Category Archives: Dinner

Shrimp & Scallops – even YOU (well, maybe you) can do it!

December 7, 2014

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Pan Seared Scallops and Shrimp with Cauliflower Foam

  • 6 medium/large scallops
  • 6 medium/large gulf shrimp (MAKE SURE THAT IT’S NOT FROM ASIA!)
  • 1 clove of minced garlic
  • Wedge of lemon
  • ½ tbs butter
  • 1 tbs. grapeseed oil (no taste, high heat oil)
  • 1 head (or one package) of cauliflower. I bought the bag that already is in florets
  • ½ – 1 cup heavy cream (woof. But worth it)
  • ½ tsp. black truffle salt

 

Steam the head of cauliflower. My husband thinks that steamed or roasted broccoli/cauliflower smells horrible, so light a candle. Without fail, every time I cook broc or cauli, he walks in the house, and thinks that I’ve just been tooting all around the place. I swear it’s the broccoli!? Put the steamed cauliflower in your Vitamix with the salt and heavy cream and puree just until smooth. It looks like whipped cream and tastes just as fattening. Put to the side.

Peel and devein your shrimp. I have to P&D my shimp b/c the only peeled and deveined shrimp we have at HEB are sickass ones from Thailand or Cambodia. Fresh gulf shrimp is where it’s at, and the extra step is no big deal. Pat all the seafood dry, and set the scallops on a paper towel for a minute to absorb any extra moisture. Season the scallops and shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat a nonstick skillet to high. Once hot, add in the grapeseed oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add in the scallops and make sure they are sizzling—you want to get a really good sear. Otherwise you just have weird , somewhat moist, rubbery  seafood. Sick, I wish my mind didn’t wander to where it is right now….so NOT kosher for a Sunday morning. (I am however watching church on my laptop, so that counts, right?) Glad my mom doesn’t know how to use the internet. Cook each scallop for 45-60 seconds and flip to finish. Remove the scallops and let them rest on a paper towel and put your shrimp in the skillet. Once I put the shrimp in, I like to add in a clove of minced garlic, a squeeze of lemon and a tiny bit of butter. Shrimp take like a minute to cook, so once they are pink, remove.

Put a little bit of the cauliflower puree on a plate (the recipe above makes a lot more than you should eat….) and top with the seafood. Garnish with chopped parsley if you so fancy… Enjoy!

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Roasted Tomato Basil Soup–Because, Mondays….

November 4, 2014

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So, Monday showed up again. Mother f’er. My ideal week would consist of Tuesday – Friday. Obviously no Mondays, but I don’t know that I would mind not having Saturdays. I just can’t handle a full Friday and then a full Saturday. Being closer to 30 than I am to 20 is downright tiring, and I really don’t like to socialize with more than like 10 people, so I am good with a solid T-F week. My husband is now over 30 (ok, he’s 30 and like 20 days), but still, I don’t know how he even gets up in the morning. (Oh ya, he has a smoking hot wife who will make him dinner every night…..And by smoking hot she’s got a nice face and a little extra to love….) I already feel achy at 27. Mad props to all you 30 plus-ers out there. I don’t know how you can even read font this small. Also, I have no idea how I got on this, so here is a legit recipe to mellow out your Monday.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

  • 6 medium/large tomatoes, sliced in half
  • 2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
  • ½ white onion, roughly chopped
  • Handful of cherry tomatoes (or small yellow tomatoes), sliced
  • 1 c. white wine (drink the rest, Monday sucks anyways)
  • 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 6 small tomatoes, quartered
  • Handful of basil, chiffonaded (don’t think that’s a word)
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced

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Heat oven to 300. Place the larger tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbs. olive oil, and sprinkle with some salt. Roast for 2.5 hours, flipping every 45 minutes. Once they are done, transfer to a blender. In a large Dutch oven (I can’t not laugh every time I use that word), heat 1 tbs. olive oil. Add in garlic, onions and sliced cherry tomatoes, and sauté until soft, about 8 minutes on medium. After they have softened, add in the white wine and reduce for about 5 minutes until the alcohol has cooked out. Transfer to the blender with the tomatoes, and add in the chicken broth. Add in 3 basil leaves and blend until smooth. Once blended, add back into the Dutch oven and simmer for 2 hours. You really don’t have to cook that long but I put it on the stove and forgot about it and it ended up good, so I just say 2 hours. If you wait two days, you can thin this out with another cup or two of chicken stock and use as a pasta sauce. It makes 6 servings, so unless you are a human-whale hybrid, you can’t finish this in one sitting.

If you want to make a little “bruschetta” topper, combine the bottom three ingredients and serve on top. I had leftover pesto, so I mixed it with some sour cream for a garnish.

I served mine with grilled cheeses with avocado and arugula. Turns out, I don’t like warm arugula, but avocado in a grilled cheese is da bombbbbbb.

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How the lonely can use their Leftovers

October 8, 2014

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I personally hate leftovers. Unless it’s some form of carbohydrate covered in sauce, or tater tots. Leftover meat sicks me out (minus bone-in ribeyes–always welcome in my fridge). I spatchcocked (hehe) a whole chicken on Monday, and turns out that two people can’t eat a 4 lb chicken in one sitting, so we had lots of leftover chicken. Sidenote–I fully believe that eating 4 lbs of chicken is possible, and someday I plan on eating 4 lbs of chick-fil-a nugs….ON A SUNDAY. (Valentines Day is on a Sunday in 2016–just saying–best V-day ever)

Mexi Chicken Salad Stacks

  • 1 can of black beans, rinsed
  • 1 can salt free or low sodium corn, rinsed
  • 1 handful of cilantro, chopped
  • ½ tsp. onion powder
  • ½ tsp. garlic salt
  • ½ tsp. chili powder (or paprika if you don’t like spicy)
  • Leftover chopped chicken (2 cups)
  • 2 tbs. taco seasoning
  • ½ c. water
  • 2 tostada shells
  • ½ c. fat free black beans
  • Shredded Colby jack cheese
  • 1 cups chopped iceberg
  • 1 cup chopped spinach

 

  • Combine the first 5 ingredients and toss—there you go dummy, you’ve made a black bean and corn relish. Mazel. This stays good for a few days in the fridge, and you can put on anything (especially leftovers—I’m talking to all you single cat ladies out there)
  • In a skillet, heat water and taco seasoning. Add in the chicken and cook on medium heat until it has absorbed the liquid and gotten hot—prob about 5 minutes.
  • Slather the tostadas (slather sounds really creepy for some reason. Almost as bad as moist. Ew.) Anyways, slather them with the beans and cheese, and bake at like 350 until the cheese is melted.
  • Put your lettuce and spinach on the bottom of the plate, then tostadas, then chicken and then the black beans and corn. Drizzle with dressing (recipe below), and garnish with avocado. I promise you probably have half these ingredients already, so don’t be freaked out by the long list.

 

Cilantro Lime Crema

  • 1 bunch of cilantro, bottom stems removed
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 2 cups of Mexican table cream (cacique). Barf, hate the word cream too.

Combine all in your Vitamix (again, if you don’t have a vitamix, can you even afford to be reading this? How do you pay for wifi?). Takes about a minute to completely blend. If you want spicy, add in some Japs** or poblano peppers. Enjoy!

 

**Please don’t actually add in Japanese people—Add jalepenos. I am rather fond of sushi and don’t want to make any enemies.