It's getting hot in here!

Spicy-ness wise;)  Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Still here, still pregnant!  Tomorrow is my "due date" so fingers crossed for some Christmas magic!

This week I'm trying to use up a lot of foods we already have in the fridge/freezer/cabinets, but also making sure we get a lot of good, substantial, meals in, just in case I do go into labor - need that energy!  Tonight I tried a new recipe, found at cooks.com, for Cajun Shrimp Casserole!  It took quite a bit of time to make, but it was very simple, and perfect for this very cold New England day!  Well, according to everyone else it was cold...prego me thought the 30 degree temp was quite nice;)

You will need:

• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 lb raw shrimp, cleaned
• 1 can of cheddar cheese soup
• 2 cups cooked yellow rice
• Cajun seasoning - I used cajun seasoning and also a Goya seasoning packet, with some CRP
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Phew!  That's a lot of ingredients!

Heat a large pan with the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion, pepper, and celery, and saute until soft.  Add mushroom soup and diced tomatoes, simmering on low for 15 minutes.

Add shrimp and cheddar cheese soup, turning up the heat to medium, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring everything together.

Looks...interesting, right?  I thought so, anyways!  Trust me, the textures and tastes together are perfect!  Once those 15 minutes have elapsed, add the cooked rice and seasoning, stirring it into the rest of the mixture.

Pour into a 13x9 pan and bake 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes have elapsed, broil on high in your oven for another 4 minutes, so that the bread crumbs get a bit crispy on top.

I used a little too much bread crumbs, so definitely don't go overboard with those!  We enjoyed this warm comfort food, that really wasn't too spicy, with some nice clam chowder and rolls.  Definitely filled me up, and finally now, about 2 hours later, I'm craving more food:) 

I'll definitely be making this again, and adding cut up sausage!  Now, where's my ice cream...

Remember how I said last night would be my last night cooking a real meal...yeah right, shrimp tacos!

Happy Thursday!  Still here, still pregnant, and still crazy!  Today I decided I had to clean out all of our cabinets, rearrange them, etc...after cleaning a bathroom, doing laundry, etc.  I should be resting, right??  I sure pay for it later when back is in so much pain it feels numb!!

Enough of that...I still had to make dinner!  I swore after last night that was it, no more meals which required me to be on my feet for a long time.  Shrimp tacos and spanish rice were on our weekly menu, and when I thought about the last time I had made them, it didn't seem like it would be too bad.  Well, I wasn't 39 weeks pregnant, then!  They're so yummy, though, they're worth it! 

This is an adapted recipe from foodnetwork.com called Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Salsa Verde.  The shrimp cooks so quickly that I always make the salsa first.  Plus, you can always dip some nachos, or your finger, in the salsa while the shrimp cook;)  You will need:

• 1 small onion, cut into pieces, don't really need to be that small
• 1 jalapeno, cut into about 4 pieces
• a few small pieces of tomato
• 1 avocado, peeled and seeded, cut into chunks
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cilantro leaves, as big or small as you'd like

Put the onion and jalapeno in your food processor  and finely chop.  Add the tomatoes, avocado, and salt and chop again until combined and in pieces that are to your liking - I chopped it up pretty well, but some like their avocado pieces bigger.  Put into a bowl, add cilantro, and stir to mix together.

Yum!  The husband is lucky there is any of this salsa left as I make the shrimp!  Warning, it's very spicy!!

The shrimp part is so easy - take as many large shrimp as you'd like, place in a large bowl, and mix with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp chili powder, and 1 tsp salt.  When the shrimp are coated, cook them in a fry pan on medium low heat until cooked through.  Look at these!

Sooo good, I could eat these with a fork and be happy!  You can either enjoy just the shrimp and salsa on a whole wheat wrap, taco shell, etc, or add all the fixings!  On mine, I added cheddar cheese and lime juice; the husband added sour cream, lettuce, taco sauce, and cheese.  I could eat these everyday, and I may, if it would help get this baby out...

