Shrimp Tortilla Soup

This is the most wonderful shrimp tortilla soup - very spicy! A great meal for Good Friday for those celebrating Holy Week and our family's Christmas Eve tradition.

Shrimp Tortilla Soup
Fishmonger's Restaurant - Plano, TX
Serves 6-8

1 lb. Medium Shrimp (raw, peeled and deveined)
1 Tbs. Paprika
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. White Pepper
1 tsp. Ground Oregano
1 Tbs. Salt or to taste
1 Tbs. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Sugar
12 Corn Tortillas (or Tortilla chips)
2 cups Peanut Oil
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped (including green parts)
1 lime, cut into wedges
2 cups white or yellow onions, diced
1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
2 to 3 jalapenos, finely chopped (seeds can be removed for less heat)
4 cups ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 cups tomato juice
2 cups water
1 lb. Grated Monterry Jack Cheese

In a small bowl combine paprika, cayenne, white pepper, oregano, salt, garlic powder and sugar. Set aside.

Cut the tortillas into ½ inch strips. In a 4 qt. dutch oven, heat the peanut oil to just below the boiling point. Add half the strips and fry until they are crisp and golden brown, drain on paper towels and repeat with remaining half. Note: You can substitue corn tortilla chips to save time.

Pour out all but ½ cup of the oil in Dutch oven. Return the pan to the stove, add all the onions, cilantro and jalapenos. Saute until the ontion is transparent, then stir in chopped tomatoes and reserved spice mixture. Simmer 10 minutes while stirring occassionally.

Add tomato juice and water, simmer another 10 minutes. Add shrimp and simmer 5 additional minutes or just unitl shrimp is done. Do NOT overcook shrimp.

To serve, place a layer of tortilla strips in the bottom of a shallow bowl, ladle soup on top then garnish with cheese and lime wedges.

Soccer party cupcakes

Lots of yummy cupcakes for the soccer party!  S'more and red velvet were a hit.

S'more cupcakes

S'more cupcakes  - Graham cracker crust on the bottom, chocolate cupcake with a toasted marshmallow frosting and a chocolate square.

Mexican Cornbread Casserole

Crockpot Taco Soup

1 to 2 lbs. Ground Meat
1 medium onion
1 can whole kernel corn
2 cans Ranch Style beans (or 1 can Ranch Style and 1 can pinto beans)
2 cans diced tomatoes (or Mexican style tomatoes)
2 can Rotel tomatoes (for less spice use 1 can and 3 cans of diced tomatoes)
1 pkg. dry taco seasoning mix
1 pkg dry ranch dressing mix


Brown meat and onion in skillet.  Place in meat and onions in crockpot and mix with other ingredients.  Cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high.

Serve with grated cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Breakfast casserole

Candied Popcorm

Candied popcorn using jello - yes jello, a great mix of raspberry, strawberry and lime.

Trash to Treasure

Found this great iron bench in the trash; a little spray paint and some chevron fabric and it's brand new! Krylon Bahama Sea blue and grey and white chevron fabric. It turned out so good, one of kids has decided they need a seating area in their room!

Calabacita con Pollo

Tonight's dinner: Calabacita con pollo, homemade pinto beans, mexican rice and tortillas!

Hatch Cowboy Beans

First hatch chili dish of the season! Cooling now and getting ready to freeze for a weeknight dinner when school starts up.

End of School Favors

Wanted to make special favors for Morgan's PALS class ~ community service projects and helping kids in school. Since they are leaving middle school and heading to high school we thought we would use both school colors. Plastic tubes with green and white gumballs (HS colors) with labels that say, "you've been a great PAL, good luck next year" (MS colors are purple). The labels are green and purple and a mix of green and purple ribbons!  So much fun and a big hit!  You can find the candy tubes and a variety of gumballs at  Polka Dot Market online.

All 25 ready to go!

Fun labels and ribbon toppers!

My Favorite Chocolate Pie - The Pantry

My Favorite Chocolate Pie - The Pantry

There is a little restaurant north of here (McKinney for you who know your N.Texas geography) called The Pantry and this is their yummy creation.

First you need to make the chocolate custard recipe. You probably should double or triple this recipe if you plan on sharing.

Chocolate Custard:

2 cups milk
1/4 cup corn syrup
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs yolk
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together 1/2 cup milk, egg yolks, corn syrup, corn starch, sugar, and cocoa, to form a paste. Stir in remaining milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Remove from heat immediately. Add margarine and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate.

And now for the pie:

Chocolate Cream Pie

1 1/2 cups chocolate custard
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups whipped cream topping
chocolate shavings or mini chocolate chips
1 10 inch baked pie shell

Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 2 T whipped cream until smooth. Spread into bottom of pie shell. Top with layer of chocolate filling. Spoon remaining whipped cream over chocolate filling. Garnish with chocolate shavings or mini-chocolate chips. Refrigerate.

Chocolate filling should be cold before layering on cream cheese base.
If you prefer to not use the cream cheese filling you can just double the chocolate custard and you will still have one very chocolatey delicious pie!

Momofuku Milk Bar's Compost Cookies

A strange, yet totally delicious cookie made with brown sugar, chocolate chips, toffee pieces, potato chips and pretzels.  Here is the original post at Amateur Gourmet. Mine turned out crispy on the edges and chewy in the center and tasted good, but not exactly what I was expecting.  I think I'll try a different recipe next time.

Muffins and more muffins

Zucchini and Cream-cheese filled carrot muffins....and more muffins

Barefoot Contessa's Company Pot Roast - My Way

Ingredients

• 1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour
• Good olive oil
• 1 cup chopped carrots (2 carrots)
• 1 cup chopped yellow onions (1 onions)
• 1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
• 1 cup chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
• 5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 cup good red wine, such as Burgundy
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions

Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with salt and pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, beef stock, bouillon cube, 1 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 2 1/2 hours, or until the meat is fork tender.

Remove the roast to a cutting board. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Use a stick blender to process cooking liquid and vegetables until chunky and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Slice or break the meat into chunks and return to sauce to keep warm.  Server over noodles, rice or mashed potatoes.

Mexican Corn Quiche

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pie crusts
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper or pimento
• 1-1/3 cups milk
• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small drained canned whole kernel corn or tex-mex corn and forget the chopped peppers
• 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1 can (10 oz each) Ro*Tel® Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, drained

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Lightly prick side of pie crust with fork. Bake 5 minutes or until lightly browned; set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
2. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook and stir 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Beat milk, eggs, flour, salt and black pepper in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Add onion mixture, corn, ro-tel and hot pepper sauce; mix well. Pour into prepared pie crust, if extra filling, pour into small dish. Cover edge of crust with aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning if needed.
3. Bake 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. When quiche is done, let stand 10 minutes before cutting into 8 slices.

Adapted from Ro-tel's South-of-the-Border Quiche

Jalapeño bacon wrapped shrimp

Made a wonderful Saturday night dinner with jalapeno bacon wrapped shrimp, roasted broccoli and brown rice.   Sliced the bacon in half and precooked it until about halfway done in a skillet.  Drained and let it cool on a brown paper bag.  Peeled and deveined 1.5 lbs of large shrimp.  Seeded three jalapenos and sliced in thin strips length wise.  Place a piece of jalapeno on the shrimp, wrapped with bacon and secured with a toothpick.  Placed all the shrimp on a cooling rack on top of sheet pan and baked at 350 for 15 minutes or until bacon was thoroughly cooked.

Blackberry Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 sticks salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• One 10 to 12-ounce jar blackberry jam

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9-by-13-inch rectangular pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.Mix together the butter, flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Press half the oat mixture into the prepared pan. Spread with the blackberry jam. Sprinkle the other half of the oat mixture over the top and pat lightly. Bake until light brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely, and then cut into squares. 

Adapted from Pioneer Woman's Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Weekly Menu - Monday, Feb 20th

Soccer, lacrosse and basketball every night of the week, so we took the easy way out a couple of nights:

Monday - (President's Day/No School and mom can I have the entire basketball team over to celebrate my birthday) - Sandwich tray leftovers after the basketball game!
Tuesday - (Soccer practice & lacrosse practice) - Jason's Deli to the rescue
Wednesday - (Soccer only, yeah) - Rotel's Mean Black Bean Soup
Thursday - (Soccer practice & lacrosse practice) - TBD
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - (Soccer and lacrosse games)- Bacon wrapped shrimp, broccoli and brown rice
Sunday -(Soccer practice & lacrosse game) - Mexican Corn Quiche for brunch and Pot Roast for dinner

Rotel's Mean Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable Oil
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 cans (15 oz each) Ranch Style® Black Beans, undrained
• 2 cans (10 oz each) Ro*Tel® Chunky Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained
• 1 can (11 oz each) whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add carrot, celery and onion; mix well. Cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.
2. Add undrained beans, undrained tomatoes and drained corn; mix well.
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cilantro just before serving.

