Shrimp Fettuccine alla Carbonara

I love Carbonara, but we all know I cannot leave a good recipe alone. :) This twist on the classic is tasty, but also sneaks in some veggies! A classic Carbonara sauce uses Pancetta or Bacon, but I have chosen to use Prosciutto in this one for a different level of flavor.

Ingredients

1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 bunch asparagus tips
8 oz. cremini (baby portabello) mushrooms, sliced
1 lb. dried fettuccini
5 oz. grated Parmesan or parmigiano reggiano cheese
1/2 pt. heavy cream
1 lb. shrimp, cut to bite size
2 eggs, well beaten
4 oz. Proscuitto, sliced into strips

Directions

1. Prepare your sauce while your pasta is cooking. It is very important that the pasta is hot to cook the eggs in your sauce.
2. Combine the heavy cream, eggs, and Parmesan cheese in a separate bowl until well blended. Set aside. 
3. Cook your pasta 8-11 minutes or until al dente. Be sure to reserve 1 c. of the pasta water in case you need to use it in your sauce.
4. While your pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat (be sure to use a very large pan, since this is basically a one pan meal).
5. Add your Prosciutto and cook until crispy. 
6. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent. 
7. Add the mushrooms and cook until done, but not mushy.
8. Add the asparagus tips and warm through (they should still be crisp).
9. Add the shrimp and cook until they turn opaque.
10. Add the hot drained pasta to the pan and toss about 2 minutes to coat with the fat in the pan (Prosciutto is very low in fat, so you may have to add a little more olive oil if your pasta looks too dry).
11. VERY IMPORTANT: Remove the pan from the heat.
12. Add the sauce to the pan and whisk constantly to ensure the eggs do not scramble.
13. Use your reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if necessary.
14. Serve with fresh parsley and top with shaved Parmesan cheese.

Smoked Oyster Dip

My Dear Darling husband has been asking me to develop this one for a while now and I finally have a recipe that he loves. This one is easy and packed full of flavor. I served it with garlic crostini, but it would be delicious with a cracker or pita chips too!

Ingredients

1/2 small onion, very finely minced
8 oz. white mushrooms, diced
8 oz. veggie cream cheese
1/3 c. sour cream
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 green onions, whites diced and green tops sliced for garnish
2 cans smoked oysters, diced


Directions

1. In a small skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil (I use a garlic infused olive oil that I make and keep in my fridge at all times) and 2 Tbsp. butter over low heat. 
2. Add the minced onion (not the green onion) and sweat until translucent. 
3. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft. Set aside to cool.
4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream until smooth (well, as smooth as it can be with the veggies in it).
5. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce, kosher salt, garlic powder, diced green onions, and lemon juice and combine well.
6. Add the diced oysters (you want them to be about the same size as your diced mushrooms).
7. Stir in the cooled onion and mushroom mixture.
8. Refrigerate until chilled all the way through. Garnish with the green onion tops and serve.

Toasty Breakfast Cup

I’m sure that you have to noticed that everyone is coming up with cookie cups, biscuit cup & pizza cup recipes filled with almost everything, well I am no different because the ease of the “cups” is what sparked this idea of mine – toast cups!   Of course I taste tested my recipe on my family and a few house guest one weekend and I have tweaked the crust a bit and added 2 more fillings since then.  As with all new recipes there is a trial and error period until you get them just right – I have made 3 attempts and finally came up with what I think is a really good breakfast that will even work for the crust to be made ahead of time for a quick and easy breakfast.    J   

    

INGREDIENTS  &  INSTRUCTIONS:                            Preheat oven to 350°

CRUST:

1 cup of bread crumbs (you can use plain or seasoned, I used ¾ c plain & ¼ c seasoned)

5 Tbs. of butter melted

3 tsp. of sugar.

In a medium bowl mix together ingredients, it should resemble the texture of a graham cracker crust.    In a normal size muffin tin (6) place about 3 to 4 heaping tsp. of the crumb mix in each cup then press with your fingers or a small spoon around the sides and bottom.   Once I got it pretty much even I then took a very small juice glass (actually it was one of those small glass containers that pimento cheese comes in) and I used that to really press it in hard and smooth it out.    Then place in the oven and bake until the crust is brown.  Take it out and let it completely cool.

