Our Valentine's Dinner

I love putting together simple yet delicious meals for holidays. Sometimes I like giving them names too, I'm weird like that. This one is called "No such thing as too much shrimp."

Shrimp Appetizer

I posted this recipe last year. But I make it every year for Valentine's Day, so I'm posting it again this year. I love this stuff, it's so delicious!

8 oz. cream cheese
Cocktail sauce
1 can tiny shrimp, drained
Buttery snack crackers (Ritz, Town House, etc)

Place cream cheese on serving platter. Pour about 2/3 cup cocktail sauce on top, and top with shrimp. Serve with crackers.

Garlic Ginger Shrimp

I got this recipe from Angie, The American Homemaker. I attended her cooking class at the Pleasant Grove Macey's last week, and really enjoyed this recipe. I figured it would be perfect for Valentine's Day. It's a little pricier than my usual meals, but not by much. Besides, it was a special occasion.

1 1/2 tsp. ginger
4 cloves garlic (2 tsp. bottled)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 tsp. parsley
2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. salt (this wasn't in the original recipe, but it needed it)
3 tsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. cold water
1 lb. raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 package angel hair pasta (I used spaghetti)

Start water boiling for pasta.

In a large skillet, saute ginger and garlic in butter and oil for about one minute. Stir in broth, 1 1/2 tsp. parsley, and basil.

Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Add to skillet. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for two minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; add rinsed shrimp. Simmer for two to three minutes or until the shrimp turn pink.

Meanwhile, cook pasta. Add sauce to cooked and drained pasta. Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Salad

Of course, we also had a simple salad, to round out the meal. Five-lettuce mix with chopped oranges and a honey mustard dressing. Colorful and yummy.

Chocolate Almond Pudding Cake

This was a fantastic ending to a delicious meal. It's a slightly healthified version, with less sugar and oil. It was rich and indulgent, but not overly so. Perfect with vanilla ice cream.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp. canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 3/4 cups water
Vanilla ice cream, if desired

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 8-inch square (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix flour, granulated sugar, almonds, 1/4 cup cocoa, the baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, oil, vanilla and almond extract until blended. Spread batter in pan.

In 1-quart saucepan, mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa with wire whisk. Stir in water; heat just to boiling, stirring occasionally. Pour over batter.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until center is set. Cool 30 minutes before serving (Haha, yeah right. We at it right away).

To serve, spoon warm cake into individual dessert bowls; spoon pudding from baking dish over cake. Serve with ice cream.

6 Years

My sweet husband and I have been married for 6 years, as of yesterday. When Jeff asked if I wanted to go out to eat or make something special here at home, my answer was obvious - I always prefer a great home cooked meal! So here's what we ate for our special meal to celebrate 6 years of marriage.


Pork and Bacon Skillet
Jeff created this dish specifically to use cheap cuts of pork and bacon ends. Since he didn't really measure anything, all amounts are approximate.


Start by cooking about 1/4-1/2 lb. bacon ends. Remove from pan and set aside, leaving bacon grease in the pan. Cut about 2 lb. pork into 3-inch chunks and add to pan. Brown on both sides. Add a sliced green pepper, some sliced green onions, 1 cup beef broth (or 1 cup water and 1 tsp. bouillon), and the bacon, plus salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with rice.


Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad
A delicious and hearty salad from the new Southern Plate Cookbook (love this book!!!!!!!)


1 head cauliflower, broken and sliced
1 head broccoli, cut up
2 small onions, cut and separated into rings (I used half of a large red onion)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Combine the vegetables in a large bowl. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to vegetables and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Anniversary Pie
This pie has become tradition since I created it a couple years ago. I've made it differently each time, but it's always delicious. This time I went for a yummy cinnamon flavor.


1 package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup eggnog
1/2 cup ice cream (fried ice cream flavor - cinnamon ice cream with shortbread chunks and a caramel swirl, yummmm)
1 graham cracker crust, made with cinnamon grahams
Additional cinnamon graham cracker crumbs

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggnog and ice cream. Pour into crust and freeze until firm. Remove from freezer 10 to 15 minutes before slicing to soften the pie. Return any uneaten portion to the freezer. Sprinkle each slice with additional cracker crumbs.

Another Picnic Dish (Recipe: X-quisite Layered Fruit Salad)

I volunteered to do another dish for the Virtual Picnic, hosted by Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations. To refresh anyone's memory on the rules, each blogger chooses a letter and "brings" a dish that begins with that letter, also including all the dishes brought by the previous bloggers. Okay, here we go!

