Simple Spring Supper

This dish literally takes less than 20 minutes, is very healthy and delicious. It is an easy main dish to cook on a weeknight...and would be great as a side dish for weekend or company dinner.
Orzo, Shrimp, Spinach & Roasted Tomatoes

1 lb. orzo

1 lb. shrimp, cleaned and de-veined

1 qt. grape tomatoes, halved

1 bag of baby spinach (washed)

1-3 cloves of garlic, sliced fine

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt/pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a saute pan over medium high heat saute the shrimp (seasoned with salt and peppers) in 1 Tbsp. olive oil until pink all over (about 3 minutes). Remove shrimp from pan and set aside. In the same pan with remainder of oil saute the garlic, tomatoes and spinach for a few minutes..season with salt and pepper. Add in the cooked pasta and toss. Toss all together and add shrimp. Now it is ready to eat!

I totally suck at Blogging!

I still cook daily...and I still love to share my recipes..but for some reason I have a hard time keeping up with my blogging. I will try to add some new and exciting recipes soon. I miss blogging and especially the comments. Thanks to all who have emailed me asking me to come back to blogging soon.

Is this blog worthy? This is my biggest problem. Are you interested in seeing the same foods day in and day out? Is grilled chicken salad and garlic bread blog worthy? What about when I take short cuts and buy the rotisserie chicken at the store and Sanda Lee my dinner? Do you still want to see that?

Keep an eye out for some new entries. I am not going to promise anything...but I have been missing my window to the world so I hope to make some positive contributions to the culinary masses soon!

Tina

Deconstructed Chicken Pot Pie

Okay, so as much as I want to eat healthy and clean, I can't just throw food away, I guess it is my Catholic guilt and all those starving kids in China or Africa. So, this is another dinner from the clearing out the pantry resolution....and surprisingly it was actually very delicious! The girls on the What's Cooking board on the nest call all Campbell's cream soups.."Cream O Crap" and I am almost embarrassed to blog this recipe..but it was easy and rather tasty so I thought I would share the love.

Deconstructed Chicken Pot Pie

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced fine
1 medium onion, diced
2 ribs of celery diced
2 cans of Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cups of skim milk
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. black pepper
1 bag of frozen mixed veggies
1 can of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits

In a large skillet saute onion and chicken in a little olive oil until chicken is cook through (no pink showing). Add in celery and saute for about 2 -3 more minutes. Add in soup, milk and seasonings (DO NOT add additional salt...the soup has plenty in it). Bring to a simmer until the soup is incorporated, add in the mixed veggies and simmer on medium low for about 30 minutes. It should reduce and thicken nicely to the consistency of the inside of pot pie.

Cook biscuits according to package directions and serve hot.

Everything but the kitchen sink scones!

Like I said in my previous post, I am trying to clear our the pantry. We have a very small kitchen and limited cupboard space and I tend to buy a lot of variety of food. The problem is I like to eat a lot of variety and end up throwing a lot of food away. I have an excess of things left over from holiday baking and wanted to use them up. I didn't have a lot of one thing..so I made up this scone recipe. It was SOOOOOO good. These scones were moist, bright and delicious! The basic scone mix is a recipe that came with Cuisinart food processor...which also makes this recipe a quick mix.

Cranberry, Orange and Almond Scones
2 cups of flour, plus 1/4 cup more for bench
1/3 cup of sugar (I used turbinado)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 stick of cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup craisins or dried cranberries
zest of one orange
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup half and half
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg

Topping
1 egg for brushing
Sanding sugar

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
In the bowl of your food processor with the blade attachment, combine flour, salt, baking powder and nutmeg and pulse a few times to sift and combine. Add butter and pulse into mixture resembles small beads. Add in cranberries, zest and almond, blend slightly. In a small bowl beat egg, vanilla and half and half pour mixture slowly into the flour mixture while processing. Process until dough is formed into a ball (may be sticky and be careful not to over-knead). On a counter coated with flour, pour out mixture and form into a large disk (about 9"-10" in diameter. Add flour as needed. Place atop parchment paper on a cookie sheet and brush with egg and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Cut into 8 wedges and bake for 20-25 minutes or until browned all over.

