Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta

I'm going with the "Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta" name for this dish, but only because I thought the name "Cajun Shrimp Alfredo" would be confusing since I used a short pasta. But rest assured, the sauce for this pasta is decidedly Alfredo. It's creamy, spicy, and cheesy. The sauce starts with a roux, and ends with a cup of cheese. Yep, definitely an Alfredo sauce. Sure, I could have used fettuccine for  this dish, but I found these oh-so curiously shaped pasta called "trottole"...

I'm not even sure how to describe this pasta shape. It's like they took a finger, and then wound the pasta around the finger into coils. Strange, but delicious. I loved the texture of this shape, the sauce ended up getting into all these nooks and crevices.  I'm a huge believer in different types of pasta tasting different. I've been told all my life "Pasta is pasta". Ah, but I disagree. Pasta type makes all the difference in the world. Spaghetti is not spaghetti over rigatoni.  Baked ziti is not ziti with linguine. Chili is not chili without elbow macaroni... well, you guys might not get that one, but I've declared my whole life that I will always have elbow macaroni on hand in case we have chili. These dishes just simply don't taste the same without the proper pasta shape. They just don't. You may not be able to find trottole, that wouldn't surprise me. Another short pasta with lots of texture would work, such as orecchiette or fusilli. And yes, you could always use the standard long noodle. The sauce is thick enough to stand up to the long noodle.

A bit of exciting news! My brother and his wife are coming to visit us next week! I'm so excited. My brother hasn't been out to visit us since we moved into the new house, and I can't wait to show him. Last time he was here, we were in the dreaded rental. This is going to be a much happier visit for me. Also, his wife has never been to Kentucky. I just can't wait. Knowing myself as I do though, I have to put this out there. I will probably be M.I.A. the week they are here. Sure, I can tell myself I'll get a couple of posts done, but I know I won't. So, y'all will get a reprieve from the never-ending food parade. I'm going to try to get a couple of posts done in advance that I can publish the week they are here, but wow. I would definitely feel productive if I could do that, but between the spring cleaning and a brand new stack of library books, I'm not sure that's going to happen. C'est la vie.

Happy Thursday friends! One more day till the weekend! :)

Ingredients (serves 4):

8 ounces dried short pasta
1 tsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
3/4 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled
3 tbsp parsley, minced
parmesan cheese for topping (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, toss with a tsp of olive oil, set aside and keep warm.
2. Heat butter over medium-high heat in a large wide-side skillet. When melted add onion through Cajun seasoning. Sauté 5-7 minutes, or until vegetables start to soften.
3. Add flour to the pan, cook for 1 minute. Slowly begin to add chicken broth, a little a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all the chicken broth has been added, add the cream. Mix well. Add cheese and shrimp. Cook 3-4 more minutes, or until shrimp are pink and have slightly curled inward, stirring often. Add cooked pasta to the pan, toss well to combine. Remove from heat, sprinkle with parsley.
4. Divide pasta among plates, sprinkle with additional parmesan, if using. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Southern Living.

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

Buffalo Shrimp with Creamy Blue Cheese Slaw

Annnnnnd.... the cold gets worse.

No, not the polar vortex, but my cold. Ugh, I woke up this morning feeling worse. I rested all day yesterday, I barely even lifted a finger. I even skipped baking cookies. Therefore, I'm sitting here trying to contemplate how the cold got worse. On top of intensified symptoms, I slept on my neck wrong which is making turning my head a conundrum. What can I say? I'm a hot mess today. I've decided another day of rest is the way to go. And I loathe resting.

I made this meal over the weekend, as I've been doing very basic, easy cooking this week. As I was editing the pictures this morning, I realized what perfect timing sharing this recipe is going to be. Buffalo sauce and blue cheese? Sounds like a perfect combination for... the Super Bowl! I'll admit, we'll be making Buffalo Wings for the Super Bowl, but you might be looking for something different to sample. This recipe totally captures the essesence of that winning combination of buffalo sauce and blue cheese, but in a way you're not likely to have had before. While I had high hopes for this recipe, I was shocked at how perfectly the shrimp and slaw go together. Even my buffalo wing loving' man loved this meal, despite the obvious lack of poultry.