I'm going on a picnic, and I'm bringing...

A: Almond Joy Pie
By Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet

B: Baked Beans
By Grub and Stuff

C: Chocolate Picnic Cake
By Dying for Chocolate

D: Dutch Funnel Cake

By Sporadic Cook

E: Easy Blender Chicken Pie
By Simple Recipes

F: Five Bean Salad
By Moveable Feasts

G: Granola Bars

By Fun Foods on a Budget

H: Herb and Cheese Pasta Salad
By Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice



I: Incredibly Fruity Raspberry Cakes
By Raspberry and Chipotle



J: Jeweled Picnic Bars
By Rochelle's Vintage and Frugal Recipes



K: Kaltschale (Cold Fruit Soup)
By Kaffeeklatsch (German)



L: Long Island Lemonade Cocktail
By Culinary Types



M: Mushroom Tart
By Gherkins & Tomatoes



N: Nut Roast
By Green Gourmet Giraffe



O: Olive Nut Bread
By Chaya's Comfy Cook



P: Pomegranate Mousse Cake
By More Than a Mount Full



Q: Quiche
By Sweet and Savory



R: Raspberry Chocolate Macarons
By Anne's Food



S: Spicy Glazed Shrimp and Veggie Kabobs
By God's Perfect Promises



T: Turkey and Pear Wraps w/ Curried Aioli
By Girlichef



U: Unoriginal Whole Foods Salad Bar
By Mae's Food Blog



V: Vegetable Things of Spring Salad..Veal Shank with Risotto
..and Viennese Chocolate-Cherry Torte
By Postcards From The Dinner Table






W: White Caramel Popcorn
By One Crazy Cookie



My letter X: X-quisite Layered Fruit Salad (recipe below)
By Fun Foods on a Budget

I invented this exquisite salad tonight specifically for this picnic game! This recipe is partially based on my family's favorite fruit salad recipe, and utilizes the fruits I happened to have on hand. The layering is something I just thought of tonight, and adds a touch of elegance and beauty to the salad.

X-quisite Layered Fruit Salad
1 3.4-oz. box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 3/4 cup milk
1 12-oz. carton cool whip, divided
1 16-oz. carton cottage cheese
1 3-oz. box strawberry jello
2 cans fruit cocktail, well drained
4 large apples, chopped
1 lb. fresh strawberries

Whisk together pudding mix and milk for 1-2 minutes. Fold in half of cool whip. Chill while preparing other ingredients. Combine cottage cheese and remaining cool whip. Add jello.

Now it's time to layer. Pour drained fruit cocktail into large glass bowl (about 4 quart size, I think). Top with jello/cottage cheese mixture, then apples, then pudding mixture. Lastly, arrange strawberries on top. Cover and chill until serving.

I think the combination of a fruity jello-flavored sauce layer and a creamy pudding-flavored sauce layer really makes this salad pop. This can, of course, be customized with a variety of fruits and jello flavors. I just used what I had on hand, but I think it would be delicious with more fruits, like bananas, mandarin oranges, grapes, pomegranate seeds, fresh peaches, raspberries, etc. Plus, there's so much sauce in this salad that I think you could really get away with adding a larger amount of fruit (like mixing bananas with the apples before adding the pudding layer). Anyway, get creative! I know I will. :-)

Homemade Salad Dressing

I love salad dressing. Ranch and Italian will always be favorites of course, but I also really enjoy "fancy" dressings. When they go on sale for super cheap we usually pick up several varieties of vinaigrettes and creamy dressings - red pepper, balsamic, bacon ranch, avocado, Greek, Asian sesame, creamy Italian - my mouth is watering.

But these sale-and-stock situations are pretty rare for us. So what do I do when we run out of all our fun salad dressings and I want to have a delicious salad? I make my own salad dressing, of course!


This particular recipe was originally titled Buttermilk & Onion Salad Dressing, but I didn't have buttermilk powder or dried minced onion. So this is basically just a yummy, creamy dressing without a real name.

Homemade Salad Dressing
1/2 cup dry milk powder (or use dry buttermilk powder)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried minced onion (if you've got it, use it)
1 tsp. monosodium glutamate (optional, I didn't add this)
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. dried parsley leaves (yikes, we're out. I substituted Italian seasoning)
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
2 cups mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon juice (omit if you're using buttermilk powder)
1 cup water

In a large bow, combine all dry ingredients. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice, and water, and blend thoroughly with a wire whisk. Pour into a 1-quart container with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate overnight (skipped this step, we used it right away!). Makes about 3 cups.

