Italian Pasta Salad

Love me some Pasta salad! Found this one and thought it sounded good from reading the recipe and then I tried it and it was fabulous!

recipe

1 (12 ounce) package rotini/corkscrew pasta
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 green bell pepper, chopped (I did green and red)
5 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until al dente, rinse under cold water and drain.
In a large bowl, combine the pasta,mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, bell peppers, green onions.
Prepare the dressing by mixing together the mayonnaise, vinegar, Italian seasoning and pepper.
Pour dressing over pasta mixture and toss well to coat. Refrigerate until chilled and serve.

Ceviche

Every time I have Ceviche it reminds me of our Honeymoon to Mexico! I have made Ceviche before but I didn’t let it sit all night and well this time it got to sit plenty of time and it was SO good! So Light and fresh and you don’t feel all heavy after eating it!

Normy and me get our seafood at King Soopers by our house, but the guy we used to go to Brent is no longer there. Boo! So we get these rude people. Do NOT go to the King Soopers On Englewood Pkwy in Englewood, CO as they SUCK! It’s like you are a bother to them. I dread going to the Seafood counter. So I would have Normy go for me. And he even hated going! To the point we wouldn’t buy seafood! So I stopped in the King Soopers by my work one day and Guess who I found at the Seafood counter? BRENT! YAY! So we will be going to the King Soopers by my work now, as getting great customer service is worth the extra few minutes of driving! I like to be treated like I’m important to someones business, not like I am a bother!

The night I made this Normy and Me went for a walk to the Liquor store to get us some nice white wine to go with our Ceviche, as it was friday and well I think everyone needs a drink on Friday!

recipe

 

1 pound bay scallops
8 limes, juiced

2 tomatoes, diced
5 green onions, minced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/8 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Rinse scallops and place in a medium-sized bowl. Pour lime juice over the scallops.The scallops should be completely immersed in the lime juice. Chill the lime juice and scallops all day or overnight until scallops are opaque (you cannot see through them).
Empty 1/2 of the lime juice from the bowl.

Add tomatoes,

green onions,

celery,

green bell pepper,

parsley, black pepper, olive oil, and cilantro to the scallop mixture. Stir gently.

Serve this dish in fancy glasses with a slice of lime hanging over the rim for effect.
(I served mine in avocado, saw it on a website and thought it looked so good)

Baked Lemon Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

recipe

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lemon
1/4 cup butter
3 cups fresh sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
Place the olive oil in an 8×8 glass baking dish. Place the chicken breasts in the dish, coating each side with oil. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon over all. Slice the rest of the lemon and place a lemon slice on top of each chicken piece.



Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until brown.



In a large skillet, melt the 1/4 cup butter.

Add the sliced mushrooms.

Cook and stir until the mushrooms are brown

and have exuded their juices, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and blend.

Add the chicken broth, stirring to make a medium thick sauce. Allow to reduce, adjusting with a little more broth to make a creamy sauce.

Spoon the sauce over the lemon baked chicken breasts. Delicious!

Dinner is served

Stuffed Bell Peppers

recipe

2 cups water
1 cup uncooked white rice
4 large bell peppers, seeded (I used orange and yellow)

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups finely shredded mozzarella cheese

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place bell peppers in a medium saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove peppers from the water and set aside in a 9×13 inch baking dish.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, brown the ground beef; drain. Return to heat and mix in onion, cooked rice, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour in tomato sauce and mix thoroughly. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Spoon the meat mixture onto each half of the peppers. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until mixture begins to turn golden brown.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top of each stuffed pepper. Return to the oven and bake until cheese is lightly browned, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef

I say this every time I make a marinara sauce…You can NEVER have too many marinara or meat sauce recipes! I believe it is my most favorite thing to make. So many different ways to make it!

So people always ask me where I like to get my recipes…Well as you know I LOVE The Pioneer Woman the most! But I think you already knew that! Whatever she is making, I want to make, or try it, like NOW!
I am really starting to search All Recipes as I have gotten so many awesome recipes from there! And of course I love The Food Network , and I like My Recipes , and also Food and Wine , and Annies Eats …We would be here all day if I told you all the sights I like…So we will stop there for now….

 

Now let’s make this sauce YO! (oh and a side note, another reason I chose THIS recipe is I notice on All Recipes 18,316 people have it saved and it got 138 reviews)

recipe

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small green bell pepper, diced

1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes (You KNOW I had to use San Marzano tomatoes in this sauce)

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love…

love is all you need…

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
1(6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
(and of course I added in extras to my sauce, like fire roasted tomatoes)

Combine ground beef,

onion, garlic, and green pepper in a large saucepan. Cook and stir until meat is brown and vegetables are tender.

Drain grease.
Stir diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.


Dinner is SERVED!

Mexican Lasagna for Stacey

This past weekend was a little crazy for me! (But don’t I say that every weekend) Saturday morning I was supposed to volunteer but I canceled as I had too much to do! I had a Mexican Lasagna I needed to make, and 42 cupcakes to make, plus I had to go to the store to get all the stuff to make everything. I also wanted to have lunch with my friend April, as her Birthday was Sunday and I had Stacey’s Baby Shower to go to in Limon so I wouldn’t be around Sunday, So I wanted to make it a point to at least say Hi to April. I mean come on its her birthday! So we met April, Marty and Wesley for some lunch…

I’ve known her since 9th grade!

Normy got to go to the U2 concert (with James). Lucky Bastards!

