cheesy pasta with scallops

i love scallops but i'm usually too scared to cook them because the chances of me overcooking them are very very high! i was doing my rounds through trader joes and found some bay scallops in the frozen section so i decided it was time to conquer those fears!! and what better to go with scallops then some yummy pasta and a cheese sauce of some sorts? :)

i don't go rogue when it comes to soups...but i did when it came to my white sauce! i love sauces like alfredo--but i don't like the fat and calories! so, the only other option was to come up with my own version! i did a little research (read: allrecipes and foodnetwork.com) and then came up with a concoction that in my head worked out. luckily, it did in reality too!

i chopped up some turkey bacon (side note i am going with the real thing next time) and threw that it in a sauce pan with olive oil and got that going for a bit before throwing in some garlic. after a little bit the bacon started sticking to the pan and i started freaking out cause, well, everything is sticking! but then i slowly added in a little chicken broth which took care of the sticky bits and helped bring the garlic and bacon together.



after another minute, i added in some low-fat milk that i stirred a little corn starch into to help thicken up the mixture. after i got the milk going a little, i stirred in a cup of parmesan cheese. yummmmm! you wanna make sure you turn the heat down so it's simmering while you do it. as the mixture continued to thicken, i threw in some peas and then eventually the scallops towards the end so they wouldn't cook too much longer.



finally, i tossed the linguine i had cooked prior in the sauce with tongs and it was ready to go! this dish was so easy and i'd like to think a lot healthier than the other white sauces you find out there. this will definitely be a go-to whenever i'm feeling lazy.

clam chowder

this weekend i've been feeling under the weather so there was a lot of napping and laziness that occured. of course my body would pick a long weekend to not get along with me! so after enough days of doing nothing i did a bunch of cooking today! for lunch i made clam chowder from of my book "for the love of soup," which i also used for my tomato soup!

i can't decide how i feel about this clam chowder. it is not your fatty creamy clam chowder, but rather a healthier version that uses milk and clam juice for flavor. to make the chowder, i chopped celery, onion, carrots, and potatoes. then i cooked up a little bacon on the pan and then added in the celery, onion, carrots and sauteed them for a bit. then in went the potatoes, bay leaf, chicken stock and clam juice.

after simmering for 15 minutes, i added in the clams and milk that had had been mixed with corn starch which helped thicken the soup.

the flavor was good, but i think next time would add just a little cream to get that consistency that i like in chowder. i also think that this soup is a little like pasta in that it will taste better tomorrow after the clams and the juice have had some time to meld with everything.

jambalaya!

the girls on the best buy team at work LOVE to eat which means there is a lot of recipe trading that occurs. jess made this jambalaya recipe from emeril recently and was raving about it so obviously it got into my head and then i decided it needed to happen this weekend. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/cajun-jambalaya-recipe2/index.html). lucky me i was able to convince brian and will to make it with me while we watched pirate radio on saturday night.

this recipe is very easy--truly the most difficult part of the entire thing is going out to get the ingredients. i made the spice mix and from reading the reviews, i toned down the cayenne a little and only added half the amount of salt that it called for. i like spicy food as much as the next person but i hate when it's SO spicy you can't even taste or enjoy it. one of the readers accidentally swapped the cayenne pepper (1 tbsp) with the paprika (2 1/2 tbsp). hahahahaha. dummy. clearly she did not know the power that cayenne possesses because that is one mistake you do not make.

instead of regular shrimp we got tiger prawns since we were at costco. i would recommend cutting up the chicken and shrimp into smaller pieces so that it cooks quicker when you add it into your rice mixture that is already going. besides, i've always been a fan of bite size pieces. but nooo will had to be stubborn. liked his chunks. then later admitted ok maybe i should've cut them down smaller. see? cb always knows best.

