Food Star Friday - Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Happy Friday my friends. I hope this week has been kind to you and that you are winding down and getting ready for this holiday weekend. You know Labor Day is a classic grilling day and right now there is much "debate" going on in my house about what and who will be grilling. There may be a compromise in sight though. I was thinking about trying a slow cooker rib recipe so if I do that and focus on side dishes the boys can argue without me over who gets to be master of the grill.

Anyway, when the dust from that debate settled I realized I had not planned a Food Star Friday meal. Dang it! So after browsing Food Network and The Cooking Channel I was still at a loss as to what I would make. That was when I got the idea to pose the question to my Facebook and Twitter followers. I asked people to give me the name of a food star and a protein. After several hours of responses the protein I would be using was quite clear - shrimp. OK I love shrimp so I was excited about that idea. But the food star was not as easy. I never really thought about how many food stars there are out there. Wow you all came up with some great people. It was a very close race but Giada was the winner. As soon as I realized she was the food star I knew exactly what I was going to make. I have watched the show that she makes this dish on several times and it always looked and sounded so good to me. Why I didn't come up with this idea I don't know, but I am sure glad that you all did it for me. It was fantastic!

Mexican Grilled Corn

I was making my Mexican Style Slow Cooker Chicken and couldn't decide on a side dish until I remembered this fantastic corn I used to have all of the time at the Del Mar Fair in San Diego. You can get some wacky food at the fair, but I past up the deep fried Twinkies and cheesecake to head straight for this grilled corn. It is sweet and salty all at once. It is the perfect balance! But as much as I loved it, this again was another recipe I had never tried at home.

I really hate it when I underestimate myself. Sometimes I make things seem so much more difficult that they are in my head. Once I sat down and really thought about the flavors in the corn the wheels started turning in my head (no smoke came out I promise). I knew there a fantastic combo of flavor. After trying it a few times and not coming up with exactly what I was looking for I tried this and BAM there it was, the wonderful flavors I was looking for. I had flash backs of all of my years at the fair and it was wonderful. The family may not have had the flood of memories but I can promise you there will be memories from now on!!

Pasta with Chicken and Garlic Cream Sauce

This was another one of those meals that you just come up with on the fly. I kept trying to think of something for dinner and nothing was jumping out at me. Do I want fish, chicken, steak, pasta? So I decided to throw a few things in a hat and just draw the winner that way. I picked chicken and pasta so that was my jumping off point. I knew I had shredded chicken in the fridge because they had rotisserie chicken on sale at the store so when they do that I will buy a few, shred them, and freeze them to have as a quick chicken addition to a meal.

Then I hit the pantry and found a box of farfalla, yay the main ingredients were found! So back into the fridge I went to see what goodies I had to throw in to the party. Fresh basil...check.....fresh oregano....check....heavy cream..hhmmm this is going to be good! I always have onions and garlic (Duh you're a food blogger Bobbi) so of course they had to come to the party too.

This ended up being such a simple, easy meal, but had so much flavor and made my tummy happy. I do have to confess I am a pasta girl so you know if there is a noodle in it somewhere I am smiling! In the end, this is a quick and easy meal for a night when you are on the go and need something fast but flavorful

Manic Monday Party #10

A great quick meal for a Manic Monday. 

Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli

Happy Monday my friends! I know I missed last Monday due to family issues, but I wanted to get it going this week. Being back and forth to the hospital all week I have not even touched a pan in my kitchen. I think it may suspect I am cheating on it! But I don't think cheating with burgers is a good thing YUCK I miss cooking! Soooo my fab foodies, let's have lots of posts of yummy food to get me kick started for a week of cooking OK?

Here are the top 3 recipes from the last party.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Crumbs in my Mustachio

Gooey Ricotta Cheesecake Brownies from Mess Makes Food

Courgette/Zucchini Pakoras with minted yoghurt dip from La Difference Catering

WOW some seriously awesome food was shared last time. I can't wait to see what everyone brings to the party this time!!

OK now the rules, there are just a few.

Link up the picture to the post not your main blog page

Please link back to this page on your blog post.

Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest. I will be tweeting, pinning, and posting your recipes all week long. I just love doing that!! 

If you would like to check out all of the past submissions go to my#manicmonday Pintrest board.

Leave as many recipes as you want that will help with the last minute Manic Monday scramble.

