I'm Back and I've Got BBQ Shrimp and Grits!!

Hello dear readers! Please pardon my extended absence. I have been sick and the only thing I've been creating are NyQuil shooters. Makes for quite the fun drinking game, take a shot every time you sneeze until you pass out. (Cakegirl only jokes about this, please follow directions on all medications)

I was feeling a little southern today and woke up craving grits, cheesy grits to be specific. Oh I love them so!! Many people think that they don't like grits, but I suggest you try them this way. Grits are often thought of as bland and gritty, but if prepared properly they are delicious!

Okay hopefully I've sold you on the grits, no?? Let me sweeten the pot. Shrimp love grits, BBQ shrimp paired with cheddar cheese grits souffle'?? Amazing!

This recipe will feed 2 hungry adults with plenty of grits left over for breakfast. Serve warm with a couple fried eggs over easy. Yummo!

Let's start with the shrimp....
1 lb. shrimp
2 Tb. dry BBQ seasoning mix (my fav is KC Masterpiece, you will find this in the spice aisle)
2 Tb. Brown Sugar
2 Tb. Olive Oil

Peel and devein shrimp. I used 51-60 ct shrimp, they are less expensive. Feel free to use whatever size your budget allows, frozen is perfectly fine. Thaw under cool water in a colander with a smaller colander over the top to create a rain shower for your shrimp.

Drain and dry your shrimp. Toss with olive oil, dry BBQ seasoning, and brown sugar. Put in fridge to marinate while you prepare grits.

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9X9 baking dish.

2 C Water
1 C Milk
3/4 C Quick Cooking Grits
3 Tb Butter
1-2 tsp. salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tb. Dried Onion
1 C Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 Eggs
4 Slices Bacon-cooked very soft, chopped.

In saucepan add water and milk, heat on medium high until boiling. Reduce heat to medium low and whisk in grits. Stir for about 30 seconds and allow to simmer for 6-8 minutes while occasionally stirring until creamy and liquid is absorbed. Add butter and remove from heat.

In medium bowl whisk eggs and add dried onion, salt and pepper. Temper your eggs with about half a cup of your hot grits. This will prevent your eggs from scrambling. Add remaining grits and combine thoroughly. Add chopped bacon and cheddar cheese. Pour into your greased baking dish. Bake at 350 for one hour.

Your completed grits will resemble very loose scrambled eggs, don't worry they are cooked I promise. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to set up on top of stove while the shrimp cook.

Increase oven temp to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In small saucepan combine 1 1/2 C Ketchup, 3/4 C Brown Sugar, and 2 Tb. Dry BBQ seasoning. Cook over very low heat while shrimp cook. This is a sweet and slightly spicy BBQ sauce. Do not overheat, keep at about a 1-2. This sauce bubbles like lava and splatters due to the high sugar content. I stress this because I speak from experience. I have cleaned this sauce off of my ceiling before, okay enough said.

Bake marinated shrimp on parchment lined baking sheet at 400 for 6-8 minutes or until they are opaque. Add 1-2 minutes for larger sized shrimp.

Spoon grits onto plate, place shrimp on top and sauce as desired. This dinner is best served with a green salad to cut the rich flavors.

Be fearless, try this dish. It's like a hug from your grandma.

"I'll be your soup for all the seasons....all the year through"

Hello friends!! Well the weather outside is frightful and I'm obviously in the mood to sing. Ha Ha!! Nothing warms the soul like a nice hearty bowl of soup, unless it's oh...lets say "Schampbells" (I was warned recently that my bashing of name brands may get me in some trouble. So....Crunchy Crack o Fake Butter, ever so sorry.)
Tonight's recipe is the beginning of what I believe will be many, many more soup creations.

White Chicken Chili

I made this today for my co-workers and it went over well. My boss even came back from running errands with Tupperware looking for weekend leftovers. I'm not tooting my own horn here, I'm just telling you this EASY recipe is seriously delish!! This chili can be made in a crock pot or in a soup pot on the stove top.

1 package boneless skinless chicken breast
**OR**
1 bag frozen boneless skinless chicken breast
*(I use the frozen kind, no need to thaw, you can keep them on hand always and you don't have to plan ahead)

Season with your favorite taco seasoning, my favorite is a product by Mrs Dash- Southwest Chipotle. It's not too spicy but is full of flavor and has a hint of lime.

Roast chicken at 350 for 30 minutes, it's okay at this point if the chicken is still a little pink in the middle it will finish cooking in the crock pot or on the stove top.

Allow chicken to cool slightly. Cut into bite size cubes add to crock pot or soup pot.

Add...
1 26 oz can or box of chicken broth
2 28 oz. cans of Northern White Beans
3 small cans of Green Chiles (these are very mild and are the main flavor of this soup)
1 16 oz. bag Frozen Corn
1 16 oz. tub Sour Cream
2 Tb. Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper (or more depending on how spicy you like it)

Allow soup to cook on high in crock pot or med power on stove top for at least 3 hours. This will allow any uncooked chicken to finish up and let all the flavors of the chili to get acquainted.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese, hot sauce, and salsa. Add what you like, you can allow your friends and family to spice it up or mellow it out depending on their tastes.

Next!!!

Yes, believe it or not this was not the only delish soup I had today. After a invite from my girl Emily to come over for a glass of wine I discovered she was mid-soup!! A soup I have never had or even heard of. This was delish beyond delish!! I even had a second bowl risking the wrath of Mr Dan!! LOL, seriously good stuff!

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Yeah, yeah I don't want to hear any "I don't like cauliflower!!" "Oh my family will never eat that, it's a vegetable!!" This recipe comes from the woman who has to cook for the pickiest eaters I may have ever encountered. (Sorry Nikki and Dan, love ya)and it's a family favorite!! So try it!!

4-6 Green Onions-chopped
1 Tb. Olive Oil
1 26 oz. can or box of chicken broth (set aside 1 cup)
1 head Cauliflower (or Miss Em was smart and bought the pre-cut bags they sell in your produce section. 2 bags = 1 head Cauliflower)
1/4 C Flour
2 bars of Pepperjack Cheese-shredded (side note if you find this cheese pre-shredded save yourself lots of time and tell me where you found it!!)
1/4 Cup Roasted Red Peppers- chopped ( put more in if your a pepper fan!!)
Dash of hot sauce (my fav is Cholula!!)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute green onion in oil for about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth minus the 1 Cup you set aside, bring to a boil. Add cauliflower and cook for 6-8 minutes until tender. In separate bowl whisk together flour and 1 Cup reserved broth. Add to pot and cook for 2-3 minutes until it thickens. Remove from heat and add cheese, stir until smooth. Add hot sauce, roasted red peppers, and salt and pepper to taste.

Now I really enjoyed the cauliflower chunky in the soup, I'm sure if you wanted to be a sneaky Pete you could cook it longer and puree' it. Thanks Em for the dinner and for sharing your recipe with my readers. I forgot to take a pic sorry, was way too busy chowing down, but it was pretty and most importantly yummy!!

The Most Delicious Pork Roast Ever!!!!! I'm not kidding! Would I lie??

Okay I' officially coming out as the worst Jew on record. Pork, Pig, Swine, whatever you call it, it is the best thing ever. Wrap me in bacon and stick a fork in me I'm done. I love pork is basically what I'm saying here readers. Allow me a moment to wipe the drool from my mouth and I will share with you our delicious dinner from last night. I got thumbs up from the entire family!!! And you will never guess what was inside this lovely piece of heaven.....SPINACH!!! Yes, my children eat spinach! In full disclosure it was smothered in above mentioned pork and cream cheese, but it was spinach!! I was amazed as Abbie exclaimed " I like this green stuff this way!!"
Ahh sweet success!!

My second success in this dish was the ability for me to implement the drum-o-sun dried tomatoes my Mama got me for Christmas. Please don't get me wrong, I appreciated and loved the gift, I just have never been a big fan of the oily little shriveled little treats. Well, let me tell you little did I know, I've just never had them in a dish where they were paired with appropriate flavors. They love pesto, cream cheese, spinach, and garlic...mmmmm!! My mouth is watering for the leftovers right now!! Although, I have not checked the fridge and Curty was home until 2 today. Yikes!!

Well before I go on my search I will share the recipe with you. I made a few mistakes during the actual implementation of this dish. The flavor was still there but not the Martha-like presentation. PPffftttt who cares! Ok, I do most of the time, but not this time.

