Chipotle Shrimp Scampi

This is one I've made once before, and although the last dish I made was pasta, this is by special request. :) I found this scampi recipe in The Pampered Chef's 29 minutes to dinner, Volume 2. Note: Although the recipe calls for large shrimp, I bought medium shrimp because the bag was $4 cheaper. ^^ Still works, just smaller shrimp (and more tail peeling...because apparently you can't buy uncooked shrimp with tails off...).

Ingredients:
12 oz uncooked angel hair pasta
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lb large uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tbsp Chipotle Rub (PC)
2 limes [I used lime juice from a bottle]
1 cup dry white wine such as Chardonnay
6 tbsp butter
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt

Step 1: Cook pasta according to package directions (using salted water).
Step 2: Chop cilantro; reserve 3 tbsp for garnish.
Step 3: Drain pasta; toss with remaining cilantro.
Step 4: While pasta is cooking, add oil to skillet; heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering.
Step 5: Combine shrimp, pressed garlic, and rub; toss to coat.
Step 6: Arrange shrimp in a single layer over bottom of skillet; cook 2-3 minutes or until browned on one side and edges are pink [if shrimp doesn't fit in single layer, stir infrequently until all shrimp looks pink].
Step 7: Remove skilled from heat and turn shrimp over [if only have single layer]; let stand 1-2 minutes or until shrimp are opaque (fully cooked).
Step 8: Remove shrimp from skillet; set aside and keep warm.
Step 9: Juice limes to measure 1/4 cup juice [or use 1/4 cup lime juice from a bottle].
Step 10: Add wine to same skillet; cook over medium-high heat 3-4 minutes or until wine is reduced by half (stir to loosen browned bits from bottom)
Step 11: Add butter, juice, broth, and salt; cook 2-3 minutes or until heated through.
Step 12: Drizzle pasta with sauce. Top with shrimp; garnish with reserved cilantro.

Estimated time: 19 minutes (not including prep)

My times:
Prep time (mostly peeling shrimp): 20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 50 minutes

I love this dish. It's full of flavor but doesn't require too many ingredients. Relatively inexpensive meal that feeds 6-8 people (more if you also serve side dishes such as vegetables). The meal cost me about $13, and I have plenty of leftovers for later meals!!

Ingredients

Step 6

Step 8

Step 11

Champagne Cookies

I opened a bottle of champagne to try a Midori Fizz (a mix of Midori and champagne) and found that, although good, I couldn't really drink much (I'm a light weight). So....what to do with all the extra champagne???? I looked up recipes, and found a cookie recipe; Champagne Cookie Recipe on Allrecipes.com. It looked easy and delicious, so I had to try it! I found that while tasty (like a sugar cookie with a hint of champagne), it wasn't as solid as the recipe leads you to believe. The dough was not easy to shape into balls, so I plopped a tablespoon's worth (small scoop from PC) onto a cookie sheet and sprinkled the sprinkles onto the dough mound. If I make these again I may try adding a little more flour.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup multicolored candy sprinkles [see above]
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup champagne
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 drops red food coloring, or as needed [to make it pink]

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375F.
Step 2: Beat shortening and sugar until light and creamy. [it didn't really seem creamy to me...that might be one reason it didn't turn out like the recipe said it should].
Step 3: Add champagne and mix for about 1 minute; mixture will be lumpy.
Step 4: Mix in baking powder.
Step 5: Mix in flour until dough is smooth.
Step 6: Add food coloring drop by drop until desired color.
Step 7: Pinch off about 1 rounded tablespoon of dough . Roll dough into a ball and dip top into sprinkles. Place on cookie sheet. [or place about 1 tablespoon of dough on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, and sprinkle with sprinkles]
Step 8: Bake 12-14 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned and crisp.
Step 9: Cool for 1 minute, then move to rack to finish cooling.

