Buffalo Chicken Pasta

This is a quick and easy weeknight meal. One of my favorites!
Buffalo Chicken Pasta
Cook about 1/3 box of corkscrew pasta (or whichever kind you like).
Drain and put back in pot. Add about 1/4 cup of pasta sauce- whatever kind you like, 2 tablespoons of blue cheese dressing, about a tablespoon of blue cheese crumbles and about a tablespoon of hot sauce. Stir together in the pot until creamy. Add diced chicken breast and some chopped celery. YUM!

Tropical Tilapia Recipe

Do you have a go-to recipe that you make when you are trying to impress people?  Here is one of my favorite recipes to cook when I am showing off a bit:
Tropical Tilapia 
Lay out aluminum foil and if available, lay a banana leaf on top of the foil.  Place a tilapia filet on the leaf.

Top the fish with diced tomatoes, diced nectarine, peach or mango, season with salt (I used something called Florida Sunshine) and add a tiny pinch of brown sugar.  

 Wrap the fish up and cook in the oven for about 45 minutes at 350.  I usually serve this dish with couscous.  Enjoy!

Delicious Onion Recipe

Even though I have been known to complain about my daughter being a picky eater, I have to confess that I can be a picky eater too!  I am not a fan of onions, although I do like the flavor of foods cooked in onions.  I have even been known to order french onion soup and scoop around all of the onions!  Whether you are a fan of onions or not, you will love these!  We call them "Camping Onions" because they are fun to make over a campfire, but you can cook them in the oven too. These onions are so soft and flavorful, I can't believe I ate an entire onion yesterday!  


"Camping Onions"
Cut a sweet onion or Vidalia onion in half.  Peel off the skin.
Use a melon baller or spoon to hollow out a small hole in the middle of the onion

 Place 1 beef bullion cube and a tiny bit of butter in the hole, wrap up in foil and cook for 30-45 minutes!

 

Delicious when served with bread!  Enjoy!

Scalloping

Scalloping is such a fun thing to do with kids!  I like to describe it as an underwater Easter egg hunt.  We usually go every summer.  Here is what you need for a good time scalloping:
1)  Check the reports online and find out where to go!  Scallops like to hang out just north of where a river meets the gulf. 
2)  Round up your equipment: snorkels- check!  masks- check!  flippers- check!  shell bag and 5 gallon bucket- check!  dive flag- check!  fishing license- DOH! (had to renew mine at the last minute online!) 

 3)  Find the spot and start finding them!  Usually the water is pretty shallow when we scallop which makes it fun for everyone, even the kids, but it still helps to have snorkel equipment.  You can find them just hanging out in the grass and sandy areas out in the bay.  

4)  Head back in and find a shady spot to shuck!  We usually sit under a tree back at home, and have some cold drinks to help us along.  Shuckin' tips:  Dark side up, use a grapefruit spoon, sometimes ice makes them pop open, but sometimes just keeping them in their own water works better.  

 5)  Cook em up!  I dip them in egg and put them in a baggie full of panko breadcrumbs and shake it all about!  I put a little oil in a pan and fry them for about 3 minutes on each side until they are brown.  At the last minute, I pour 2 tablespoons of Rose's lime juice and a pat of butter in the pan and let it sizzle.  Serve over pasta or yellow corn grits.  Mmmmm!  
Are you ready to try scalloping?


*Only one day left on the Starbucks Giveaway!  If you already follow my blog, be sure you entered to win!  To enter click here!

Tomatillos and Yummy Soup Recipe

I saw this recipe (click the colored words for link) in Cooking Light Magazine and thought to myself, "I don't know what a tomatillo is, but dang that looks good!"

 I was talking to my mom on the phone as I was dicing up the tomatillos and telling her about the soup I was going to make and she said, "that sounds gross and I bet your little miss picky won't eat that.  I don't think any kid would eat it".  I said "well, I am going to give her cereal for dinner and if it turns out gross, I guess that is what I will eat too". 