Oh, and remember how I was craving Hershey's cookies and cream candy bars?  Well they do still make them, and thanks to the bff, I now have 1 in my possession!  I did have 3, but I already ate 2 of them...OH!  and don't forget to vote for your favorite holiday cookie!

This pregnant lady might've just cooked her last "regular" meal...

Yes, I know cooking with a crawler, when that day happens, will probably be much much more difficult, but cooking tonight was really, really hard!  Baby has decided to drop more it seems, which yes is very good, but walking/moving around the kitchen for an hour, cutting, dicing, testing, well today it was a lot!  Okay, rant over, just enjoy our dinner photo below:)  No real "recipes" for any of the items, just a pork loin rubbed with salt, pepper, and Montreal Steak seasoning, and fingerling kinda steak fry things with olive oil, salt, pepper, and chili powder:)

Oh, and I'm also craving the picture below our meal picture...something I probably haven't had since 1998; do they even sell them anymore?? 

Slow cooker Sunday after a surprise 30th bday party! And oh, it's Chicken Cordon Bleu:)

Hi everyone!  I hope you've had a great weekend!  Remember how I mentioned friends were coming over last night for a belated 30th bday party for me?  Well turns out they planned a limo into Grill 23 in Boston!  Amazing food that I would 5 stars to, no doubt!  I'll blog about that another time;)  Here's a couple pics from the night:)

 

  

  

Oh, and here's a pic from the Race to Anyplace event earlier in the day:)

So a big day yesterday!  Thank you to everyone who donated for the race, and a big thanks to the husband Ron, Amanda, Mike, Melissa, Barrett, Jen, Jason, Katie, and Kevin for my surprise!  

Back to tonight!  I allowed myself quite a relaxing day today, as I usually try to do on Sunday's:)  Nothing but watching some golf, sleeping in, laundry/packing for our upcoming Aruba trip, reading, and some TV:)  Of course, all while the Chicken Cordon Bleu was simmering away in the slow cooker!  So easy = perfect for today!

You will need:

• skinless, boneless, chicken breast, 3 lbs - I bought this is thin strips and just put 'em on in the crockpot - you could less chicken of course, I just wanted to make a large amount, so I could freeze some:)
• 1/2 lb deli-sliced cooked ham
• 1/2 lb deli-sliced swiss cheese
• 2 10 3/4 oz cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 box dry chicken stuffing mix, prepared according to the box

Layer all ingredients in the crockpot exactly as they are listed.

 

  

  

  

  

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is cooked thru (for me, it was 6 hours) - easy, huh!!

Now, I know it's not as pretty as usual chicken cordon bleu, which is known for it's wonderful colors and layout (is that the right word to use???), but the taste is the same, and even better in my opinion.  The way the cheese melts into the entire pot is my favorite part!  The ham doesn't melt, so I'm sure you could pick out the ham slices, put those on the plate first, and then cover it with the rest of the mixture and wrap it up for a different look, but I'm just going to do that myself with each bite:)  

 

I'm off to enjoy it now...and then to enjoy some of Melissa's leftover cupcakes (that she should blog about!) and her boyfriend's wonderful ice cream cake that he made me from scratch!  I'm a lucky lady:)  

And btw T-3 days until Aruba!!! 

I caught myself a trout and made it Asian!

Okay, so I didn't catch a trout, I bought it at the market, but I did make an asian sauce for it!  This was a new type of fish for me to work with, and a new sauce, but per the husband, he gave it a 9!  Great for a new fish and sauce!  Too garlic-ky for him;) 
 

What you'll need:

• 1/2 lb - 1 1/2 lb of trout, or any flaky-type fish you like - depending on the amount of people - the husband ate about 3/4 lb of trout
• 1 15 oz can of black beans, drained
• 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped very small, or garlic you buy in a jar in the produce section - my garlic happened to be in the teriyaki sauce
  
• Pam spray

Literally so quick and easy!  Pat your fish dry with paper towels.  Heat a fry pan on medium heat.  When heated, spray with Pam Spray.  Cook fish 4 minutes on each side, or until a bit browned.  While this is cooking, make your sauce.

