Nov 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Tags
black olives, cooking, dinner, feta, fish, food, Italian, marinara, Mediterranean, recipe, recipes, sauce, shrimp, spaghetti
Mediterranean Shrimp and Feta
You’ll need: 2lbs of shrimp, EVOO, garlic, dill, black olives, feta and marinara {I use my from-scratch marinara.}
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
~ Coat the bottom of a baking dish with the EVOO. Add to it a dash of dill and 2-3 medium cloves of garlic.
~ Add the shrimp to the baking dish and mix around in the EVOO and dill until the shrimps are coated. While you can leave the tails on, I prefer to remove the tails before baking. The best way to remove tails from shrimp is to squeeze and pull the base of the tail from the meat.
~ Ladle enough marinara over the shrimp to thoroughly coat them.
~ Sprinkle sliced black olives and feta crumbles over the pan from end to end.
~ Bake at 425 for 20 minutes; serve over pasta and amaze your family!
21 Sunday Oct 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Honey-Baked Turkey with Pears*
You’ll need: turkey breasts or cutlets, honey, sliced pears
Prep time: 5 minutes
~ Lay the turkey pieces in a baking dish; the pieces can be touching but do not overlap them.
~ Arrange sliced pears on top of the turkey and drizzle with honey.
~ Bake at 350 for 22 minutes.
*YUM YUM YUM! The honey and the pears will give the turkey a slightly sweet flavor that can’t be beat! To make the potatoes in the above image check out the recipe here.
21 Sunday Oct 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
AbFab New Potatoes*
You’ll need: new potatoes {baby red-skinned potatoes}, EVOO, a leek, two green onions, thyme and dill
Prep time: 10 minutes
~ Thinly slice the potatoes and put into a medium sized baking dish.
~ Lightly drizzle the potatoes with the EVOO and then sprinkle the dill, thyme, diced leeks and green onions over the potatoes. Stir around to coat all of the potatoes.
~ Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
*NOT ONLY are these AbFab potatoes absolutely fabulous, they aren’t too shabby for you, either! By seasoning with herbs and vegetables you get a great taste with no butter or salt. And yes, your children will gobble them up 🙂
31 Tuesday Jul 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Baked Parmesan Perch
Quick and tasty! This dish is delicious over some rice and baby sweet peas 🙂
You’ll need: perch fillets, garlic, EVOO, basil and Parmesan cheese
Prep time + cook time = 15ish minutes
~ In a baking dish, arrange the fillets so they are touching but not overlapping. Drizzle EVOO over the fish.
~ Sprinkle basil and freshly chopped garlic over the EVOO; then liberally top with Parmesan cheese.
~ Bake at 500 for 10 minutes. If the fillets are frozen, you will need to cook for 20 minutes.
19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Parmesan Shrimp and Quinoa
Sweet chubby cherubs! This is a magical dinner…magically simple, quick and easy! And tasty 🙂
The shrimp recipe has been modified from the one on McCormick’s website.
You’ll need: 1lb jumbo shrimp, cherry tomatoes, EVOO, parsley flakes, Riesling, grated Parmesan cheese, McCormick’s Tuscan seasoning and Near East quinoa
Prep time + cook time: 20 minutes
~ Start the quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) first because it takes 15-20 minutes to cook {the shrimp takes 5.} Follow the instructions on the package.
~ After the quinoa has cooked {it will need to sit for 5-8 minutes} heat a large skillet and gingerly coat with EVOO.
~ Once the skillet is hot, put your shrimp and cherry tomatoes on to cook. You’ll want to cook until the shrimpies turn pink.
~ Add:
2 tablespoons Riesling
1 tablespoon McCormick’s Tuscan seasoning
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
~ Stir the ingredients until the shrimpies are fully coated.
Plate, serve and hang onto your socks!
Why quinoa you ask?
Read about how amazing it is for you here 🙂
16 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Tags
chicken, chicken parm, cooking, dinner, food, Italian, marinara, Mediterranean, recipe, sauce
Chicken Parm
If you’re from Middle America, you might refer to this dish as NY-style chicken parm {I do.} Chicken parm in mid-Ohio is generally breaded and fried. NY-style chicken parm, a’la my Dad’s kitchen on Long Island, has no breading. It’s baked in a tomato sauce of some kind {here I used my homemade sauce} and served atop some sort of pasta.
If you’re making sauce from scratch, you’ll need: tomatoes!! And lots of ’em. I use a mix of vine-ripened and Roma tomatoes. You’ll also need garlic, a white onion, Italian spices, EVOO, salt, black pepper, sugar, a carrot, and a red pepper if you’d like to spice it up a bit.
Prep time is about an hour and simmer time is at least 2 hours; the longer it simmers together the better it will be!
~ Liberally coat the bottom of a large pot with EVOO. While on the lowest possible heat setting add diced onions, Italian seasonings and freshly chopped garlic.
~ Put a small to medium pot of water on and bring to a boil. Fill with tomatoes; as they heat their skin will crack. Once this happens, remove from the boiling water with a slatted spoon and drop into a bowl of cold running water. The skin will pull back farther from the tomato meat and will make peeling SO MUCH EASIER! Just don’t burn your fingers 😦 For a chunky sauce, put the tomatoes into your large pot to boil. For a thinner, smoother sauce, run your tomatoes through the blender before putting into your pot. Repeat as many times as needed to get through your tomatoes.
