Pesto Stuffed Shells

It's the first recipe of 2017! Yipee!

11 days into the new year and I'm finally getting around to posting about what I do best- FOOD! This recipe is a keeper, I'm telling you. Perfect for a frigid winter day full of ice and snow which I know a lot of us are dealing with right now. We only got about 2-3 inches last week and most of it melted on Monday. Today's temperature is supposed to be a lot warmer though (thank goodness!) because it's been a week of temperatures in the teens. Brrr! But I guess our snow is nothing compared to what's been going on in my former home of Oregon. They are getting more snow than I've ever remembered them getting, and we never got much snow when I was growing up. A snow day here or there, but not this much! In my mind, it's the perfect weather for staying in and popping a carb-a-licious casserole into the oven for dinner ☃️

Turkey Bacon Avocado Paninis

It has been one of those kind of weeks.

Last Monday, a familiar but most unwelcome acquaintance set up shop in my house- the common cold. And ugh, it has been anything but fun. I've been running the gambit from sore throat to fever to head fog to a lost voice. Truly, by the end of the day Saturday, the hubby and I were communicating by text. I'm normally a very quiet person, but found the sensation of not being able to talk very unpleasant. Not cool when you are trying to watch Oregon football! 😡 Luckily, I'm on the mend. My voice is back and with only a nasty cough left, I'm pretty much over the hump.

Good thing too, because I'm doing the Thanksgiving shopping today 🙀

Recipe Redux: Chicken & Dumplings

Late last Thursday night, I was awakened by a clap of thunder on the house. I bolted upright in bed as Gizmo and Mariota scurried their furry bodies underneath the covers. I looked over to where the hubby normally lays, sighed, straightened the covers up around my neck, and laid back down. 

Things are going haywire at the plant lately, leaving the hubby's supervisor with no choice but to man the station 24 hours a day. Needless to say, this has resulted in the hubby working some of those dreaded night shifts. And left me home alone on a stormy night.

New England Clam Chowder

Being from the Pacific Northwest, I was born and raised on fresh seafood. It is one of the things I miss most about Oregon. It's just not possible to jump in the car and drive for an hour to get to the coast and its abundance of freshly caught fish and crab when you live in the middle of the country. One of my favorite things to eat is clam chowder (I like to be silly and pronounce it chowdah) and thanks to things like canned clams and clam juice, I can still enjoy clam chowder here in Kentucky. The hubby has been requesting clam chowder for about a month now, so I finally put the fixings for the clam chowder into the budget and made a batch last night.

We like to serve ours with crusty bread or sometimes, oyster crackers.

We like our clam chowder very thick, so if you like a thinner broth this is not the recipe for you! I will also add that this is not a light recipe. We only make clam chowder maybe once a year, so when we go for it, we really go for it!

Here's my recipe:

Ingredients (serves 10-12):

6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 lb of bacon, diced
1/2 cup of butter
1 large onion, diced
4 garlic gloves, minced
4 stalks of celery, diced
1 1/4 cups flour
8 cups clam juice
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground thyme
4 bay leaves
1 tsp ground black pepper
6 cans canned clams (juice from canned clams will equal about 3 cups of your 8 cups of clam juice)
4 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup minced parsley

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, boil diced potatoes until crisp-tender (about 10 minutes). Drain and set aside
2. In same pot, cook diced bacon until crispy. Remove from pot with slotted spoon, place on a paper towel, and set aside. Leave 4 tablespoons of bacon grease in the pot, reserve the rest for future use
3. Melt butter in pot with bacon grease. Add onions, garlic, and celery to pot and cook until tender (5-6 minutes)
4. Add flour to pot to make a thick roux
5. Add 2 cups of clam juice and mix well. Continue adding clam juice, stirring continuously, until the mixture is thick, smooth, and creamy
6. Add thyme, bay leaves, black pepper, and red pepper
7. Bring to a boil and then turn temperature down to bring soup to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes
8. Add potatoes, clams, and bacon. Simmer for another 15 minutes
9. Add heavy cream and parsley. Allow mixture to heat, about 1-2 minutes
10. Serve immediately! Garnish with a pat of butter and sprinkle of parsley and serve with bread or crackers.

Printable Recipe

Yum! Get ready to have an appreciative significant other after making this one 😁

*Side note* This recipe makes a huge batch! The hubby and I usually get 4 meals out of it, so it actually is pretty economical. We have a FoodSaver so I always freeze 2 large bags of clam chowder after we've already had dinner. The soup freezes and re-heats amazingly well.

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