Pasta with Lemon Shrimp

My husband and I love pasta and shrimp dishes at home. Until today, I hadn't found a recipe I liked so these meals ended up being a sauce-less heap of pasta with shrimp on top. Fear no more, the recipe has been found! I've used all of these ingredients in some fashion or another trying to perfect this dish but I never nailed down the secret; lemon juice. Who knew!

The recipe comes from this pin from The Recipe Club blog.

Vegetable Oil

Kosher salt

1 1/2 pounds linguine

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

5 tablespoons good olive oil

3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)

2 pounds large shirmp, peeled and deveined

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)

1/2 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds

1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large, heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 tablespoon of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Summer Sangria

Oh, summer. The surf, the sand...the sangria! 

This pin involved a lot of slicing and dicing. The results were well worth the 2 hour wait!


1 750-ml bottle dry white wine (I opted for a cheaper bottle since I was infusing my own flavor)
1 1/2 cups Essensia
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup peach liqueur (I skipped the extra calories)

3 peaches, each cut into 12 slices
1 large orange, cut crosswise into 6 slices
1 large lemon, cut crosswise into 6 slices (Poor selection at the store this week)
3 to 4 cups ice cubes (I substituted with the frozen raspberies)
2 cups frozen raspberries
1 small pear

Mix white wine, Essensia, strawberries, peach liqueur, peaches, orange slices, lemon slices, pear and frozen raspberries in large pitcher, smashing citrus slices slightly. Let stand at room temperature at least 2 hours or chill up to 4 hours. Serve sangria over ice. 

Mexican Pizza Recipe

Ta da! A post that is about something other than cross stitching. I know it's been a long time but when I like something, I really like it.

Last night we had the.most.amazing stuffed mexican pizzas for dinner. Unfortunately, we ate it so fast I forgot to take a photo for comparison to the pin. Needless to say, we will be making this one again!

Ingredients:

Approx 1/2 lb ground beef or ground turkey

1/2 TBSP taco seasoning

1/4-1/2 cup re fried beans

1/4-1/2 cup salsa ( jarred or homemade)

1/4-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or your desired flavor)

2- 4in flour tortillas

your choice of toppings, ex: tomatoes, green onions, olives

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef in skillet. Add in taco seasoning. Drain if needed. Spray baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.  Lay one tortilla on sheet. Spread with beans, then, with meat. Cover with second tortilla. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Spread top tortilla with salsa, then, top with cheese and desired toppings. Bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted completely. Cool slightly before cutting.

Mine did look almost as good as the picture...

Corned Beef and Cabbage Stew

My husband is Irish through and through so for St. Patrick's day we went to a local pub. Along with our festive green beer, we were served a delicious bowl of corned beef stew. Yummy! That meal inspired me and I got to pinning.

I found this pin and went to the grocery store straight away. The recipe is pretty simple; just gather the ingredients, them in a pot and wait (impatiently!). I made a few changes to the recipe from Skinny Taste in an effort to mimic what we had at the pub.

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 leeks, chopped (whites and light green only)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 lb lean corned beef brisket (yields 9 oz cooked)
• 6 cups of water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
• 1 small head cabbage, cored and chopped
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• fresh pepper to taste

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium low heat. Add leeks and sauté until soft, about 4-5 minutes; add garlic, carrots and yellow pepper and sauté about 2-3 minutes.

Add corned beef, peppercorns or seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef, bay leaves, parsley and water; cover and bring to a boil. Simmer covered on low heat for 3 hours, until the meat becomes tender.

Remove the corned beef, set it on a cutting board and shred with a fork cube. Return it to the pot then add the cabbage and potatoes, taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed. Cook until the potatoes and cabbage are tender, about 45 more minutes. 

 
The recipe makes about 6 cups so we even had leftovers. I know what you're thinking....leftover soup isn't always the best. But this was even better as leftovers because the flavors had time to mix and mingle overnight.

Creamy Tortellini Soup

This pin made me salivate faster than I could repin. Creamy Tortellini Soup, yum! The recipe is extremely simple. Basically, throw some of this ad some of that into a pot and let simmer. The hubs isn't big on chunky tomato so we left out the sun dried tomatoes but I did decide to ass some ground beef for some added protein.

The soup turned out better than I could have imagined. We ended up with twice as much as what we wanted for dinner. Our leftovers for lunch today were just as delicious as the first time around.