Night 81

Recipe 114
Thai Shrimp with Basil
Matt rating ****


Ingredients used:


Vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds shrimp
Salt and course black pepper
Fresh ginger
Garlic
Red pepper flakes
Red bell pepper
Scallions
Tamari
Honey
Basil
Iceberg lettuce


I know you are stunned that I made two seafood dishes in one week, considering Matt's aversion to seafood, but in between this meal and the meal I blogged of before, we went away over the weekend.  We had SO much heavy, greasy, bad-for-you food that we both just wanted something light.  Shrimp is one of the seafood-type foods that Matt doesn't mind, although he will always pick steak or fettuccine over shrimp every time.  This had quite a kick to it, considering the only real spice in it was a little bit of red pepper flakes.  This recipe can also be used on chicken or pork and will be just as fabulous, I'm sure!


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Mandy

Night 80

Recipe 181
Scallop Burgers
Matt rating ***


Ingredients used:


Sea scallops
Shallot
Flat leaf parsley
Navel orange zest
Chives
Old Bay Seasoning
Coarse S&P
EVOO
Crusty rolls
Romaine lettuce


This was one of those meals that came together in a flash, thanks to the work of a handy dandy food processor.  Three minutes on each side in the pan and they were done!  I absolutely loved these because it was definitely different, but Matt was not a fan.  I don't think he even ate half of his!  I would have eaten the rest of his for him, but didn't want to look like a pig.  


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Mandy

Night 79

Recipe 95

Island Bird: Pineapple-Rum Chicken

Matt rating ****1/2

*Sorry, forgot to take a pic for this one!!!*

Ingredients used:

Rice

Pineapple

Vegetable oil

Yellow onion

Garlic

Coarse salt

Red pepper flakes

Spiced rum

Chicken stock

Chicken breast halves

Coarse black pepper

Flat-leaf parsley

Cilantro

So I quickly redeemed myself by making this meal after such a sub-par meal a couple of nights before. We had company over and they all seemed to enjoy it. I have always had an aversion to mixing meat and fruit (i.e. pork chops and apple sauce, pineapple on pizza, etc.) but since I am always giving Matt a hard time about trying things he thinks he doesn't like, I had to give this a try. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out! And boy, it went a long way! This meal fed 7 people (and a toddler) with some food left over, and that was with only 2 1/2 pounds of meat. I both love and hate proving myself wrong...

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Mandy

Night 78

Recipe 47

Couple-of-Minute Steaks and Potato Ragout

Matt rating ***

Ingredients used:

Cube steaks

Worcestershire sauce

Black pepper

EVOO

Baking potatoes

Coarse salt

Thyme

Rosemary

Yellow onion

Garlic

Dry white whit

Chicken stock

Cherry tomatoes

Flat-leaf parsley

Butter

You would think that with Matt being a midwestern guy that steak and potatoes would receive a higher rating, wouldn't you? I can't say I blame him on this one though. While I thought the potatoes were pretty tasty, the "cube" steak was what I call peasant steak...it seems to be just glorified hamburger. In all fairness, I don't think there is much you can do to make cube steak better, except to use it in salisbury steak - and even then, it's still glorified hamburger meat with a sauce to disguise it! The best part about this meal is that I had everything on hand, including the herbs and tomatoes that I have growing in my garden, except for that dreaded cube steak...so, it was very budget friendly! Definitely NOT a keeper.

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Mandy

Night 77

Recipe 182

Chicken with White and Wild Rice Soup

Matt rating ****1/2

Ingredients used:

White and wild rice blend

EVOO

Yellow onion

Garlic

Carrots

Celery

Bay leaf

Thyme

S&P

Chicken stock

Chicken tenders

Flat-leaf parsley

Dill

Lemon

Hot sauce

So after Matt brought back the frozen breaded chicken tenders (ya know, the chicken-nugget type frozen thing?) and told me that there was no such thing as chicken tenders, he went back to the store to bring me back regular boneless-skinless chicken breasts instead. He brought back a package of chicken tenderloins and told me that was all they had...ummm...okay? I had to explain to him that chicken "tenders" was just short for chicken tenderloins, hahaha! So after a false start, I was able to get dinner on the table in a flash. Matt and I both loved it - Judah, on the other hand, put it in her mouth and spit it right back out. Everybody's a critic, right?

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Mandy