To make the sauce, combine the drained beans, teriyaki sauce, and hoisin sauce into a food processor.  Pulse until the sauce is almost smooth. 

After the fish has cooked on both sides, pour sauce into the pan and bring to a boil. 

Yes, there is fish in there!

Once boiling, cover and let cook 8 more minutes, or until the fish is flaky (for me it was exactly 8 minutes).  Then, enjoy!  Sooo easy!  I paired it with a cheddar rice and salad, and yum!

This is bad, but me, CheyCanCook, was scared of the trout - not because it was bad, but just because I dont' really like...fish!  I wish I had tried it, and I planned to try a bite, but the husband ate it all up!  I had a lovely shrimp topped salad instead - all I did was use some small shrimp, and covered them with lemon juice, lime juice, and lemon pepper seasoning, and broiled them for about 10 minutes:)

 

Enjoy the rest of your night - I won't be so scared of trout next time;)   Sorry this post is so quick, but I can't wait to go keep reading Scarlett!!

Thursday night = time to try a new chili recipe!

Happy Thursday everyone!  I'm trying to keep myself up to watch figure skating online starting at 10:30pm...I don't know if I can make it!!  But I must see Sasha Cohen and if she can still skate!

Okay - back on topic - dinner tonight!  Dinner tonight was a recipe I adapted from this lovely website.  Overall, I'd give it an 8 - the husband ate it up and really enjoyed it - I think I just happened to get a piece that wasn't as spicy/Mexican tasting as his, and I wasn't thrilled with the cornbread on top - I think I prefer mine on the side, and a little sweeter.  Here is what I made, how I did it, and what I would do next time:)  Don't forget to check out my pork recipe from yesterday too!

Chili Cornbread Casserole:

What you'll need for the chili:

• 1 lb ground hamburg, cooked in a fry pan and drained of any oil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium white onion, sliced or diced to your liking
• 1 tbsp, or more, again to your liking, chili powder
• 1 tbsp CRP
• 1 can diced tomatoes with chiles
• 8 oz of marinara sauce
• 2 15 oz cans of kidney beans, drained
• salt to taste

 This is quite the time-consuming/multi-tasker recipe!  I had the pan with the ground beef, the pot with the other chili stuff, and another pot with some stuff for the cornbread going simultaneously, plus some stuff going on the counter - phew! 

First of all, preheat oven to 400.  In a fry pan, cook your ground beef as you normally would, chopping it into smaller pieces. 

While the meat is cooking, in another medium to large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Once heated, add the onion.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes, or until onions start becoming translucent.  Add the chili powder, crushed red pepper, and a 1/2 tsp salt to this, and stir it up until the onions are coated.

Pour the canned diced tomatoes with chiles into the pot and stir well.  Add the marinara/tomato sauce, and stir again.  Don't forget about the hamburg cooking - make sure to stir that too!  Simmer the chili combo for about 10 minutes, and then add the kidney beans.  Continue to simmer over medium low heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  At this point, I added more chili powder just to give it an extra kick.   Turn the heat to low while you're waiting for the hamburg, if it's not done yet, and/or while you're making the cornbread, unless made the cornbread while the chili was simmering, like I did:)

For the cornbread, you will need:

• 6 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp flax seed meal
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup soy milk
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup mango peach juice - you read that right - or you can use agave nectar, or anything else sweet tasting, even sugar
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup flour

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.  When the water is boiling, add the flax seed meal - stir continuously for 3-4 minutes, reducing the heat to medium low; stir until the mixture becomes gooey.   Remove from heat

While I was waiting for the water to boil, I combined the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  To this I added the mango peach juice, oil, milk, and flax mixture (once it got gooey) - stir all of this until just combined.

