Garlic Shrimp Pasta

Good evening, everyone!  I hope everyone has had a great week!

We've had a busy evening tonight.  After a quick trip to the grocery store for a few essentials, I headed home and had the pleasure of cooking dinner with Troy.  We made a fairly simple, yet very tasty pasta dish and then spent some time with random household chores.  We're now watching my alma mater Wichita State University play in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen!  Go Shox!!

Photo Source

 

Now onto the recipe!

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 cup green onion



1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup sliced carrots

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon basil

pasta of your choice (4 servings)

salt and pepper to taste

Worcestershire sauce

1 pound precooked shrimp, deveined with no tails

parmesan cheese

 

Directions:

Heat olive oil in saucepan.  Add carrots and garlic.  Once carrots soft, added onion, broccoli, oregano, thyme, basil and Worcestershire sauce.  Sautee mixture for 5-10 minutes before adding shrimp.  Once all vegetables and shrimp are heated through, add salt and pepper to taste. 

 

In the meantime, prepare pasta according to the package directions.  Drain pasta.

 

Serve vegetable and shrimp mixture over pasta.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese for additional flavor.

 

Tomatoes would make a great addition.  For us, however, not a good option.  We both hate tomatoes!  With or without the red fruit, we had a great balance of veggies, shrimp and pasta.  Enjoy!

Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Pasta

Happy Valentine's Day!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful love day celebration!  T and I skipped the crowds and had our Valentine's dinner out earlier this week.  So tonight we celebrated with a delicious Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Pasta inspired by the blog called Normal Cooking.  Yum!

Ingredients:
1 lb raw, deveined and peeled shrimp
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp fresh, chopped parsley
2 tbsp white wine
salt and pepper
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup bread crumbs
pasta of your choice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cook pasta per package directions.

Remove the tails from the shrimp.  Combine the shrimp, white wine and garlic powder.  Pour into baking dish and spread out evenly. 

In a separate bowl, mix melted butter, parsley, parmesan and bread crumbs until well combined.  Sprinkle the mixture over the shrimp.  It's easier to sprinkly using your fingers.  Sprinkle desired amount of salt and pepper on top.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes until shrimp are completely cooked.

Serve shrimp over pasta.  So good!

 

 



Baked Chicken Parmesan

Hello, everyone!  I hope everyone is having a great start to the week.  In observance of Martin Luther King Day, my office was closed yesterday.  I was fortunate to be able to spent the day with my mom shopping for wedding related items such as a veil, shoes, jewelry, mother of the bride outfit, etc.  We found a lot of great things while shopping around.  I get more excited for the wedding every day!  After a long day of shopping, my mom and I met T and my grandparents for dinner before I headed back home for the night.

Since we ate out last night, I wanted to have a quiet dinner in.  T had to work late, so I had an hour or so to prep and cook dinner.  I decided on Baked Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti and Garlic Bread.

Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
1 Jar Pasta Sauce, brand and style of your choice
Onion, I used minced but should have used fresh
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Pepperoni, 15-20 pieces
Chives
Spaghetti Noodles or pasta of your choice
Bread
Butter
Oregano
Parmesan or Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake chicken for half hour or until done.  While chicken is baking, chop onion, chives and pepperoni and place in skillet. 

 

 

Sautee for 2-3 minutes.  Add pasta sauce and mix together.  Add garlic powder, oregano, and pepper to taste. 

 

Boil noodles according to package directions.

 

Once chicken is done, move chicken to alternate pan free of fat.  Cover chicken with pasta sauce.  Bake for 7 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese across the top.  Bake additional 2-3 minutes before removing from oven.

 

While chicken parmesan is baking, butter bread and sprinkle garlic powder on top.  Bake until bread is baked to desired crispness.

 

 

 

Remove chicken and bread from oven and drain pasta.  You're now ready to serve.

 

 

 

Next time, I will definitely use fresh onion.  The pasta sauce didn't taste much different with the added pepperoni, but it did add a different texture and a nice surprise in each bite.  Overall, pretty successful!