It may be only 8:30 am here in Northeastern Kentucky, but this girl is headed back to bed. Taking on the world will have to wait until tomorrow, for it sounds like another afternoon of studying my latest literary victim, The Science of Good Cooking -----> In case you are wondering, this is an excellent read. I'm learning so much, and I'm only about 60 pages in.

I hope everyone's having a better Wednesday than me :)

Ingredients:

Slaw-

3 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup radicchio, thinly sliced
1 cup carrot, shredded
1/3 cup canola mayonnaise
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

Shrimp-

1/2 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and pepper
4 tbsp canola oil
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 cup panko
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup buffalo sauce

Directions:

1. To prepare slaw- combine cabbage through carrot in a medium sized mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine mayo through pepper. Whisk to throughly combine. Pour dressing over slaw, toss to combine. Fold in blue cheese. Store in fridge while you prepare the shrimp.
2. To prepare shrimp- Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat oil over high heat. Crack eggs into a small bowl. Combine panko and cornmeal on a plate. When oil is hot, dip shrimp in egg, shaking off any excess. Dredge in panko mixture, shaking off any excess. Add shrimp to the oil. Cook until browned on one side, about 1 minute. Flip, and brown on the other side, about 1 minute. Remove shrimp from pan to a plate covered with paper towels. Repeat process with the remaining shrimp.
3. Once all shrimp are friend and drying on paper towels, put buffalo sauce in a small bowl. Using a basting brush, brush the shrimp with buffalo sauce. Serve shrimp alongside slaw, immediately.

Slaw recipe adapted from Cooking Classy.

Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Lime Sour Crema

Let me tell you, it's an almost impossible task to feed me tacos I don't like. I'm not picky, I've eaten them from everywhere, all over the country. While I eat them all, I do know a good taco when I come across one. There's a very modern taco shop in Huntington, WV called Black Sheep that I love. They are one of those places that serve unlikely taco combinations like duck with pickled blackberries (to die for) and brisket with blueberry sauce (drool). There's just so much flavor in their creative tacos. And speaking of flavor...

These tacos are packed with flavor. That was the first comment the hubby made after trying them. Actually, it was just that one comment and then these tacos were magically gone from his plate. He's not the lover of Mexican dishes that I am, so I was pleasantly surprised. There's only a couple of spices that flavor the shrimp, but those few flavors pack a punch. Top the shrimp off with crunchy cabbage and fresh made salsa, guacamole, and lime sour crema? Holy good guacamole!

And now I feel I must share this injustice with my readers. My favorite Mexican restaurant in town closed! They had amazing fish-bowl sized Patron margaritas that could knock your socks off. The type of margaritas that make any dinner taste amazing. Sigh. Just like Chinese food, I'm now relegated to only getting my Mexican fix by my own hands. It's just not the same when you have to prepare it and clean up the kitchen that looks like it's had a bomb dropped on it. 

So in the meantime, I'll continue to wait patiently for a new Mexican restaurant in town and keep my fingers crossed it's decent. On the other hand, dear readers, if any of you know a restauranteur looking for a new market, there's a HUGE niche where I live due to the complete lack of options. And please hurry- must. have. enchiladas.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Ingredients:

Lime Sour Crema-
1/3 cup fat free sour cream
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp chipotle chile powder

Chipotle Shrimp-
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tsp chipotle chile powder
1 tsp chile powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp canola oil

Tacos-
tortillas or crunchy taco shells
thinly sliced cabbage
salsa
guacamole
cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. To make lime sour crema- combine sour cream, lime juice, and chile powder in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly. Set aside.
2. To prepare shrimp- combine shrimp with chile powders and salt. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes. Heat canola oil in a large skillet. When warm, add shrimp. Cook 3-4 minutes or until shrimp are opaque.
3. To prepare tacos- spoon shrimp onto tortilla. Top with lime sour crema, cabbage, salsa, guacamole, and cilantro. Serve immediately.

*Recipe adapted from Heather Christo

Linked to: Weekend Potluck

Pan-Fried Risotto Cakes

Pan-fried risotto cakes? More like Pan-fried deliciousness!

