Quick Appetizer

You know those nights when you get home from being gone all day and the last thing you want to do is fix dinner? Last night was one of those nights for me. I didn't even want to think about what we were going to have, much less fix a full on dinner. Thankfully, my husband doesn't mind eating light and since Logan still eats toddler pre-packaged foods sometimes, it's no big deal. So, last night we had a light dinner of these quick and easy appetizers. Logan actually LOVED them!



Parmesan Basil Pinwheels
Source: I've seen these numerous places, but can't remember a specific person to credit.

2 cans crescent rolls
1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 tbsp. dried basil
pinch of salt

Unroll each can of crescent rolls and pinch the seams together. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl. Spread mixture on crescent rolls and roll into a large log. Cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces. Bake according the crescent roll package.

Potato Shrimp Cakes with Spicy Sriracha Aioli

Let me tell you, there isn't much on TV these days if you haven't noticed. Therefore, I watch a lot of the Food Network. Today I was watching "Guy's Big Bite" which is not one of my favorites, but like I said, there was nothing on TV. I only continued watching because he was making sweet potato shrimp cakes. I hate sweet potatoes, but I figured there was no reason I couldn't watch and then just use regular, yummy, white potatoes. I liked his recipe ok, but decided to search the web for bloggers who had posted about similar recipes and how they turned out. You really can't base a recipe on a food network chef. I mean, they cook for a living. I want to know how regular people's dishes turn out.
I found a great recipe to use as inspiration and then took one great idea from Guy: marinating the shrimp before adding them to the cake mixture. Below is my recipe:

Potato Shrimp Cakes
Source: Me, with inspiration from Heart and Hearth

2 cups shrimp, raw and chopped
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. worchestire sauce
1/2 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
3 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed
2 medium glaric cloves, pressed
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. jalepeno, seeded and finely diced
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp. cilantro, minced

Mix soy sauce, worchestire, honey, sesame oil and shrimp. Let sit while you prep the rest of the ingredients.

After prepping all other ingredients, mix together. Drain shrimp from marinade and add the shrimp to the rest of the ingredients. Create flat patties and pan fry in vegetable oil.

Spicy Sriracha Aioli
Source: Me

1/4 cup mayonaise
1 tbsp sriracha hot chili sauce
1 tsp lime juice

Whisk together all ingredients.

If you aren't familiar with Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce this is what it looks like and it can be found even at your local Walmart. Even in Alabama. ;)

Oh My Neme Neme

If you have a child, or maybe if you just like cartoons, you may have see Phineas and Ferb.

Here's a picture if you need a visual:

We love it at our house. Logan likes it and they make up the funniest songs. One of which is "My Neme, Neme," a song about the evil guy's nemesis. I wish I knew the name of the tune so you could sing it in your head like I am now. Oh well. If you are completely lost now, don't worry. I'm about to bring it all full circle. ;)

I started thinking of that song because I am posting about my recent nemesis in the kitchen: caramelized onions. I don't know why I am obsessed with making them, but I just can't seem to get it right. No matter how "low and slow" I cook them, they still get crispy!! And they are supposed to be soft, and brown and sweet.

Here is a breakdown of what happens when I attempt them:

Onions in the pan with olive oil over medium heat.

After 5 minutes, still looking good.

After 5 more minutes, starting to get brown. Turned the heat down to medium low.

After 20 minutes total they are brown and crispy, not brown and soft.

They still tasted good, but just not what I was going for. I would love any suggestions!

Dinner By Accident

One of Logan's favorite past times these days is to open all the drawers in the kitchen and pull out all my recipes and cook books. While cleaning up his mess for the 3rd time yesterday, I came across a Rachael Ray cookbook with tabs for recipes I wanted to try. Of course I had never gotten around to any of them, so I decided I would make one for dinner. One look at the pasta carbonara and I was sold. I've made it once before using Tyler Florence's recipe and it was ok, but I wanted to try it again with a different recipe.

As for the protein part of the meal, chicken won the toss up and I decided to blacken it with a blackening recipe I recently saw on my friend Dela's website. She used it on fish, as was my initial plan, but I figured it would be good on chicken too. It was FANTASTIC! Thank you Dela! I will be using this any time blackening is required from now on. It was a little spicy for Logan, so he had some smoked sausage I threw on the grill with the chicken.

