Shrimp & Corn Chowder

This is an old recipe I posted a ways back, but I've changed it up a little since the first time I've made it. I also, almost never, make the same recipe twice. I just get too excited about news ones. We have a few dinners that I make frequently but they're not recipe worthy. They're things like steak tips or spaghetti and meatballs. I've made this probably three times since last fall. I changed it up again this time, but will go back to the way I usually make it. It's the perfect meal for a cold or rainy day, but it's even good in warm weather. Sometimes you just get a soup craving, even when it's warm out...

Shrimp & Corn Chowder
 adapted from Wine Imbiber

6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 onion, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
about a tsp of dried thyme
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3-4 tbsp. chipotle seasoning* see what I use below
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
6-7 cups chicken or beef stock (can use veggie, but I think these have more flavor)
2 cups of heavy cream
2 Idaho potatoes
1/2 lb.shrimp chopped into pieces
1 bag frozen corn
salt and pepper
sprinkle of parsley
green onion for garnish (optional)
 ** have on hand: mashed potato flakes

1. In a large stock pot, cook the bacon pieces until crispy. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.
2. Add the onion, celery, carrot, jalapeno and garlic to the stock pot with the bacon drippings. Saute until veggies begin to soften. Sprinkle with flour, chipotle seasoning, and red pepper flakes, and thyme and stir to coat. Cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. While it heats up, peel and dice the potatoes.
4. Add the potatoes and cream and bring to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 7-10 minutes. This process helps break down the potatoes, which will thicken up the broth.
5. Add the corn and shrimp and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the corn and shrimp are heated through.
6. Stir in parsley. Serve garnished with green onion and the cooked bacon pieces.

** If you feel your broth is not as thick as you'd like, add the potato flakes, a quarter cup at a time to thicken it up a bit. This past time I ended up adding a whole cup...it made the broth VERY thick once it had time to sit. In the past I've only added about 1/2 cup and that worked out perfectly. All depends on your taste!

This is what I use when I have a recipe that calls for chipotle seasoning. I use it when I just want to add any random seasoning, because IT'S THAT GOOD. Get yourself some, you will use it all the time.

Apple BBQ Pulled Pork

The original version of this recipe was a healthier alternative to pulled pork. I adapted it for two reasons. First, I had almost all of the ingredients. Second, it called for turkey tenderloins, which my grocer had about 1 lb of. They weren't getting any more in until today and I wasn't about to pay $14 for turkey breast cutlets. So, I decided to use a pork roast instead, which was cheaper. I was definitely bummed because I wanted to try the pulled turkey, but I'll save that for another time.

Coming home from Atlantic City reminds me of how much March sucks at work. It is easily the busiest month in school for me. The perfect time for a much needed vacation, but so much going on. A crock pot meal was definitely on my list for this week, because I just didn't have the time to make a full-blown meal with getting back into the swing of everything and having cake class Wednesday. I prepped everything for this meal the night before, with the exception of cutting the apples. I sliced the onions and mixed together the sauce. Then, in the morning I sliced the apples and threw them, the onions, and pork into the crock pot and topped with sauce. When I came home it was perfectly cooked! All I had to do was shred and eat! That solved yesterday's dinner. Wednesday I made Hamburger Helper (don't judge!), and Tuesday, upon my return from AC, I was greeted with my Gram's homemade mac and cheese! The recipe below is the original with some notes on how I adapted it.

Tonight, I'm going out to eat. I feel guilty since I had to go out for all of my meals when I was in AC but for only having a 3-day work week, it was a long and trying one. Also, my comma key isn't working 100% on here, so if there's a few missing commas in this post or any other recent ones, I know they're missing. I'm just too drained to put in the extra focus to remember to hit the key harder....

Apple BBQ Pulled Pork
Adapted from Slender Kitchen

2 lb. turkey tenderloins (I used a 2.5 lb pork roast)
1 cup BBQ sauce (the healthier the better)
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp. cumin (I used just under a tbsp., I wanted more flavor)
1 tbsp. chili powder (I used just under a tbsp. of this as well)
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt and pepper
1 medium onion, sliced
2 apples, sliced

1. Mix together the BBq sauce through the salt and pepper. Adjust the amount of seasoning to taste.
2. Place the pork, onions and apple slices in the crock pot. Cover with sauce and cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Remove the top layer of fat from the pork and shred. Combine with sauce and serve! I served in bulkie rolls.