You may have noticed that my Shrimp Risotto makes a big batch. I had a lot of leftovers.  A lot! I got 2 dinners for 2 people and 2 lunches for 1 person out of one freakin' batch of risotto. Now that's economical! I feel like risotto is always touted as sophisticated, elegant, and expensive. It may be sophisticated and elegant, but expensive? No, it is not.

Cold risotto straight from the fridge is perfect for this recipe. It naturally clumps together, making it super easy to form into "cakes". Dip the cakes in an egg wash, dredge through some panko, and fry them a few minutes on the stove. These were hot, crunchy, and oh-so ooey-gooey with cheesy risotto. My latest idea is to roll the risotto into risotto balls, fry them, and dip them in warm marinara. There's always next time for that :)

I hope everyone's having a great Christmas-y week!

Ingredients:

Canola oil
3 cups Shrimp Risotto (or any leftover risotto)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup panko

Directions:

1. Pour enough oil into a large skillet to cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium heat.
2. Form 1/2 cup of risotto into a patty. Dip into egg wash, then dredge into panko. Completely coat risotto in panko, shaking off any excess. Repeat with remaining risotto.
3. Place risotto patty into hot oil. Cook 3 minutes or until golden brown, then turn over. Cook 3 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to let risotto cake cool 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Shrimp Risotto

Until very recently I'd never made risotto. I'd never even tasted risotto. And, to be perfectly honest, I'd never ever heard of risotto until I watched "Hell's Kitchen". Well, throw all those "never's" out the window!

Risotto has been on my To-Do list for a long time. This dish has a bad rap for being labor intensive and easy to screw up. I found that while, yes, you have to babysit the risotto while it's cooking, it's actually a pretty straight forward process. I see the potential for many other variations as well. Once the risotto is cooked, you could add pretty much any flavor combination you want.

Having never made or tasted risotto, I had no idea what I was aiming for. Hours spent watching the Food Channel drilled home the fact that I was looking for soft, chewy rice that was neither crunchy or mushy. That the risotto should be creamy, not sticky. I was pleased with the final results, it turned out to be creamy, cheesy goodness. The best part? We have plenty leftover, which means I'm going to make risotto cakes tonight. Yum!

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp butter
1 shallot, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 & 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 lb large raw shrimp; peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped
1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
3 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan, heat chicken broth over medium heat. When broth begins to boil, turn heat to low and keep warm.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallot to pan, saute for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, saute for 1 minute.
3. Add rice, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Stir to combine. Once butter has been completely absorbed by the rice, add wine to the pan. Continue to stir until wine has been completely absorbed. Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the pan, stirring constantly until chicken broth has been completely absorbed. Repeat with the rest of the broth, until the rice is soft and chewy, but not mushy. This will take 30-35 minutes.
4. Add shrimp, cheese, and chives to the pan. Stir until shrimp is cooked through, 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Seviche-Style Shrimp and Avocado Tacos

This dish is a lesson in simplicity. It doesn't take a million exotic ingredients, and all day to put a flavorful dinner on the table. This recipe is about as easy as it gets.

I was first introduced to this recipe by my mom, the summer before my senior year of college. I was living with my parents for the summer, taking Calculus at the local community college and working full time as a teller at a bank. I distinctly remember this summer for a couple of reasons:

1. That summer was insanely busy. Very little sleep was had that summer.
2. My mom was on Weight Watchers, and I was doing Slim-Fast.
3. I passed Calculus!

So as my mom was discovering Weight Watchers, she was also bringing lots of healthy new recipes to the table. Literally. This was one of them. I wasn't quite the foodie I am now back when I was younger,  so I completely changed my mom's recipe at the time. I added sour cream, salsa, cheese, onions, and shredded lettuce. And oh yes, flour tortillas.  Looking back, this could have occurred because the only thing I was "eating" all day was Slim-Fast and I was always ravenous by the time I got home. Anyways...

