Angel Hair & Shrimp

I thought I'd end this stream of out of no where posts, with one that at least looks more appealing than the other ones did. This was just some pasta tossed in a bit of olive oil, parsley, sauteed shrimp, some garlic and a little cheese. Pretty easy, pretty delicious! Welcome back, blogger babies.

101 posts? I should get a hobby!

Gnocchi Crab Bake

I should of titled this Gnocchi Crab Disaster. This was THE most expensive meal I've ever made, aside from Christmas or Thanksgiving which aren't really meals rather than spreads, and feed small villages so it's okay that they cost hundreds of dollars. My dad was in town, and for those of you who don't know my dad, he's the size of a tea cup poodle. Although, his bite is certainly bigger than his bark, he goes for high carb meals and more sour cream on your potatoes in one sitting than you've used in your lifetime. My point is, he came to visit and I tried making a new recipe, we spent a lot of money, and it hardly got eaten. It wasn't that the taste was bad, it just wasn't right. It called for a few fancy pants types of cheeses, which if you've shopped in the nice cheese section you know you're spending like ten dollars per tiny slice of each type of cheese. Crab meat? Yeah. I threw away some money with the meal. With the cream and the cheese and the pasta, it was so heavy, and thick, and dense. Oh did I mention, we couldn't find premade Gnocchi anywhere in the small po' dunk town in Georgia we currently were living in? Homemade Gnocchi? Psh. We were busy, alright?! So, we substituted with pre-stuffed ravioli... maybe that's where we went wrong. However, there were so many wrong turns here, one right couldn't have saved us in the end. Rest easy Crab Bake, rest easy.

Maybe you'll have better luck, real deal here.

Smore Bake

Say what? Yes, say it again. Five billion calories per bite. Every bite is worth it times ten. Everyone I've fed this to, the two.. or three times I have made it, cry from the pain inside their bellies after forcing themselves to eat more then they ever thought they could, or should. I like to serve this while it's still warm so, the chocolate and marshmallow run all over the plate and it's just a heaping pile of ooey gooey deliciousness. Now that I think about it, September is practically the best time for this dessert.. because well, I needed an excuse to make it of course. My husband has asked more times then I could count (math just isn't my strong suit) to make this and I usually try to avoid it. I picture us standing above the almost empty pan, spoons in hand, scrapping the remaining crumbs into our mouths like modern day savages. It was a beautiful day. A day everyone should have, and now you can.

I either found this recipe off of FoodGawker.com or Pinterest... however, the results are the same. Awesome.

I must not have been into staging fun food photos our last few months in Georgia. Oh, yeah, since this was made, we moved back across the country to Nebraska... and purchased our first home! (We should celebrate with some Smore Bake....)

Thanksgiving, Almost A Year Late!

Well, heh, hello there. It's really me. Not my husband coming to tell all of my die-hard fans that I've died in some tragic cooking accident. Death by good food. Good way to go, though. Ah, it's been so long I've almost forgotten how to be funny. Not sure if death is a good way to open up a food blog post, but it's slightly chilly outside and I'm not eating, so today seems a little dark. So I've made some recent discoveries while I've been gone. First, I hate not working, periods of not working tend to include lots of cooking and surprised weight gain. Who actually cooks and then eats it? I know I'm a rare case here. So I'm not sure how Paula Dean's fancy pants photographer makes her turkey snap shots look so beautiful but I swear, in person, my turkey is Miss America. My turkeys are prepared the same way every year, I just happened to get lucky the first time I tried it at sixteen, because I really do make a damn good turkey. Before anyone thinks 'she stuffs her turkey, she must be trying secretly kill her family because that just traps in disease and the turkey doesn't fully cook and they're all going to die after eating that turkey', don't. Thus far, few people have fallen over after eating my turkey, and it wasn't tragic, it was magic.

So, I may have gotten a little too nursery rhyme there, but it's going to take me a few posts to get back on my feet. Not that I stand while posting, but you get the point. With blogging so popular now you're probably wondering what amazing pair of yoga pants we all wear to reverse the signs of blogger's butt. I haven't ever Googled that but (no pun intended), I'm sure the term has been used. One of my not friends anymore friend's (you know, from high school, the tragic days) mom used to yell at us to get off the computer before we got 'secretary's spread'. I can only imagine it'd be similar.

So, here it is. In all his glory. Tommy the turkey. No, I don't typically name my turkeys, however, it may become a new tradition.

Shrimp Penne with Spinach

Okay, three posts in one day is exhausting so I'm going to make this right to the point. Feel free to read the two posts below for my awesomeness.


Ingredients:
1/2 bag baby spinach leaves
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 box mini penne pasta
1/4 cup Parm. cheese
20 large peeled detailed shrimp
garlic salt
black pepper

Wilt spinach in 1/2 tbsp melted butter over medium heat. Cook pasta. While pasta is cooking, saute shrimp in 1/2 tbsp melted butter. Combine pasta, spinach, shrimp and toss in remaining 1/2 tbsp butter. Sprinkle with garlic salt, black pepper and the parm cheese. Simple, easy, and delicious.