** Here is a recommendation if you can be home with your crock pot 2 hours before it will be done. Add the apples at this point, rather than putting them in at the beginning. When they cook all day, they mush and dissolve into the sauce.

Thin Mint Poke Cake

Last Friday was Dan's birthday. Even though I'm taking a cake decorating class, I didn't have time to make a fancy cake for him. Luckily, Dan loves this style of cake so I was able to make something quick and easy. I baked the cake on Thursday and finished all the toppings on Friday.

This post is going to be quick because I am finally fading after my three-day Atlantic City trip and really just need to lay my head on a pillow and be mellow. Not sure if Lana will let me do that, but I should try.

Thin Mint Poke Cake
from Something Swanky

1 box chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil, and eggs, as listed on the box)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 jar hot fudge sauce
1 box Thin Mint cookies
1 container Cool Whip
1 packet Duncan Hines Mint flavoring OR 1 tsp peppermint extract and some green food coloring
1 cup Andes Mint chips

1. Bake cake as directed and let cool. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the cake.
2. Pour the condensed milk over the cake, making sure it soaks into the holes.
3. Heat fudge sauce slightly, then pour over cake.
4. Crush half of the cookies and sprinkle over fudge sauce.
5. Mix the Cool Whip and flavor packet or extract and food coloring and spread over the cake.
6. Crush remaining half of cookies and sprinkle over Cool Whip and sprinkle on the Andes Mint chips.

Just realized that I never took a picture of this cake. Bummer, it was well liked by our party guests though!

Pistachio Bread

Sometimes when you bake, you learn lessons. The lesson of this recipe is - don't forget the sour cream. There are only 6 ingredients, so how I forgot one is beyond me. But the other lesson learned is, even if you forget the sour cream, this recipe is still really good. I actually didn't even realize that I forgot the sour cream until two hours later. Everyone still loved it. I'm going to have to make it the right way to compare.

Again, this is part of my recent mini bread kick. I made this the same night as my last post about the Red Velvet Banana Bread. They each took about 10 minutes to mix up and then another 30 to bake. I also made a cake that night too. This bread packs a nice punch of pistachio flavor, and the glaze makes it all the more tasty. This is one of those recipes that I almost always have every ingredient for. I even already had the pistachio pudding, but I needed a second box and sour cream. So I made the trip to store for those two items. even after the whole trip for it, I still forgot the sour cream. Maybe I tried to fit too much baking into one afternoon...

Pistachio Bread
from Lil Luna

1 box yellow cake mix
2 (3.5oz) boxes instant pistachio pudding mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/8 cup water
1 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour 4 mini loaf pans or 2 regular sized pans. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
2. Mix all ingredients together and divide batter evenly into the loaf pans.
3. Bake for 30-35 minutes and let cool.

Glaze:
2 tbsp. melted butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

Whisk together and drizzle over breads.

                                                                                                                                                            

Red Velvet Banana Bread

The excitement and build up for my Atlantic City Trip is over. Another year of the three-day whirlwind that is the Ladies AC Trip has come and gone. We left Sunday at 8am and arrived back home tonight around 5:30pm. I need another 3 days just to recover. I won't give you too many details about the trip because,  "What happens in AC stays in AC"....

Before I left, however, I had mentioned some baking I did in a previous post. I can finally get down to posting those recipes now that the weekend and trip are over. I have 3 to post, but I may end up just sacking out on the couch before I can get to all of them!

I have a new-found love for bread. To be exact, for mini bread. To be even more exact, mini quick breads. I don't have time or patience to wait for those wait-to-rise-then-knead-forever breads. I'm talking whipping up a batter and baking it and eating it right away. That kind of bread.

I mean mini bread.

This quick bread is even quicker than you'd think with the use of red velvet cake mix as your base. You can certainly make your own red velvet cake mix, but for convenience sake, the boxed cake mix is great.

I don't know if I'm mentioned this in any previous posts but Wilton sells one of the greatest baking products ever. Bake Easy is a non-stick spray made for baking. It makes any baked good effortlessly release from the pan, and it gives a beautiful crust to the outside of cakes, making it easier to add the crumb coat. Get some if you do a lot of baking and hate the whole butter and flour your pan step.