While all that jazz tasted delicious, this recipe really shines by the way that these few ingredients meld together. So please, resist the urge to add more toppings. Slowly put those flour tortillas back on the grocery store shelf, and pick up the corn ones. And for heaven's sake, don't omit any of the ingredients. Just trust me on this one :)

Ingredients (serves 6- 2 tacos each):

1 lb cooked shrimp, tails removed, roughly chopped
1 cup tomato, chopped
1 cup avocado, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup lime juice
12 (6 in) corn tortillas

Directions:

1. In a large glass bowl, combine shrimp through lime juice. Cover, and chill for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. Heat tortillas according to package directions. Divide shrimp mixture among tortillas. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.

Shrimp Nicoise Salad

I meant to be blogging about this yesterday. Yesterday was house-cleaning day. The kind of house-cleaning you only do once every 6 weeks or so. You know, more than the perfunctory cleaning, but less than quarterly cleaning. For me, this includes polishing my stainless steel appliances. I recently ran out of my favorite polish, and was forced to try a competitors brand. To say that it didn't live up to my expectations would be an understatement. I had been buffing my fridge for an hour (an outrageous amount of time to be buffing the damn fridge). I was furious and dripping in sweat, trying to buff the streaks out of the fridge. No matter what I did, the streaks would not budge. My temper steadily began to rise at an exponential rate.

I have a temper.  A crazy, mean, boisterous temper. It was out-of-control when I was a kid, but I've learned to remain calm in most situations. Yesterday was not "most situations", as it turned out. I had a full-fledged temper tantrum- stomping my feet, eyes bulging, face tomato-red, spittle flying extraneously.  It was not pretty, I'm so glad I was home alone. I was beyond incensed . My fridge looked better before I decided to clean it. I should have just left it alone. As any extreme outburst of emotion will do, I immediately felt better upon calming down. Not calm enough to sit down and type without throwing the computer at the wall, mind you, but calmer.

So that was yesterday, and of course, I'm sitting here thinking about how childish I acted. So my fridge has some smudges until I receive my old polish (which I feverishly ordered 3 bottles of!) from Amazon. Big deal. I'll live. As for this salad, perhaps I should have made this last night to calm me down. Shrimp and potatoes are two of my favorite comfort foods. Without further ado, here's how to make this delicious, traditionally French salad-

Ingredients (serves 2):

4 tbsp olive oil, divided
6 small red potatoes, quartered
salt and pepper
15-20 haricot verts
16 large shrimp, peeled
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp anchovy paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dijon mustard
4 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup kalamata olives, halved

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. Combine 1 tbsp oil, potatoes, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Toss to combine. Place potatoes in a single layer on cookie sheet. Roast in oven 20-25 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and browned. Set aside.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Place haricot verts in boiling water, cook for 1 minute.  Drain beans, then plunge into a ice bath. Swirl the beans around, remove from water when cool. Set aside.
4. Preheat grill to high heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper, then thread shrimp on skewers. Turn grill down to medium-low heat. Grill shrimp 1 minute on each side, remove from heat. Set skewers aside.
5. In a small bowl, combine 3 tbsp olive oil with vinegar, anchovy paste, garlic, and mustard. Whisk thoroughly to emulsify.
6. On a plate, combine 2 cups lettuce, 1 hard-boiled egg, 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/8 cup kalamata olives, 1 skewer of shrimp, and half of potatoes and beans. Drizzle with oil dressing, serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy of Bev Cooks

Cooking Light This Spring: 2013

Image Source: Cooking Light

Cooking Light is one of those things that arrives in my mailbox, and 5 minutes later it's sitting on the side table of my couch with 30 dog-eared pages in it. The tacos on the cover didn't help with my over-eagerness to get into that magazine.

I read the magazine very oddly. I flip quickly through the whole magazine 1 time. My 2nd browsing of the magazine takes a little bit longer as I dog-ear the recipes I want to try. The 3rd time around, I actually stop and read all the articles. It's weird, I know. It may even fall into an OCD category, but that's how I like to read my Cooking Light.

I'm amazed every month at all the inspiration I get. Most of the time, I'm smacking my forehead and wondering 'Why I didn't think of that?'. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not a revolutionary thinker with my palette. That's ok, recipes were made for people like me :)

What inspired me in this month's issue? Tons!

Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Mango Salad

Chicken Noodle Bowl

Fish Tacos with Tomatillo Sauce

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Quesadillas

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Breast with Cucumber Salad

Seared Tuna with Avocado Salsa

Shrimp Fettuccine

Almond Brittle

Chocolate Tacos

You can bet some of these are going to show up on my menu plan ASAP! Especially those Chocolate Tacos :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes, and Cilantro

I'm not usually one to cook with coconut milk. I like coconut milk ok, but it's definitely not a flavor I seek out on a regular basis. I've been craving different flavors lately though that I usually don't like or gravitate towards. Like fruit and meat. Fruit and salad. Veggies that I normally shy away from (I made roasted cauliflower this week!). And coconut milk.

Which brings me back to this Thai-inspired dish. I'm loving the thick, creamy sauce that the coconut milk provides. There's a bit of heat from crushed red pepper. A touch of acidity from the tomatoes. And of course, the undeniably wonderful tenderness of shrimp. The original recipe also doesn't call for mushrooms (which I added for more veggie-power), but I think they make a wonderful addition.

If you are looking to step away from the hum-drum-ness of the same old, same old, do try this exotic dish. You won't regret it.

Ingredients:

cooking spray
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 scallions, thinly sliced (green and white parts separated)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
14 oz of light coconut milk
2 tbsp lime juice
Minced cilantro (topping)
Hot, cooked rice

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, and in batches, sear shrimp 1-2 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Remove from pan once browned. When finished searing shrimp, wipe pan out with a paper towel.
2. Heat olive oil in same skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms to pan, and cook 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, white parts of scallions, salt, and crushed red pepper to the pan. Cook 1 minute.
3. Add tomatoes and coconut milk to the pan. Cover the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until sauce has slightly thickened. Uncover. Add shrimp to the pan, cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in lime juice.
4. To serve, spoon shrimp mixture and broth over hot, cooked rice. Garnish with green parts of scallions and cilantro.

Recipe adapted from Skinnytaste

Currently

Flowers I chose to put in the entryway. Major spring fever over here!

Stealing a page from Jenna over at Eat, Live, Run with this post!

I'm currently...

Watching... A "Sex and The City" marathon. Whaaaat? It's Sunday, the hubby's working, and I ate too much pizza last night. Everybody needs a lazy Sunday once in awhile!

Eating... Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes, and Cilantro, tweaked minimally from this recipe over at SkinnyTaste. I don't usually cook with coconut milk, but this recipe peaked my interest when I saw it. Post on the recipe soon to follow!

Planning... My couponing haul for tomorrow, along with next week's meal plan. Meals next week include Spicy Bean and Rice Burritos, Chicken with Mushrooms and Asparagus, Asian Glazed Drumsticks, Pasta Fagoli, and more. Hmmm, getting hungry again...

Reading... Catching Fire. All right, so I'm a wee bit behind the times. Lately, it seems like I have so much other stuff to do that I don't find time for reading. I really need to work on that.

Inspired by... Pinterest. I've gotten so many ideas from Pinterest, from food to decorating ideas, fashion to makeup, cute animals to the latest manicure colors. I'm fully planning on wasting some time skulking around the site today.

Excited for... My family is coming to visit! My parents will be here in 9 days, and my aunt will be here in 10 days! I'm so excited for some great food, amazing cocktails, and (what I'm sure to be) abundant laughs.

-Headed to the great outdoors now. It's a beautiful, sunny, 72 degree day here in Kentucky, which means the dogs are constantly sitting by the door, trying to escape. Oh, fur-babies :)

Top 10 List: Pasta

It's been a busy week. Doctor's appointments, vet appointments, the hubby had a couple of days off. There's just been no time to blog! Plus, we just got the Internet back after 24 hours without ANY. Gotta love livin' in the country :)

Thanks to Pinterest, I've been seeing a lot of pasta. Pasta makes my world go round. I could eat pasta morning, noon, and night. I love the texture, the way it tastes, its easy versatility, and the fact that almost anything could go with pasta. To that effect, here are my top 10 favorite pasta dishes. Tried and tested. Craved constantly. Delicious.