Homemade Bread Bowls & Soup

I've never understood why fall and soup go hand-in-hand so well. I used to think it was because it was always chilly outside and you come in and think 'burrrr, man it sure it cold out there, I wish someone would make me a big pot of delicious soup that I could heat my starving belly up with' but then you come inside and there isn't a heaping pot of warm, delicious, mouth watering soup on the stove and you're still cold. Now your stomach hates you because you tricked it into thinking it was going to have liquid hot deliciousness inside of it but you forgot to add that you grew up with someone that skills didn't quite go hand-in-hand with cooking. She made up for it in other ways, my mother. I now theme many situations to the tune of 'How Much is That Doggie in the Window' *ruff ruff*. I have the image of cats eating my mothers goldfish when she was a small child every time I look at my own cat, and she taught me to never treat your children as though you have a favorite, but clearly have a favorite nonetheless. (it's clearly me) Now, I'm not quite sure how I always get on the topic of myself, oh yeah, because I'm so awesome, it's easily done of course. What is equally awesome was the amazing, hot, delicious pot of soup I made this Sunday.

I wasn't so thrilled with this photo either, but it tasted so good, who needs quality photos? The bread bowls turned out okay, my husband really liked them, but he smokes so I claim he can't really taste anything, and he doesn't have the smartest of taste buds to begin with. The bread was just too dense for me, I'm not sure if I just didn't let it rise enough before I baked it or what but I was slightly disappointed, therefore I won't bother posting the recipe, it was a fairly simply bread recipe anyway, so find your own! The soup recipe I based off of an Oktoberfest Lager soup I liked on FoodGawker.com but there isn't anywhere around here to get decent lager, not that I have any clue on lager and when I expressed this to my husband, he suggested I put one of his watered down American bottles of piss in it in which I was so greatly insulted I almost fell over into my steaming pot of soup and died. I also get my dramatics from my mother. Now, for the recipe, which I will definitely be making again, and might I add the leftover soup the second day was even better (which is usually the case with homemade soup) Mmm.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
14 oz. beer smoked sausage
1/2 head cabbage (thinly sliced)
1 onion (thinly sliced)
4 large russet potatoes cubed
(I left the skin on)
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
5 cups hot chicken stock
3 gloves garlic minced
1 cup milk
2 tbsp flour

Directions:
Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add sausage and allow the brown. Add onions until carmelized and tender. Add cabbage and allow to soften and take in flavors. Add garlic and allow to cook for 3 minutes or until it has cooked down. Add hot chicken stock, pepper, and milk and potatoes. I wanted to thicken my soup up a bit so I mixed 2 tbsp of flour with water before adding it to the pot, it thickened it just a bit, however if you like a really thick dense soup I would add 2-4 more tbsp flour. Allow pot to come to a boil before reducing heat to simmer. Soup is ready once potatoes are cooked through and soft, however, soup is always better the longer it simmers, in my expert opinion!

Sopes

Ahh, Sopeeeeeeee. Mmm. There is a little hole-in-the-wall El Salvadorian place in Bellevue, Ne that my dad and I enjoy pigging out at. We took my husband once and decided he needed to try everything on the menu, our whole table was filled with food, Pops ended up taking most of it home since we were all stuffed to the brim, and the tab was like $22.00? Amazing. Now, since I'm far-far away from home it's one of the places I miss going every time my dad goes he sends me a text just to rub it in. I made sure we went while I was home a few months ago and they gave me chicken instead of steak and well it just ruined the whole experience.

So, what did I do? I made 'em myself. It was actually super easy except that frying anything in something other than an actual fryer always seems to be a huge mess and I decided to make my sopes the size of a large dinner plate and it was a bit difficult to properly flip them without cracking them. It also didn't help that each one took up the entire pan I was attempting to fry them in, but hey, lesson learned, right? Next time I'd just make cute little ones and use the excuse that they're so little to eat, oh I don't know, 27 of them? My stomach is smiling at the mere thought. Anyways, I'll get on with it already. The photo isn't very bright, but hey, they tasted amazing enough I didn't even care about the photo!

Ingredients:
2 cups Maseca brand corn masa
pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp butter
1 can refried beans
1 pkg. thinly sliced sirloin steak (sliced into strips)
shredded lettuce
Creama
Queso Fresco

Directions:
On medium heat, melt butter in medium-large skillet. Brown sirloin in butter, set aside. Following directions of Masa bag for desired amount (I used 2 cups) mix masa with water and pinch of salt. Shape into flat patties then mold lip around edge with fingers. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side in oil filled pan. Remove and set on paper towel to absorb extra oil. Spread thin layer of warmed up refried beans on flat portion of the shell. Add desired amount of steak, lettuce, crumbled queso fresco, and lastly the creama. Eat every last bite, or you should be ashamed of yourself.