Blackened Chicken Carbonara:

Pasta Carbonara
Source: Rachael Ray, my changes/additions in italics

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pound pasta, such as spaghetti or rigatoni
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pan)
1/4 pound pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped (I used regular bacon)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped (I found I was out [gasp!] and so I minced some onion and used it instead)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used water because I was even out of chicken stock which is my usual substitute for wine)
2 large egg yolks
Freshly grated Romano cheese
Handful of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish (Omitted)

1. Put a large saucepot of water on to boil. Add a liberal amount of salt and the pasta. Cook to al dente, about 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and pancetta. Brown pancetta 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add wine and stir up all the pan drippings.

3. In a separate bowl, beat yolks, then add 1 large ladleful (about 1/2 cup) of the pasta cooking water. This tempers the eggs and keeps them from scrambling when added to the pasta.

4. Drain pasta well and add it directly to the skillet with pancetta and oil. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta. Toss rapidly to coat the pasta without cooking the egg. Remove pan from heat and add a big handful of cheese, lots of pepper, and a little salt. Continue to toss and turn the pasta until it soaks up egg mixture and thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley and extra grated Romano.

Blackening Recipe
Soure: Dela from Not Your Mama's Southern Cooking

2 teaspoons ground paprika
4 teaspoons dried leaf thyme (I used basil because I was out of thyme and I love basil!)
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to your taste
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I omitted because I didn't have any)

I actually doubled this and had plenty left over to use later!

Blueberries Again!

My little chef in training!

Here's some breaking news for most of you. This is actually the first internet announcement. You are getting the info before Facebook or my mommy blog. We are putting our house on the market in the next few weeks. I will probably go into more detail regarding the reasons on my other blog, but suffice it to say we have simply decided to downsize.
Therefore, I am cleaning out the freezer, slowly but surely; hence blueberries again. We only had a few left so I decided to use them up by making a blueberry cobbler. I used the same recipe as the southern apple cobbler I previously posted, but substituted blueberries and omitted the cinnamon and brown sugar. It was delicious! I love the thick crust on this cobbler! I encourage you to try this recipe with your favorite fruit!

Before:
After:

I Want To Stir!!!

This is what I hear a lot when cooking with my nephew. He is almost 3 and a great helper in the kitchen. He loves to cook! He has been staying with me and Logan this week during the day while my sister works. Logan has loved having someone to play with and he crawls after Grayson like a little puppy dog!

Today, Grayson and I made blueberry muffins. I had some blueberries in the freezer and was just craving some homemade muffins, but realized I didn't have eggs. My heart was already set and since I had already told Grayson we would make them, there was no going back! Thankfully, I found this recipe for egg-less muffins!!


Honestly, they were not as good as the blueberry muffins I made in this post. These got a little too brown around the edge before the middle cooked and I just liked the flavor of the other better. Of course they called for a lot more ingredients that I don't usually keep on hand. However, Grayson said, "they are very good for my tummy!" So at least they were a hit for him.

Just Needed A Little Inspiration

Hi! Remember me? It has been quite a while since I've made the time to sit down and blog. Even my mommy blog has been completely ignored for months. Of course I have been cooking, since my family has to eat, and I've even tried taking a few pictures, but over all nothing has really inspired me to blog.

Well that is no longer the case. I went out with the girl's last night and had some AWESOME coffee ice cream with oreo pieces mixed in from Coldstone! I have not quit thinking about how perfect it was. I even went on a quest today for a simple coffee ice cream recipe and came across this blog. It was like destiny because it only called for 3 ingredients and I had them all (pretty much).



Thankfully I have the wonderful Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker that is so simple I can do it while corraling a one year old. And Yes, my baby turned one last weekend. Another reason I've had no time to post. Baby plus building a business doesn't leave much time for blog writing or blog stalking. To those of you I used to regularly stalk...I've missed reading about your adventures!

And here is the awesome coffee icecream recipe with my additions in italics:



Homemade Coffee Ice Cream
Source: Eat At Home , Italic additions by me

1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups half and half (I only had whole milk for Logan, so I used whole milk)
4 tbsp brewed coffee, strong
1/3 package of oreo's crushed


Pour everything except the oreos in the ice cream maker and let it do it's thing until it is almost done. Add the oreo's at the last minute and let them combine. YUM!!!!