Scallops with Angel Hair

I had this recipe hand-written on a scrap of paper sitting in my recipe pile forever, so I have no idea where it came from but I suppose that's okay since I made quite a few changes anyway. It was a nice, light pasta, easy to put together and it makes me happy that I got to use scallops because I love those little guys!

Scallops with Angel Hair

Ingredients

2 tsp. olive oil, divided
1/2 lb. bay scallops
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup diced roasted red pepper
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup vermouth or dry white wine
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
3 tsp. cornstarch
3 tsp. water
8 oz. angel hair pasta, cooked and drained
1/4 cup minced fresh parsely
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. sliced green onions

Directions

1. In a large skillet, cook scallops in 1 tsp. olive oil over mediume heat until firm and opaque. Remove and keep warm.

2. In the same skillet, saute onion in remaining 1 tsp. oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 1 min longer. Stir in the roasted red pepper, broth, wine, lemon juice, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Gradually stir into pan. Cook and stir 2 minutes until sauce thickens.

3. Stir in cooked angel hair and parsley; mix well. Place pasta on serving plates and sprinkle with Parmesan and green onions.

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

2 lbs. top round steak, cut into 1" cubes
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
1 - 26 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 - 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup diced onion
*I had some leftover French Onion soup that I used for the broth/onions and it worked great

Directions

1. Place meat in the bottom of slow cooker, and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

2. In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients. Pour over meat. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Thicken with a little cornstarch slurry, if desired, and serve meat and gravy over rice or noodles.

Cilantro Lime Spanish Rice

I made this to go along with the Perfect Enchiladas we had last night...a little twist on my usual Spanish rice recipe.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
2 Tbsp. minced onion
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups water
1 Tbsp. (or 1 cube) tomato-flavored chicken bouillon
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. lime juice
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro, divided

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add rice and onion. Cook and stir until rice is lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Add broth, water, bouillon, garlic powder, lime juice and 1 Tbsp. cilantro. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 20-25 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 Tbsp. cilantro just before serving.

French Onion Soup

Yum! I love being able to take my time with this and let the onions braise in the oven for a few hours...but the quick and easy version is almost as good :)

Ingredients

3 large yellow onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
4 cups beef broth
2 cups chicken broth
1/8 tsp. thyme
4 slices crusty bread (I sliced mine from a leftover French loaf I had)
4 tsp. softened butter or margarine
Garlic salt
8 slices cheese (Swiss is traditional, Gruyere is a splurge...we usually go with plain mozzarella since I always have it on hand)

Directions

1. In a large stock pot over medium heat, combine butter and Worcestershire and heat until butter is melted. Stir in onions and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook onions, stirring frequently, until soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes.

2. Increase heat to high, add broths and thyme, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes (or up to an hour).

3. Preheat your oven's broiler on the low setting. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet. Spread each slice with 1 tsp. butter and sprinkle with garlic salt. Broil until slightly crispy and light brown, about 2-3 minutes.

4. To finish: Ladle soup into 4 oven-proof bowls. Top soup with a slice of bread and 2 slices of cheese. Broil on low until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 3-4 minutes.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

It doesn't get any easier than this...

Ingredients

2 (10 3/4 oz) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water or beef broth
1/2 cup sliced onion
1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms
1 - 5 1/2 lb. pot roast

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine soup, soup mix, water, onion and mushrooms. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Place roast in slow cooker. Pour soup mixture over the roast and turn to coat. Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 8-9 hours.

Once its done, I'll thicken the gravy with a little cornstarch slurry, and serve the meat and gravy with rice or potatoes.

Sweet Thai Stir Fry

This was the last of my Newbie Week recipes (yeah, just a little late in posting it), and its actually something I just put together with some fresh vegetable and a few ingredients we had on hand.


I was initally just going to use the vegetables in my freezer (from Costco), but then I found all kinds of great veggies on sale last week so I changed plans and went with all fresh ones. I'm only a stir-fry fan when I can pick and choose what veggies to put in it :)
With the addition of some udon noodles we picked up at the Japanese market, this was a great, easy meal (and pretty too!)


Sweet Thai Stir Fry

Ingredients

Sweet Thai Sauce:
1 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
2 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

*Note: This makes a lot of sauce - too much for the amount of vegetables I used. I maybe only used about half for this stir-fry, we used some as a dipping sauce for wontons, and the rest a few days later on coating some chicken wings that we baked.

