Roasted Shrimp with garlic and herbs

This appetizer is a different twist on the classic shrimp cocktail.  It's yummy, trust me.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of shrimp (peeled and deveined)
2 cloves garlic finely minced
4 Tbl. of extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. dry basil leaves
salt and pepper

Toss the shrimp in the olive oil mixture.  Set in the fridge for about 30 - 60 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  When the shrimp are finished in the marinade, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet, cover and let them come to room temperature.

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until they are pink and firm to the touch.  Don't over cook or they will be rubbery.

Remove from the oven and let them cool a bit.  Serve with your favorite cocktail sauce.  Homemade cocktail sauce is good, simply mix ketchup and creamy horseradish.  This can be made a spicy or mild as you like.

Enjoy friends!

New Zealand Mussels Appetizer

I bought a bag of these frozen mussels at a HyVee supermarket.  They are already cleaned and cooked, so it makes preparation super simple.  Plus they are very affordable!  (I've heard these also called green mussels.)

This recipe, with a few modifications, can be found at Food.com.  This is one delicious appetizer. So let's get cooking.

Thaw the mussels and loosen them from the shell. Drain and pat dry, then place them back in the shell and arrange on a baking sheet.

Next make the bread crumb topping.

1 cup panko bread crumbs
3 Tbl. melted butter
1 Tbl. parsley flakes
1 clove garlic finely minced
2 Tbl. grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
juice of one lemon

In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, melted butter, parsley flakes, minced garlic, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Squeeze the lemon juice over the mussels, Spoon the bread crumb mixture evenly over the mussels, pressing down a bit.

Broil for 5 minutes or until the bread crumb topping is golden brown and crunchy, and the mussels are warm. Watch carefully when broiling.  It can go from golden brown and delicious to black and burned.  Not that I would know anything about that.  ;)

Enjoy friends!

Country Style Boneless Pork Ribs

If you have never tried country style boneless pork ribs, you are missing out.  They are very meaty and very lean. This is an easy "fix it and forget it" recipe.  I used the Traeger Grill, but these can also be done in the oven.

 1 package of country-style boneless pork ribs
2 shallots
2 garlic cloves
1 (12 oz.) beer
Barbecue sauce -- your favorite

Brown the pork in a skillet on all sides.(First pat them dry with a paper towel, they will brown better.)

Place the ribs in an oven proof pan and surround with the shallots and garlic.

Pour the beer over the ribs.

Cover the pan with foil and seal.  

Place in the Traeger Grill or the oven at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

After 1 1/2 hours, uncover and pour out the beer. 

Using your favorite BBQ sauce, slather it on.  Ribs go back in uncovered for an hour.

The meat should be brown and tender and the sauce should be thick.

Serve with additional BBQ sauce on the side.

Serve with a side of home made coleslaw and an ice cold beer.

Enjoy friends!

Mixed Baby Greens w/ Homemade Dressing

So the oddest but most wonderful thing happened in one of our raised garden beds.  Lettuce grew on its own.  Volunteer, I think it's called.  Yesterday I harvested the baby lettuce gave it a nice shower to clean off the dirt, and then into the salad spinner to dry it off.

There was romaine, curly green leaf, red leaf, and arugula.  What a wonderful delicious surprise!

This lettuce is delicate and very tender, no heavy dressing will work...no ranch, no blue cheese, no thousand island.  The dressing recipe I made to go with the salad is light and a bit tart, and just delicious.

Dressing:

2 Tbl. White Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 Tbl. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbl. finely chopped shallot*
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Put all ingredients in a small jar and shake, shake, shake.  Pour over baby greens and enjoy.

To the salad, I added dried cranberries and sunflower kernals.  Another option would be to add some crumbled bacon.

*We grew shallots in our garden last year.  It was quite a harvest, enjoyed them all winter and still this spring.

Enjoy Friends!

Bacon & Mushroom Breakfast Casserole

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and I realized all the ingredients were right there in my fridge, well I had to give it a try.  I did some minor modifications which are listed in parentheses with the recipe.  Credit for the recipe goes to Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes.

Ingredients:

4-5 slices bacon, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese (pepper jack)
8 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream (half & half)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
Dash pepper
4 green onions, chopped (one shallot sliced thin)

In addition I added one chopped Green Mexi Bell Pepper

In a large skillet, fry the bacon until crisp, reserving about 2 tablespoons of the drippings. Remove the bacon from the pan and sauté the mushrooms in the reserved bacon grease until tender and the liquid has evaporated. Season with a little salt and pepper. Spread the cheese in a greased 11.75x7.5" baking dish. Or a baking dish lined with non-stick aluminum foil.  Top with the mushrooms, then the bacon and green onions (mexi bell pepper) (shallot).

 In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, cream (half & half), salt, celery salt and a dash of pepper. Pour evenly over everything.

 Bake at 350º 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings 

Enjoy friends!

Zucchini Bread

Well, I've picked the last zucchini from our garden--it's done now.  Can you believe that I have NOT made zucchini bread this summer?  Especially since there was such an abundance of this vegetable.  Therefore, it was time, time for zucchini bread.

I've searched a lot of recipes and most of them call for a huge amount of oil, up to three cups in some recipes.  Then, I found the perfect recipe--only 1/2 cup of oil.  So how can it be so moist?  Well, there is also 1/2 cup of applesauce.  I think that's the secret.

So here's my version of the recipe from AFamilyFeast.com.  I reduced the amount of sugar and also the amount of vanilla.  For the flour, I used half whole wheat pastry flour and half unbleached flour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line two 8" x 4" loaf pans with parchment paper (spray the pans with coconut oil or PAM then line with the parchment).

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups zucchini grated (can use as little as 2 cups and as much as 4 cups)
3 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup oil (I used light olive oil)
3 cups flour (I used half whole wheat pastry flour and half unbleached white flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sugar

Mix together in separate bowls, the wet ingredients, and the dry ingredients.  Then add the wet to the dry mixing just until combined, don't over mix.  Fold in the zucchini.

Pour half the batter into each of the loaf pans.  Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the pans and cool on a wire rack.

After the bread is completely cool, slice and serve with softened butter, real butter!

Enjoy Friends!

Pan Seared Rosemary Flounder

From time to time, I read the recipes that come with packaged products, and this time I actually tried a recipe that was printed on the package of flounder flillets I purchased.  Lucky for us, this turned out to be delicious.

Here's what you will need to prepare this dish:

2 flounder fillets, thawed

1 Tbl. olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, stem removed

flour for dredging

1 Tbl. butter

salt and pepper

lemon wedges

Directions:

1)  Heat oil in pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and rosemary to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes.  Garlic should start to brown, but be careful to avoid burning it.  

Remove garlic and rosemary, transfer to a bowl and set aside.  Leave the oil in the pan.  Along with the garlic and rosemary into the bowl, add 1 Tbl. butter, and a wedge of lemon.  This will be used to make the pan sauce.

2)  Pat the fillets dry.  Dredge fillets in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.

3)  Put the fish in the pan in the oil.  Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, turning only once -- flounder is very delicate and can easily break apart.

4)  Place fish on serving plates.  Return the garlic/rosemary to the pan, add 1 Tbl. butter and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Once the butter has melted, stir and pour over the fish.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy friends!