Ingredients

Step 7

Total time: 35 minutes

I'll definitely make these again in the future, but will try to adjust the recipe so the dough is a little more solid. The cookie came out very soft, which isn't bad, but the middle bottom stuck to the cookie sheet...

Bachelor's Spaghetti Sauce

One of my co-workers had leftover spaghetti and meat sauce for lunch a couple times this week, and it made me crave some. So yesterday, I looked up a recipe for meat sauce (I usually just heat up the canned junk) and found one called Bachelor's Spaghetti Sauce on the Taste of Home website. It had a lot more ingredients than the stuff I normally use, and required more work, but I decided What the hey, I'll try it!! And boy was it good!! I served it over whole wheat pasta. Although next time, I'll try it without mushrooms...because even though I love mushrooms, Dan hates them! (and yes, I made this yesterday and am just posting this....I got distracted by the tv show Bones after dinner.....)

~Bachelor's Spaghetti Sauce~

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced [I used my garlic press instead]
4 medium tomatoes, chopped [I used 2 large tomatoes]
12 oz tomato paste
1 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 bay leaves [I used 2 tsp dried bay leaves]
2 tsp each dried basil, oregano and parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp each dried marjoram, thyme and rosemary, crushed [or flakes]
Dash pepper [I forgot this and it still turned out awesome]
Hot cooked spaghetti

Step 1: In a large skillet, cook beef, mushrooms, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Step 2: Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, soy sauce and seasonings. Mix.
Step 3: Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until heated through. Discard bay leaves [if you used fresh].
Step 4: Serve over spaghetti.

Ingredients

Step 1: I broke up the beef a little before adding the other ingredients.

Step 1

Step 3 (finished)

Total time: 50 minutes

The overall time isn't too bad, considering 20 minutes of it is letting the sauce simmer. I would recommend pre-measuring all the herbs into a little bowl or something. It'll save time when you're trying to add everything after the first cooking stage is finished.

David Lebovitz's German Chocolate Cake

I decided to do a trial run of this german chocolate cake recipe I found. I want to make one for a friend's birthday in a couple weeks, but I've never made a regular cake from scratch before, only cheesecakes. And what a one for a first!! I searched the web for german chocolate cake recipes, and this one looked good: David Lebovitz's German Chocolate Cake. It is very involved, with many ingredients, but I picked this one because it used only 2 cake pans instead of 3 like so many of the others. And so many steps for things to go wrong....baking is first and foremost a SCIENCE!! Well, my first attempt turned out okay....it tasted good, and the cake itself was decent....but the icing...was way way way too liquidy. I was supposed to be able to pipe a border around the top of the cake AND spread it around the side. Didn't work out. I just kinda slathered some on....it didn't look awesome, but hey, it's the taste that counts right?!

Ingredients:
~Cake~
2 oz bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 tbsp water
8 oz unsalted butter (room temp or softened)
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs, yolk & whites separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soad
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter milk (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
~Filling~
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 oz butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup pecans, toasted, finely choppe
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted
~Syrup~
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tblsp dark rum
~Icing~
8 oz bittsweet/semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 1/2 oz unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream

Cake
Step 1: Butter two 9-inch cake pans; line bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Preheat oven to 350F.
Step 2: Melt both types of chocolate together with the water. Stir until smooth, then set aside until room temperature.
Step 3: Beat butter and 1 1/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy.
Step 4: Beat in melted chocolate, then egg yolks, one at a time [I forgot and added all the yolks at the same time].
Step 5: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. [I didn't sift, just mixed the dry ingredients together].
Step 6: Mix in half the dry ingredients into the chocolate butter mixture, then the buttermilk, and the vanilla extract, then the rest of the dry ingredients. [Note: I forgot to get buttermilk at the store, so instead of going back, I found a quick and easy recipe for buttermilk substitute: measure 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar then add enough milk to equal 1 cup of liquid total - let sit for 5 minutes]
Step 7: In separate bowl, beat egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks.
Step 8: Beat in 1/4 cup of sugar into egg whites until stiff.
Step 9: Fold about 1/3 of egg white mixture into cake batter, then fold remaining whites just until there's no trace of egg white visible.
Step 10: Divide batter into the 2 cake pans, smooth tops, bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
Step 11: Cool cake layers completely.