we also added a little more rice than it called for (1 1/4 cups total) instead of the 3/4 because it just didn't seem like very much. we compensated with adding a little bit more of the chicken broth but underestimated how much liquid would expel from the chicken once it got cooking in the mixture so our end result was a little soupier/gumbo like than straight up jambalaya. to be honest, i've always thought jambalaya is supposed to be more soupier than just a rice dish but that's not what i've been told. regardless, the three of us loved the way it came out and wouldn't change a thing. the spice mixture was also great! a lot of heat, but not too much we couldn't taste the food.

can't wait to make it again!

tomato soup à la jeanelle mitchell

i woke up with my throat feeling a little iffy today so instead of going to run on the treadmill post work, i decided it was time to put my christmas present from megan (the book: for the love of soup) to work! remember...i'm not going rogue when it comes to making soup anymore. well, until i build a little more confidence ;)

it was so easy! i sectioned up two onions and carrots and then sliced in half 3 lbs of tomatoes and placed them on baking sheets to roast with a LOT of garlic in the oven for about at 375 for 50 minutes. keep in mind you gotta put the tomatoes with the flat side face up. then i brushed some olive oil on the the vegetables before sticking them in the oven too.

afterwards, i removed the tomato skins and added everything into a pot with 2 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup of water and some freshly chopped basil. i also added salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste. after letting it simmer for about 10 minutes, you are supposed to use an immersion blender (look it up) or a regular blender/processor to make it into the creamier texture. well thank god for the magic bullet (no, not the sex toy)!! naturally i do not possess an immersion blender (though my mother does) or a regular blender so my only option was divide this into MANY batches so the magic bullet could do its job. not my finest cooking moment.



despite the my roundabout way in blending the soup, it turned out great! the ingredients are simple, but it's flavorful and so healthy for you. i love eating my soup with crackers so i found some buttery flaky ones we had from trader joe's which completed my meal fabulously.

mama's tomato beef

back in november when i was home i learned how to finally make my mom's tomato beef (see post here: http://thefatkidatheart.blogspot.com/2010/11/tomato-beef.html) but i hadn't had a chance to make it until earlier this week! naturally i had to call my mother again and ask for directions for the umpteenth time but i just wanted to make sure i remembered everything!

after talking to mama bee, i marinated the beef and then stuck it in the fridge for a bit so i could head to the outlets with angela. of course when i'm in marysville my mom calls and says (in chinese) 'OH NO!! I FORGOT TO TELL YOU THE MOST IMPORTANT PART ABOUT MARINATING THE BEEF!! YOU GOTTA ADD WATER!!' well good thing i was half an hour away from the meat mommy dearest...luckily the roomie was home to save the day!

i can't share the recipe (see link above) but i will say i am pretty proud of myself! it's not quite as delicious as hers but it was pretty damn close. i'll definitely need to continue tweaking it next time. baby steps...right?

musashi!!!!!!!!

i went to musashi on saturday with angela and will because they'd heard so many great things about this sushi joint and well, if i had to eat one thing for the rest of my life, this would be it! musashi is across the street from tilth (my fav restaurant EVER) on 45th. it is a smaller mom and pops joint so you either need to be prepared to wait half an hour outside or call in an order! it is also cash only so come with your benjamins.

from reading all their yelp reviews, everything was raving about their chirashi bowl (bowl of sushi rice topped with raw fish) since it's such a great deal ($14) but i went for a yellowtail and spicy tuna roll with 4 pieces of salmon nigiri ($13 total for everything!!).



it.was.so.good.

the salmon was so buttery tasting and a pretty good portion. the spicy tuna roll was a perfectly spicy and so flavorful. the yellowtail was a little bland so i don't think i would go for that again. i swear i could've had a meal of just the salmon nigiri. will ordered the bowl and it looked AMAZING. sometimes i'm kind of iffy on ordering these things cause you end up getting fish you don't really want but they let you substitute here so you're guaranteed to get something to your liking! that...or feign allergy to whatever fish you don't like...

you can be i'll be back verrrry soon.

