Tried and true recipes, new twists on old favorites, and new dishes to expand my family's palate.
I saw this dish in a recent issue of Taste of Home magazine and knew I had to make it. Feta, shrimp, lemon and pasta? Yup, I can fall in love with that combination.
Being Catholic, and it being Lent, I look for new and different meatless recipes to serve for the next few weeks. This one was on the top of my list. Of course, after I made it and was cleaning up I realized this recipe calls for chicken broth, and, yes, chicken broth would be considered a meat when cooking that should not be used on a meatless day during Lent. I’m sure God forgave me for that minor mistake. I hope.
I only made one change to this recipe, and that change came about because I couldn’t get one major ingredient. Fresh basil. I see it all the time in any of our grocery stores, even during the winter, but for whatever reason, fresh basil decided to evacuate itself from all produce sections in my area last week. I did, however, have two bunches of fresh cilantro in my fridge. In fact, I always have fresh cilantro in a mason jar in my fridge because I can’t live without the stuff.
I was hesitant at first to make the switch from the basil to the cilantro, but after reviewing the ingredients again I realized cilantro would work just as well, if not better. I do plan on making this again using basil, but if you find yourself in a pinch like me, I highly recommend the substitution of cilantro if need be. That was the only thing I changed about this recipe.
Mediterranean Shrimp Skillet
From Taste of Home Magazine February/March 2011 issue
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, sauté shrimp in oil until shrimp turn pink. Add the garlic, salt and pepper; cook 1 minute longer. Remove and set aside.
In the same skillet, heat 1 cup broth, lemon juice and dried basil. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and remaining broth until smooth; stir into the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in spinach and shrimp; cook until spinach is wilted.
Drain pasta; serve with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with feta cheese and fresh basil.
Enjoy!
My children love taco night. When I say “taco” I mean the ones you buy in the box that have crispy and soft taco shells, a taco seasoning packet and some taco sauce. They don’t want adventurous fish or chicken taco’s. And that’s okay, because I can enjoy that ground meat mixture in a corn shell taco just as much as an elaborate one.
I ended up with leftover taco meat and toppings and decided to switch it up and throw it on top of some pizza dough. It made my children happy not once but twice this week when dinner was served.
It also made my life a little easier knowing dinner would be quick and easy to throw together.
You don’t need to have leftovers from taco night to make this, you can just follow the basic recipe below and make the pizza by itself. Yum!
TACO PIZZA:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
In a skillet, begin browning your meat. Drain of all fat, add the taco seasoning packet and the amount of water instructed on the packet. Stir together, remove from the heat and set to the side.
Add a little olive oil to a sheet pan and some to the outside of the pizza dough. Work your dough into a rectangular shape on the baking sheet. If you use a pizza stone, which is an even better choice), work the dough out to fit the size stone you are using. I used a standard size sheet pan and worked my dough to fit the size of the pan.
Using a slotted spoon, cover the top of the pizza dough with the ground meat mixture. Top that with the cheddar cheese.
Place on the bottom rack of the oven and bake until the bottom is nice and crusty. If the top of the pizza dough is not browned enough, move it to the top rack and place it under the broiler for a minute or two to make it the color/crispness you are looking for. Be sure to watch it closely since it takes only seconds to burn!
While the pizza is baking dice up your tomatoes and shred some lettuce.
As soon as the pizza is done, remove the oven and place on a cutting board. Top with the tomatoes, lettuce and sprinkle with over some taco sauce, using just enough so that it doesn’t make it too soggy. You don’t want it dripping in the sauce!
Add whatever other toppings you like such as sliced black olives, diced onion, avocado, cilantro, or sour cream.
Enjoy!
This is just one of my oldest son’s most favorite meals to eat. And it’s simple since you can throw it together early in the day, or even the day before, and then pop it in the oven to bake for a bit when you need a quick dinner on the table.
I’m not going to go nuts about giving precise measurements for this dish because I don’t really have any. I can give hints of how much of this and that I’ve used, but in all honesty, it’s really just something you can throw together without worrying about being exact with the amounts. Most of how I cook is really me throwing this and that in together and seeing how it comes out. If there were one area of my blog I could say I struggle with its coming up with precise measurements for recipes. While sometimes I’m able to provide that easily, I can’t say it always works out that way. Sometimes I just need to make something a second or third time before I publish it so that I can really focus on exactly how much of an ingredient I’m using.
With that being said, use this as a general guideline of ingredients and measuring and don’t make yourself crazy about how much of each you use. It’s food, folks. We are meant to enjoy it, not stress over it.
BAKED STUFFED SHELLS:
If you are making your own homemade tomato sauce, good for you. There is nothing else in the world like it. But, if you aren’t, use whatever brand you prefer.
In a 13″ x 9″ baking dish, spoon some sauce across the bottom.
