Shrimp Scampi

Thankfully my kids like seafood! Here's a fast and easy recipe I got from my friend Donna. I first made it for our anniversary this past October and have made it a bunch of times since. It was a lifesaver during Lent!



Ingredients
 1 pound shrimp (we keep a big bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer and pull from that.)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup cut up tomatoes (I slice grape tomatoes just in half, it's faster and they hold their shape better.)
3/4 stick butter
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tsp Parsley (otherwise known as What's That Green Stuff Mommy?)

Directions

Put olive oil in pan and saute garlic three minutes.
Add wine, lemon juice and butter and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes
Add shrimp and tomatoes and saute until shrimp is pink and tomatoes are soft.
Pour over rice or pasta (we use linguine.)

Homemade Corn Bread

This is just as fast as a boxed mix but so much better and less expensive also.

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow, blue or white cornmeal (I've only used yellow.)
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar (I use four)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix together dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl mix together oil, milk and eggs.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix til batter is smooth. Do not overbeat.

Pour into a greased 9x9x2 baking dish (I used 11x7.) 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm with butter.

Easy "Chinese" Chicken and Broccoli

I will preface this one by saying that my kids like broccoli and mushrooms. I know a lot of kids do not. This is a recipe I make all the time. It's quick, easy and everyone in my house loves it. I found it on About.Com when I searched for recipes that used stew meat. Stew meat is inexpensive, which is my goal, but you could use something more expensive if you'd like. Broccoli and mushrooms are fresh which I also like. (But don't have to be if you don't have them on hand, you can use frozen broccoli florets and either skip the mushrooms or use canned, sliced. The original recipe doesn't call for mushrooms at all.) It's also a one pot, one dish meal, which I love as well.

Ingredients
2 to 3 cups leftover steak thinly sliced into 1" strips (aka stew meat in my house)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups fresh broccoli florets (or 1 16 ounce bag frozen florets)

1 package dry brown gravy mix (I use two)

1 cup water (I use 2 cups because I use two packs of gravy mix)

pepper to taste


I add in a package of fresh sliced mushrooms


Cooked white rice or Chinese Noodles (I do rice.)


Directions
Heat oil in large frying pan over med. high heat. Add sliced steak strips (stew meat) and saute until hot, about three minutes (longer if frozen as mine always is.) Add broccoli (uncooked) and mushrooms if you choose to use them, and mix.

In a small bowl stir together the gravy mix, water and pepper (I never use pepper.) Add to the broccoli and beef in the pan.

Heat to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer about 10 minutes.

Serve over rice or noodles.

Makes 4-5 servings, although we've gotten six out of it, (keeping in mind that one of our servings is still a littler kid,) and there's never any left at my house.

Enjoy!

Two recipes in one: Homemade Granola Bars

A couple of years ago I cut a granola bar recipe out of the newspaper. It's called Becky's Granola Bark. It's a good recipe and you can vary the ingredients to suit your tastes, and I always doubled it to get a good amount of them.

One day I wanted to make them but I didn't have half the stuff on the list so I made up my own, using her original as a basis for it. They came out great, best I've ever made. So I'll write mine first, and then Becky's below. Two for the price of one.

Chocolate Craisin Granola Bars


Ingredients:
1) 2 cups Oatmeal (Quick Oats)

2) 1/3 cup Wheat Flour

3) 1/2 tsp cinnamon

4) 1 package Craisins

5) 2/3 cup chocolate chip (I use semi sweet)



6) 1/2 cup brown sugar

7) 1 stick butter

8) 1/4 cup honey


Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Mix first five ingredients in a large bowl together.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix butter, honey and brown sugar, stir.

Pour hot ingredients from saucepan over the dry ingredients in large bowl. (This will melt the chocolate chips.) Stir until completely mixed.

Pour out onto a cookie sheet and flatten out until even all the way across the pan in both directions. There may not be enough mixture to spread right to the edge of the pan but it'll get pretty close.

Bake 20-22 minutes, check at 20 minutes. You'll kind of be able to see the edges crisp up. With them being chocolate colored, it's hard, but you can still tell. Cool completely in pan and cut or break into bars.

If you try them, let me know how you like them.


Next....



Becky's Granola Bark (my notes in parenthesis.)

Ingredients:
1 cup oats

1 cup sliced almonds (I've used pureed almonds, 1/3 cup.)

1/2 cup coconut flakes (I never used them I don't like coconut)

1/4 cup wheat germ

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons honey



Other mix-ins could could include pumpkin puree, carrot puree, raisins. (I particularly like the raisin and carrot combo, makes it sweet.)

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl mix together dry ingredients. Set aside.

In small saucepan combine butter, honey and brown sugar.

Pour over oat mixture and stir to combine.

Spread on cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes.

Let cool completely in pan and cut or break into pieces.

Arizona Chicken Casserole

Similar to a chicken marsala. Really good. My parents had it in Arizona and asked for the recipe from the restaurant, if I remember correctly. It's from 2002.

Ingredients

3 lbs Chicken Breasts (I use boneless, skinless chicken tenders, 3 per person.)
salt, pepper, paprika (we don't use the paprkia.)
6 T. butter or margarine
1 cup whole mushrooms (we slice them in half)
1 can (15 oz) artichoke hearts
3 T. flour
2 cups chicken boullion
1/3 cup sherry


Directions:
Sprinkle chicken with desired amount of salt, pepper and pakrika. Place 4 tablespoons of butter or margarine in large skillet. Brown chicken.

When all chicken is browned, place in 9x13 baking dish.

Add mushrooms. Drain artichoke heats and add to chicken and mushrooms in casserole.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to skillet and melt over medium heat.

Stir in flour until all flour is absorbed.

Gradually add boullion and continue stirring until thickened.

Stir in sherry.

Pour sauce over chkcken, cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Remove cover and bake additional 30 minutes.
 
Easy prep but allow for the long bake time.
 
**Valerie Lomus has made this without the artichoke hearts, subbing in broccoli florets and onions instead. (She kept the same sauce though.)

Old World Raspberry Bars

This is such an old recipe that I've been making since I was in elementary school. I entered it into a Girl Scout Bake-off contest and won.

You can use raspberry, strawberry, or apricot jelly. These are fast and easy and only have a few ingredients. I make them several times each holiday season. A friend of mine even melts chocolate and drizzles it over the top before cutting.


Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup margarine (2 sticks)

1 egg



Filling: 12 oz. raspberry jelly (seedless works well) or choose your own flavor


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

This recipe says to grease an 8 x 12 pan, but I use 11x7. You probably could use 9 x 13, they'd just be thinner.

Mix together all ingredients EXCEPT jelly.

Beat at low speed, scraping sides of bowl occasionally until evenly mixed.

Reserve approx. 1 cup of mixture, set aside.

Press remaining mixture into baking dish.

Spread jelly within 1/2" of edges.

Crumble (break into little pieces and drop them all over the top) the remaining 1 cup of batter over the jelly.

Bake at 350 degrees 42-50 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.

Cool completely and cut into bars.