grilled cheese party

i am soooo behind on updating! work has been very busy with me trying to wrap up everything before i go compete on the reality show focus rally america! if this is the first you've heard of it then go to this site (http://www.focusrally.com/team/grey/) join my team and check it out!! sorry, couldn't help the plug for help!

back on track now...i've been so excited to blog about the grilled cheese party so here goes! don't judge me. in fact you'll probably be tempted to throw one of these yourself after you read about it. ;)

stephanie and i ran across some oprah/martha stewart page one time about having one of these so we decided to make it happen! the gathering was at my apt and we had everyone who came over bring a cheese and a topping that could go on grilled cheese--i provided the bread/butter/stove.

everyone came over and and i cut up everything and put it onto plates so everyone could make their own delicious creation easily. we had soooo many options! there was beechers, pepperjack, tillamook extra reserve cheddar (emily texted me while at safeway saying 'i got fancy cheese i think'...haha), gouda from holland (this was my contribution--thank you met market!), and havarti. as for other toppings, we had proscuitto, arugula, basil, avocado, and tomato. oh and don't forget the mustard!

i threw a few pans on the stove and turned them onto medium low and put out butter and some knives next to the stove so everyone could butter their bread!

people got all sorts of crazy (i mean, as crazy as they could) but it was so easy and so tasty! here's my creation! i believe i put in gouda, cheddar and beechers with proscuitto, tomato, avocado and basil. money.

shrimp and grits

my fabulous friend liya invited us over to her house on tuesday for some shrimp and grits action! she found this recipe on the food network's website(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/lemon-garlic-shrimp-and-grits-recipe/index.html) and wanted to try it out since it looks so simple and yummy! i guess if you really think about it, shrimp isn't too complicated to cook, and instant grits are, well, instant!

the dish was DELICIOUS and not to mention fairly healthy! the shrimp was cooked perfectly (props, liya!) and seasoned very well. granted there was a lot of garlic and butter involved, but it was bomb. i think the parsley really added to the shrimp too so i would definitely not skimp on that piece.

the grits were really easy to cook--just added them to boiling water and then added in some pepper, salt, butter and parmesan cheese. the only thing i would caution is keeping the grits on low heat until you're ready to dish up the food because after sitting for a little bit, the grits start to solidify a little. but if you ran a fork through the grits, it did the trick too!

i can't wait to make this myself! thanks for hosting liya :)

toulouse petit happy hour yet again!

as discussed, i made the trek back over to toulouse petit on monday for breakfast happy hour because the frenchies gave us another day off! we went a little later this time (~10am) and there was wait for parties over two. every pair that walked in got sat immediately while we waited a solid 15 minutes to sit. that was depressing.

matt ordered the biscuits and gravy once so this time i made it happen! i had pesos' version a little bit ago and it was SO much food i didn't know what to do with myself. i can't say that the toulouse version is the same, haha.

the dish was great! the biscuits were perfection--hard on the outside and fluffy on the inside. i like the addition of the egg because sometimes just biscuits and gravy aren't enough. the sausage gravy was delicious. the only problem is they didn't give you very much!! why can't they just get it right? they drenched my scramble with tons of bland pepper gravy last time and now that they have flavorful gravy, they just drizzle. come on! it's called biscuits and gravy for a reason!

mexican food the pioneer woman way

i know. more pioneer woman. but why mess with a good thing? since cat and i both had monday off, we decided to cook up some yummy mexican food last night courtesy of the pioneer woman. we made some enchiladas with mexican rice, guacamole and pico de gallo!

cat handled the mexican rice while i did the enchiladas. the mexican rice was made by cooking up onions and garlic on a skillet then adding rice to brown for a bit, and then adding in a can of tomatoes and rotel. after a bit, you mix in some chicken broth, spices (cumin, cayenne, salt) and then let it sit on the stove for about 10-15 minutes.