It would be wonderful if you would leave me a comment. I love to know who is here.

Remember to vote for your favorites and please don't forget to click on the other recipes and show them some foodie love!

Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli #SundaySupper

It has been a while since I have had school age kids but I still remember the rush of getting kids to soccer, football, getting homework done, and getting a good meal on the table as quickly as possible. I mean if it wasn't for quick school night meals we would have all been eating at 10 PM!

There of course was always the problem of not only getting a meal on the table quickly, but trying to make it a balanced meal that the kids would eat. That can really be the tough part right? I used to be good at hiding the "good stuff". A wonderful way to do that is by making things like meatloaf and then grating up some zucchini, carrots, squash, etc. and mixing it in. You can freeze the meatloaf and then cook it on the night you want. But this is about those nights when you need/want to get meal from stove to table in under 30 minutes. For those nights I loved one pot meals. You have your protein, vegetable, and starch all together. Cook it all up and Bing Bam Boom dinner is served!!

Food Star Friday - Planked Salmon with Egg Sauce

One of the things I love so much about Food Star Friday's is that I try things I wouldn't normally try. I search recipes and watch the food shows with an open mind. This recipe is by Chef Michael Chiarello. In the past I have felt that his recipes were ones that I was afraid to tackle. I don't know why, I just did. 

On this particular occasion I was really craving salmon, so when this dish popped up it caught my attention. It just sounded so different from anything I would choose to cook, and if I was surprised by my choice the family was even more surprised! The response I got when asked what was for dinner was several "What's" "Ummmm's" and "is that really what you are making?" Wow guys, thanks for the vote of confidence!! But, as usual, they were eating their words (along with a LOT of salmon) once the cooking dust had settled.

Open Face Chicken Caprese Sandwiches

I have been craving tomatoes and I don't just mean a small craving, I am borderline obsessed with them lately! No big deal right? Tons of people are loving the lovely summertime treasures. Well my dear foodie friends it is very strange for me because I used to despise tomatoes. Not just dislike I seriously despised them!! I loved to cook with them, but a raw tomato? BLEK!! Oh how our tastes change right? Now I want to put them on everything.

Food Star Friday - Unfried Chicken

I have been a big fan of Paula Deen for a long time. Way back when, before I lost weight, I did cook a few of her meals. Once I lost the weight and started eating healthier I stopped cooking her meals but still loved to watch her. I love her personality, the way she loves her kids, her sense of humor, etc. Plus my Dad had a huge crush on her so it was fun to watch her shows with him. 

Once it came out that she had diabetes, and a lot of the public slammed her for her unhealthy cooking practices, I was so happy to see her son Bobby step up to the plate to help his Mom (and himself) lose weight and eat healthier. (Paula has lost 30 pounds) I mean, I used to live in the south and I love Southern food, but if you are from the south you know that there is a lot of fried food, and the gravy, oh my goodness I could have eaten gravy on just about everything. In fact I think I did for a while. So Bobby trying to "healthify" some of his Mom's favorite dishes was wonderful for all of us that love southern food too!

Healthy Chicken Taco Bowls

I have been trying to lighten things up a bit around here. With the warm weather we of course are wearing less clothing which makes it a bit obvious that the cool sweater weather we have around here 8 months a year has allowed us to hide a multitude of sins! So I am trying to "sneak" in healthier versions of foods we love without making it stand out too much. I mean I don't want a flashing light above the dinner table saying "Healthy Food Here" it might just make everyone run and hide. Really though to me it is a bit of a challenge. I like to see their faces and hear what they think about the food before I tell them it is healthy. I just don't want them to get it in their heads that they wont like it before they even try it. Why does healthy = tasteless or inedible to some people?

Avocado Hot Sauce

There is a new Mexican place that just opened up in town. It has been packed since it opened. Although that in itself is not too surprising since we live in a very small town and people flock to anything new like they have never heard of it before! But this flocking is well deserved. It is called Blue Agave and they have some seriously good food. Coming from Southern California, and growing up on Mexican food, it is a nice combination of regular restaurant food and taco shop food (plus they have an awesome tequila bar BONUS!!). 