 

Now you're ready to combine everything and bake!  Pour your chili mixture into a 9x13 baking pan, covering the chili mixure with the cooked hamburg.  Spoon the cornbread mixture over the chili/hamburg mixture, spreading it as much as you can to cover the entire casserole **I did not cover the entire casserole, just in case I wanted a few bites with just the chili and no cornbread**

 

 

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick goes thru the cornbread and comes out clean.  This is the husband's plate:

First of all, I guess it's time to put away the Christmas tablecloth:(

But, overall, the recipe was quite good - like I said, I think the piece I had didn't have as much spice as I would've liked, but the husband said his 2 pieces did.  I would've like a little more sweetness to the cornbread, so I think I'd try a different cornbread recipe next time, or just add some sugar to this one possibly.  I would also add some cheese into the casserole (the husband added some to his plate) and definitely some avocado on top once it comes out of the oven.  I would definitely try it again, just with some changes:) 

Last night I had dreams over and over about making guacamole!  Any recommendations on recipes for this or meals to make it with?  My body is telling me I have to make it next week I think!

I'm off to start planning next week's meals...9:42pm...getting tired...don't know if I'm going to make it for skating...working all day is tiring!  ;)  See you tomorrow night:)

Salmon smothered in dijon mustard, dill....keep reading to find out more:)

Happy Wednesday, everyone!   Came out of work to an unexpected snow squall!  Home safe and sound and made a fabulous salmon dish like I've never made before:)  And it's also my last night cooking until Sunday, woohoo!  Not to rub it in or anything, and don't worry, I'll still blog:)

What you'll need:

• Pieces of salmon - I used one medium sized and one larger
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• any other seasonings you'd like - I used dill and Salmon seasoning (similar to cajun)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts - I used walnuts
• Pam spray

Preheat oven to 400.  Melt butter in a bowl in the microwave, and then mix in the dijon mustard.  Mix together the breadcrumbs, nuts, and seasonings in a separate bowl.  Place salmon pieces, skin side down, on foil and in a 9x13 baking pan, spraying the foil with Pam spray before putting the pieces down.  Season with salt and pepper.

Brush the mustard/butter mixture on the salmon pieces, then cover with the breadcrumb mixture.  Bake until salmon is cooked thru - for our 2 pieces is about 25 minutes.  Enjoy!

 

I lovedddd this recipe, one of the best "throw together" salmon recipes I've ever made!   While I was tasting the mustard, dill, and nuts especially, I was thinking how great it would probably taste with maple syrup too....that will be next, as I cook salmon a lot for us:)  I can already taste it!  Or maybe I just want pancakes....?

Have a great night everyone!  I'm off again to work up recipes for next week - any suggestions??

Everyone cooks cranberry pork loin in their pj's right?

I should be fast asleep, but I promised I'd be here tonight...so, here I am:)  A little blogging before Scarlett and bed...after mucho scrapbooking and Wii :)  To see some of my scrapbooking pics, friend me on Facebook, or become a fan of CheyCanCook :)

I was so so excited to try the cranberry pork loin recipe tonight from this site I read every single day!  The recipes are phenomenal, and I love the writing style and photos.  Turned out to be the perfect night for it as it was STILL SNOWING!  It was perfect keep-warm comfort food:)

You will need:

• 1 lb - 1.5 lb pork loin, boneless - mine was 1 lb
• salt and pepper
• 1.5 tsp butter
• 1 garlic clove minced, or a tbsp of the minced kind you can buy in the produce section
• 1/3 tsp dried thyme (I used a bit more)
• 1 cup whole cranberry sauce (I used an entire 16 oz can)
• 3/4 cranberry juice - I used cran apple
• 1.5 tbsp ketchup
• 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• walnuts or any type nuts, if desired
  

I am getting better and better at not only memorizing recipes (yay!) but also adding when I think more needs to be added and taking away when I think something/amount needs to be taken away (double yay!).  I'm beginning to trust my cooking instincts a lot more, which I'm very proud of, since I used to always stick to a recipe by the book!