for the enchiladas, i made a little roux out of flour and olive oil before stirring in the red enchilada sauce on the stove. after that i added in a little chicken broth, some salt, pepper and cilantro before letting it simmer on low until the sauce is ready to use. then i browned some onions and ground turkey on the stove before adding in some chopped mushrooms, zucchini and corn (i had extras i had to use up!). finally i was ready to assemble the goodies! pioneer woman has you fry up the tortillas first but i was lazy so i heated them in the microwave for about 15ish seconds so they wouldn't tear so easy. then it got messy. i dippped the tortillas in the sauce and then added in the meat mixture then topped it with cilantro, green onion and cheese before laying them seam down on the baking dish. once they were all done we baked them for 20 minutes at 350.

you can't have mexican food without guac so obviously we had to make some of our own! we used the same guacamole/pico de gallo recipe that jason and i had used for mexican layered dip. we chopped up tomatoes, onions and a jalepeno then adding in salt and lime juice. to make the guac, we mashed up some avocadoes before adding in a little of the pico mixture.



the food turned out so well! the enchiladas were a little tough to dig up so it's not the most picturesque thing but they were delicious. the rice was also surprisingly similar tasting to mexican rice (not that i doubted the pioneer woman ever) so that was a pleasant surprise. i think next time i'll add a little more cumin to give it that smoky flavor. paired with our pico and guac, it was a perfect way to end or sunday!

five guys

after new years eve, i was absolutely worthless on saturday which means a fun time was had the night before ;)

cat and i had lounged around most of the day watching the bowl games but managed to sneak in a walk at discovery park to wake ourselves up a little. to cap off our very stressful day, we decided to head to northgate for five guys and then black swan afterwards.

five guys is an awesome fast food-ish burger joint that makes custom order burgers. you start with your burger base (one patties, two patties, cheese, no cheese--but why would you ever NOT get cheese?) and then they have a huge list of toppings that you can add to the burger for no extra charge! these toppings include: mayo, relish, onions, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, jalepenos, green peppers, A1, bbq sauce and hot sauce.

i decided to get a cheeseburger with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, jalepenos, bbq sauce and hot sauce. i think they left off the jalepenos but whatever--it was amazing and hit the spot. it's not fancy, and i wouldn't compare to in'n'out, but it's not bad for a quick bite. for fries, cat and i split the small cajun seasoned ones. they were amazing--harder on the outside, and then starchy on the inside!! at first we were gonna split a large until the lady warned us it's meant for 4 people so we went with the small and we ended up not even being able to finish those!

five guys is conveniently located next to the thornton cinemas by northgate so we hopped over and watched black swan afterwards. holy hell that movie is frightening yet a thinker--i enjoyed it even though i spent a few solid scenes hiding behind my hands...don't judge!

caprese skewers and proscuitto crack

we had a few more going away parties for troy last week (how many going away parties does one need, geez) and i was in an appetizer mood so i decided to share with you some easy items that you can amke that are delicious.

the first are the caprese skewers. i hit up trader joes for all my ingredients. got some marintated mozerella balls which i cut in half, then some little tomatoes and basil that i stuck on a toothpick. since the mozerella was already marinated, there was no need for too much olive oil to be drizzled on top but i did have some balsalmic on hand so i drizzled some of that to add a little more flavor. yummy and healthy! they are all jumbled looking because i had to throw them in a tupperware container.



the second is proscuitto crack. yes, you read that correctly. i may have made that name up. i stole this from my cousin isabella who made this one time at her place but i made an adjustment of my own. 'proscuitto crack' is made up of proscuitto wrapped with arugula, apricot jam and goat cheese. isabella used brie but i thought goat cheese would complement it better. anywho, it takes a little more time to assemble, but it is so worth it and people are usually pretty impressed with it. a few tips though--keep the proscuitto on the divider sheet to make your own life a little easier because you'll need to roll it all up. i also cut the proscuitto slice in half to make it go further, but then you can't stuff as much of the goodness into it so it's up to you. however, i would at some point cut the roll you end up with in half to make it bite sized cause it is very awkward watching people try to take a bite of proscuitto neatly. :)