4-5 Lb Pork Loin Roast
* Butterflied and pounded flat, will be about 3/4 of an inch thick. Taking your sharpest chefs knife, make a cut almost all the way through the roast lengthwise. As if you are trying to make two skinnier pieces. Be very careful to NOT cut all the way through. Continue with this process on the left and right of your original cut. You will be left with a large flat-ish lovely piece of piggy. (See first pic. as you can see it will not be totally flat and smooth, this is okay.) Using the smooth side of a meat tenderizer work on some of the thicker spots again being careful to not go through to the board. Liberally season both sides of the pork with garlic salt.
**Product note- I love Lawry's brand, it is my favorite. Very garlicky and not too salty. It is sold everywhere and has a lime green cap.

2 Packages Cream Cheese (softened to room temperature)
5 Tb. Crushed Garlic
Aprox. 15 Sun Dried Tomatoes (rinsed and drained, cut into little squares about 1/4 in. see pic.)
4 Tb. prepared pesto (this comes in a tube at Walmart now!!! Keep it in the fridge, you will use it in later recipes)
1 tsp. Garlic Salt
1 tsp. Fresh Ground Pepper

Combine all above ingredients, spread on flattened piggy.

1 Package Fresh Baby Spinach

Place spinach in microwave safe bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap, leave a steam opening. Nuke on high for about a minute. No other ingredients are required, the spinach will steam and wilt perfectly! You aren't trying to kill it just soften it. Set the steamed spinach in the freezer for a few minutes to chill. Hot food on raw cold piggy is a BAD combo, so please follow this step.

Take chilled, cooked spinach and layer over your cream cheesed piggy. Cut strips of additional sun-dried tomatoes if you would like, this adds color, flavor and more Vitamin C. More veggie, more better!!


Ok so now you have a gorgeous Christmasy looking piece of pig, now the somewhat tricky part. You can do it, just try, be fearless!! Take your piggy and roll him up starting on a long side, tucking escaping ingredients as you go, your hands and cutting board will be a mess, but it's so worth it.

Preheat oven to 325

Now, the next step I unfortunately skipped due to lack of product. You really need butchers twine, this can be found in the gadget aisle of any grocery store, Walmart, Meijer, or wherever you shop. Tie this piggy up, no need to be neat...no need at all. The goal here is to keep the goodness inside!! Tie about 4 to 5 times.

Put about 5-6 Tb of olive oil in a dutch oven with a lid that is obviously ...oven safe. Place over med-high heat. Place tied up, stuffed piggy seam side down into hot pan. Watch your fingers, this will splatter a bit. Allow to sear on all sides, using tongs to carefully turn. You can see in my pic that I did not get a good sear, my lack of twine prohibited me from turning my piggy without losing all the filling. I don't profess to be perfect at all, some might question me posting this info of my partial fail, but I think it will be a lesson in "what not to do".

Place pounded, seasoned, stuffed, tied up piggy into oven at 325 with lid on. Roast for 15 minutes per lb. of original roast until meat reaches an internal temperature of 155. Allow meat to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing. (Remove string) You are going to have some delicious bits and pieces left in you pan, make it a sauce!!! Add 2 Tb. of butter and some heavy cream, about a cup for a creamy rich sauce. Want a lighter sauce and you are willing to part with precious vino?? Add the 2 Tb. butter and about a Cup of dry white wine. Whisk and heat until delicious, season with additional salt, garlic, and pepper if you like.

I served this meal with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, no recipe here readers. This is where you can tell I'm sooo not a Martha!! In the freezer section of your grocery store they have delicious pre-peeled, pre-boiled, cubed potatoes. They come in original russet, garlic, and sweet potato. A life saver!! After about 10 minutes in the microwave you simply add a little milk and butter. Just like homemade without all of the mess!!

I hope you take the time to make this, it was delicious!! 8 thumbs up here from Cake Girls house.

Tonights Dinner...Finally after an Evening of Neglect as described by CakeGirls children

So I finally got off my tush and cooked a "real" dinner. Ever so sorry for the "Pizza Hut incident" last night. They will live. We celebrated my holiday free house with a big Italian dinner. Ok so lasagna....mmm it was soo good!! Please, please don't think about using a jarred sauce, you might hurt my feelings. It's truly sooo easy!!

Sauce

1/4 C onion (again I keep a bag of frozen pre-chopped onions on hand at all times)
3 Tb. Garlic
5 Tb Olive Oil
2 Large Cans Crushed Tomatoes 28 oz.
2 Tb Honey
1 Tb Red Pepper Flake (to taste, add more if you like)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
4 Tb Italian Seasoning
2 Tb Basil (I'm telling you, the frozen little cubes found at Trader Joes are a lifesaver!! Also available, cilantro and garlic)

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until softened and translucent. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat.


