a little taste of home...

saint lynn (my mom) makes 2 breakfasts i LOVE.
the first is her french toast.
i literally can't enjoy french toast unless it's from her.
the second is her zucchini muffins...

lph brought home this rather large zucchini the other day
i took one look and said, "i'm making muffins!!"

and i must say....they taste just like mom's.

saint lynn's zucchini muffins

ingredients
1 cup salad oil (or substitute with applesauce for less calories)
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsps vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon

directions
in a large boil, mix oil, eggs, sugar, and zucchini. after mixed, add flour.
stir in soda and cinnamon.
pour into muffin liners (or 2 greased loaf pans if you want bread)
bake at 325 for 30 minutes.

slather on some butter and enjoy some of lynn's special TLC...

mac n cheese spice

i've had quite the domesticated day...
which means i still have 2 more posts for this week!
go me!
especially since i feel this week will be super busy
and i will rely on easy meals...
oh well. i fed bubs and me well today!

first up, my favorite...spicy mac n cheese!!
i am a big fan of any type of mac n cheese
but when i saw this zesty looking one, i knew i had to try it...

it's pretty easy cheesy to make...
AND SOOOOOO GOOOD!!
if you're not a fan of hot foods, you won't like this.
but anyone else...it has so much flavor
that i wanted seconds, thirds, and fourths...
i stopped myself and saved some to split for our lunches tomorrow
but this will be made again. and again....

ingredients
4 cups cooked macaroni noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
2 to 3 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 tomato
1 small can green chiles
1 1/2 cups grated pepper jack cheese
salt
pepper

directions
boil pasta

in a large pan, heat olive oil and add garlic, onion, pepper, and tomato.
(yes, i 1/2 love this recipe cause i get to utilize the food processor so much)
stir in green chiles.
take off the heat and add to the pasta.
mix in the cheese.
s & p to taste.

DELICIOUS!!!!

modified from here.
i took out some of the fattening stuff
and it tastes delightful still.
however if you want butter and cream added,
pioneer woman says, "go for it!"
and i took out the jalapeno.
i once had a bad experience from cooking w/ jalapeno.
my face looked like angelina jolie
and my hands felt like they were stuck inside a bonfire.
i also took out corn...but i added tomato!

a golden girls favorite!

thank you for being a friend cheesecake

lph and i have a teeny obsession with one particular show.

the golden girls.

please stop you're laughing at us, and go check out WE.

trust me, you'll remember how funny those four broads are.

phew.

and if you remember, these four ladies loved to talk and talk in their kitchen.

the normal fifth party in that equation was...CHEESECAKE!!

so you can imagine my excitement when my dear love holly mae

found a wonderful cheesecake recipe (bakerella!)

and made a cake that made my mouth water through an emailed picture!

holly said the cheesecake turned out wonderful!!

ingredients

2.5 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter melted

4 (8 0z) pkgs cream cheese (yum!)

1.5 cups sugar

3 tbsp flour

5 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tbsp lemon juice

directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar.

Stir in melted butter until moistened.

Pour the mixture into a 9-inch springform pan (3 inches tall).

Press the crumbs into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the pan.

Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature.

To make the cheesecake filling, cream the sugar, cream cheese and flour

with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy.

On medium low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition.

On low, add sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla just until combined.

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes at 325.

Make sure to take it out of the oven before the center looks done.

It will be kind of wobbly and it will move in one piece.

The center will look more shiny than the edges.

That's ok because it will continue to cook a little while it's in the pan.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely to room temperature.

Hope that it doesn't crack.

Go ahead and separate the cheesecake from the sides of the pan

by running a knife around the edges.

I also opened and reclosed the springform pan to help separate.

Chill in the refrigerator overnight.

That's right. It's best to make this the day before

because it needs plenty of time to chill and firm up.

Strawberry Topping

1 container of strawberries
3 tablespoons of sugar

put in food processor until blended

are you calling me a shrimp?

so mi amigas and i are going to start using this blog as a foodie blog
for us to share our recipes with each other across the united states
and, of course, share funny stories about making the food.

our first recipe is called shrimp paesano.
little background on the recipe.
spina's husband, matthew, used to live in san antonio.
there he found this wonderful dish.
one day he asked his lovely (then) fiance to make it for him.
she whipped it up and said, "oh this is yummy!"
she sent it to me, and i finally found enough time to try it out.

first, the preparation of this meal is so fun.
you get to be a tid bit (lots) messy!
while trying to prepare mine, my phone rang
and i tried to carry on a convo with flour all over me.
needless to say, i created more of a mess than usual...
once you get the shrimp covered in the flour, the rest goes super fast.
and then, before you know, voila!
a wonderful dinner ready for you to devour!

i must say LPH and i really enjoyed this meal.
i inhaled my dish.
so big thanks to matt for having such good taste!

ingredients
1 lb shrimp
1 pint light cream (half & half)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups (i used more...) flour
1 large egg yolk
1 stick of butter
1 clove of garlic
1/4 cup parsley leaves
chives
1/4 cup lemon juice

preparation
preheat oven to 400 degrees.

pour most of the cream over the shrimp and let marinate for 30 minutes or more.
save some of the cream for the sauce.

drain shrimp and roll the shrimp in flour.
saute in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
flip shrimp over.
remove shrimp and put in baking dish.
flip oven to broil and broil shrimp for 5 minutes.

sauce:
mix 1/2 stick of butter, egg yolk, and lemon juice.
heat over medium.
remove from heat.
mix in the other 1/2 stick of butter, garlic, and stir until sauce thickens
add some of the half and half.
add chives and parsley.

you can serve this with pasta or not. we went for the not and it was wonderful!

bag lady

what a great court bag this would be for me!
please, santa??

here fishy, fishy!

for dinner tonight, i made a light summer meal.
some fishy fishy mango salsa!

Ingredients

• 2 cups plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 1/2 cups diced peeled ripe mango
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 (6-ounce) halibut fillets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation

Prepare grill.

Combine first 7 ingredients. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and garlic.

Rub halibut with oil; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place fish on grill rack; grill 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with mango salsa.

blood red!

fyi: for any sweet tooth cravings,
head over to the cheesecake factory for
red velvet cheesecake.
to die for.

and if you get a piece with me, i will give you
a free impersonation of m'lynn from steel magnolias.
Blood red! people are gonna be hacking into
this thing that looks like its bleeding to death!

delic.