While cakes are baking/cooling, make the filling, syrup, and icing.

Filling
Step 1: Mix cream, sugar, and egg yolks in medium saucepan. Put the 3 oz butter, salt, toasted coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl. [Note: I couldn't find unsweetend coconut flaked/shavings, so I bought the sweetened kind and toasted them in a pan. I also toasted the pecan pieces in the pan.]
Step 2: Heat cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken.
Step 3: Pour hot cream mixture (custard) into pecan-coconut mixture and stir until butter is melted.
Step 4: Cool to room temperature.

Syrup
Step 1: In small saucepan, heat sugar and water until sugar has melted.
Step 2: Remove from heat and stir in dark rum.

Icing
Step 1: Place chocolate into a bowl with corn syrup and butter.
Step 2: Heat cream until just begins to boil.
Step 3: Remove cream from heat and pour over chocolate mixture. Let stand 1 minute, then stir until smooth.
Step 4: Cool to room temperature.

Assembly
Step 1: Remove cakes from pans and cut both in half horizontally.
Step 2: Set first cake layer onto a cake plate.
Step 3: Brush well with syrup.
Step 4: Spread 3/4 cup of coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach the edges.
Step 5: Set another cake layer on top.
Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 until all layers used up, ending with spreading filling on top layer.
Step 7: Ice the side with icing, then pipe a border around the top. Use all icing.

Total time: 2 hours 25 minutes

Like I mentioned above, the cake tastes good, but definitely doesn't look at the spectacular. And considering the icing recipe isn't complicated...I wonder what happened. I wonder if I used the wrong type of cream? Possibly.... I also noticed I didn't have enough filling to use 3/4 cup per layer AND for the top. Making a little more filling would be better. I'm going to find another recipe and try it out in the next couple weeks. Man, did this recipe generate a lot of dishes....

Ingredients

Cake: Step 2

Cake: Step 3

Cake: Step 4

Cake: Step 6

Cake: Step 11

Filling

Assembly: Step 3

Assembly: Step 4

Teriyaki Meatballs with Rice

I felt like doing something new today. I've never made meatballs, and I found this recipe online via The Pampered Chef's website. It sounded quick and easy, and didn't have very many ingredients. And I must say it did turn out well! :)

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1 tsp peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger root
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup teriyaki baste and glaze
1 small red or green bell pepper, diced
1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks in juice
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions with tops

Cooked rice

Step 1: Combine turkey, bread crumbs, ginger root, and salt; mix gently but thoroughly
Step 2: Form mixture into 20 meatballs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Step 3: Heat oil in skillet over medium heat until hot. Add meatballs and cook, turning frequently, about 5-7 minutes or until meatballs are brown on all sides.
Step 4: Add teriyaki sauce, bell pepper, pineapples and juice; stir gently to coat meatballs evenly.
Step 5: Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 8-10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.
Step 6: Sprinkle with green onions.
Step 7: Serve meatballs and sauce over hot cooked rice.

Serves 4

Total time: 40 minutes

Not too bad timing-wise, considering I've never made meatballs before!! And I loved the taste, and the fact that these were turkey meatballs and not beef or something else. I give this 2 thumbs up for being delicious, quick and easy!!

Ingredients

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Chai Spiral Cookies

Well I didn't feel like cooking dinner tonight...but I'm always up for baking! ^^ So I looked in my handy dandy Pampered Chef's Simply Sweet dessert cookbook, and found this cookie recipe (I didn't feel like making brownies, cakes, etc.). I figured, Hey, cookies are usually easy, I'll do it! Well....it wasn't TOO hard....but it wasn't easy either. And it wasn't short. Lots of waiting around time. When I finally got to the baking part, I was thinking it wasn't worth all the time/effort. BUT.... when I tasted the cookies...mmmmmm heaven! So it is worth it! I think I just need an actual pastry mat instead of using foil.....