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Lasagna

When my fiance leaves town I tend to spend a lot of time cleaning and going through closets and purging our house of things we don't need anymore.  This time was no different.  Since I made a list of several things I wanted to get done tonight, I decided a slow cooker dinner would be perfect.  I found a great looking recipe for Slow Cooker Lasagna from Taste of Home and it turned out to be delicious.  Below is my take on the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground sausage
1 pound ground buffalo
1 tablespoon minced onions
1 jar Ragu tomato sauce - I like Parmesan Oregano
1 can tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 package no-cook lasagna noodles
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
12 ounces ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Brown sausage and buffalo meat.  Mix meat, minced onions, tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, oregano, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder together.  In a separate bowl, mix mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese together.  Spread a fourth of the meat in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Arrange a third of the noodles on top, breaking if necessary.  Spoon a third of the cheese mixture on top.  Repeat layers twice and top with remaining meat sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours, or until noodles are tender. 

I browned the meat in advance and did the rest of the prep on my lunch hour today.  The lasagna was ready when I got home from work and was absolutely delicious! 

Turkey Tetrazzini

Good evening!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed your holiday celebrations!  We had a wonderful Christmas!  My brother came home from Las Vegas with his girlfriend and her two sons.  We had a fantastic time visiting the zoo, looking at Christmas lights and other holiday celebrations.  This past weekend, my fiance and I celebrated the holidays with his family.  We also made a traditional turkey dinner.  My fiance loves cooking turkey and all the trimmings, but it always leaves us with a ton of leftovers!  Solution: Turkey Tetrazzini by Rachael Ray Magazine.  Below is a slightly modified version that is easy to make and tastes great!

 

Ingredients

12 oz linguine pasta, broken in half,

shredded turkey

garlic salt and pepper

Italian seasoning

6 tablespoons butter

1 tbsp fresh thyme

3 tbsp flour

2 cups milk

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup grated parmesan

1 package frozen mixed vegetables

bread crumbs

 

Directions

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  While the oven is heating, cook the pasta according to the package directions until just about done.  Meanwhile, heat 3 tbsp butter over medium-high heat.  Add turkey and season with garlic salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Add fresh time and sautee for 2-3 minutes.  Transfer turkey to a separate bowl.  Next, melt the remaining butter in the skillet.  Whisk in flour, milk and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and simmer while you grease a 9x13 inch baking dish, 1-2 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and mixed vegetables.  Finally, mix pasta, turkey and sauce together and transfer to the prepped backing dish.  Sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  Bake approximately 12 minutes until the sauce is bubbly. 

 

 

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese

I think I've mentioned before that I love Mac & Cheese!  Its such a comfort when life gets busy and stressful.  Between the holidays and our busy schedules, we've not spent a lot of time at home recently.  Luckily, we had a some time at home today to relax and catch up on things around the house, so we decided to a slow cooker Mac & Cheese would be a perfect solution for dinner!  I ran across Crock-a-doodle-do's recipe and thought it sounded like a great foundation for our dinner tonight. 

Ingredients:
1/2 pound macaroni noodles, uncooked
3 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
4-5 cups shredded cheese, any flavor - I say 4-5 cups as I had 4 heaping measuring cups
Salt, pepper, garlic salt, paprika, and cayenne pepper - just a dash!
1 can chicken in water, drained
1/2 package of precooked bacon bits
1 cup frozen corn

Directions:
Against my better judgement, I didn't spray the slow cooker crock with cooking spray and I didn't use separate bowl for mixing.  Instead, I just threw everything in the crock and mixed it.  I cooked on low for about an hour and switched it to high for another half hour to make sure the noodles were soft.  After an hour and half cooking time, I turned the slow cooker off and let the mac and cheese cool for about 15 minutes or so.  The cooling time also allows the final juices to be absorbed.  We both at a bowl of mac and cheese and we have plenty left for dinner tomorrow.

While eating, we discussed adding broccoli or onion next time.  Or possibly more corn and bacon bits.  Or even topping with bread crumbs.  I'm excited about the prospective ideas!