1 1/2 lb ground beef or Italian sausage
2 Tb Garlic
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Saute' until brown and thoroughly cooked

2 Cans Mushrooms

Drain and set aside (fancy huh??)

1 Large tub Ricotta Cheese
2 Large Eggs- beaten
2 Tb Garlic
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
3 Tb Prepared Pesto (this comes in tubes now at most grocery stores, keep it on hand, this is most useful in several of my recipes)

Mix all ingredients together and set aside.

1 large bag shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Add lasagna noodles to boiling water with 2 Tb. Olive oil and 1 tsp salt.

Cook noodles until al dente' (This is almost all the way cooked, but not quite table ready)

Pre-heat oven to 375

Start layering ingredients into greased 9 X 13 pan starting with sauce.

Proceed as follows until you are out of room in dish or out of ingredients. I usually get 4 layers.

Sauce,noodles,ricotta mix,hamburger,mushrooms,shredded mozzarella, sauce....and on and on ending with noodles topped with remaining sauce and cheese.

Bake at 375 for approximately 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Cheese on top will be browned and delicious. I usually cook mine on a parchment lined cookie sheet to prevent spillage in the oven.

Allow to set up for 15 minutes or so while you make garlic bread, salad etc...

Hello and Happy New Year my Friends!!

Hello dear readers! I have had a busy couple of days taking down and organizing my Christmas decor. You can call off Dr. Phil my close friends...I have decided against the year round tree. My house is now very clean and organized and I was able to cook again. Can't make a mess in the middle of a mess.

First recipe was done Saturday AM before Christmas teardown.

Apple Fritters

1 C All Purpose Flour
4 Tb Sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 Tb Cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Whisk together and set aside

2/3 C Milk
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 Tb. Melted Butter

Whisk together then add to dry ingredients. Mix until smooth.

2 Large Egg Whites

Beat until stiff peaks form

Fold egg whites into batter, do not over-mix.

1 large apple

Dice and toss into 1 Tb lemon or orange juice to prevent browning.

Fold apples into batter.

Heat vegetable oil in large dutch oven to 350-375. This is around the donut mark on your candy/deep fry thermometer.

Take completed batter and drop carefully, away from you, by heaping tablespoon into the hot oil. These fritters take about 5 minutes to cook, you should turn each piece a few times during frying to ensure even browning. Allow oil to resume it's proper temperature before moving onto the next batch.

Line a cookie sheet or cooling rack with paper towel to drain. Immediately coat cooked fritters with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Serve hot...you the cook will get the cold fritters but the thanks from your gracious family is certainly worth the work and mess right??? Ha Ha....

Seriously, this is not an every Saturday recipe, but is a delicious special breakfast to make from time to time. You can use different fruits, bananas with a peanut butter sauce, raisins with cinnamon sugar, use your imagination just use a fresh fruit, not canned you will end up with a soggy mess.

New Years Eve Potstickers...more to follow depending on champagne consumption

So our New Years Eve is going well, nice and quiet with the exception of "Wii" noise and Abigail yelling at the games. Recipes conquered so far 1, we shall see how many make it to the blog. Please pardon me dear readers if champagne hinders my progress as I am ringing in the new year. Pizza and apple fritters are planned as well....

Chinese Steamed Potstickers or Dumplings

1/2 lb. ground Pork
2 Tb. Soy Sauce
2 Tb. Chopped Garlic (*** ADD side-note on garlic listed below)
1 snipped green onion (use kitchen shears, so easy)
1 Tb. Grated Fresh Ginger
1/4 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1 Head of cabbage (plain is fine, no need to buy the pricey Chinese style)
1 Package Wonton wrappers **

* These are typically found in the produce section of your grocery store, buy the small ones if available, but often you will only be able to find the egg roll wrappers. These are the SAME thing I promise ,just different sizes. You can trim them to fit your needs. Save scraps in a Ziploc bag to boil like fresh pasta the next day. For a shopping fiend I can be quite frugal with leftovers. OK we can all see I'm on the ADD bus tonight...back to business!!

Combine all ingredients with the exception of wrappers and cabbage. Set aside.

Take a 5 Qt. Stockpot and fill with 1 inch or so of water. Add a vegetable steamer insert and line evenly with cabbage leaves(as shown in picture). Why cabbage you ask?? I'm sure an authentic chef would eloquently explain why, but I will just tell you that your lovely dumplings will stick like crazy to your steamer insert and I imagine the cabbage also acts as a barrier so they all cook evenly. Place on lid and put burner on med high.