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. chopped green onions
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
6-8 cups fresh vegetables, sliced or chopped (I used 2 small broccoli crowns, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1/2 lb. of white mushrooms, 1/4 lb. snow peas, and 1/2 small yellow onion)
6 oz. udon (or other) noodles, cooked and drained

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine all sauce ingredients. Mix well to combine. Set aside.

2. In a wok or large skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger, green onion, and red pepper; cook and stir 1 minute. Add all vegetables and stir-fry until crisp-tender, about 5-6 minutes. Add desired amount of sauce to the vegetables and stir to coat. Mix in a little cornstarch slurry (1 tsp. cornstarch plus 1 Tbsp. water) if desired, to thicken sauce. Toss in noodles and serve immediately.

No Recipe Needed - Carne Asada Fries

Crispy french fries topped with carne asada, cheese, cilantro, green onion, taco sauce, sour cream, and avocado. Yum!

Corn and Kielbasa Chowder

Yay - a picture! High five to me for remembering to take one this time.

Marci posted this on her recipe blog and gave it great reviews, and since we had almost all of the ingredients on hand already I decided to try it.

My review: simple, quick and delicious - three of my favorite recipe attributes!

Corn and Kielbasa Chowder
from Rachael Ray Magazine

Ingredients

8 ounces kielbasa, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 onions, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. butter
One (14.5-ounce) can chicken broth
1 large baking potato (about 12 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup half-and-half
One (1-pound) bag frozen corn, thawed
Salt and pepper
Chopped fresh dill, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat a deep skillet or a wide 4- to 6-quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the kielbasa and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

2. Add the onions and butter to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 6 minutes. Add the broth and potato and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer until the potato is tender, about 10 minutes. Add the half-and-half and corn and cook, stirring, until heated through.

3. Using a blender or food processor, puree 1 cup chowder until smooth. Stir the puree back into the chowder along with the browned kielbasa and season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with the dill.

Tilapia Tacos

I know I promised to do better but yet for this one I have neither a picture nor an exact recipe. What is my problem? I'm trying to be conscious about writing down everything as I cook, and it still doesn't happen.

This one I do regret not writing down exact measurements because these tacos actually turned out pretty good. I used tilapia because we had some in the freezer, but I was nervous about it since its really not my favorite fish. but I'm happy to report that it cooked up nicely and had good flavor.

So, once again, you get the general idea of how I created these :(

Tilapia Tacos with Chipotle Cream

For the fish:

1/2 lb (3 fillets) of tilapia
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly chopped
handful of cilantro
cumin (1/2 - 1 tsp)
Creole seasoning (about 2 tsp.)
olive oil (1-2 Tbsp.)
lime juice (1-2 Tbsp)

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the lime juice. Let marinate for several hours (I mixed it in the morning and let it refrigerate all day).

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add lime juice to the fish and stir to combine. Add fish and marinade to the skillet and saute until fish is cooked through, about 5-6 minutes.
I then kept the marinade ingredients in the pan a little longer after we took the fish out, to cook the onion and garlic. You don't have to consume these - I didn't - but Adam added them to his tacos and he liked it.


Chipotle cream:

1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 -2 Tbsp. adobo sauce (depending on how much you like)
1 Tbsp. green chile sauce (I just added this in at the last minute because we had some leftover)

Combine all ingredients.

To serve:

We enjoyed these in homemade, crispy corn tortilla shells, with the chipotle sauce, lettuce, tomato, Monterey Jack cheese, and avocado.

California Chicken

No picture for this one. So sorry. I forgot to take one until half my plate was in my belly and well, obviously too late.

This could almost be put in the "no recipe needed" category because it was so simple. My review? Just okay. Nothing spectacular. A good way to use up some avocado that was not going to last much longer.

California Chicken
idea from Allrecipes.com

But of course I made some enhancements so I'll share the basics of what I did...sorry this isn't going to be an exact recipe!

1. I combined the following in a large bowl and let marinate all day:
8 chicken tenderloins
a little olive oil
a few tablespoons of lime juice
a handful of cilantro
2 garlic cloves, sliced
salt and pepper

2. Added a little olive oil to a large skillet, removed the chicken from the marinade and added it to the pan, and sauteed until cooked through. Since I used the tenderloins they cooked up pretty quickly.

3. Chicken was placed on a baking sheet covered with foil, and each tenderloin was topped with a few slices of Roma tomato and a slice of Monterey Jack cheese. I put it under the broiler on low for a few minutes until the cheese melted .

4. Transferred the chicken to a plate and topped with some fresh, sliced avocado. Served with a side of rice.