From the Kitchen

More recipes. Because a little birdie told me that someone out there actually tries some recipes that I post. And frankly, cooking is the most exciting thing that I do, besides working and sometimes crafting.

Creamy Shrimp and Spinach Pasta. Meh. That's what I think about this recipe. It was in the "light and loving it section" of our 40 Years of Southern Living Cookbook. The second recipe from this section that fails to impress. The sauce had cream cheese and nutmeg in it. Yeah I don't know.

Tilapia with Green Beans. The fish is seasoned with oregano and parsley which was different from the salt and pepper we normally use. It wasn't anything spectacular so I was counting on the side dish, but the lemon and the tomatoes made a super tangy (?) nastiness.


Tyler Florence's Chicken Marsala. Delicious. This is evidenced by my dirty knife in the picture. I almost forgot to take the picture. Get fancy and have Italian for dinner tonight.

Chicken Asparagus Roll-ups. Yum and easy. I would have used thinly sliced chicken breasts, but Kroger was out. So make sure you pound the chicken as thin as the recipe says to. I modified the mayo mixture a little. I didn't use as much mustard and I used the Creole mustard that we have. I also added the lemon juice to taste so I don't know how much I ended up using. I didn't use tarragon and I used Tony's to taste. Probably could have used more of that. What else... oh yeah I put about 4 -5 asparagus spears in each roll-up. Make sure you don't cook the asparagus too long in the microwave especially if you like them crunchy like I do. They'll be cooking for like 25 minutes in the oven. I venture to say you could almost skip the microwave step all together.

Now let's talk about the Pioneer Woman. Have we discussed this already? It's been so long since I've been here. Her recipes are fantastic. Who doesn't love cooking with butter? And she's so funny. It's a great positive cooking experience when you use her recipes. Here are three we've tried:

Springy Shells. This was good. It made a lot and it's not really meat-for-every-meal-husband friendly. Which would explain why it's under the category "Cowgirl Food." I think I should have cooked my veggies longer before baking. So I'd make it again if I had a ton of female friends to feed.

Monday Night Stir Fry. We like stir fry. And I've been doing it all wrong. Getting the skillet hot enough is scary. (I could probably use less oil next time.) But the taste of this stir fry was so worth it. Next time I'll use brown rice and swap the baby corn for something green like snow peas. And there will be a next time. A splatter screen is so handy.

Penne a la Betsy. The only thing missing from this was a visiting sister.

And for dessert...

Brownie Cupcakes from 500 Cupcakes. Because Michael's stress from the approaching Step 2 may have transferred into me baking twice the week of the test. The first time was chocolate chip cookies from the recipe book that came with my Kitchenaid mixer. Anyway I suppose you could also call these babies "crater cupcakes" for obvious reasons. Despite their heinousness, they were tasty. The fudge icing was also yummy.