You see, sometimes you just have to try something new.  I tend to cook the same 5 meals over and over again, so I am always looking for an interesting new dish to change things up.  My great Aunt Mary used to say, "there is always the garbage can!"  So I like to keep that as my cooking mantra too- well, that and "there is always cereal!"

This is how I made my version of the soup:
I took 3 small tomatillos chopped + 1 and 1/2 avocados + 1/4 large container of College Inn coconut curry chicken broth and put it in my cup for my immersion blender.  (EVERYONE needs one of these!)

Then I poured it in a saucepan set on low heat, added another 1/4 container of coconut broth, 1/2 container of crab claw meat and poured in 1/3 container of heavy cream (I know it defeats the purpose of "Cooking Light", but I didn't have buttermilk!)  I sprinkled it with Old Bay seasoning to taste. 

Guess what?!  It was delicious!  And miss picky even had a spoon of it!  (Then had a bowl of cereal!)

Five Question Friday

This is my first "blog hop". Here goes my first "five question Friday" post. Feel free to join in!

1. Do you know what your REAL hair color is?
Have not seen it since college!

2. Do you plan ahead for summer, or fly by the seat of your pants?
I plan to relax and recover this summer like I do every summer. I get money deducted from my paycheck during the school year so I can have some money to pay the bills over the summer and that is about as much planning as I can handle.

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?
Chicken Picatta is my specialty
Lightly flour two chicken breasts and sear in 2 Tbsp oil in the frying pan for 2 minutes each side. Transfer to baking dish and place in oven 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Meanwhile, pour 1/2 cup lemon juice into pan and scrape, add 1/2 cup white wine and 1 jar of capers. Let simmer on low heat until chicken is done. Just before pouring sauce over chicken, swirl 2 Tbsp butter into it. MMMmmm!

4. Do you get offended by not receiving thank yous?
No, because I don't send them out either!

5. How did you meet your best friend?
We have known each other since I was 12 and she was 8. I would spend a few weeks visiting my grandmother every summer, and she lived a few doors down. My brother, her, her uncle, and I were all inseparable. We used to play LIFE in her uncle's basement, walk up to get snowballs at the snowball stand, swim in my aunt's pool and sit up late telling jokes and stories!

delicious mini meatloaves

My picky daughter who won't eat anything told me tonight that dinner was "so delicious!" And she ate about 4 of the mini-meatloaves. Here is the recipe:
1/2 pound of ground turkey
2 tablespoons of Italian breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of ketchup
Mix all this together and place in mini-muffin pan.
Top each with a quarter of a slice of provolone cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes at 275 degrees.
Enjoy!

Good days, cell projects, and crockpots!

Some days everything just seems to go right, and TODAY was one of those days! This morning I picked out a cute outfit, and did my hair like the hairdo video blogs I have been watching- basically I got all prettied up for my OBSERVATION today. My principal was coming in to observe me teaching my class and I had a great lesson planned. Also, today was PROJECT DAY! All the kids stopped by before school with all of their cell models. I love the way they creep in with a big proud smile on their faces and their projects in their hands! Well, all of the kids did their projects, even one kid who I have in my class for the second year in a row. (I called his mom to tell her how proud I am of him!) My lesson went off without a hitch. (If you know a teacher, you probably have heard how nerve wracking these can be!) My daughter has been angel today- homework is done, yes! And I came home to the smell of BLUEBERRY CHICKEN in the crock-pot! Man, there is nothing like coming home to dinner already cooked. What a great day!

Blueberry Chicken

Cook chicken as desired. The way I desire is that I place two frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot in the morning on high. Also add 1 can of chicken broth, 1 cup of blueberries, 3 tablespoons of jam (I use blackberry because it was in the fridge), 1 cup of nuts- I prefer almonds, but walnuts would be yummy too. And VIOLA- you have delicious blueberry chicken waiting for you when you come home from work. Although, my picky kid will probably just eat cereal- see here.