Cooking and Foodie

Orzo  and Tomatoes  plus other vegetable. I found a recipe in one of the Food Network magazines sometime this month. I changed out the canned tomatoes for fresh and added something else. Orzo is a very small, rice shaped pasta.  It can be used as a side dish or salad, depends on what you like best. You can add so many different things to this pasta and it is so tasty.  You can also add homemade pesto to this for a salad or side dish. I like to add a lot of different veggies as pretty much all types of vegetables go with this pasta. I used a variety of cherry tomatoes as the colors really brighten this dish up. I cut them all in 1/2 no matter the size of the tomatoes. I buy the elephant bulbs of garlic.  You can buy the regular bulbs and just use more of them. This also depends on if you like or LOVE garlic.  My family loves garlic.  We love to go to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy CA. If you have celery left over in your refrigerator and don't know ...

Peanut Butter Brownies These are easy as I use a Ghiradelli brownie mix and add extra ingredients. I am sure you have peanut butter and sugar on hand.  I always have brownie mixes on hand as a staple in my house.  It is always a quick dessert you can whip up in minutes.  I have added a can of cherry pie filling to the brownies and then baked as well. So Black Forrest right !!! Ingredients 1 box Ghiradelli Brownie Mix 2 egg 10 Tbsp melted butter 1/2 cup of semisweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips 1 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup confectioners sugar Follow the directions on the box for oven temperature. Mix the first 4 ingredients together with a whisk, well.  Divide batter in 1/2.  Mix the peanut butter and sugar together and set aside. Pour the first 1/2 of the batter in a parchment lined 9x9 baking pan.  Spread evenly across the bottom.  Add all the peanut butter mixture across the batter evenly.  Pour the rest of the batter over the t...

Lime Cream Pie  with the most delicious crust you have ever eaten.  You might want to make the crust and eat it all by itself.  The Lorna Doons make the crust very delectable and buttery.  The nuts added that little crunch that is needed with this type of pie and the added coconut makes it very Tropical. I left out any added sugar, as you have sugar from the cookies and sweetener from the condensed milk. Use a springform pan to make this dessert. Ingredients 5 ounce's Lorna Doon shortbread cookies 1 cup shredded sweat coconut 1 cup sliced toasted almonds 4-6 Tbsp butter melted 2 cups heavy cream 1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice lime zest from 3 limes Preheat oven 325 degrees Use food processor to grind up the cookies, coconut and the almonds, to form a fine sand like consistency then add the melted butter and mix. Place the crumbs in the pan and pat down to form the crust, make sure the crumbs fill the entire bottom o...

Lemon Blueberry Breakfast or Anytime rolls I combined a couple of different recipes to make these and put my own substitutions. You can substitute orange juice for the lemon juice if you want a variation.  You can also add chopped nuts for the orange rolls. I use butter because as you know I love butter.  You can use shortening if you prefer. You can use extra flour if the dough is too sticky.  Just add a little at a time.  If your yeast doesn't start bubbling or rising it is probably old. Ingredients 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast or 1 packet 1/4 cup warm water 3/4 cup of warm Lemon Juice Fresh if possible 1/4 cup warm milk 1/4 cup soften butter cut in 1/4 1/4 cup of sugar 1 egg 1 1/2 cups wheat flour 1 1/2 cup white flour Filling 1/4 cup soften butter 1/4 cup of raw honey 2 Tbsp Lemon zest Glaze 2 Tbsp milk Powder Sugar Lemon Juice/zest Add the dry yeast to the warmed liquids, cover with plastic wrap for 5 minutes. You will see it bubble and...

Pulled Pork sloppy delicious lip smacking sandwich. Make your pulled pork anyway you would like. This will just be how to make the sandwich.  We made our pulled pork in the crock pot this time.  We have also smoked a pork shoulder and pork but.  If you have a cheaper cut of pork you will want to make your pulled pork like we did this time in a crockpot for 8 hours When you buy the rolls make sure they aren't a real soft bread as the roll needs to stand up the juiciness of the pulled pork and other ingredients .  You can broil the roll as well to cut down on the soakage in the roll. I made 3 sandwiches so the ingredients will look like a few. Ingredients Nice sub rolls Mt. Olives bread and butter pickles Sliced Red Onion Coleslaw mix 2-3 Tbsp Miracle Whip or Mayo 1 tsp sugar 2-3 Tbsp of Rice vinegar Turn on the Broiler on.  Place the open rolls on a lined cookie sheet, preferably with silicone mat as parchment paper burns.  Broil until dark ...

Garlicky Mushroom Saucy Shrimp Talk about a quick meal. This delicious shrimp dinner takes about 20 minutes. I buy my fresh shrimp already deveined.  You will still need to peel them as they will be cheaper if the shell is still on and it saves the fish better. This is a quick meal that you can drop by the grocery on your way home. The other ingredients you probably have at home already. Green onions or shallots, garlic, butter and mushrooms. Ingredients 1 pound deveined raw Shrimp 1 8oz container of white, baby bellas, shiitake mushrooms 5-6 cloves chopped garlic 6 chopped green onions 1/2 stick (4 Tbsp ) butter 1/4 cup White Cooking Wine or Sherry Sautè mushrooms in 2 Tbsp butter for 5 minutes then add garlic and onions,  Sauté for another 3 minutes.  Peel the shrimp and add to the skillet/pan.  Cook until the shrimp turn pink on both sides. The Sherry will deglaze the pan add vinegar let boil for 3 minutes to reduce the...