This makes a somewhat thin dressing. If you prefer thicker dressing, start with about half the amount of water and add more until you get the desired consistency.

I only made a half batch of this, because we really didn't need a full 3 cups of dressing. Then I served it over a salad made of pasta, green leaf lettuce, tomato, carrot, olives, pepperoni, and Colby Jack cheese. Delicious!

Our Anniversary Dinner, Yummy!

Yesterday Jeff and I celebrated five years of marriage. Then today we celebrated more by closing on our house - we get the keys on Tuesday and are so excited!!!!

Anyway, we like to do special homemade meals for special occasions. Yesterday was no different. We had an absolutely delicious dinner of Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing, salad with Basic Vinaigrette, and Anniversary Pie for dessert. It was the same pie I made for our anniversary last year, but I changed it up to include chocolate, teehee. The whole meal was absolutely wonderful.


Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing


This recipe was based on a recipe I got from my sister a long time ago. The flavors of the pork, the stuffing, and the apple pie filling are absolutely wonderful together. It's delicious just the way it is on her blog, Fabulous Food, but I wanted to give it more of a homemade touch, so I made the apple pie filling from scratch. This is what we came up with.

4 pork chops, about 3/4 inch or thicker
6 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 tbsp. lemon juice (only if the apples lack tartness)
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
1 box stuffing mix

Combine the apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spread in the bottom of a crock pot.

Quickly sear the pork chops over high heat on the stove, just until they're lightly browned on the outside. They shouldn't be cooked through. Place on top of the apples in the crock pot. Cover and cook on low until the pork is thoroughly cooked. In our crock pot it took about 8 hours.

Just before serving, prepare stuffing according to directions on the box. Serve with the pork chops and apples.

Next time I might add a bit more flour to the apples - it made a whole lot of syrup because it was in the crock pot instead of the oven. But as is, it was still absolutely delicious.


Salad with Basic Vinaigrette


For the salad, I just mixed together some green leaf lettuce with a bunch of veggies - mushrooms, shredded carrot, tomatoes, fresh chives (from the garden of a wonderful elderly gentleman in our church). Then I topped it with this simple vinaigrette.

1/4 cup oil
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. water
1 tsp. mustard
1/8 tsp. each sugar, salt, and pepper

Combine ingredients and mix well. Store unused dressing in the fridge.

This recipe is really easy to customize and make it however you want. Use flavored oil or vinegar, specialty mustard, or add herbs and/or spices along with the salt and pepper. I made it very basic last night, but it's fun to change things around and make it your own.


Anniversary Pie


Last year I made this with butter pecan ice cream and a plain graham cracker crust. This year we changed it up a bit. I used vanilla ice cream and brown sugar instead of white. I also made a chocolate graham cracker crust, and we topped the pie with an easy chocolate sauce. It was divine!

Crust:
18-20 graham cracker squares (9-10 full sheets)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
6 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Crush graham crackers in food processor. Add sugar and cocoa powder, process until mixed. Add melted butter and process again until thoroughly mixed. Empty into a 9-inch pie plate and press onto bottom and sides. Set aside.

Filling:
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1/2 cup eggnog
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggnog and ice cream. Pour into crust and freeze until firm. Remove from freezer 10 to 15 minutes before slicing to soften the pie.

Chocolate Sauce:
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk (approximately)

Melt chocolate and milk slowly, either in the microwave, in the top of a double boiler, or on the stove over very low heat. Add additional milk if it's too thick (I don't really know exactly how much milk I used, I just eyeballed it and stopped adding when it was a good texture). Drizzle sauce over individual slices of pie (I admit that I might have drizzled a bit more on after taking the pictures).


Well, by the time we were done eating, my stomach was very full, but I sure was happy! This was definitely a very good meal for our anniversary. May Jeff and I continue to have many more years of cooking beautiful and delicious meals together.

My Kitchen My World - Ukraine (late...)

This post is several days late, I think. But I wanted to make these dishes anyway because they looked so delicious and I had the ingredients. So here is my late submission to My Kitchen My World, Ukraine!


Cabbage with Tomatoes
1 small head cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter or bacon fat
3 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. butter or bacon fat
2 tbsp. flour
1 cup diced canned tomatoes
1 tbsp. sugar, or to taste
2 tbsp. sour cream
Salt & freshly ground pepper
Sprinkle of red pepper flakes

Saute the onion in a large frying pan until tender. Add the cabbage and water and cook, uncovered, for about 15 minutes or until the cabbage is tender but still slightly crisp.