~Chai Spiral Cookies~

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (can use Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend (PC))
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp Double-Strength Vanilla (PC) [I used 1 tsp of average vanilla]
1 1/2 tbsp light molasses
Coarse white decorating sugar

Step 1: Combine 1 3/4 cups of flour, baking powder, spice, and salt; mix well.
Step 2: Beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed [or by hand] until creamy.
Step 3: Add egg and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy.
Step 4: Gradually add flour mixture; mix on low speed just until mixture forms into a dough.
Step 5: Divide dough in half. To one half, add molasses and remaining 3 tbsp flour; mix well.
Step 6: Cover; refrigerate doughs 30 minutes.

Step 7: Roll out each piece of dough on Pastry Mat (PC) to an 8 x 11-inch rectangle [this is where I used aluminum foil instead...not recommended] using lightly floured Baker's Roller (PC).
Step 8: Place light-colored dough on top of dark-colored dough.
Step 9: Starting on long side of rectangle, roll up tightly into a log.
Step 10: Sprinkle decorating sugar on a 10 x 15 inch piece of parchment paper.
Step 11: Place log on parchment; roll in sugar to coat evenly.
Step 12: Wrap in parchment; refrigerate 2 hours.

Step 13: Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Cut dough into 1/4-inch slices.
Step 14: Place slices on cookie sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.
Step 15: Bake 7-9 minutes or until cookies are set.
Step 16: Remove from oven. Slide parchment AND cookies onto cooling rack; cool completely.
Step 17: Repeat with remaining dough.

Recipe times:
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 3 hours

My times:
Prep time: 50 minutes
Cooking/refrigerating time: 2 hours 46 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 3 hours 36 minutes

I admit, it is a long time. But most of the time is spent waiting around for the dough sitting in the fridge! So all in all, really didn't take much actual DOING time. And my prep time was longer because I had absolutely no clue what I was doing while rolling out the dough, layering the two separate pieces, and rolling it into a log. First time for everything, right?! :) But it was a success, and the cookies are wonderful and amazingly flavorful. I will definitely make it again in the future (hopefully I'll have a proper pastry mat).

Ingredients

Step 1 & 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 11

Step 13

Step 13

Step 14

Step 16 (Fini)

Turkey Vegetable Cobbler

I felt like something healthy for dinner tonight, so I browsed through my Pampered Chef It's Good for You cookbook. Pork, nah...beef...fish...nah. Oooo, turkey!! So I looked at the recipe, and thought "hey, this doesn't seem so tough, I can do this quickly". Except when I went to the store, the only turkey I could find was the deli sliced one. So since the recipe said turkey OR chicken in the ingredient list, I decided to use the canned chicken breast chunky meat instead! So here it is!

~Turkey Chicken Vegetable Cobbler~

Ingredients:
~Turkey & Vegetable filling~
2 cups diced cooked turkey or chicken [I used 2 cans of chicken breast meat]
1 cup sliced carrots [about 3 medium carrots]
1/2 cup chopped onion [1 small/medium onion]
2 cups broccoli florets [about 1 head of broccoli]
1 can (10.75 oz) 98% fat-free reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup 100% fat-free chicken broth
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 garlic glove, pressed
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
~Biscuit Topping~
1 1/4 cups reduced-fat all-purpose baking mix [I used Bisquik]
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 egg white