Go back to your filling mixture and wrappers. You need to keep all of your wrappers and filled dumplings under wet paper towels to prevent them from drying out. Take 1 Tb. filling and place in the center of your wonton wrapper that you have placed at a diagonal. You will need "glue" to close your little dumplings, this is a simple mix of flour,about 4 Tb, and water about 1/2 C. Add more water as needed. Final product should be pretty liquidy. You are going to wrap the up like a little present. Pardon me if I ramble.... using your fingers place and layer of your "glue" around the entire perimeter of the wrapper. Take corner closest to you and connect to the top corner, carefully press all air out and seal edges. Connect left and right corners to top corner and add additional "glue" as needed. Fold the entire top (all three corners over to the body of the dumpling to create a cute little envelope like parcel of porky goodness.

Place completed dumplings on a wet paper towel lined cookie sheet or platter. Cover with additional wet paper towels.

Take completed dumpling to your pot which should be nice and steamy now. Be careful, steam burns are miserable. Using tongs place dumplings on cabbage lined steamer insert. Timing for cooking is approximately 5 minutes. You can tell when they are done when you gently push on them with tongs and they are no longer mushy. I have made these several times, but in 100% non Martha like honesty I was very nervous and cut open my first couple of batches to ensure I wasn't serving raw pig to my family. Just cook it until the meat is opaque.

Remove cooked dumplings from pot and allow to cool slightly. Some people like to up the challenge of this dish and crisp up the flat bottoms of their dumplings. I prefer them simply steamed. To do this pour just enough sesame seed or even vegetable oil in a small saute' pan to coat the bottom. Placed steamed, fully cooked dumplings into hot oil and brown until crispy. Drain on paper towels. ** Shout out to Brawny on this recipe huh??

Dipping sauces
**While these are delicious all on their own, who can resist a dip? Besides my 8 year old who recently has an aversion to all sauces and dips. I know, not my kid right??!

Soy Sauce
Ponzu Sauce (soy sauce with citrus, sold in Asian section of most grocery stores)
Duck Sauce
Or any Asiany sauce that sounds good to you.

Cooking is fun, mix up this recipe, add red pepper flake, add peppers, use ground chicken. Make it yours!! Just have fun and enjoy!

** As promised, note about garlic, Martha close your ears, Emeril shut it down, Julia, had it been available in your day you would have wholeheartedly agreed with this statement I'm almost certain!!

Buy the jars of chopped garlic sold in the produce section of your grocery. It is simple, lasts longer than fresh garlic, so is in turn cost effective. I was a garlic snob back in my early cooking days and got over that!! I buy the huge jar from Walmart and it's perfectly delightful, your friends and family will never know.

Happy New Year my dear friends!! Eat Well and live well in this new year.

With much love,

Cake Girl

Needing an escape from sweet potatoes and stuffing!!?? Here ya go

Thai Coconut Curry Soup with Grilled Chicken
By Karen Jenne (with a bit of help from the internet)

Marinade for Chicken (4 hours or overnight is best)

3 cloves garlic
2 Tb. freshly grated ginger
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
¼ tsp red pepper flake
½ Cup water
¼ Cup soy
¼ Cup Worcestershire
1 Tb honey

Stir all ingredients together until well combined and marinate chicken. **I think this recipe would also be very good with shrimp, but cut marinade time to 1 hour maximum.

Coconut Curry Soup (recipe for soup serves 2, double as needed)

½ box low sodium chicken broth
1 16 oz. can low fat coconut milk
1 Tb freshly grated ginger (to taste)
½ Tb garlic (to taste)
1 Tb lime zest
1 Tb lime juice
1 Tb honey
½ Tb red pepper flake (to taste)
2 Tb red curry powder (to taste)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp pepper

Combine all soup ingredients in saucepan over low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally.


Remove chicken or shrimp from marinade and grill. Allow to rest and slice chicken in thin strips or cut shrimp in half.

Boil a large pot of water and remove from heat, add 1 package Thai rice noodles. Stir to separate noodles and allow to soak away from heat source for 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water.

Place rinsed noodles in individual serving bowls and ladle hot broth over them. Top with grilled chicken or shrimp. Serve with steamed broccoli or vegetable of choice



Optional, but very tasty toppings

Thai peanut sauce
Chopped peanuts
Lime wedges