FILLING Options:     (I used 3 different fillings in mine)

                Option 1:

3-4 large eggs scrambled

¼ c of green pepper finely diced

¼ c of onion finely diced

¼ to ½ c of real bacon bits or crisp bacon crumbled

Shredded cheese for topping.

*You can use whatever spices or veggies that you like in your Omelets or just make plain scrambled eggs.

                Option 2:

Crack 6 eggs and place one in each baked & cooled cup

Salt and pepper to taste. 

                Option 3:

½  to 1 lb. of sausage

1 3/4 cups of milk

4 Tbs of flour

Brown & crumble sausage in skillet.  Drain but leave a small amount of grease.   Sprinkle 2 Tbs of flour over the sausage and cook and stir until flour begins to brown.  Pour milk in blender and add last 2 Tbs. of flour and blend it a few seconds to mix well then while stirring the sausage, slowly pour in the milk and it will thicken.  Cook and stir for a few minutes, this needs to be very thick.   Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes stirring occasionally.   Pour into cooled crust cups.

FINISH:

Pour your filling into all 6 cooled crust cups to about ¼ inch from the top (except for the single egg)  Place the filled cups back into the oven and bake them until eggs are done or the gravy is set.  At this time you can take them out and sprinkle with cheese if desired and put them back in the oven until the cheese melts.  When you take them out of the oven let them cool and settle for a minute then run a thin knife around the edges between the muffin pan and crust then gently remove.   If you have any extra gravy you can place 1 or 2 of the filled cups on a plate and pour more gravy over all.   

**NOTES:  

I seldom ever measure so if this isn’t enough OR too much crust you may have to adjust the measurements a little bit.   If you have too much crust mix you can store in a baggie placed in the refrigerator to use later.  To make ahead you can mix up the crust mix and store as just mentioned.  You can also make the gravy the night before or even mix up the omelet mix or scrambled eggs and store in an airtight container just overnight.  

Ham and Cheese Frenchies

Those of us that are *small voice* older and grew up in the Midwest, may remember the restaurant King's. They had a phone at every table where you called in your order and the most awesome cheese frenchies! This is a twist on that wonderful, old classic that is sure to make you smile and your kids will love them!!!

Ingredients:

8 slices of Texas Toast (white bread will do in a pinch)
8 slices of American Cheese (ONLY use American!!!)
8 slices of ham of your choice (I like to use a deli cut smoked ham)
Mayonnaise (to taste)
Dill pickle relish (optional)
Panko crumbs
Crushed Saltine crackers
Toothpicks

Batter:
2 eggs (well beaten)
2/3 c. + 2 tsp. milk
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. flour


Directions:

1. Cut the crust off the bread and spread with mayonnaise (to taste) and add one slice of cheese for each piece of bread, a little dill relish, and ham (not too much or it won't seal). Cut diagonally to form wedges. I have found that it works best to freeze at this point, at least a couple hours but overnight is best.
2. Make your batter as directed (I like to let my batter sit for a few minutes (5-10 minutes) and then mix again right before use).
3. Place toothpicks in each diagonal to secure them for frying.
4. Heat oil in your fryer to 375 degrees.
5. Crush your saltines with a rolling pin and mix with equal parts of panko.
6. Dip your diagonals in the batter and then in the crumb mixture and drop into the fryer immediately.
7. Cook until brown, but not burnt (about 3 minutes).
8. Drain on paper towel.
9. Remove toothpicks.
10. Serve with fries or chips and ketchup (if desired).
11. Enjoy! 

Cookie cups

This week’s treat is one that I have seen around Facebook a LOT but I have put my own little twist on it.  I come up with some ideas just based off of things that my family has tried and liked then I apply them to things that I think will work.  In this version of cookie cups my ideas came from 2 things, my families love of peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwiches (if you haven’t tried them it’s a must!) and my love of Hershey’s Almond chocolate bars.  When I saw the new line of Hershey’s chocolate spreads...well, as they say, the rest is history!!  Lol

Ingredients:

1 large roll of Nestles’ Toll House Cookie Dough  (or you can make your own)

1 jar of Nutella and/or 1 jar of Hershey’s Chocolate Spreads (flavor of your choice)

1 small jar of Peanut Butter (if using Nutella)

1 bag of raw Almonds (I used the Almond flavored chocolate spread)

1 small jar of marshmallow cream.

