Month: January 2017

Honey Garlic Shrimp

Super supper meal! It does require a little time for marinating the shrimp, otherwise it is a KISS recipe! Instead of brown rice, I prepared some of the…you guessed it…Costco Ancient Grains!

Honey Garlic Shrimp

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Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)
  • 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
  • optional: 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
  • 1 lb. medium uncooked shrimp, peeled & deveined
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • optional: chopped green onion for garnish

Directions:

  1. Whisk the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger (if using) together in a medium bowl.
  2. Place shrimp in a large zipped-top bag or Tupperware. Pour 1/2 of the marinade mixture on top, give it all a shake or stir, then allow shrimp to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or for up to 8-12 hours. Cover and refrigerate the rest of the marinade for step 3. (Time-saving tip: while the shrimp is marinating, I steamed broccoli and prepared the Ancient Grains according to the directions).
  3. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place drained shrimp in the skillet. Cook shrimp on one side until no longer pink– about 45 seconds– then flip shrimp over. Pour in remaining marinade and cook it all until shrimp is cooked through, about 1 minute more.
  4. Serve shrimp with cooked marinade sauce and a garnish of green onion. The sauce is excellent on brown rice and steamed veggies on the side.

TIP…when a recipe calls for minced ginger, I take out some of the ginger I keep in the freezer. Whenever I need some, I just grate it, rind and all depending o the amount I need, into the dish and put the ginger back in the freezer.

 

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Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

Costco strikes again! I bought the double package of tortellini when I really only needed one for a previous recipe. What to do? Find a recipe on Pinterest to use the one that was left. Eureka! Pinterest! Not only did it look yummy, it was…

 

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

Author: Karina – Cafe Delites    Serves: 10

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Ingredients

  • 500 grams | 1 pound ground Italian sausage (or ground chicken, turkey or beef), browned*
  • 1 brown onion, chopped
  • 2 large carrots, chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 2 teaspoon beef bouillon powder (or chicken)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups beef broth (or chicken or vegetable broth — I use low sodium)
  • ¼ cup cornstarch mixed and dissolved in ¼ cup water
  • 3x 340 gram | 12-ounce cans full fat evaporated milk or half and half
  • 1x 340 gram | 12 ounce packet three cheese tortellini (I used one of Costco’s, remember)
  • 5 cups fresh baby spinach (whatever amount works for you)
  • 1 cup milk

Instructions

  1. Place the browned sausage, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, Italian seasoning, beef bouillon powder, salt, and broth in a 6-quart / liter slow cooker bowl. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours.
  2. Uncover and skim any fat that is sitting on the top of the soup with a spoon; discard. Stir in the cornstarch mixture with the evaporated milk (or half and half or cream). Add the tortellini and mix well. Cover again and cook on HIGH heat setting for a further 45 minutes until the soup has thickened, and the tortellini is soft and cooked through.
  3. Add in the spinach, pressing the leaves down to completely submerse into the liquid. Cover again for a further 5-10 minutes until the leaves have wilted.
  4. Pour in milk in ⅓ cup increments, as needed, to reach your desired thickness and consistency (I needed 1 cup); taste test and season with extra salt ONLY if needed, and pepper to suit your tastes.
  5. Serve with crusty warmed bread

Escargots in Garlic Butter, Bleu Cheese and Sambuca Liqueur

Okay, so the holidays have passed. Truth is I have never shared this recipe for some strange reason, but it is traditional for us on Christmas Eve. We never grow tired of it. Over the years we have refined it with the sambuca liqueur…LOL. Give it a try for Valentines Day with a great wine and crusty French bread.

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Snails in Garlic butter with Bleu Cheese and Sambuca Liqueur
Escargots au beurre de l’ail gratiné a l’anise y fromage bleu (FR)

(serves 4)   4 escargot dishes : 6 escargots in each

24  escargots

½ cup unsalted butter

4 large garlic cloves, more or less, finely chopped

1/3 cup bleu cheese, more or less

½ cup ground up Caesar salad croutons, plus garlic salt added to taste

1 to 2  Tbsp  black Sambuca or any anise liqueur

Salt to taste

Preparation  Preheat your oven to 475 F  (270 C)

1         Place butter in a microwavable ramekin, add the chopped garlic and some salt and melt slowly.  Let stand to develop flavor.

2         Place an escargot in each hole of the four escargot dishes.

3         Add some powder garlic to the crouton crumbs for more flavor.  Crumble in the bleu cheese. Stir with a fork to coat the cheese as much as possible.  Drizzle in the Sambuca and stir the mixture to more evenly distribute the flavours. Add more salt, too, if you wish.

4         Drizzle the garlic butter mixture evenly over all the escargots.  Sprinkle the crumb mixture over everything.

Bake in oven for approx. 10 minutes, or until crumb topping is browned.

 

Traditional Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

Happy New Year Bloggers! I am going to try something different this year now that so many of you are really setting the bar high with your wonderful blogs. This old dog is not that techie…LOL…but like John Glenn I can take small steps. Hence my New Years resolution to use actual photos of the recipes when I cook them.

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I thought the cocktail looked quite nice in the ice cream dishes we got from our friends one Christmas. Here is the recipe –

Traditional Mexican Shrimp Cocktail (food.com)

Ingredients 

  • 1 (48 ounce) can V8 vegetable juice (spicy if desired)
  • 2 avocados, chopped
  • 2 cucumbers, seeded and chopped
  • 1 medium red onion, chopped
  • 1⁄2 bunch cilantro, chopped
  • 1 lb. large shrimp, peeled, de-veined and steamed or just buy frozen cooked and thaw
  • 2 limes, quartered
  • 4 dashes Tabasco sauce

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a large nonreactive container.

Chill and serve with limes and Tabasco sauce.

Do not over-cook the shrimp, as they will become tough!

Be careful when steaming the shrimp; you do not want it tough.

AND here is a BONUS..ta dah…if you do not use all of the mixture, put it into a blender and make…GAZPACHO…refrigerate for tomorrows meal!