While J and I’ve been busy in the kitchen, I’ve been lazy on posting. I’ve got photos stuck in my phone and on my camera, but have long forgotten what recipe went with what photo - figures. However, tonight I promised to get this up and out after we sampled our kitchen experiment and have dubbed it ‘Pit Party Worthy’.

As you know, in our house, J is a shrimp fanatic…so a lot of the time I find recipes that include his favorite seafood friend (so he’ll be a willing victim…er taste tester). Luckily, we had no personal kitchen casualities - just J and a serious case of the ‘dropsies’ (which I happily let him eat). ;)

Sorry the picture quality sucks, I was hungry and my hands were shaky.

Garlic Shrimp Bruschetta

• French Bread (24 slices or as many pieces to match your shrimp)
• Olive Oil Cooking Spray (we used our butter spray)
• 1 cup diced plum tomatoes (yeah, for our vine ripened crop)
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 3/4 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp each of salt & pepper
• 24 medium shrimp (or more if you’d like, in our house -ALWAYS- more)
• 1/4 cup of pesto
• Garnish: Small Basil Leaves (if you’re needing to make things pretty for your party)

Directions

1. Take slices of French bread and coat lightly with olive oil or butter spray. J and I have a toaster oven so we popped ours in and toasted it that way. If they French bread won’t fit in your toaster, turn on your broiler, lay the bread on a cooking sheet and toast for 2 to 3 minutes turning once until nice and golden.
2. Put tomatoes, 1 tsp. olive oil, 1/2 tsp of garlic (J and I used more), and the salt and pepper into a bowl - toss to coat.
3. In a nonstick frying pan (or a wok, if you’re impatient like me) add the rest of your oil, garlic and toss in the shrimp.Saute for 2 minutes or until shrimp are just cooked and remove from heat.  (Because of the amount of garlic we added in other areas, we used creole seasoning on our shrimp, very tasty.)
4. To assemble your masterpieces, spread each piece of bread with pesto, top with tomato mixture and one shrimp. (Because our French bread slices were so large, we used two shrimp.)

Serve and enjoy!

- The Pajama Chef

It was Get Your Beef On Sunday on the homefront. Generally, my family and I try and use Sundays as family meal night. Sundays generally being the one day where everyone is home.

As panic spreads over the Swine Flu, the grocery stores have been having some pretty sweet deals in the meat department - pork products mostly. Although, lucky us, during our piglet frenzy in the meat department we ran across London Broils that ran around $10 and under. Unable to pass up a good deal or such delightful cuts of beef, my Mom and I sangged one each.

My Mom put a rub on their slab of moo and J and I did a Tequila Marinade. My Mom’s rub I’ll add to The Nomming later as I realized I can’t read my own chicken scratch (Doh!).

This recipe I nabbed off The Food Network.

This marinade gets thumbs way, way up from my family.

Enjoy!

- The Pajama Chef

Ingredients

• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup tequila
• 1 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil, optional
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 1/2 pounds London broil
• Cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions

In a blender, combine all ingredients except London broil. Process until smooth. Place London broil in a non-reactive container and pour marinade over top, turning it to coat. Refrigerate for at least 4 to 6 hours before cooking.

Preheat grill to high.

Place London broil on white hot grill, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, flipping the steak 4 times (cooking time will vary with thickness of the steak).

Let steak rest for at least 10 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain of the meat and on a bias for wide but thin slices. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

I’ve taken to making bagels, which my family loves. I did that I can control the size of them—some small for a four-year-old, larger ones for me. I’m not sure where the holes went in this batch…

These take about two hours to make, and, unlike a lot of bread, it is a fairly active process.

I got the recipe from this site.

Simple Bagels

Ingredients:
4 ½ cups of flour.
2 packets of active dry yeast.
1 ½ cups of water, at 110°F.
3 tablespoons of sugar.
1 tablespoon of salt.

1 gallon of water.
1 tablespoon of sugar.