Red Velvet Banana Bread
from Something Swanky

1 box red velvet cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup (about 3) mashed bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour bread pan(s). This makes 4 mini loaves or 1 9x5x3 large loaf.
2. Mix all ingredients together to make a batter and spoon into bread pans.
3. Bake 40-50 minutes for a large loaf and 30-35 minutes for small loaves. Let sit for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Dust with powdered sugar if desired!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I'm a little late in posting this since I made this Tuesday. I also have tonight's dinner recipe to post, and three (yes THREE) baking items to post. I know, I know. For blogging purposes, making lots of dishes at once isn't great because then I'm either posting multiple posts in one day, or I'm trying to schedule posts to space them out, and then I forget to tell people that I have new posts.

Maybe it's just that I'm not the greatest blogger?

Wait, I'm an okay blogger, but quitting my job and becoming a full time baker/blogger/cooker would be very helpful in improving this blog. Seems like the logical thing to do right?

Before I even get to this pizza recipe, I have to share a couple of photos.

Chocolate Pig Waffle

The Elvis Waffle

 

Saturday, Dan and I went to breakfast at Vic's Waffle House, a place I had wanted to try for a while. SO SO SO glad we went, because that's what we ate. The best waffle I have ever had. Dan got the chocolate pig waffle, which is bacon and chocolate chips. I got the Elvis waffle, which is a bacon waffle, spread with peanut butter and honey, and topped with bananas and more bacon. I couldn't finish all of it but it was absurdly good. I am going to attempt to make them at home sometime...

Ok so back to the pizza. I always think that making your own pizza is so easy, especially when using pre-made crusts, but they just don't come out the same as a fresh made from scratch pizza. The mozzarella cheese never melts the right way, it's always sorta of a little too rubbery/stretchy, and if you use shredded cheese, it also melts all funny. Maybe it's just me, but make your own pizzas just aren't as good. But, if you want a quick weeknight meal, this is a good choice. Also, maybe you're better at pizza-making than I am...

BBQ Chicken Pizza
slightly adapted from Cooking Light

about 2 cups chopped chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken)
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
1/4 of a medium red onion, chopped
fresh mozzarella, sliced thin
2 premade pizza crusts

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Spray a saucepan with cooking spray and saute onions until translucent. Add the chicken, sauce and broth. Cook for 3 minutes or until heated through.
3. Divide the chicken mix between the 2 crusts and spread over the crusts.
4. Top with slices of mozzarella and bake for about 9 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Want a sneak peek at the baking?

Smoky Bacon and Onion Deviled Eggs

It's almost 50 degrees out! Dan is in Maine finishing a side job up there, and I've spent my day with crazy Lana, running errands, having lunch with my mom and my Gram, and then prepping food for an appetizer party I'm going to later. I tend to always choose appetizers that are very time consuming. I wanted to make something easier and something I already had some ingredients for. I sort of did that. I had all the ingredients for deviled eggs, but they aren't exactly quick. I needed a bit of ingredients for my other app (check back later!), but they were easier. Of course, Lana makes any cooking process longer when she's running around the house like a madman or trying to swipe everything off the counters.

I adapted this recipe a little bit from the original to fit with what I had on hand. The original calls for caramelized onions, but I had some diced frozen ones. Caramelized onions are 100 times better, but I didn't have the time to make them today. They would surely make these eggs even better than they already are! I also had a pack of real bacon bits, which cut out the time of cooking some bacon. The time consuming thing about deviled eggs is the cracking of the eggs. One of my eggs cracked while cooking, so it ended up with this sort of bubbly growth of egg white on it. Still usable for one half the egg though, so that was good. The worst is when you crack an egg and it breaks in half the wrong way. I had one that did that as well, but all in all, the others came out perfectly. I opted out of the jalapenos, but did sub in some sweet n smoky rub. I doubled the original recipe, but it needed a little more mayo than it called for. With the amount the recipe stated, it ended up being too dry.

Smoky Bacon and Onion Deviled Eggs
adapted from The Endless Meal

12 eggs, hard boiled
5 tbsp. mayonnaise
1/3 cup diced cooked onion
1/3 cup diced cooked bacon
2/3 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp. smoky rub or some smoky chipotle seasoning

1. Cut the eggs in half and reserve the yolks in a bowl.
2. Mix the mayo, onion, bacon, cheese and smoky seasoning with the yolks until fully combined.
3. Spoon the mix into each of the hollowed egg whites.
4. Sprinkle with extra seasoning if desired.

Bonus pic of my cake from class this week!