~ Once you start adding your tomatoes, toss in a pinch of black pepper and salt, a tablespoon of sugar, and a few grated carrot pieces. If you want a kick, add a few small pieces of red bell pepper.
~ Simmer 2+ hours and serve.
To make the chicken parm you’ll need: chicken, sauce, V8, garlic, Italian spices
~ Liberally coat the bottom of a baking pan with V8.
~ Cut chicken into small pieces and spread in the pan; pieces can touch but do not overlap.
~ Cover the chicken in sauce {here I used my homemade sauce}, garlic and spices.
~ Bake at 300 for 30 minutes.
~ After the chicken has been placed in the oven, bring a pot of water to boil and make a pasta of your choosing. Here, I used bow tie. The pasta will be done around the same time as the chicken parm.
TO PLATE: ladle sauce on top of your pasta noodles. Put a few chicken pieces on top, cover with more sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve!
10 Tuesday Jul 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Quickie Shrimp and Rotini
You’ll need: rotini, shrimp, V8, cherry tomatoes, FRESH GARLIC, pasta sauce and shredded cheese
Prep time: 5ish minutes; total cook time 20ish minutes
~ Put water in a large pot; bring it to a boil.
~ Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add the rotini. Set your timer for 10 minutes.
~ While the rotini is cooking, coat the bottom of a sauté pan with V8.* Add garlic, cherry tomatoes and Italian herbs. Slowly heat {do NOT boil or you’ll burn the garlic.}
~ While the sauté pan is slowly heating, I strongly suggest removing the tails from the shrimp. It’s much easier to do BEFORE they get hot. If you’re cooking for small people who need help with their food…trust me…you’ll want to take the tails off before you burn your fingers!**
~ With 5 minutes left on the pasta timer, add the shrimp to the V8 and garlic mix.
To plate: I put a spoonful of pasta sauce on top of the rotini. Add another spoonful of the shrimp and sauce mix. Sprinkle Italian cheese on top. Voila! 😉
Add a lovely salad for a nice side and some color.
*OMG…V8 is kitchen wonder juice! It’s seriously the best cooking/baking juice ever invented. I use it all the time! It’s kinda my secret kitchen ingredient 😉 It’s packed with all kinds of vegetable juices {I think we can agree that we all need more vegetables} and it does an excellent job of keeping meats moist while they cook. It also adds the ~zing~ of tomato which, personally, I love.
**If you love shrimp as much as I do, you HAAATE having to leave that last little succulent morsel in the tail. GET IN MA FACE, little shrimpie! Here is the trick you’ve been looking for. Once the shrimp is thawed, all you have to do is pinch and pull. Hold the body of the shrimp, pinch down on the part of the tail that covers that last little piece of shrimp meat and pull. So easy! If I’m using shrimp in a recipe where it will be hot, I take the tails off before I cook them. If you don’t, you’re going to burn your fingers 
Speaking of shrimpies! Something fun while dinner is cooking itself!
Sweedish Chef makes Shrimpies
28 Thursday Jun 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Savory Salmon and Couscous*
Another amazing dinner in 30ish minutes!
You’ll need: salmon, EVOO, black pepper, a lemon, tin foil, and couscous
~ Cut the lemon into slices and place onto the tin foil; you’re making a bed for the salmon to lay on.
~ Lay the salmon on the lemon bed and drizzle with EVOO; sprinkle black pepper on top
~ Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 300
~ While the salmon is baking, prepare the couscous per the instructions. I used Near East Basil & Herb couscous and it was AH-MAZEBALLS!!
~ The salmon and the couscous will be done about the same time — BE CAREFUL WITH THE COUSCOUS! It gets sticky and can clump if it gets done too far ahead of the fish Add a veggie! You’re done. And your special someone will call you, “Martha Freaking Stewart.” And you will throw your head back and laugh because you know it’s totally true!
*Couscous: {per Wikipedia} “is a North African Berber dish of semolina traditionally served with a meat or vegetable stew spooned over it. Couscous is a staple food throughout Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.
Couscous was elected as the third favorite dish of French people in 2011 in a study by TNS Sofres for magazine Vie Pratique Gourmand and the first in East of France.”
UGH! you might be thinking…it’s green…you said it clumps…it looks weird. WHY DO I WANT TO EAT IT?! Because it’s amazing, filling, easy to make and good for you! It’s just like eating rice. If Scott likes it, you’ll like it! And, you can totally make your friends jealous with your high-brow cuisine 😉 C’est Française!
14 Thursday Jun 2012
Posted in Food & Recipes
Balsamic Chicken*
You’ll need: chicken cutlets, feta cheese, black pepper, FRESH GARLIC, black olives, green olives, EVOO, and Bolthouse Farm’s EVOO Balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Prep time: 5ish minutes
~ Lightly coat the bottom of your baking dish with EVOO.
~ Lay your chicken cutlets out in the dish so that they are close but not touching.
~ Liberally coat the chicken with the vinaigrette dressing.
~ Lightly sprinkle the chicken with the pepper, garlic, and olives.
~ Bake for 30min at 350
To plate: I put a spoonful of veggie rice on the plate with the chicken in the center of the rice, sprinkled with feta on top.
Note: pears are a great taste match with the balsamic chicken.
*FEAR NOT – this is a kid-approved recipe! All three of my children cleaned their plates before I had a chance to even put the food on my own plate! It was also suggested that we eat this every night for dinner for the rest of the week…
The {mis}Adventures of Muthaahood 