Lame Lemonade Cake

I love lemon cake. Every year for my birthday I ask for a lemon coconut cake and Aunt Judy always makes me a delicious one! I am trying to clear out the pantry and get rid of all processed food items and I came across a lemon box cake mix. I went on AllRecipes and looked for a recipe that would use this Lemon cake mix. I found Lemonade Cake III that look really easy and good. Honestly, I haven't used a box cake mix in awhile preferring from scratch cakes, but I don't know if we are now just cake snobs, but this cake was just not up to our standard. It was okay...but I wouldn't make it again. While it wasn't the best tasting cake..it looks pretty though.

Warm up with Pasta Fagioli

This weekend is suppose to be very cruel and cold. It is going to be a busy weekend with lots to do so I want to make a big pot of soup that we can warm up for meals and snacks. My Dad never liked beans and this is not something my Mom would make on a regular basis. I remember on Sept. 11 as we, like the rest of the nation, stared into the television in disbelief my Aunt Theresa brought a pot of pasta fagioli to my Mom's house and it was all ate the whole day. My version is adapted from many trials and errors of recipes. This pot was especially delicious...I don't know how that happens...but that is the problem of never cooking with recipes.

Pasta Fagioli

1 lb. Ditalini pasta

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1/2 lb. panchetta, diced fine

4 cloves garlic, diced or minced

3 ribs of celery diced

3 carrots julienned (I buy the bag and use 1/2)

3 14 oz. can of Cannelini beans

8 cups chicken stock

4 cups water

1 Tbsp. oregano

2 Tbsp. black pepper

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

In a very large stock pot saute onion and panchetta in olive oil until panchetta is cooked through. Add in the garlic, carrots and celery and dry seasonings. Cook until vegetables are just tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the chicken stock, I like the Kitchen Basics chicken stock it is lower in sodium than most of the brands that claim low sodium. Add in the tomatoes and bring soup to a full boil. Once boiling turn down to a simmer and simmer for about one hour, stirring occasionally. Add in beans and simmer for another hour. In a separate large pot, boil water and cook pasta according to package directions. Put pasta in a bowl and add about a cup of the soup to keep it from sticking. Serve soup with pasta and enjoy.

TIP: Many recipes tell you to cook the pasta in the soup, in my experiences the pasta absorbs all the soup and you get a more stew like consistency. Also, the pasta tends to turn mushy and overcooked if you add into the soup and re-heat it a few times. I like to keep the pasta and soup separate until serving. It works great!

Grandma Fran's Salmon & Stir Fry

In our continuing effort to eat two fish per week, I decided to try to make salmon at home. I had mixed emotion to salmon, sometimes I've liked it and other times its been too fishy tasting but I had never made it myself. Since this fish it is pretty readily available I decided to give it a try. I wasn't sure how to cook salmon so I ask my BFF , Megan, call her Grandma Franchesca and get her ideas as she is a regular salmon eater. She had a ton of ideas but I was looking for something Asian...so this is the one I went with. This was really delicious and healthful. Both Robert and I decided we liked salmon...at least this way. I will be trying more of Grandma Fran's salmon recipes as the year goes on. Oh yeah, Suki and Koko both had some and they loved it too!Grandma Fran's Salmon
2 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
2 Salmon Mignon (about 6 oz. each)
1/4 cup Teriyaki sauce
Juice of half a lemon, reserve other half for serving.

In a saute pan over medium high heat, heat butter and sesame oil. Add garlic and salmon, season salmon with pepper and brush on teriyaki sauce and squeeze a lemon over fish. Sear on one side for about 4 minutes, turn over and season the other side. Cook until salmon is no longer translucent (about 6 minutes.)

Serve with white rice and stir fry veggies. I used onion, napa cabbage, red pepper, snap peas, water chestnuts and zucchini.