This is a great slow cooker recipe that you can make the night before and cook all day. It's wonderful for a busy night of running around. Serve with rice or pasta and broccoli.
Slow Cooker Swiss Steak
2 lb eye round chuck roast
1/4 cup A1 steak sauce
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (I used basil, oregano, & garlic flavored)
1 small onion, chopped
Cut roast into 1 inch cubes. Place in slow cooker, toss with A1 steak sauce. Top with tomatoes and onion. Cook on low 9 hours or on high 4-5 hours. Serve over rice or pasta. (You can put this together the night before and refrigerate.)
This is another great shrimp recipe that's really quick and pretty easy. Brent and I had never had shrimp scampi before, so we weren't sure how it was supposed to look, but it was really good!
Shrimp Scampi with Angel Hair Pasta
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 stick butter
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
8 oz whole grain angel hair pasta, cooked and drained
In a medium saucepan, melt butter with mustard, garlic, parsley, and lemon juice. Place shrimp in shallow baking dish (I used a pie plate). Once butter is melted, pour sauce over shrimp. Bake at 450 degrees for 9-10 minutes or until shrimp is done. Serve over angel hair pasta. I served with sauteed squash as a side dish.
This is another Southern Living crab cake recipe. It's a little more involved and time-consuming if you make your own cornbread (which I recommend), but the difference is worth it. They were delicious, but it does make 12 crab cakes, so unless you are cooking for a crowd I would recommend cutting the recipe in half.
Crab Cakes
2/3 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup mayonnaise (I used fat-free)
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp hot sauce (add a few extra dashes if you like hot)
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp lemon zest
2 cups cornbread crumbs
1 lb fresh lump crabmeat, shredded or broken into small pieces
Saute bell pepper, green onion, and garlic in olive oil over medium high heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cool. Combine bell pepper mixture, mayonnaise, parsley, eggs, hot sauce, Old Bay, and lemon zest in large bowl. Fold in cornbread crumbs and shredded crabmeat. Shape mixture into cake (about 2.5 inches each), place on lightly greased baking sheet. Chill for 45 minutes. Lightly coat cakes with cooking spray. Cook crab cakes in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until lightly browned on each side (about 5-7 minutes per side). Serve immediately.
It was also recommended to serve these with a jalapeno-cilantro sour cream. I did not think it was necessary, the crab cakes were delicious on their own. But if you want to try it, here's the recipe:
Jalapeno-Cilantro Sour Cream
1 8oz container sour cream
2 tbsp chopped pickled jalapenos
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Mix together and chill until use (up to 3 days).
In Brent's travels to Alabama for work, he is able to bring home a lot of fresh seafood! This time he brought home a huge filet of red snapper. We tag-teamed this recipe and came up with a delicious fish! Hope you enjoy!
Pan-Seared Red Snapper
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 6-oz snapper filets
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
1 small lemon
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Mix first five ingredients in medium bowl. Pat snapper with mixture until covered. Heat oil and 2 tbsp butter in large skillet until melted, but not smoking. Add snapper, cook about 4 minutes on first side. Add 1 tbsp butter to skillet, flip snapper and cook an additional 4 minutes or until fish is flaky. Serve with rice and top with parsley and juice from lemon.
This artichoke dip is another recipe from "The Pioneer Woman". I never follow recipes exactly, so this is my version. This recipe makes a lot, so if you are only serving a few people, you may want to cut it in half.
Hot Artichoke Dip
2 14 oz cans artichoke hearts, drained
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c mayonnaise (I used "real" mayo, not the low-fat stuff I usually buy)
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how much spice you prefer)
2 green onions, chopped
1 c grated Parmesan/Romano cheese mix
dash of salt and pepper (a little less than 1/8 tsp each)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop 1 can of artichokes into small pieces. Add to blender with cream cheese and mayo. Sprinkle in cayenne pepper and chopped green onions. Pulse 6-7 times until mixed (you don't want to liquefy it, just pulse until well mixed). Place in large bowl, add in parmesan, salt, and pepper. Roughly chop remaining artichokes, stir in. Pour into glass dish, bake 20 minutes or until hot & bubbly. Serve with blue tortilla chips.
We are having dinner tonight at my house to celebrate my dad's birthday and my birthday. My dad loves banana pudding, so I made it for dessert. This is a pretty dessert that looks great in a trifle bowl. It's also just a great classic banana pudding recipe.
Banana Pudding Trifle
8 oz sour cream
1 8 oz whipped topping, thawed
1 5 oz pkg vanilla pudding
2 c milk
1 pkg vanilla wafers
4 bananas
Combine sour cream, whipped topping, pudding, and milk. Beat with wire whisk until smooth. Layer vanilla wafers, pudding mix, then bananas. Repeat layers, ending with vanilla wafers. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
This is a super spicy, super easy dip to throw together if you are having guests. If you aren't a fan of spice, you can substitute the jalapenos with green chiles or just lower the amount of jalapenos you use.
Jalapeno Corn Dip
1 bag frozen corn
1 stick butter
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 12 oz jar jalapenos
Drain and chop jalapenos. Add all ingredients in large bowl, microwave on high 2-3 minutes until melted. Stir until smooth. Add to crockpot and keep warm on low. Serve with blue tortilla chips.
