Spicy Shrimp and Pepper Pasta

Ugh, I'm not having a good Tuesday.

I'm dog-less today. The pups are off at the vet, having their teeth cleaned. While I'm sure they aren't having fun there, I'm definitely bummed. I hate days without my dogs. There is an empty heating pad on the couch next to me, with the Blue Monkey perched and lonely sitting atop it. The Blue Monkey also misses his friend. The dogs will be home in a couple of hours, but in the meantime I'll keep glancing at their toy box full of goods, wishing Gizmo was here to give me the stare-down for a tug of war. 

I think I'll also comfort myself with some pasta. Give me shrimp and pasta (together, please!) and I'll be your best friend for life. Seriously. 

This dish has just the right amount of spice. Even the hubby agreed. He's not the biggest pasta person (I seriously don't understand you non-pasta lovers out there), so I was shocked when he went back for seconds. And then proceeded to tell me how much he liked it. I'll take it! The sauce is pretty basic, as I was not wanting to veer into marinara territory, so don't omit any ingredients and I highly recommend not skipping the basil and the cheese. 

One last thing before I go- I did manage to finish watching "12 Years A Slave". Wow. Let me put this out here- I hated every single second I spent watching that movie. It made me brutally sad of what humanity is capable of. That being said, it's a great movie with a great message. The horrors in history are not for the faint of heart. I know I'm faint of heart, the rewatch-ability of this movie is a big, fat zero for me. That's ok, another Best Picture nominee down. We only have "Nebraska", "Dallas Buyers Club", and "Philomenia" left. Getting er' done!

Happy Tuesday friends!

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 orange pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup tomato sauce
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
10 oz dried fettuccine
1 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
garnish- Romano cheese shavings (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large, wide-sided pan over medium-high heat. When warm, add peppers and onion to pan. Sauté 5-7 minutes, or until peppers and onion begin to soften. Add garlic to pan, sauté 30 seconds or until fragrant.
2. Add diced tomatoes through crushed red pepper to the pan. Bring sauce to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer 10-20 minutes while you cook the pasta.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions. When pasta has 3-4 minutes to cook, add shrimp to the tomato sauce. When pasta is cooked, drain, and add to the tomato sauce. Toss to combine.
4. Shrimp should be cooked at this point. If they are not, continue to toss pasta over heat for another couple of minutes or until shrimp are pink and opaque. Sprinkle basil over pasta. Season to taste with salt. Divide pasta among plates and top with Romano cheese shavings. Serve immediately.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck

Mom's Sloppy Joes with Garlicky Potato Wedges

There's something so comforting about Sloppy Joes. It's a super easy recipe to make, which is precisely why this dinner was prepared when I was in the thick of my cold. 40 minutes of hands-off cooking time for the potatoes, and 10 minutes of stove-top cook time for the joes. Perfect for the girl who had a hard time peeling herself off the couch and away from her box of Kleenex. The hubby and I don't really eat burgers and fries anymore, indulging this way is pretty much how we do these days.

My mom used to make these monthly when my brother and I were growing up. I'd never experienced a Manwich until I met my husband at 23. Yuck! One was enough for the remainder of my life. I think they put sugar in Manwich, and I don't do sugar in my sloppy joes. I don't like my salsa, my tomato sauce, or my Sloppy Joes sweet. The hubby had never had homemade sloppy joes before he met me, and he converted immedately. After having my joes, and then imbibing in Manwich, the hubby was really turned off the canned stuff. I've happily been making my mom's version ever since. And honestly, there's 3 ingredients in the sauce. Why buy a canned version when the homemade tastes better, is homemade, and it's not even hard o make?

On a separate subject, I'm getting a wee bit tired of this polar vortex. It's -1º right now, and this is not fun. It takes me 5 minutes to put on enough clothes to go outside. I did the grocery shopping yesterday in (from the feet up): boots, leg warmers, socks, thermal underwear, jeans, gloves, a thermal undershirt, sweatshirt with hood, coat, scarf, hat, and headband that covers my ears. Sheesh. Haloti is not as sensitive to the cold, but Gizmo is so miserable. I can't imagine how cold it must be for a 4-lb dog without an insulating double coat.  We pretty much have to carry the little dude out, put him in the grass, and pray he does his business before he makes a beeline for the house. Argh. It's January, and I'm sooooo ready for spring. There's no squirrels, birds, or deer visiting my yard in this weather, and that's so not cool.