Things you will need:

Mini Muffin tin (makes 2 dozen)

Teaspoons for adding filling & making cookie balls

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. Open cookie dough and fold back plastic. 
3. Take a tsp. of dough and roll it into a ball and place one in each muffin cup. 
4. Put in oven and bake until lightly brown. 
5. Take them out of the oven and with a small shot glass (I use a heavy plastic medicine cup) press down in the center of each cookie while it’s still hot to form the cups. 
6. Take a thin knife and just lightly go around the edges of each cup. 
7. Set on a cooling rack and let cups completely cool. 
8. Meanwhile, if you are using Nutella and peanut butter,  I take approx. ½ cup of peanut butter and ¼ cup of marshmallow cream in a small bowl and mix it well.  (If not using Nutella then you can skip this step unless you want to mix part of your chocolate spread with the marshmallow cream OR you can just put plain marshmallow cream in the bottom of the cup, about ½ tsp.) 
9. I used about ½ tsp. of the peanut butter/marshmallow cream mix in the bottom of the Nutella cups.  Then topped them all with 1 full tsp. of Nutella. 
10. In the Chocolate Almond I used about 2 tsp. of the spread in each cup.  Then on both I would take the tip of my spoon and swirl it around starting at the outer edges and swirling to the center to make them pretty. 
11. I placed them all in a storage container and placed in the refrigerator for about 10 to 15 min to firm them up a bit. 
12. For the Chocolate Almond, I used a few (about 10) raw almonds and ground them up in a food processor and sprinkled the ground almonds over the top and then placed a whole almond in the center.

Once completed I keep them in a covered container on the counter at room temperature except for a few for my granddaughter that she likes kept in the freezer.  lol

Spinach Bacon Dip

Spinach and Bacon...classic combination of flavors! This easy dip combines these great flavors in a cold dip that can be made quickly for any gathering or just a day at home.

 Ingredients:

1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 8oz. package Onion and Chive cream cheese
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. mayonnaise 
1 pkg. Ranch dip mix
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. shredded parmesan cheese
6 slices bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled
1 loaf artisan bread

Directions:

1. Cook the bacon and set aside to cool.
2. Mix all other ingredients in a medium size bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Crumble the bacon and mix into the chilled dip. Reserve some for garnish.
4. Slice the top of your bread off and keep to use as a lid.
5. Hollow out the inside of your bread load and slice what you have removed to use with the dip.
6. Pour your dip into the hollowed out loaf and top with crumbled bacon.

Banana & Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

 

(1) Graham cracker crust  (use pre-made or make your own)

(1) 8 oz. cream cheese
(2) table spoons of Lemon juice
(3) packets of Stevia (or sweetener of your choice)
(3 oz.) pkg. Sugar free Lemon Jello 
(1) cup of boiling water
(1 1/2) cup of sliced banana's 
(2/5) cup of milnot / evaporated milk
(1) cup strawberries

Dissolve jello in boiling water, stir until completely dissolved.  Gradually add to softened cream cheese
Blend until smooth.  Add milk, sugar, Lemon juice, chill in refrigerator until thickened.  Add banana's & strawberries pour into crust & chill at least an hour before serving.

Note: Squeeze a little lemon juice over banana's to keep them from turning brown.

Graham cracker crust:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs or 10 to 12 whole graham crackers crushed.

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small bowl, melt the butter in microwave
In a medium-sized bowl combine graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter; blend until the texture of coarse meal.
Press into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Try to press the crust evenly, about 1/8 inch, thick all around. If the crumb mixture won't stick where you press them, just add another tablespoon of water to the mix.  Make sure there are no gaps or holes.

NOTE: If you chill the crust for an hour before you bake it, this will help prevent crumbling when you want to serve it.
Bake approximately 8 to 10 minutes. The edges may be just slightly browned, but you do not want the edges or crust to over-brown.
Remove from oven and let crust cool, on a wire rack, before filling.