Light Fare!

A former friend of mine shared this recipe with me and I just love it!  It's meant to be for an appetizer or a side for a party or something like that, but I often make it on a Sunday and eat it all week long for lunch.  It's healthy, cheap and soooo good! 

Chinese Chicken Salad

2 chicken breasts, boiled, cold and cubed
1 medium head of lettuce, broken up, rinsed and dried
1 medium sweet onion, minced
4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (heat them up in a skillet and then transfer them out of the pan or they'll just keep cooking)
La Choy Chow Mein noodles

Mix in a jar or a shaker:
1 c vegetable oil
3/4 c apple cider vinegar
1/2 c sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons accent

Shake it up until the sugar dissolves, then pour over the salad and toss. If you're transporting it, pour the dressing before you're ready to serve instead, or the lettuce gets wilty.

Seafood Night!

I've been having a lot of cravings lately for seafood soups, so I went on a hunt for a few different types.  I found a really good and easy recipe for Crab and Corn Chowder, so decided we'd have a seafood night with the chowder and hush puppies as our meal.  It was so yummy!!!  The original recipe can be viewed here.  I made a few adjustments to it, which I will note throughout the recipe, but the biggest one was that I added chopped up lobster as well.  Double YUM!

Crab & Lobster Corn Chowder

1 russet potato, peeled and cubed
5 slices bacon, diced
* 2 tsp garlic powder
1 can (6 oz) crab meat, drained
2 lobster tails, chopped
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
2 tbsp butter
1/3 C all-purpose flour
1 cube chicken bouillon
1 1/2 C milk
1 (15 oz) can creamed corn
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wrap potato cubes in plastic wrap and microwave for 30 seconds.  Set aside.

2. In a saute pan, cook bacon over medium heat until heated through and add garlic powder.  Cook and stir.  Stir in crab meat and parsley flakes.  Set aside.

3.  Meanwhile, melt butter in a large stock pot over low heat.  Whisk in flour until mixture becomes creamy and takes on a eggshell color.  Continue to cook for a few more minutes, stirring occassionally.  Dissolve chicken bouillon in milk; when the flour mixture is crumbly, slowly whisk in milk.  Mix well in order to eliminate all lumps.

4.  When the mixture is creamy and hot, stir in bacon mixture, cubed potatoes and creamed corn.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 10 minutes.

Note: I didn't use the dry white wine, so I omitted it in the recipe above.  I think next time I'll try it with it, though.  Might make a difference.  :)

Hush Puppies

My friend, Stephanie, shared this recipe with me and we loved them!  The original recipe can be viewed here.

2 eggs, beaten
1/2 C white sugar
* 1 tsp. garlic powder
1 C self-rising flour
1 C self-rising cornmeal
1 quart oil for frying

1. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, sugar and onion.  Blend in flour and cornmeal.

2. Heat 2 inches of oil to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).  Drop batter by rounded teaspoonfuls in hot oil, and fry until golden brown.  Cook in small batches to maintain oil temperature.  Drain briefly on paper towels.  Serve hot.

* means that I substituted this item in place of something in the original recipe.

Here is the finished product ....

We had french bread with it ... I highly recommend the Pillsbury French Bread Loaf in the refrigerator section at the grocery store.  So good!

Shepherd's Pie

I've been wanting to make this for a while now, but just never seem to have the time to do it. It went over really well and made LOTS of leftovers. You can add pretty much whatever you want. It just depends on what you like. This is just what *I* decided to use.

1 lb ground beef, browned
6-8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in half
1 can yellow whole kernel corn, drained
2 pkg brown gravy
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Milk
Worcesterchire sauce
Emeril's Essence seasoning
Accent
Garlic Powder
salt to taste

Brown the ground beef in a skillet, season with worcestershire sauce, Emeril's Essence seasoning and accent. Drain and set aside.

Peel and boil the potatoes, drain, mash with a potato masher, add a little bit of milk until you get the consistencey you like and set aside.

Follow the directions on the package of gravy, set aside.

In a casserole dish, arrange everything in layers. The first layer is the ground beef, next is the can of corn (drained), then the gravy. Sprinkle the gravy with a little bit of garlic powder, then add the mashed potatoes, and finally sprinkle with the shredded cheese.



Bake on 350 for 10-12 minutes.  Serves 10 people.

Here is what it looks like before it goes into be baked. (Don't mind the dish - it's not dirty, just some crap is caked into the glass.)

Finished product!

And here is a look at what the layers look like.

John and I both loved it so much we had seconds!  Jacob is a picky eater most of the time, so you can't really go off of him, but he did eat a little bit.  This is definitely something we'll have again!!