In another pan, melt the butter or bacon fat. Add the flour, stir to blend, and add the tomatoes and sugar. Cook until the sauce thickens. Add the sour cream and season to taste with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes

Combine the sauce with the cabbage and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes to blend the flavors.


Sour Cream Cucumber Salad
3 medium cucumbers
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
1/2 cup fresh chopped dill (I cheated and used dry dill)
1 tbsp. white vinegar
Dash white pepper
1/4 cup (add more depending on your taste and size of cucumbers)

Peel cucumbers and slice thinly. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand 15 minutes. Drain liquid. Add green onions, dill, vinegar, and white pepper. Toss lightly with sour cream.


Served with some fresh homemade bread, this was a tasty Ukrainian meal (though I do admit it probably would have been more authentic had I made rye bread. Oh well, no one's perfect). I think these are probably more along the lines of adult taste, as my usually unpicky children wanted nothing to do with anything on their plates except the bread. But Jeff and I really enjoyed the cabbage and the salad.

Both of these delicious recipes came from Nash Holos, "a blog about Ukrainian music, musicians, radio, TV, internet, culture and community in Canada, Ukraine and elsewhere." This blog has lots of yummy looking Ukrainian recipes that I would love to try! Especially the many desserts, mmmmm...

Jalapenos and Cactuses!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we made some delicious Jalapeno Poppers (not so authentic Mexican) and Ensalada de Nopal, a cactus salad (about as authentic Mexican as they come). Both the jalapenos and the nopales were purchased at our favorite Mexican store, Rancho Market. And bother were super cheap and super delicious!

This recipe for jalapeno poppers comes from my Taste of Home Cookbook. We've made them a couple times, and love them so much! These are very flavorful, and so much better than the kind in the frozen food section. I made a half recipe, because these are best right out of the oven. If we want more, we'll just make more fresh. And since I've been craving them ever since we finished eating them, we probably will make some more later. :-)


Jalapeno Poppers
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled(I substituted imitation bacon bits, since that's what we had)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1 pound fresh jalapenos, halved lengthwise and seeded
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
Sour cream, onion dip, or ranch dressing, if desired

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cheeses, bacon, and seasonings; mix well. Spoon about 2 tablespoonfuls into each pepper half. Roll in bread crumbs.

Place in a greased baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 300 degrees for 20 minutes for spicy flavor, 30 minutes for medium, and 40 minutes for mild. Serve with sour cream, dip, or dressing if desired (they're really good with or without this extra stuff).

I cooked them for 35 minutes today, because I wasn't in the mood for pain in my mouth - I just wanted the flavor. Other times we've done them spicier. They're delicious either way.


As for the Ensalada de Nopal, this was our very first time ever working with nopales, or cactus. Having never done anything with these before, we decided to buy them first and ask questions later. So today I googled "how to prepare nopales" and found this wonderful page, complete with tutorial and photos to help us in our journey. So following the steps outlined there, we plopped our cactus paddles down on a cutting board:


Sliced off the spines:


Cut it up into bite-sized chunks:


And boiled it up until it looked like mutated green beans. We were excited when our finished product looked just like the ones in the pictures we were referring to:


Then we used the guidelines given for making ensalada de nopal, omitting ingredients we didn't have. We ended up combining our boiled nopalitos with a chopped tomato and half of a thinly sliced white onion (a tip for reducing the bite in fresh onion - soak the slices in ice water for five to ten minutes before adding to the salad). We added a spoonful of canned green chilies (in place of the serrano chili), some salt and pepper, and a bit of vegetable oil and lemon juice. Mmm, doesn't it look good?


As for the taste, I found that I really liked this salad. The cactus was similar to green beans, but with a wilder, more cactusy flavor, more tangy. The texture was a bit different, but I didn't mind it. Jeff wasn't a fan of the salad until he added some sweet vinegar salad dressing we have, then he liked it a bit more.

All in all, it was a fun culinary adventure. I've been cooking a bit more often now, usually simple things like scrambled eggs, pancakes, boxed macaroni and cheese, stuff like that. But it does seem like I'm getting a bit of my kitchen mojo back, which is a wonderful thing to me!

Stay tuned for more wonderful Mexican recipes on Saturday, when I post for My Kitchen My World. We've got some really good stuff planned!