Cook your pasta shells for half the amount of time listed on the box. You don’t want them aldente for this dish. You only want to partially cook these since they will continue to cook while you bake the dish in the oven. Make sure to salt the water well before cooking the pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, in a large bowl, add the ricotta, 3/4 of the shredded mozzarella, chopped parsley, grate parmesan and salt and pepper. Stir together well and then spoon into a large Ziploc bag. You may want to only spoon in half the mixture to work with and then refill it with the rest when you’re done. It makes the bag easier to manage while you are filling the shells.
Once the pasta is done, strain it and rinse with cold water. Once cool to the touch, begin filling each pasta shell with the ricotta mixture. You don’t want to over fill the shell’s, but put just enough in each shell so that you can easily fold the shell so that each open end meets.
As you fill and fold each shell, place them seam side down in the baking dish. Continue repeating until you have filled the dish.
Spoon on some tomato sauce, followed by a sprinkling of the shredded mozzarella.
At this point you can either place them in the fridge until you are ready to bake them, or throw them into the oven and bake them right away.
Place them, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven and bake until heated through and bubbly and the cheese has completely melted.
Enjoy with a salad and some garlic bread!
Note: I ended up with about 38 cooked and stuff shells. I was able to fit 27 of them on the first layer of the baking dish. I covered those with sauce and mozzarella and then added the remaining stuffed shells to the top of them, spaced out as evenly as possible, and topping those with sauce and shredded mozzarella as well. You can do it this way with the extra shells that don’t fit into a single layer in the baking dish, or you can just make a smaller batch in a smaller baking dish. Your choice. Either way, nothing goes to waste.
A few months ago I visited one of my favorite food blogger sites: Kathy at Polwig.
She had just updated her cooking section with a dish she called Chicken Cakes with Herbs and I knew right away I wanted to give them a try. I did and exactly as her post described they were not only simple, easy and delicious, but my family too requested I make them again several times that week.
Kathy’s recipe calls for two herbs: chives and basil. By the time I made them the second time for my family I was out of these herbs and my garden was long done, so no fresh basil to pick from. I did have a large bunch of fresh cilantro sitting in my fridge so I used that in place of the chives and basil. It gave it a completely different twist, and when I decided to make these into slider style cakes and top them with some fresh Pico de Gallo, it became pure heaven.
I will tell you this, these are delicious anyway you choose to make them. Simple and tender, you can use Kathy’s version with chives and basil, add the fresh cilantro like I’ve tried, or add whatever fresh herb you want as the dominant flavor in this dish. Fresh rosemary might be good, too.
I’ve made these with both ground chicken and ground turkey and both were equally delicious. Unlike other burgers or bites made with lean ground turkey or chicken these are not dry in the least. I lend that to the addition of the grated mozzarella cheese.
My next venture with these is to vary the cheese and see what else I can come up with. No matter how you make them, I bet your family will be begging you to make them over and over again. Simple and delicious. Perfect. These are great as a main meal or even made smaller for an appetizer with a dipping sauce. Maybe some honey mustard, ranch or chipotle sauce. Yum.
If you haven’t checked out Kathy’s blog you really should. She shares her family, home and her kitchen with you. If you want something different and unique for dinner or lunch, check out what she has to offer. Her recipes are varied and not the ordinary everyday dish. I bet you will enjoy her blog as much as I do.
To see how to make these tasty bites, visit her blog for the recipe Chicken Cakes with Herbs. I followed her recipe exactly, switching out the chives and the basil for a bunch of fresh cilantro. Other than that, they were exactly the same. Give them a try and see what you can come up with. The possibilities are endless!
Thanks, Kathy for a great recipe. My family loves them!
Do you love soup as much as I do? I could eat soup three times a day, everyday for a month and never be sick of it.
My husband has another opinion. He likes soup, but for him it’s a lunch item accompanied by a sandwich. For me, it’s a meal. For my children it means grilled cheese, because soup for dinner has to be shared with grilled cheese sandwiches or they won’t eat it. My family is fickle and they make me crazy sometimes.
If you checked out my Smothered Roast Beef recipe from the other day, I hinted that the leftovers from that dish would be used in another recipe. This is that recipe.
And before any of you balk at this I’m going to tell you upfront that some of the gravy from that roast beef is used as the base of this soup. Don’t go thinking that is weird, gravy in soup, because if you remember that gravy was made with a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. So really, it’s only fitting for it to be in this soup. And it works. Very well, I might add.
I make this in the slow cooker and it works out perfectly fine.
BEEF BARLEY SOUP:
Place all ingredients in the slower cook leaving out the barley.
Stir well, season accordingly, cover and set to low. Allow to cook on low for 4 hours. At the end of 4 hours, stir in the barley and cover. Allow to continue cooking for an additional 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until barley is tender.
Serve up with some grilled cheese.
Enjoy!
