Strawberry Sauce

It's strawberry season!!  Mr. T and I picked up a couple of pints this weekend and had a slice of angel food cake with a strawberry sauce on top.  It was awesome.

Strawberry Sauce:

1 pint of strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 sprig of mint, chopped

Cut the large strawberries in half. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine strawberries, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and mint. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Use a potato masher and mash about 1/3 of cooked berries. Store in refrigerator.

Shrimp Stock

I made BBQ Shrimp last night.  I didn't want to throw all of the shrimp shells away without using them for something.  I decided to make some stock with everything so I can make some soup in the future.  The whole process was easy and homemade stock is so much better than the stuff in the can. 

Shrimp Stock:
(Emeril Lagasse)

1 pound (about 8 cups) shrimp shells and heads
1 coarsely chopped onion
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
2 coarsely chopped carrots
3 cloves garlic, smashed
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons salt

Place all ingredients in a heavy 6-quart stockpot. Add 4 quarts water, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Remove stock from heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl; let cool completely. Refrigerate stock up to 3 days or freeze in an airtight container, up to 2 months.

Cheesy Chicken Pasta Casserole

This is another recipe that I got from work.  I first tried this at my friend Marilyn's son's wedding rehearsal dinner.  (Did that make since?)  She was kind enough to share the recipe with me.  This is a great make ahead meal.  It freezes great too.

Cheese Chicken Pasta Casserole: 

(Marilyn)

6 chicken breasts (cooked and diced)

16 oz. spaghetti

1 stick of butter

1 medium onion

1 can of rotel tomatoes and green chilies

1 can of tomato soup plus ½ can of water

1 small box of Velveeta cheese (cubed)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

Cook and drain pasta.  In a pan, melt the butter and cook the onion until tender.  Add Rotel tomatoes, tomato soup, ½ can of water to onion, gradually add cheese until all melted.  Add the garlic powder and pepper.  Combine chicken, pasta and cheese sauce, mix so everything is combined.

Sesame-Crusted Tilapia

This is another recipe that I found in Clean Eating Magazine. I love tilapia fillets and I'm always looking for a new way to eat them.  This has quickly become one of my favorites. 

It took about 10 minutes to make, which is perfect for a week night meal.

Sesame-Crusted Tilapia:
(Clean Eating Magazine, March 2011)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons olive oil
½  teaspoon sesame oil
4 6-ounce tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 425 degrees..

In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, soy sauce, 2 teaspoons ginger, 2 teaspoons olive oil, and ½ teaspoon sesame oil.  Place tilapia in a shallow baking pan lined with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray.  Pour marinade over top, coating both sides of the fish.  Sprinkle sesame seeds evenly over the top and bake for 8 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Pour lime juice over the top of the fish when serving.  

Moroccan Chickpea Salad

I recently started getting Clean Eating Magazine in the mail.  It's full of fantastic recipes and so far I've enjoyed everything that I've tried.  It's forcing me to get outside of the box with my eating, while being healthier at the same time.


I've never been a huge fan of whole chick peas.  I know that they're good for you but the texture throws me a little.  This salad made me think about changing my mind.

Moroccan Chickpea Salad:
(Clean Eating Magazine, March 2011)
Serves 6          

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
¼ teaspoon sea salt and ground pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
3 cups BPA-free canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 large carrot, peeled and julienned
3 green onions, thinly sliced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
¼ cup of chopped cilantro and chopped mint
1/3 cup crumbled low-fat feta cheese

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, cumin, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, carrot, onion, tomatoes, red pepper, cilantro, mint, and feta cheese. 

          

Pour lemon juice dressing over chickpea mixture and toss to combine.  Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.                                                                                                                                                    

Hashbrowns

I have a confession to make.  I cannot make hash browns to save my life.  They never turn out right.  Mr. T on the other hand makes great hash browns.  They are crispy and delicious every time.

Crispy Hash Browns:

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp olive oil or canola oil
1 lb Russet baking potatoes, peeled and grated
1 white onion, chopped small or grated
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a large frying pan on medium high heat.

While the pan is heating, squeeze out as much moisture as you can from the grated potatoes. Either use a potato ricer or a kitchen towel.  Mix the potatoes and onion together.

When the oil in the pan heats up add the grated potatoes and onion to the pan, in one layer. Season with salt and pepper. After a few minutes, lift up one edge of the potatoes and see how done they are. If they have fried to a golden brown they are ready to flip. Use a large spatula to flip the potatoes over.   Continue to cook until they are golden brown on the bottom.

Mini White Chocolate Red Velvet Cupcakes

My mom's annual Valentine's Day Chili party is coming up.  I decided that she needed a Valentine's themed dessert to go along with it.  I wanted to test out my new mini muffin tins so I made some mini red velvet cupcakes with a white chocolate center.  I was going to use Hershey's Hugs as my candy because I didn't feel like chopping up chocolate but the Hershey's Cookies-n-Creme bar was on sale.


Mini White Chocolate Red Velvet Cupcakes:
(Cake recipe adapted from Paula Deen)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
White chocolate candies, 1 for each cupcake

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 4 mini muffin tins with liners.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Press white chocolate candy into the middle of each cupcake section.

Bake in oven for about 7-10 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely