January 21, 2011

Shrimp Quesadillas

 


Start with about 20 small shrimp, peeled and deveined
Most grocery stores sell these prepackaged and fresh at the seafood counter
Cover them with taco sauce, I use the smooth Ortega Salsa
Chop up 1/2 of each:
Large Onion
Red Pepper
Green Pepper 
I also added a jalapeno pepper for some spice




Heat skillet to high heat with about 1 tbs of oil
Add in the veggies and saute on high until they start to brown.
It is very important that you cook them on high, this allows them to brown without getting mushy.




 After a few minutes remove the veggies from the pan and set aside
In the same pan that you cooked the veggies in toss in the shrimp, sauce and all. 

Saute for about 5 minutes or until done


 
When the shrimp are cooked remove from the pan to a cutting board and roughly chop


Wipe the pan out with a paper towel and return it to med heat. 
Add about 1 TBS of butter
 Once that has melted add your tortilla


Cook for roughly 3 minutes until golden brown
Add veggies, shrimp and shredded cheese to one half of the tortilla
Fold in half
Serve with a side of homemade guacamole
Guacamole: 
2 Avacados - 1 Tbs thin sliced and diced onion - 1 Tbs water - Salt and Pepper to Taste - Blend together


January 19, 2011

Stuffed Chicken Breast

This is my husbands favorite dinner at the moment. It's easy to make and if your only cooking for two one batch will make enough stuffing for you to freeze.

Here is what you'll need: *note the stuffing will stuff 4-6 chicken breasts
2 (boneless skinless) chicken breast
2 strips of bacon
1 box of frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained
3 cloves of garlic minced
2/3 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup any variety shredded cheese
5 slices pepper jack cheese crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the drained spinach, sour cream, cheese and garlic. 
Stir in salt and pepper to taste.
Pound out the chicken breast  thin.
Put about 2 tablespoons of the spinach mix in the center of each breast and roll it up or fold in half.
Cook the bacon for about 3 minutes in the microwave, just to start the cooking process.
Remove and cut in half and lay over the top of each breast.
Place in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
Turn the broiler on at the very end to finish crisping the bacon. 
I like to serve this with basmati rice.


January 18, 2011

Savings Sites

I love to shop and I love to get a good deal. Here are a few sites that I check out daily for great deals.

Rue LaLa - Brand name/high end clothing, accessories, shoes and handbags. Once in a while they have vacations, sports memorabilia, wines, spas. They have a great variety. They also have a sale called the Final Act I and II where the already discounted items are discounted even more. This is an invite only site and you may use my email address as the invitee. Valentinegirlxo@comcast.net

No More Rack - They have 8 items each day (Monday-Friday) in limited quantities. The site updates at noon with new items. They have a little bit of everything but things do sell out fast so you really to log on right at noon.

HauteLook - They really have it all and the site is very organized with tabs for each different area of items.

Blue Fly - Everything Designer

Retail Me Not - The best place to find online coupon codes and printable coupons

Living Social -Finds deals for your local area

Groupon - Heavily discounted coupons that change daily.

Salmon Yuck!

So last night for dinner I experimented once again.
My husband had a salmon filet with wasabi sauce at a restaurant in Frederick that he really liked. My goal was to recreate it or attempt to. I LOVE food but I must admit salmon is not something that I like. I have tasted it several times but never really liked it but I figured I would give it a try again.

Here is what I did

In my food processor I mixed
2 heaping Tbs of mayo
2 Tbs of wasabi paste-less if you don't like it to hot
1 Tbs water
1 sprinkle of ginger powder
1tsp lemon juice
A few springs of cilantro

I heated Oil (1 Tbs) over med heat and added 2 salmon filets seasoned with salt and pepper. Cooked on each side for about 6 minutes.
I topped them with the sauce and served it with steamed broccoli that I seasoned with sage and sauteed onions.

I must say all in all it turned out pretty good.

January 14, 2011

Beer and Bacon Happy Hour was a bust!

One word to describe Bad Decisions last night would be CHAOS!. We arrived at 5:30 and the place was shoulder to shoulder. In the hour and a half that we were there we only managed to get 2 drinks. The bar staff was completely overwhelmed with the crowed. I wouldn't necessarily say that they were understaffed but they defiantly were not used to having that many people to serve at the bar. People waited upwards of 20 minutes to get a drink. CRAZY! I had two bacon themed drinks, the Habanero Mojito and the Pineapple Maple Bacon Margarita. The Habanero Mojito had lime, mint, 1 habanero pepper and a slice of bacon crumbled in it. What a great combination and the bacon remained crisp through the entire drink! I loved it. The Margarita on the other hand had a bacon puree shaken into it. Drinking the drink you tasted the pineapple but the aftertaste was all bacon. We didn't have the chance to enjoy the food but what we saw coming out to other patrons looked delicious.
Apple Bacon martini
Dark Chocolate Cup Cakes with Bacon
GBLT - Guacamole Bacon Lettuce and Tomato
Sauteed Brussel Sprouts in Bacon and Shallots
Mussels and Bacon on Toast
The Bacon Cuban
These are just a few that I recall from last night.
Would we go back? Yes. Is it going to be any time soon? No. We are going to wait until warmer weather and hopefully all the buzz will have died down by then.

January 13, 2011

My First Post

So my friend Kara over at Happy Go Lucky turned me on to this Blog thing. I am going to give it a shot and see how it goes. This blog does not have one specific direction, it's going to be a collaboration of things that I enjoy like cooking, crafts, home projects, shopping etc.

Today I am excited about a Happy Hour that I will be attending at Bad Decisions in Fells Point. I have passed this place more times than I can count and it just looked like another corner bar for the locals. I must admit, I wasn't even sure that the place was open. I have never seen a person go in or out. Well, last week I had the Travel Channel on and Food Paradise came on. The episode was about BACON! One of the locations it featured was Bad Decisions. They host a Bacon Happy Hour once a month with food and drinks that incorporate the deliciousness of Bacon *drool*. I will have a full update tomorrow of how it went and hopefully be able to share some pictures of the various bacon creations.

I am also partaking in a Blog Hop for my very first time.