Stay warm, my friends!

Ingredients:

Potatoes-
4 Idaho potatoes, scrubbed and diced
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
garnish- minced parsley (optional)

Sloppy Joes:
1 tsp olive oil
1 celery stalk, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1 lb ground hamburger, 90/10 mix*
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup ketchup
2 tsp yellow mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
hamburger buns

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425º. Lightly coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. To prepare potatoes: Combine potatoes, olive oil, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread potatoes in a single layer on cookie sheet, and bake in preheated oven, 40-45 minutes, or until potatoes are browned and crisp. Stir potatoes once, about halfway through. When done, remove from oven, sprinkle with parsley, and allow to cool while you prepare Sloppy Joes.
3. To prepare Sloppy Joes: Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. When warm, add onions and celery. Sauté 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add hamburger to pan. Stir to crumble. Cook until meat is well browned. Add ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce to the pan. Cook 2-3 minutes more, or until mixture is heated. Spoon onto hamburger buns, serve alongside potatoes. Serve immediately.

*A note about hamburger meat- I highly recommend using a 90/10 fat mix on the hamburger. The Sloppy Joe mix really gives the meat flavor, you don't need a fattier mix. If you do use a fattier mix, such as 80/20, you'll end up with sloppy joes swimming in grease. Icky. Save your 80/20 for when you need the flavor, like burgers.

Recipe brought to you courtesy of my mom!

Spicy Turkey Spaghetti

Ugh, I feel yucky. I've still in the throes of a nasty, winter head cold. It's not my normal cold, as I'm not coughing and my nose is not congested. However, my throat is hoarse, my lymph nodes are swollen, and my head feels as if it might explode. Bleh. I'm not sure what to do with my day now. The original plan was to go to the gym but between my illness and a solid two new inches of snow on the ground, I don't think that's going to happen. While the Net' does say you can workout if you are sick (as long as you don't have a fever---->no fever here!), I am not feeling it. Staying home and baking cookies is sounding better every second.

I made this spicy, comforting spaghetti sauce over the weekend. This is one of those recipes that's pretty hands off, it just simmers away on the stove for the afternoon. The hubby's usually not home for these all day simmering events, and this one got him all worked up. I caught him in the kitchen taste testing the sauce more than a couple of times. And by early evening, he was clamoring for dinner. Pretty amazing considering the man is constantly telling me how much he dislikes spaghetti. Apparently that dislike took a backseat as he devoured a huge plate of pasta.

In my opinion, what really makes this dish is the parmesan cheese rind I simmered in the sauce. I'm not sure what it is about these cheese rinds, but man do they ever impart some delicious flavor! This is my 3rd batch of tomato sauce with a cheese rind simmered in it. I totally advise not skipping this step. Where do I get my rinds? I frequently purchase parmesan cheese wedges at the store for grating over my dishes- pastas, salads, soups, etc. When I finish the cheese, I wrap the rind in aluminum foil, label it, and throw it in the freezer for occasions such as this. Voila- flavor town! Another key point- you could make this sauce with any meat you wanted. Ground hamburger, ground pork, lots of sausage, ground chicken, really whatever you can think of. I just happened to have turkey on hand, although I do like the health benefits of turkey vs. hamburger.

Uh oh. Gizmo is sitting by the door. This means I have to drag my sorry sick butt off the couch, dress in my winter's finest, go forth into the snow, and shovel a spot in the yard for him to do his business. Sigh. Chihuahuas.

Happy Tuesday!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 link spicy Italian sausage
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can garlic diced tomatoes
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional depending on heat preference)
1 rind from a wedge of fresh parmesan cheese (optional)
1 (8 oz) package fresh mushrooms, sliced

Directions:

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. When warm, add onions and garlic. Sauté 5 minutes, or until onions are tender. Add turkey and sausage to pot, stir to crumble. Cook until browned, another 5 minutes or so.
2. Add tomatoes through cheese rind to the pot. Bring sauce to a boil, lower to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 3 hours. If your sauce is too thick for your preference at this point, you can add up to 2 cups of water. I chose not to.
3. Using tongs or a spatula, remove cheese rind from the pot and discard. Add mushrooms to the pot. Prepare desired pasta. When mushrooms are tender (about 20 minutes), spoon sauce over desired pasta. Serve immediately.

Christmas 2013

Hello friends! I can't believe it's New Years Eve already. The year flew by. It was our first year in our new home, and it couldn't have been better. I think I love my house a little more everyday. I'm definitely looking forward to what 2014 is going to bring.

