Boobie bakeoff entry

Because I don’t have a sweet tooth, I decided for my boobie bake off entry I would enter a shrimp pasta bake. My original idea was that I would bake shrimp with sundried tomato pasta.  Well, I couldn’t find sundried tomato pasta, I could find it as part of a trio, but not by itself, so I bought plain lingunie and I added red food coloring to the water – the pasta came out PINK!  and of course shrimp turns pink when you cook it so here’s my entry to the boobie bake off: “pink” pasta with shrimp and feta and a tomtato/parmesan sauce.

I also made “church punch” which is just sorbet and ginger ale and my friend Heidi contributed blau-kraut which didn’t so much turn out pink as red which is, I guess, how it got its name – literally translating as blood-kraut, but still – we tried for an all pink dinner: points for trying.

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Weekend Cooking

I did quite a bit of cooking this weekend.  I have already posted about my Boobie Bake-off entry.  We are still enjoying the fruits of my labor on that one!

I also tried some other recipes this weekend. 

I had a pork loin in the freezer, so I decided to defrost it and find something interesting to do with it.  Here’s what I came up with….

I found a marinade recipe on foodtv.com that looked interesting, but I ended up having to make several substitutions (mostly because I was too lazy to go to the store).

Marinade recipe:

1/4 c chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 c chopped onion

1 t. garlic powder

zest and juice of one lemon

few glugs of white wine

few glugs of olive oil

2 T dijon mustard

few glugs honey

dash of chipotle powder

Mix all these things in a bowl, then put the pork loin in a gallon ziplock bag and pour this all over it.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

I had intended to have Dev grill it, but our grill wouldn’t stay lit, so I broiled it on low until the internal temp reached 150 degrees.  This was super yummie!

I served it with Mario Batali’s “Zucca al Forno,” or “Acorn Squash Stuffed with Love.”  Love, indeed- lots of cheese!

I’ll link you to the recipe, because I did it pretty much just like he said, except I couldn’t find marscapone at my store, so I used a few tablespoons of whipped cream cheese instead.  Oh- and I didn’t make it in the quantity listed in the recipe.  I only had one squash, so I just eye-balled the filling til I thought I had enough. 

Anyway, go here for the recipe.

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Boobie Bake-Off

This one?

Originally uploaded by All Things Mimi

Here is my entry into the Boobie Bake-Off!!! It is a Raspberry Sweet Roll. I used a plain white bread dough recipe, then rolled it out into a rectangle, slathered it with seedless raspberry preserves, sprinkled on some sugar, rolled it up and cut it into slices. I put the slices in 2 cake pans and allowed them to rise while the oven preheated to 350 degrees. Then I baked them about 20 minutes.
While they were cooling I mixed up some glaze using a couple of tablespoons of soft butter, a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream cheese, some vanilla, a couple of tablespoons of raspberry preserves, about a cup of sifted powdered sugar and enough milk to make it the right consistency.
I glazed them when they cooled, then took one out to take a pic.
Not a bad project for a slow Saturday.

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Spice Cake

I am a horrible baker.  I was bad when I lived at sea level.  Now I really suck, living 7,500 miles above sea level.

That’s why, when I discover a great short cut baking recipe, I’m all for it.

I found one of these wonderful little short cuts watching Paula Deen’s show a few weeks ago.  I know- Paula Deen is way over the top.  I have enough over the top southern people in my own family, I don’t need to watch another one on tv.  However- whatever criticism I have of her on-camera personality- I have really enjoyed most of the recipes I’ve downloaded from her site.

I made her spicy cinnamon cake (or something like that) tonight because it was easy and it was REALLY GOOD.  The only thing I added was a rum glaze.  I mixed some powdered sugar (sifted), a few tablespoons of rum and a dash of vanilla until it formed a thick glaze, then poured it over the cooled cake.  Other than that- I followed the recipe exactly.  I won’t take the time to type it out here, but go here to see it on her food tv website. 

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Love…and Slow Healing…

Love in a pot on the stove…

Originally uploaded by All Things Mimi

My appetite is slowly but surely returning after my little foray into digestive hell.
It has been cold here today (we had our first snow flurry during recess), so I decided to make one of the most off the chain comfort foods I know…..risotto.
This is my favorite risotto recipe, probably because it was the first one I ever made. I am offering the recipe here. The original was in metrics (bleh) but I looked up all the equivalents and used the standard measurements in this version. I also added about 1/2 pound of fresh mushrooms to this, right after I sauteed the onions.