Preheat oven to 425.  Pat roast dry and then season with salt and pepper.  Score fat on top of loin in 1/2 inch intervals and place the pork, fat side up, if there is one, in a baking dish.  Roast for 20 minutes.

While this is baking, combine the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of cran juice.  Bring the combination to a low boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 minutes. 

 

While this is simmering, mix the cornstarch and leftover over cran juice.

Slowly pour into the simmering sauce while stirring.

 

 

Continue to cook and stir until thickened - this entire process will take the 20 minutes it is taking the loin to start cooking.

Since I was adding walnuts, I added them to the pan with about 5 minutes to go.  Take the pork out of the oven after the 20 minutes, spoon this mixture on top of and around it and continue to roast 20-25 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads an internal temperature of 145.  **NOTE - I checked mine and it was at 160 degrees, so I promptly removed it.  I let it sit 15 minutes before cutting it and even though the temp was higher than it should have been, it was still tender enough, and juicy enough, to cut with a butter knife.  

 

 

I served the sauce over my pork only, while the husband spooned his over his mashed potatoes and said it was excellent.  The sauce is the perfect combo and sweet and savory - I'm thinking even a few drops of hickory bbq sauce may be in order for next time:) 

 

 

Thanks again to Mom's Cafe Home Cooking!  I love finding recipes to try on other blogs, because I know how much time goes into making a blog useful and interesting:)  I hope some of you are able to do the same with mine:)

Now tomorrow is a busy one - crazy day at work always after a long weekend, grocery shopping, a couple other errands, thank you cards, etc etc = the easy pizza is tomorrow night.  I'll be back Tuesday with another awesome recipe for winter :)  Have a great rest of your Sunday/Monday everyone! 

PS - does everyone love the Wii or what??

 

 

 

You're Da Bomb! The Steak Bomb that is;)

We had a couple grilling steaks in the freezer, the husband saw steak subs on Phantom Gourmet, and immediately asked me to try to make him my own version of a "steak bomb."  I was going to save this for WCW, or Wicked Cheap Wednesday to new readers, but I couldn't!  So easy, had all of the ingredients, because I had the steak already, and was a nice change from how I usually make these subs (with sausage). 

What you'll need:

• 2 grilling steaks, boneless, cut into bite sized pieces
• half a green pepper, sliced into thin pieces and then cut into small pieces
• half a red pepper, same as above
• 1 whole white onion, sliced thinly
• salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and any other seasoning you may like
• ketchup, mustard, or any other topping you may like
• 4 American cheese deli slices

Heat a large fry pan or wok on medium heat.  Once heated, add Pam spray, let sizzle for a second, and add cut up steak, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.  Let cook until it looks about halfway cooked, to your liking.

Add cut up peppers and onions and turn heat up to medium high.  Continue to cook until vegetables and steak are cooked thru to your liking. 

Once cooked to your liking, tear up the 4 deli cheese slices and put on top of steak/veggie mixture and let melt. 

 

Once melted, remove from heat.  Put into your favorite bread/roll (we used sub rolls tonight) and top with ketchup, etc if you choose - I choose not to:)  Enjoy with a nice garden salad and some fries and enjoy!

This meal was quite easy to make and I was able to multi task while making it, as it didn't require much attention.  The hardest part was cutting up the steak and veggies!

 

 

***Since tomorrow night I'll probably talk about my NYE recipes, I'll break this down as a WCW:

2 grilling steaks - $5 or less at this time of year

1 white onion - $1.50

1/2 a green pepper - .50

1/2  a red pepper - .50

sub rolls - $2.50

4 deli slices of American cheese - about .30 cents

 

As long as you have the Pam spray, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, ketchup, salad stuff, and a side, you're looking at only spending about $10.30 for a  great meal - for us, it made 4 helping and there are leftovers:)

Time to play some Bejeweled, check up on some other blogs, and read Scarlett:)  Has anyone else ever read Gone With The Wind followed by Scarlett??  I love it!