Preparation Instructions:
1.    In a suitably sized bowl combine 1 ½ cups flour and the two packers of yeast.
2.    Combine the 1 ½ cups of warm water, 3 tablespoons of sugar and salt; thenp our over flour mixture.
3.    Beat at low speed for about thirty seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly.
4.    Beat for three minutes on high speed.
5.    Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can mix in. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
6.    Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Continue kneading until smooth and elastic; then cover and allow to rest for fifteen minutes.
7.    Cut into twelve portions; then shape into smooth balls. Punch a hole in the middle of each with a floured finger. Pull gently to enlarge hole to about two inches.
8.    Place on a greased baking sheet; cover; and allow to rise for twenty minutes.
9.    Broil five inches from heat for about 90 seconds on each side.
10.    Heat 1 gallon water and 1 tablespoon sugar to boiling; then reduce heat.
11.    Cook bagels, about five at a time, for 8 minutes, turning once in the middle.
12.    Drain and place on greased baking sheet.
13.    Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes.

A Cafeteria Food Special.

I think there were two things I ever really loved during my cafeteria years and they were Bologna Boats & Weiner Wraps. If Mom announced that either of the aforementioned were being served, you could guarantee that there’d be no metal lunch box going to school with me that day. Punch card lunch ticket for me and the hope that I could weasel/worm/talk/trade others for their portion.

After school, I started making these at home. It was quick, simple and in college…something I could do in a pinch as I not only had schoolwork to contend with but my adopted sisters banging on the doors. One with her high school dramas and the other with her son (and later) a daughter running around underfoot.

I could feed myself, listen to them and in some cases feed their kids too while juggling my bookwork.

Enjoy!

Bologna Boats

1. Fry up slices of your favorite brand of bologna
2. Boil and Mash potatoes or use Potato Buds
3. Grate favorite cheese to sprinkle/melt over top

Directions

Once the bologna is fried, spoon out some mashed potatoes (flavored as you like them) on each one and add grated cheese to the top. I usually plop the them in the microwave or oven to get the cheese to melt, though friends have preferred to just dish it up and go.

- The Pajama Chef

Today I was faced with a dilemma.. I’d made coconut rice, now what was I to do with the rest of the coconut milk??

I searched around a bit for recipes and came across a recipe for coconut scones. I altered the recipe slightly, veganified it for purely experimental purposes and tested it out using our new, shiny, sexy, Kitchenaid mixer.

Breaking out the mixer might have been a bit of overkill here, because these could totally be made by hand easily.. but hey, it’s fun to play with new toys. ;)

They’re cooled now and we just inhaled one each (ok, J ate two!). These are GOOD, really really good.

Coconut Scones

2 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into 6-8 pieces
1/2 c shredded coconut
approx. 1/2 - 2/3 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add butter and toss to coat.

Using your mixer/finger tips, whack/rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles very coarse sand. A few larger bits are ok, but most should be smaller than a pea. Stir in shredded coconut - I used unsweetened coconut here, but sweetened will do - maybe cut back on the sugar by a tablespoon or so?

Add in about 1/3 cup of coconut milk and mix on low/stir into dough with a fork. Add remaining coconut milk as needed until dough comes together into a shaggy ball (with the mixer at this point it won’t be so much of a ball, but it will come together into one if you ask it nicely). Knead lightly with your hand until dough is smooth.

Divide dough in to two balls and press each into a disc about 1/2-inch thick on prepared baking sheet. Cut each disc into quarters and separate slightly.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until scones are a light golden brown on top.
Cool on a wire rack before serving (this seems to be a general scone rule - but I totally didn’t do this and they’re just fine!).

Makes 8 (they won’t last long!)

When I make these cookies I often end up making 2 batches so I can send bundles of cookies home with our friends who drop by to geek it up. :)

Noelle’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (w/ pecans)

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup butter
* 1  cup (packed) of your favourite brown sugar
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups organic oats
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the oats, pecans, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I used to make this all the time when I was in college. It was good for dinner and made an excellent breakfast if there was any left from the night before.

I made this during one of Len’s visits to The Pass. It must’ve been a hit because when I got up the next morning and went to the fridge to get a bowl for breakfast, I discovered when he said, “I left you some.”

It really meant: I left you one big spoonful. =)

Enjoy!