I have been there probably 4 times in the last couple of weeks and have gotten something different every time I go, but one thing has remained the same in every dish I have eaten. I have topped it with this amazing avocado hot sauce they have. After the last time I was determined to make it at home so I grabbed a little container of it and away I went into my kitchen to get down to the nuts and bolts of figuring out the recipe.

Mexican Style Slow Cooker Beer Chicken

When it is summertime I am always looking for meals to make that don't heat up my kitchen. Not that it gets that hot here very often, but once in a while it can sneak up on us so I want to be prepared when it does. So when I ran across a recipe for Beer Crockpot Chicken on My Daily Dish my curiosity was peaked. I mean what is not to like about the idea? Beer + chicken + crockpot + cheap = dang good idea in my book! 

I had it stashed in my "going to make someday" file when I had one of those days. You know what I mean. I call them manic Mondays but really they hit anytime they want. I had been working on blog posts and recipes all day when I looked up at the clock and realized UH OH it is 1:00 and I haven't planned dinner! I rushed out to the fridge, no meat to be found, thought quickly about a salad but Kevin would shoot me (just kidding folks no need to call 911) if I sat a salad in front of him and called it dinner. The I thought about the beer crockpot chicken recipe. I vaguely remembered something about the fact that you could use frozen chicken and it would still be ready in 4 hours! No way right? Yes way.....I am serious!

Chicken Kabobs with Greek Salad

I have gone through a bit of obsession with Greek food lately. I don't know if anyone else does it but I will get hooked on a certain type of food (Greek, Italian, Mexican, fish and seafood, veggies, etc.) and want it just about everyday. Not the same food, but the flavors. It kind of drives my family a little batty at time. OH well, I do the cooking so I guess what I decide goes right? Although I do try to give you all a variety of recipes during the week. I don't to make you just as crazy as my family!

I did a Greek Burger back for #SundaySupper's Father's Day post and it was soooo good. I think that was when my little mind started cranking out ideas for recipes. Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with recipes flying through your head to the point that you just have to get up and start writing them down? Oh, maybe that is just my weird thing, but I seriously get some of my best ideas in the middle of the night! Last night I had to fight the urge to get up and start canning dilled green beans! Wacko!!

Cilantro Rice with Lime and Serrano

We have kind of been on a rice kick lately. Whenever I come up with a main dish and I ask what sounds good for a side everyone says "rice please". Well I love rice as much as the next person, but just plain old rice? Umm no. I mean I have been known to put a little butter on rice with soy sauce and Sriracha and just about make a meal out of that, but that is not very often. So of course when rice is requested I have to come up with a new and different way to flavor it up. I always cook my rice in chicken stock, but you need more than a little clucker juice to make it interesting right?

Sriracha Hot Wings

I know I have mentioned we like things hot around here, about a million times right? But this is a true example of our love of all things spicy/hot. We use Sriracha like ketchup here. I mean it seriously goes on everything, OK well maybe not pancakes but there isn't much else it doesn't go on. Have you heard the Frank's Red Hot commercial with the old lady that say's, "Frank's Red Hot...I put the sh*t on everything"? Well we could easily do that commercial here, and we wouldn't even need to be paid, OK well maybe free hot sauce for life but that would be it!

Manic Monday Party #9

Chicken with Snap Peas

Hello out there in the foodie blogiverse. Can you believe another week has gone by? I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Who here still needs to set up their meal plans for the week? *raising hand* yup, that's right I do. You would think with my doing what I do (duh Bobbi your life revolves around cooking) that I would always be hot on ball with my menu and shopping list ready to go, nope not me! I guess I have a procrastination issue sometimes. Part of it has to be the wonderful weather we are still enjoying here in Washington. Last year we had maybe 4 weeks of Summer so this year I have decided I don't want to miss a minute of it. I actually even have a tan!!

Anywhoo, I will hush up about me now and get on to the real reason we are all here. To find and share some darn good food! Every week I am so excited to see what is shared and what everyone likes. So let me share with you the top 3 posts from last weeks party.

Easy Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken from Hot Eats and Cool Reads

Hand Held Pasties from My Kaotic Kitchen

Are you kidding me Cake? Apple Butter Pecan from Crumbs in My Moustachio

Alrighty, you all know what to do right? 

Link up the picture to the post not your main blog page

Please link back to this page on your blog post.

Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest. I will be tweeting, pinning, and posting your recipes all week long. I just love doing that!! 