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. I'm a little late with my Christmas post, but tis' the season to procrastinate. It was my birthday yesterday, so I've been understandably busy. We celebrated our Christmas on Friday, as the hubby had to work on Christmas Day. We had Christmas dinner at our house with the hubby's mother, his sister and her husband, and our nieces and nephews. It turned out to be a lovely day, the kids made out like bandits!

Our tree.

Gotta have some Oregon Duck's Christmas gear!

The boys are ready for the get-together.

Gizmo and I.

Haloti and I.

Brock's having a wee bit o' trouble with this one :)

Gavin opening presents.

Megan's excited about her doll.

Someone got a remote control car!

Christmas fun.

She's going to be a heartbreaker someday :)

What's better than an X-Box game?

More!

A teenage mutant ninja turtle, loose in the house!

So, a new year = blog freshening time! I'm going to be updating and streamlining the blog over the next couple of days. That's just what I like to do at the beginning of the year :)

Stay tuned!

Oregon 2013- so far!

Happy Monday friends!

So, I've recently come to terms with the fact that #1- I'm having too much fun to be at my computer and #2- November is going to be a less than proliferous month when it comes to the blog. I constantly have that constant, nagging self-reminder that I should take to the computer and blog. I just don't have the time (or desire) right now. And that's ok. It's going to be an all-out blogging blitz when I get home though- holiday cooking! I'm super-excited. In the meantime, some pictures from the first half of our trip to entertain you and get you through this inconsistent blogging month-

The hubby and I in our Halloween finest. Hubby won Scariest Costume at the party we went to!

The hubby's friends' highly creative, homemade, paper-mache mask. I'm still not sure what he was supposed to be, but it was pretty cool :)

My parent's house has a daylight basement which is where our guest bedroom is at. I love looking at the squirrels and birds at eye level.

The parent's took us out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Corvallis. My mom's favorite radio guys (Steve Tannen and Justin Myers from Crunch Time with Steve and Justin) were doing a show from that location, and my mom was beside herself to get to meet them.

I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies for the fam.

A "Kentucky Jenny" from Bar 101 in Corvallis. I wish I remembered exactly what was in it, but I think it was bourbon, ginger beer, and bitters over shaved ice. Like a snow cone. I just had to try it :) It was pretty good!

It's a rough life for Mr. Gizmo.

Loved this double rainbow over Corvallis.

Cheering on the Ducks for the ill-fated Stanford game. Boo.

The hubby and I went down to Southern Oregon (about 3 hours from my parents) where my brother lives. The little bro and his wife took us to an amazing Italian restaurant in Ashland, OR, Pasta Piatta. We all split a bottle of Chianti Classico. So lip-smackin' good!

Their calamari was amazing, with fresh marinara.

After lunch in Ashland, we walked through the town to see Lithia Park and The Oregon Shakespeare Theater.

My brother's wife and the hubby goofing off at the theater.

Bro's wife, Bro, and me in Lithia Park.

I just seem to find duckies where ever I go!

My dad taught me how to make his homemade noodles. A priority when I get home is replicating his German potato and homemade noodle soup. First, I'll have to figure out a name for the soup though, because he calls it "Leichtyswitch". This ends up sounding like "lick-it-ee-switch". I've been unsuccessful finding a German soup of this name, but my dad swears that's what his Grandma used to call this soup. I will continue to search for a name for the soup, or at the very least, a correct German spelling :)

Gizmo's favorite resting spot at my parent's house.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sticky Toffee Cake

The hubby's birthday was yesterday!

It was a gorgeous day here. While the folks just east of us in Louisville were forced to deal with 7 inches of rain and flash flooding over the weekend, we were somehow spared any sort of weather activity. I think we had a downpour Saturday afternoon, but that's about it. Sunday, however, was just an all-round nice day, and more than likely, our last summer-like day. That's ok, we took advantage. The hubby and I took the puppies into Portsmouth to walk along the river.  We ended up trekking 3 miles, just enjoying scenery and letting the dogs indulge their sensitive noses. Haloti loved the entire ordeal, he didn't quit yanking on his leash until about the last half mile. Gizmo walked for, maybe, a mile and a half. He does have the smallest legs in the family, after all. The hubby carried him most of the time, but Giz still enjoyed himself. Sometimes I think he likes being carried better :)

After that, we pretty much holed up in the house for the day, bingeing on "Breaking Bad". We just started Season 5, Part 1. Man alive, I'm going to miss that show. I've managed to not watch or read any spoilers, so how it all ends will be a surprise. We did manage to tear ourselves away from our "Breaking Bad" marathon long enough to eat birthday cake. This year's cake choice was Sticky Toffee Cake.