In no particular order:

Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

1. Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein- Need I say more? I love Asian food, and this recipe tops the list. I frequently sub the beef for chicken, shrimp, or pork. The sauce is fantastic, and goes with almost any protein.

Bacon Mac

2. I love homemade macaroni and cheese. This is ironic, because when I was a child, I wouldn't touch homemade mac and cheese. I was a blue-box-of-Kraft kind of girl. My taste has pretty much flip-flopped, and now I turn up my nose at the boxed kind. What I like most about this recipe is the flavor that the small amount of bacon lends to the dish. I also love the peas thrown in for some extra color and veg.

Fettucine with Olive Oil and Red Pepper

3. This is one of the simplest recipes you'll find, but it's packed full of flavor. This is my go-to side dish for Chicken Parmigiana.

Gemelli with Broccoli, Bacon, and Chickpeas

4. Another crazy easy dish! Olive oil and pasta were made for each other. I actually prefer an olive oil based sauce, to a cream based sauce.

Shrimp Florentine

5. Umm, I'm sensing a theme here, and it's olive oil and pasta! Shrimp, spinach, and lemon are soooo good together.

Pad Thai

6. Pad thai is such a unique dish, and I love every aspect of it. Crunchy bean sprouts. Bits of fried egg. Salty peanuts. That sauce that is distinctly Pad Thai. Guarantee I will be making this soon, now that I've been thinking about it.

Spaghetti Carbonara

7. Well, I think I've made it crystal clear that I also love the combination of bacon and pasta. This is one of my hubby's favorites, and a go-to, fast, and easy recipe in our house.

Orecchiette with Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes, and Arugula

8. This is a perfect summer dish for when tomatoes, peppers, and arugula are at their peak of freshness. If you've never had orecchiette pasta before, I highly recommend it. The texture is amazing.

Chicken and Mushrooms in Garlic White Wine Sauce

9. Referred to as Chicken Stroganoff in our house, this recipe is tried and true. It's almost impossible to mess it up, and looks downright fancy. It also comes together in a snap.

Ravioli with Roasted Zucchini

10. What would a pasta list be like without some sort of cheese-filled pasta? Not a very good one, in my opinion :) You can make fresh raviolis if you like, or use a pre-made ravioli from the grocery store for a quicker meal.

Man, I'm wishing pasta was on the menu tonight :) 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Shrimp Florentine

I found this in my June issue of Cookie Light and couldn't wait to try it! It's simple, bright, and most importantly, I used up all the frozen shrimp in the freezer. It also required me to buy a package of spinach so I was able to have spinach salads for lunch last week. Win, win!

My favorite part of this pasta is that it's not coated in a heavy sauce, so it wasn't as guilt-inducing as say, an Alfredo dish. I love using crushed red pepper to give a dish flavor. It's a low cal way to add another dimension to a dish.

The fresh ingredients. Plenty of spinach, a large lemon, and minced garlic.

I decided to zest my lemon before juicing it. It seemed like a waste not to :)

The sauce is flavored with a smidge of butter, 2 tbsp. The smell of butter, garlic, and crushed red pepper was amazing as it sizzled in the pan.

After toasting the garlic, the shrimp go for a dip in the butter mixture. So good!

Add all the spinach to the pan. It may look huge now, but it wilts fast.

Pretty soon the spinach looks like this and everything fits in nicely in the pan again. I grilled up zucchini as a side dish to up the veggie ante. It was fantastic! I don't use fettuccine noodles very often and after this dish, I'm wondering why not. Definitely adding this dish to the rotation :)

Ingredients:
8 oz fettuccine, cooked to package directions
2 tbsp butter
1 lb large shrimp
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
6 oz spinach
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:
1. Melt butter in a large skillet. When heated, add garlic and crushed red pepper to the pan. Saute 30 seconds to 1 minute.
2. Add shrimp to the pan. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until the shrimp are done.
3. Add spinach to the pan. Cook until the spinach begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Add pasta, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper to the pan. Toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Adapted from Cooking Light