So then Sunday was Stacey’s Baby shower we were asked to make a Casserole, for her to freeze for after the baby is born so she can just pop it in the oven and not have to worry about dinner. So I wanted to make something totally awesome So I made my Mexican Lasagna . But changed it up a little bit. check it out…BUT First you must check out the cupcakes I made…






Mommy to be…

 

Now let’s get down to how to make this beast of a Lasagna:

2 – 1.25 pounds Ground Turkey

2 packages of Taco Seasoning

1 Green Bell Pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and chopped
2 whole Onions diced
3 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 can black beans drained and washed
3 medium cans mild green chili’s diced (I used 3, because I love green Chili’s)
Corn Tortillas

Vegetable oil
2 packages (16 Ounces) Mexican Cheese Blend
1 large can (28 Ounce) Enchilada Sauce
1 Large can of diced tomatoes
1 large tomatoes chopped for garnish, and lettuce
Sour Cream, to taste
one bunch of Cilantro, or to taste (I Like a LOT, so I use a bunch)

Preheat oven to 400 Degrees

Start by browning the meat

I always add salt and pepper to taste (even if I am adding other seasonings, you ALWAYS gotta add salt and pepper)


Ground the meat up, Or get you a strong latin man, named Normando Luis to help you with this


then add taco seasoning as directed on Package


then take another medium skillet and preheat it to medium low heat and fill with 1/4 cup vegetable oil, or more as needed and heat until it sizzles/bubbles when adding a tortilla.

(while the oil heats up and the turkey is cooking) start chopping the Green/Red Bell Pepper,

Onion,

jalapeno,

Cilantro (Optional)

Once you have onions, and Green and Red Bell Peppers chopped up, go ahead and add them to the meat





While you cook down the onions and bell peppers for a few minutes you can start adding one tortilla at a time to the hot oil, just drop the tortilla long enough so its covered on both sides with oil and it sizzles/bubbles a little, maybe 5 seconds, drain off in pan as best you can, then Place on a Paper towel to drain until ready to use (I would start with 18 tortillas, 6 each layer and there are 3 layers) If you want more you can do more as you need them.

once meat and onions, and bell peppers are cooked until onions are translucent turn heat off of meat and add some cilantro (optional)


OK so now it is time to assemble your Lasagna
I start with a little meat on the bottom of the pan, so it helps the tortillas not to stick, Then I start with the 1st layer of tortillas

Then add the meat, onion, bell pepper mixture

then add black beans, or any kind of beans you like

then add the chopped up jalapeno

Then add tomatoes, enchiladas sauce and green chilis


then add the cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

Then start with your next layer of Tortillas

Meat

Beans

jalapeno, and Enchiladas sauce

Tomatoes and Green Chilies

and more cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

Then do your last layer of tortillas (I had one extra)

Meat and Beans

Beans, Beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot!


and everything else

I topped mine with Cheese and Cilantro

(Or should I say Stacey’s, Not mine!)

Sure Hope her family likes it!

Now if you were to pop this baby in the oven, first I would put a sheet pan under it as it is so full I bet it will bake over. Bake at 400º for 60 to 90 minutes until cheese has melted and its bubbling. When you remove from the oven and the Lasagna has cooled some, Sprinkle more cilantro over the top if you want and serve with Chopped lettuce and Tomatoes and sour cream…or salsa!

All wrapped up and I even have a recipe card I Laminated for Stacey and there is some Jamie Salsa for her to have with it too! Not bad (If I may say so myself).

Baked Sea Scallops

As you may know, my MOST favorite seafood EVER is Scallops. They are fabulous! I could eat them every day of my life!

recipe

16 sea scallops, rinsed and drained

5 tablespoons butter, melted

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 shallots, chopped

3 pinches ground nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste
I also added in 16 oz of white mushrooms and I washed them and halved them

1 cup bread crumbs
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
lemon wedges for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Place scallops, melted butter, garlic, and shallots in a bowl. Season with nutmeg, Mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Stir gently to combine. Transfer to a casserole dish.

In a separate bowl, combine bread crumbs

and olive oil. Sprinkle on top of scallops and mushrooms

Bake in preheated oven until crumbs are brown and scallops are done, about 11 to 14 minutes. Top with parsley, and serve with lemon wedges on the side.


Dinner is served

Famous Japanese Restaurant-Style Salad Dressing

Recipe

1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons minced celery
2 tablespoons ketchup
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a blender, combine the minced onion, peanut oil, rice vinegar, water, ginger, celery, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper . Blend on high-speed for about 30 seconds or until all of the ingredients are well-pureed.

Baked Salmon

So one of the MANY things I like to do with my camera is go in the bathroom and stand in the mirror and take pictures of myself…LOL I do things like this…

and this

Oh and this

oh and one more…

OK on with the cooking!

Recipe

2 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons light olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 (6 ounce) fillets salmon


In a medium glass bowl, prepare marinade by mixing garlic,

light olive oil,

basil,

salt,

pepper, lemon juice and parsley.

Place salmon fillets in a medium glass baking dish, and cover with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator about 1 hour, turning occasionally.


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Place fillets in aluminum foil, cover with marinade, and seal. Place sealed salmon in the glass dish, and bake 35 to 45 minutes, until easily flaked with a fork. (It says to bake for 35-45 minutes, but I did that and the Salmon was way over done and dry. I say cook it 15 minutes and then check and go from there)