I made this cake on Saturday, and I'm so glad I did. It took a long time. A really long time. This cake isn't for the faint of heart. I used a traditional British recipe (you can find it here), and it definitely required some elbow grease to get the job done. First of all, the recipe uses actual dates. Steeped in black tea, then emulsified. I'd never done that for a cake before. Second, the recipe calls for melted butter. Butter is usually where I incorporate air into the cake, by creaming it with sugar. This recipe calls for beating the eggs and sugar until fluffy to incorporate air. What the recipe didn't say is that this takes forever. About 20 minutes in fact. No joke. Third, the sticky toffee sauce is really sticky. I'm not sure why that's applicable, but it did get all over my hands- and subsequently my kitchen, hair, and body. 

The effort was worth it. Everyone loved the cake. The hubby raved. It turned out oh-so moist, and incredibly flavorful.The hubby's mom, aunt, and uncle ended up taking home most of the cake. I did use American equivalents for British items not easily accessible to me. Other than that, I used a food scale to measure the ingredients since the measurements are in grams instead of cups. I'd highly recommend this cake if you have a toffee, caramel, or spice-cake lover in the house. 

Ingredients:

Cake-

400g dates, pitted and roughly chopped

2 mugs of black tea

200g light brown sugar

50g dark brown sugar

2 tbsp honey

4 large eggs, room temp

200g unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

350g self-rising flour

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Sticky Toffee Sauce-

100g light brown sugar

50g dark brown sugar

30g butter

2 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

125ml condensed milk

Buttercream-

200g unsalted butter, softened

400g powdered sugar

half the cold sticky toffee sauce

splash of milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease (2) 9-inch spring-form pans. 

2. To make the cake: In a small saucepan, combine dates and tea. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Take an immersion blender, and blend mixture until smooth. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs with the sugars and honey. Beat with a hand mixer until fluffy, 15-20 minutes. Slowly whisk in the melted butter. Fold in the date mixture and vanilla with a wooden spoon. In a separate bowl, combine flour through salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet, folding together with the wooden spoon. Stir until just combined. Divide mixture among two spring-form pans. Bake in preheated oven 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans. 

3. To make the sticky toffee sauce: Make the sauce while the cake is baking. In a saucepan, combine the sugars through the salt. Stir over gentle heat, until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and whisk in the cream. Take a toothpick and poke holes in the top of the cakes. Pour a generous amount of the sauce over the tops of the cakes. Allow the cakes to completely cool in their tins before turning them out.

4. To make the buttercream: In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the rest of the sticky toffee sauce, reserving a couple of tbsp to drizzle over the top of the cake. If the frosting is too thick, add a little bit of milk until you reach your desired consistency. 

5. Sandwich the cakes together with half the frosting. Spread the remaining on the rest of the cake. Drizzle the remaining sticky toffee sauce over the cake. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

I think we still look like young-in's :)

Lately: 10/3/13

Haloti chased this poor little groundhog up into a tree at our house yesterday, around 3 pm. The poor little groundhog was so scared, he didn't come down until the middle of the night. I kept checking on him all afternoon yesterday, but he didn't move a muscle. He sat like this all day yesterday. I'm happy to say that when I went to check on him this morning, he was gone. Thank goodness. I was having nightmares of trying to get him down after Googling "getting a groundhog out of a tree video". Watch the video. So glad we don't have to do that :)

Retail Value: $127.10
Paid: $45.30
Savings: 64%

Crispy Chicken BLT Salad.

The hubby got me some gorgeous fall flowers last week.

The vacuum scares the beejeezus out of Gizmo. Somehow, he managed to score a ride-along to stay safe from that evil, noisy machine.

Made a batch of lunch burritos to freeze for the hubby.

Fall is upon us, and in this house that means breaking out the heating pad for the pups to share.

Haloti stays true to his namesake, and supports those Duckies!

My shirt for Huntington's Path to the Cure.

After putting in 3 miles on a sunny fall morning last week.

Spaghetti with Toasted Breadcrumbs, Swiss Chard, and Poached Eggs.

One day closer to the weekend! Happy Thursday everyone!