Grilled Shrimp Scampi

Good Housekeeping's

Grilled Shrimp Scampi

In the July 2012 Good Housekeeping, they had a "Healthy in a Hurry" recipe that looked delicious.

Like something I'd order in a restaurant if I was in the mood for shrimp and pasta (which I usually am).

We made it earlier this week and it really was good.

It's a lighter version of the original, and the flavors are great.

I personally think that the roasted bell peppers make the dish.

Brennan thought the peppers "contaminated" his beloved pasta and shrimp.

But we all ate this meal, and had plenty of leftovers for the next day's lunch (win!).

You start by putting a large pot of salted water on to boil for your pasta.

Then you make a vinaigrette by whisking together lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano and black pepper. 

Then you slice up your bell pepper and grill them, or saute them in just a splash of olive oil as I did.

The original recipe called for two small red bell peppers.  I had one large yellow so that's what we went with.

The pepper looks orange in this photo for some reason...

Now they're yellow!

Once they're lightly charred, you transfer them to a cutting board and dice them.

Then you saute (or roast, or grill - it's your choice) your seasoned shrimp and toss the cooked shrimp in the vinaigrette.

Then toss the shrimp, vinaigrette, and drained pasta together and top with parsley just before serving.

So good!

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Enjoy!



Strawberry-Pretzel Icebox Pie

Southern Living's

Strawberry-Pretzel Icebox Pie

My boys are not long on patience - especially waiting in the car.

When they get in the car they always have a book, and if they forget one, the trip around town to do errands or take someone somewhere is always that.much.longer.

The other day we were waiting outside of the high school for Thomas to finish band practice, when Brennan realized he didn't have anything to read.  So, I handed him the June 2012 Southern Living that I had brought along for myself. 

And he chose this delicious Icebox Pie recipe to try out.

I modified the recipe ever-so-slightly.  It was delicious and is perfect for the summer.

Brennan started by making the crust.  We made the pie entirely in the food processor, but you could also use a mixer.

He crushed pretzel sticks, then mixed in melted butter and light brown sugar.

Look at those long piano fingers!

He pressed it into a greased pie pan and cooked it for 11 minutes, then cooled it on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

While it was cooling, Brennan promptly forgot about the rest of the pie and went out to play.

I finished it up for him.  He was thrilled to see the end result at dinner the next day!

I then blended sweetened condensed milk and light cream cheese together.  I added in strawberry gelatin and chopped fresh strawberries, and about 1 cup of light Cool Whip.

I froze the pie overnight.

The next day I topped the frozen pie with more Cool Whip and set it back in the freezer for an hour.

While we had dinner I set the pie out to soften up a touch.

It was delicious!

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Enjoy!

Slow-Roasted Tomato Quarters

Slow-Roasted Tomato Quarters

I found this recipe in the June 2012 Vegetarian Times and clipped it for its simplicity.

You simply quarter plum tomatoes and place a slice of garlic on top of each.

Then sprinkle with Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning and Kosher salt.

Drizzle olive oil on top and roast for an hour.

This is a great, simple side dish in the summer!

I find it hard to drizzle olive oil without dousing food with too much.

So next time I will toss the tomatoes in a little bit of oil before lining them up on the baking sheet and sprinkling on the herbs and salt.

The original recipe calls for Herbes de Provence which I did not have on hand, so I improvised with Italian seasoning and no one was the wiser!

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Enjoy!

 

Herbed Mushroom Caviar

Herbed Mushroom Caviar

We found this recipe in the June 2012 Vegetarian Times. 

Brennan found this recipe and wanted us to try it rightaway because a) he loves mushrooms, and b) caviar??  He even wrote "caviar?" at the bottom of the recipe.  He was intrigued.  Although - he must not have read the entire recipe because there is actually no traditional caviar in this recipe.  It comes from the look of diced mushrooms on baguette slice.

We changed it up a bit and made this recipe as a side dish while Thomas (our non mushroom fan) was sleeping over at a friend's house.

This is a fast, easy side dish that would be great with any meat main dish.

Instead of going for a caviar look, we quartered the button mushrooms after cleaning them.

Then we sauted them in olive oil. 

Once all the liquid had evaporated, we added lemon juice to deglaze the pan and let the lemon juice cook off.

Then we added minced garlic and fresh thyme.

We topped it off with parsley and served the dish warm.

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Bon Appetit!



Wild Rice Salad with Beets

Gillian McKeith's

Wild Rice Salad with Beets

I'm perfectly willing to share this recipe with you, even though it is certainly not one of my favorites.

Maybe it's the beets.

Or maybe it's the beets/rice combo.

My 3 men seemed to like it just fine, but after one helping, I was not interested in putting it up for leftovers, against protests from my family.

Hey - if they're willing to eat wild rice salad with beets the next day, who am I to toss this dish out and mark it down as a fail?

I'm new to beets. 

We saw them at the Farmers' Market Saturday and Brennan had to have them (this is a theme, isn't it?)  He went through 3 cookbooks and chose this recipe, which we modified.  I had my doubts going in, but I figured we'd give it a try.

I'm not giving up on beets though. 

I'm going to try them again in a different way and see if I can become a beet fan like so many people I know are. 

I used 1 cup of Lundberg Wild Rice Blend that I had on hand (found at Kroger).

I really like the Lundberg brand in general.

The recipe called for 4 cooked beets, diced.  I wasn't sure where to start, so I looked online.

I removed the leaves and then scrubbed the beets well.

Then I cut off the two ends and peeled the beets. 
Then I cut them into large chunks and boiled them for about 5 minutes.

It turns out, I could have trimmed them but peeled them after boiling them.

And, I think next time I'll roast them instead of boiling them, but they were fine, regardless.

I cooked the rice according to the package directions, then let in cool while I diced the beets.

I tossed the cooled rice with the diced beets and added the juice of 1 lemon, chopped fresh mint, parsley, chives. 

 

Everyone ate the salad again tonight at dinner, and I certainly didn't require anyone to, since I wasn't going to.  When I asked if I should keep the remaining salad - they all 3 said yes.  Well, OK.


Double click to print as a 5x7 recipe card.

Enjoy!