If you would like to check out all of the past submissions go to my#manicmonday Pintrest board.

Leave as many recipes as you want that will help with the last minute Manic Monday scramble.

It would be wonderful if you would leave me a comment. I love to know who is here.

Remember to vote for your favorites and please don't forget to click on the other recipes and show them some foodie love!

Have a wonderful week!!

Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

This was the main dish for Elitia's birthday meal. If you saw the last post for the Lemon Pepper Rice you will know that it was her 21st birthday and I wanted to make her something special for dinner. I knew she liked seafood so when I saw these shrimp in the store I immediately knew what I wanted to make. I had seen a recipe in Saveur for a shrimp dish that had feta cheese in it. Feta cheese you ask? Yup, feta cheese. I know many people think seafood and cheese don't go together but I am here to tell you yes they do! Of course I am a huge feta cheese lover. The salty, the creamy, all I can say is just yummmmm! 

When I brought out the ingredients for the meal I had a head over my shoulder. 

Kevin - Ummm what are you making?

Me - Dinner

Kevin - Haha I mean what are you making for dinner?

Me - Shrimp

Kevin - *glaring* I can see that, but what are you putting with it?

Me - Peppers, tomatoes, and some feta cheese

Kevin - Feta cheese?

Me - Ummm yes that is what I said

Kevin - Okaaaay 

Me - Your faith in me is staggering

I just love our little chats over meals don't you? He was also wondering why I was leaving the shells on the shrimp. I explained that it adds more shrimp flavor to the dish. If you don't mind peeling shrimp it is great to cook them with the shells on. But it is just too messy for this dish so tails on is fine. Also, don't stress about the amount of time the shrimp cooks. Kevin kept asking me over and over "Are you sure they should cook this long?" and yes they do cook a long time, but they came out fantastic.

I reduced the amount of oil and feta cheese that the original recipe called for to try and lighten it up a bit. I also used reduced fat feta for the same reason. I feel I could have used more red pepper flakes because we like heat, but Elitia and Dylan both said they liked it the way it was and with the Lemon Pepper Rice this dish is a winner!

Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

adapted from Saveur Magazine

1 1/2 pound large shrimp, tails on

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 green onions, chopped

1 bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), chopped

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped

1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 ounces reduced fat feta cheese crumbles

3 tablespoons milk

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the green onions, bell pepper, oregano, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bell peppers soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and add the shrimp. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in the milk and feta cheese and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Serve over Lemon Pepper Rice.

ENJOY!!

Lemon Pepper Rice

Last night was Kevin's son's girlfriend's 21st birthday. So I am moving a bit slow today. I didn't realize all of the crazy drinks there are out there now. We went through quite the list of them last night too. There were White Gummy Bears, Stupid Goods, Starbursts, Laundrymats, Porn Stars (the drink, I don't want you to have images of some wild woman spinning around a pole), and a couple more that have names that I wont be sharing on a family friendly blog. I sure came away with a long list of drinks for Tipsy Tuesday that is for sure. I don't know who told me that I could keep up with a 21 year old but I can tell you that when I find them I am going to have some strong words for them! The most important thing is that she had a good time though, so I was very happy.

Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake

Oh my goodness, you have no idea how happy I am right now! #1 because, well, this is an amazing cheesecake! #2 I thought I had lost this photo and wasn't going to be able to post this until I made it again. Even though my mouth loves the idea of me making this again (and again and again) my waistline has put me on a limit of 2 or 3 of these a year. The reason? I become like a mother lion protecting her cubs, growling at anyone that comes near it trying to keep it all for myself. I am not a big sweets eater but this is one that I adore!

Bobbi on a Budget - Chicken with Snap Peas

I have been all about peas lately. The lovely little green pods call out to me when I am in the produce section. "Pick me...pick me"!! Oops did I say that out loud? OK well now that the word is out, yes, I am addicted to peas right now. I guess I can't just say I am addicted to peas, it is all of the fresh summer produce making my head swim. But peas are making it do the butterfly stroke right now, hard and fast (Yay Olympic swimming plug). 

So when I went shopping the other day and found fresh snap peas and fresh snow peas on sale. I was beside myself with excitement. I grabbed two bags and finished my search for other goodies. Boy was I happy to see chicken thighs on sale too!! This whole meal was coming together for under $10!!