Risotto alla Milanese from the “River Cafe Cook Book”

1 1/4 c arborio rice
32 oz chicken stock (homemade preferred)
2/3 c butter
2 T olive oil
1 med. red onion, chopped
1 t saffron threads (optional, but awfully nice)
1/3 c vermouth, dry
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese (I use closer to a cup)

Heat the chicken stock. Melt half the butter and all of the olive oil in a large saucepan (I use my chili pot). Gently saute the onions until they are soft. Add the rice and stir until the rice becomes totally coated; this will take less than a minute. Add 2 ladles of your stock and simmer, stirring, until the rice has absorbed nearly all the liquid. Add the saffron. Continue to add more stock as the previous addition is absorbed. Nearly all the stock will have been absorbed by the rice; each grain should have a creamy coating and yet still be al dente. Add remaining butter in pieces, the vermouth and the parmesan, being careful not to over stir.

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Enough with the crab thing….

That SUCKS.  I may be in pain and unable to eat anything but saltines, but I’d kill someone right now for blue crabs.  Seafood is a myth in Colorado.  We hear about it all the time, but we never get to see it.  When I come home in December I want seafood three meals a day!

A true friend will freeze the next batch of crab she gets and make bisque for her bestest friend when she comes home…. Just a suggestion. 🙂

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Crab Cakes win

So with the dozen crabs I cleaned this morning I had enough meat to make four crab cakes and I have some left over and am thinking about crab quesadillas for the next bit of crab left over.

 

There are about a million recipes for crab cakes on the internet, but I will add my meager ideas to the mix;

About 1/2 pound of lump crab meat; 1 egg, 2 tbls of Old Bay (or some other seasoning); I also used seasoned bread crumbs; you basically want enough egg/bread to hold them together, but not so much that you have a crab cake of mostly bread. Mix together, form into 3 inch patties (this ought to make about 4); put in freezer for about 1/2 hour (this will help them stay together) pan fry in very shallow oil, just enough to cover the pan – cook about 3 minutes per side.

I served it with potatoes (boiled and seasoned with butter and parsley flakes) and a mixed salad.

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Oh yeah! Crab!

My neighbor came over today bearing gifts; a bunch of blue crab (sorry Mimi); so not only do I have some picking to do, I will be contemplating crab recipes for tomorrow. You gotta love good neighbors!

So many options; stew, crab-cakes, gratin, eew – can’t wait to play around with these puppies!

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Chili – finally!!!

It has finally cooled enough to have the first pot of chili of the season….it seems a long time coming and truthfully, I am pushing it a little bit, but I have been craving chili for weeks now. To make it even better, I used my hand-me-down cast iron dutch oven, given to me by my Grandmother – so it has a long and illustrious history in food. 

Saute a medium onion, add 1 pound of ground turkey (beef if you prefer) add salt, pepper, worstershire sauce, chili powder, and a dash of hot sauce (okay I add quite a bit more than a dash, and then I put more in my bowl, but just season to taste). Brown the meat and then add 1 large can Bush’s chili beans (you can use any brand, I just find these have the best seasoning), and 2 or 3 cans of chili ready tomatoes (you can used whatever and season it how you like, this is just my system), add about a 1/2 a beer then simmer for as long as you like – I started mine about 1:30pm and just had some at 6:00 – it was tasty and will be even better tomorrow.

I added corn bread cooked in a small cast iron skillet handed down by my other Grandmother; what a great meal; delicious chili and decades of experience cooked right in.

I know that my sister will be disappointed that she wasn’t home for the celebratory first pot of chili, but there will be others, and everyone knows – chili is one of things that is even better the next day!

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Endorsement

Feeling tired and lazy from the week and not having any groceries in the house, I went to the supermarket to get something to eat.  Because I hadn’t seen it before and thought – okay this is a trusted product, I gave the Kashi frozen pizza a try. It was the Mediteranian pizza and was very good – not greasy like the California Pizza Kitchen (which is also very good) and a bit tastier than Amy’s organic pizza. So…if you are feeling lazy and want a good quick pizza – I recommend the Kashi brand. Go for it! (they make health food…how bad could it be 🙂

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