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400F. Cut turkey into 1/2 inch cubes. Cut carrots into 1/4 inch slices (can use crinkle cutter to be fancy). Chop onion using Food Chopper (PC).
Step 2: Combine carrots, onion, and broccoli into Large Micro-cooker (PC) [I dont' have the Lg Micro-cooker, so I combined the veggies into my Classic Batter Bowl (PC) and microwaved the veggies with a paper towel covering the top. It worked fine.] Microwave, covered, on High 2-3 minutes, or until crisp-tender; drain.
Step 3: In Classic Batter Bowl (PC), combine soup, broth, milk, pressed garlic, thyme, and black pepper; whisk until blended.
Step 4: Stir in turkey (chicken) and vegetable mixture; mix well.
Step 5: Pour into Deep Dish Baker (PC) [I don't have a DDB, so I used my Deep Covered Baker (PC).]
Step 6: For biscuit topping, combine baking mix, milk, and egg white; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (mixture forms a soft dough).
Step 7: Using Medium Scoop (PC), drop six scoops of dough over filling. [I actually had 8 scoops]
Step 8: Bake 30-35 minutes or until topping is golden brown. [I baked it for 27 minutes]

Recipe times:
Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 30-35 minutes

My times:
Prep time: 30 minutes
Bake time: 27 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 57 minutes

Yeah, it took me a little longer than it should have....but still not bad! And it was HEALTHY!!!! According to the recipe, this has 6 servings; each serving contains 270 calories. Not bad! I probably ate 2 servings, because I was so hungry....and it still would be under 600 calories! Yay!! This was very similar to a pot pie, but with biscuits on top...

Ingredients (sans chicken)

Step 2

Step 5

Step 7

Curried Chicken with Couscous

Mmmm...I decided it was time to spice things up...with Asian cooking!! And I was in the mood for some coconut milk-based curry. This recipe is one I found in Pampered Chef's 29 Minutes to Cooking (volume 1). And it turned out D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!!! Although, in hindsight....I used way too large of an onion. But at least it was one of the sweet varieties, so I was able to eat them (I don't enjoy onions usually). I also adored the golden raisins. I've never cooked with raisins, and you don't run into that many dishes that use them. These add a sweet flavor to the spiced curry-ness!!

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
~Chicken & Curry~
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
4 medium carrots
1 medium onion
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
~Couscous~
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/3 cups uncooked plain couscous
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp snipped fresh cilantro (plus extra from garnish - optional)

Chicken
Step 1: Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces. Lightly spray skillet with vegetable oil (or some non-stick oil spray). Heat skillet over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until hot.
Step 2: As skillet heats, combine salt and black pepper in Prep Bowl (PC). Season chicken with half of the black pepper mixture.
Step 3: Cook the chicken 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Turn chicken over and cook another 2-3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove from skillet; set aside.
Step 4: (as chicken cooks) Peel carrots [which I forgot to do...I was overzealous in my haste to cut the carrots]; cut in half lengthwise, then thinly slice on a bias.
Step 5: Cut onion in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 1/2 inch wedges. [I actually cut the onion prior to cooking the chicken, as part of the prep work...As I should have done with the carrots as they took me longer to cut than it took the chicken to cook]
Step 6: Add oil to skillet. Saute carrots and onion 5 minutes or until crisp-tender, stirring occassionally.
Step 7: Stir curry powder, raisins, coconut milk, and remaining black pepper mix into skillet. [If you think it looks like you need more sauce, fill the coconut milk can with a little water and add to the skillet]
Step 8: Add chicken; simmer 3-5 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken.

Couscous
Step 1: Pour broth into Rice Cooker Plus (PC); cover and microwave on High 3 minutes or until boiling. [I don't have that, so I used my Classic Batter Bowl (PC); it worked fine]
Step 2: Stir couscous and butter into broth. Cover; let stand 5 minutes.
Step 3: As couscous stands, snip cilantro using Kitchen Shears (PC). Fluff couscous with a fork; stir in cilantro.

Claimed time: 29 minutes
Total time: 48 minutes
(including prep)

Not bad!! Yes, if you wanted, you could make a vegetable dish, or add something green to the curry to make it an all-in-one meal. This was good enough for me! And I have plenty of leftovers to take to work this week!

Ingredients

Step 1

Step 5

 

Step 6

Steps 7 & 8

Couscous