Notes:  I soaked and cooked a pound of black beans a couple of weeks ago on quiet weekend and froze them to use later.  I also cut up the vegetables when I was making something else, placed them all in a freezer bag so they were also ready to go.  While defrosting the beans in the microwave, sauteed the vegetables in oil (just dumped them in frozen) - still only took about 10 minutes.  Dumped everything else in and heated to a boil.  Since the beans weren't very seasoned, I added 1 tsp of salt.  Reduced to a simmer.  My family isn't big on cilantro, so I just left it out, besides that just meant one less trip to the store.  The entire family loved it and deemed it a make again dish!

Original Recipe found at http://www.ro-tel.com/recipes-Mean-Black-Bean-Soup-2711.html.

Homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (3 ounces)
• 3/4 cup skinned hazelnuts, toasted (about 4 ounces)
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, such as Eagle Brand
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• Toasted baguette slices
• Sliced fruit, such as apples, pears, pineapple and/or bananas

Directions

Cook's Note: To toast the hazelnuts, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 15 to 18 minutes until lightly toasted. Cool completely before using.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and place over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Grind the nuts in a food processor until pasty (the nuts will be stuck to the sides of work bowl), 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the condensed milk, honey and salt. Blend well, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the cooled chocolate and pulse until combined. Transfer the spread to a small bowl.

Serve with the toasts and sliced fruit.

Cook's Note: The chocolate can also be melted in a microwave. Microwave the chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl in 15-second intervals until the chocolate is very soft. Stir until melted and smooth.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis and FoodNetwork

Manicotti

A late birthday dinner at home due to Morgan's basketball game (they won) and Mitchell's lacrosse practice! Happy birthday Matt!

Olive Garden Copykat Pasta e Fagioli Soup Recipe

Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup in a Crock Pot

INGREDIENTS
* 2 lbs ground beef
* 1 onion, chopped
* 3 carrots, chopped
* 4 stalks celery, chopped
* 2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
* 1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained
* 3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock
* 3 teaspoons oregano
* 2 teaspoons pepper
* 5 teaspoons parsley
* 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
* 1 (20 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
* 8 ounces pasta

INSTRUCTIONS
1.Brown beef in a skillet.
2.Drain fat from beef and add to crock pot
3.Saute onion, carrots and celery in same pan and add to crock pot with everything else except pasta.
4.Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.
5.Cook pasta and add to bowls and cover with soup
The Olive garden soup recipe of pasta e fagioli is ready to serve...enjoy it !

Weekly Menu - Monday Jan 30th

So, three kids and lots of activities require some advance planning, so here it goes:

Monday - Kung Pao Chicken and Brown Rice
Tuesday - Monterey Chicken, Roasted Broccoli and Mashed Potatoes
Wednesday - Chicken Fajitas, Pinto Beans and Fresh Pico
Thursday - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Friday - Olive Garden Copykat Pasta e Fagioli Soup and Breadsticks
Saturday - Leftovers and Pizza for the "I turned 16 and want to have a bunch of friends over" party
Sunday - Game Day ~ Baked Wings, Baked Onion Dip, Vegetable Tray, Ranch, Blue Cheese and Brownies

Monterey Chicken Dinner

Monterey chicken, roasted broccoli and mashed potatoes! Update: it was a huge hit with the kids and hubby! Would be great on whole wheat buns for a tasty chicken sandwich.

Chili's Monterey Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4-6 chicken breasts, flattened
• 1 lb. bacon; 2-4 pieces per breast
• barbecue sauce (Baby Ray's)
• shredded cheddar (or monterey jack) cheese
• BBQ seasoning (Rudy's Rub)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° 
2. Dice bacon and cook until done.
3. Flatten breasts and season with BBQ seasoning.
4. Prepare chicken breasts by browning each side in a saute pan until almost cooked.
5. Transfer chicken to a foil-lined sheet pan (for easy clean-up).
6. Top each with barbecue sauce, top with a good handful of bacon and shredded cheese.
7. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or so, until the cheese is melted and chicken is cooked through.

Freezer Cooking Day

Finished a good day of cooking meals for the freezer with my sister. We ended up with 3 pans of King Ranch Chicken, 3 trays of meatloaf muffins, one mini meatloaf pan, 2 sloppy joe dinners, 6 qts of marinara, stir fry vegetables, chicken soup veggies, black bean soup veggies, 17 breakfast burritos and two cowboy cookie mixes!