Coconut Rice

• 1 1/3 cups rice
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut

Directions

1. Rinse rice until water runs clear, drain rice through strainer.
2. Place rice in a wok with 2 1/2 cups water.
3. Add salt and coconut milk to the wok and bring to a boil. Cover the wok, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the lid from the wok and fluff up the rice with a fork - all the liquid should be absorbed and the rice grains should be tender.
5. Spoon the cocnut rice into a warm serving bowl and scatter with the shredded coconut. Serve immediately.

Chef’s Notes: In the past I always made this in my wok, but tonight I used a 10 cup rice steamer and it worked beautifully. I just added all the ingredients and let it cook while I worked on a stir fry in the wok.

Also, I added sugar to sweeten the rice. It can turn this rice dish into a desert.

- The Pajama Chef

Got a Super Bowl Party on the horizon? Or need a quick and easy dip to toss together for a family fun night? Try this on for size.

Enjoy!

Mexican Layered Dip

• Mash a drained 19-oz can of black beans w/1Tbsp lime juice, 1 1/2 tsp chili powder. Spread into bottom of bowl.
• Layer on guacamole, salsa and reduced-fat sour cream on top.
• Sprinkle with shredded cheddar, chopped tomatoes and scallions.
• Serve with tortilla or potato chips.

Chef Notes:
I made some substitutes as I realized I was out of some items in the kitchen. In the black beans you can use either lemon or lime juice, whatever you have on hand. I had no chili powder, so I substituted Taco Seasoning and it was delicious. The rest of the layers can be store bought or homemade. I made the guacamole myself, which was very tasty, but forgot to snap a photo. I plan on making it again and will add it to The Nomming in the future.

Let me know what what you do to this dip to make it your own. =)

- The Pajama Chef

This was quite a discovery for both J and I. Especially, when I found out just how simple this was to make and it tastes better than the stuff I’ve had served to me in Italian restaurants. Not only is it simple…but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper too. You can imagine my amusement <insert sarcasm here> when I remembered the steep prices for all the Shrimp and Alfredo dishes I’d purchased in the past. This is also a much cheaper alternative than the jarred sauce we purchase as well.

Have it solo on your pasta or dress it up with veggies or meat. So far, J and I have added both shrimp and chicken.

Enjoy!

Fettucine all’Alfredo

• 1/4 cup of butter
• scant 1 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
• 12 oz of fettuccine (or pasta of your choice)

Directions

1. Melt the butter. Add the cream and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. then add the Parmesan cheese and season with salt, pepper (or other spices to taste). Turn off the heat beneath the pan.
2. Cook pasta of choice to personal liking.
3. Add sauce to pasta, turn heat on low beneath pan and toss until pasta is thoroughly coated. Serve with extra Parmesan.

- The Pajama Chef

Made this for a post grocery shopping late dinner tonight for Jer and I, while the kidlet ate leftover pizza. This was quick and easy and GOOD - so good that even the kidlet joined in and had a bowl as a bedtime snack.

Curried Apple Couscous

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1.5 medium or 1 lrg apple(s), cored and chopped (any kind of apple that holds up to heat w/out turning to mush immediatley is good - I used granny smith tonight)
• 2 green onions, washed, trimmed, and thinly sliced
• 1 cup couscous
• 1.5 cups water
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• handful of cashews (or pinenuts, or slivered almonds)

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat add 2 tablespoons of the butter, the curry powder, and a couple generous pinches of salt, and cook for a minute or until the spices are fragrant. Stir in the chopped apples and cook for about 3 - 5 minutes, enough time for the apples to soften up a bit and absorb some of the curry. Scoop the apples from the pan and set aside in a separate bowl.

In the same pan, again over medium-high heat, add the remaining tablespoon of butter. Stir in the green onions, let them soften up a bit and then add the water and salt. Bring to a boil, stir in the couscous, cover and remove from heat. Steam for 7 to 10 minutes and then use a fork to fluff up the couscous. Stir in the apples and nuts. Season with more salt and curry powder to taste and enjoy!

Serves 4.

(Also good with a handful of fresh chopped mint stirred in at the end - but my poor mint is currently buried in snow!)