South of the Border Pasta

I spot random table full of books.

Damn. 

I have no money.

___

Get out of class early.

Find ATM.

Go crazy.

Today's meal is sponsored by 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes by Mindy Toomay and Susan Geiskopf Handler. Which I lucked up to find today. Fuh a dolla. (A dolla make me holla, hunny booboo child.)

I also found some other wicked awesome books like Pre-Colombian Jamaica.

Yes. That was an impulse buy.

 Spirit of the Harvest: Native American Indian Cooking. So. soon It will be 

T H A N K S G I V I N G. (sorry. a little cliche) 

I also got a book from with a library slip on it. Poor thing. It was only checked out once. 25 Feb 1964. 

Must be a dully.

Random: I just looked at the copyright page in 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes. It was published in 1951! 

Cranbalsmaic Spinach Salad

Ranch- So overrated.

Italian- Typical

Caesar-  Et tu Brutus? Seriously.

Thousand Island- NEVER

Home made Cranberry Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Always

This is the perfect way to use up wilty spinach. After the dressing is poured on top, I place it in the fridge for about five minutes so it can get real cold, real wilty, real nice.

1. Mix together 1/4 cup Balsamic Vingear, 1/3 cup Cran-Apple Juice (cranberry is acceptable too), 2 tbsp Olive Oil, and pepper to  taste.

Done.

Pour over spinach, feta, tomatoes. 

Great ideas after cooking: A copped apple would be delicious too and blue cheese would be great!

SUPER EASY. SUPER GOOD.

IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS.

                    or

MAKE FRIENDS WITH IT.

tada

Broccoli and Shrimp Par-tay P A S T A !

The moment of Inspiration:

Einstein- the universe

 da Vinci- epicness

Bob Marley- the ultimate mellow

Gouda- (no I mean Buddha)

----

or

Sometimes you just know 

what you want for dinner.

Walking back from my night class. I literally -stopped- and said, 

"Broccoli and Shrimp Party Pasta." 

I must have seemed like a lunatic. 

But, hey the greatest are usually a little mad.

1. Boil baby, boil. Pasta inferno. Simply boil your fav pasta according to da boxz.

2. The logical and ultimate next step= BUTTER. need I say it again.

BUTTER.  Pop in bellpeppers (the red were on sale YAY!) and onions. Let is sizzle. 

3. Shrimp add em. After about 30 seconds. After another 30 seconds add your frozen broccoli. (if fresh add earlier) Season with Tony's and salt. Cook until pink and done.

4. What makes pasta, pasta. Add your pasta. And add chopped tomato. 

5. Cow's baby momma. (Sorry irrevalant) Add some milk so that the pasta is just a little liquidy. Add your fav cheese. Let it cook down. But don't let the milk boil. ---gr-oss. 

*Do what you want. Add and take away ingredients. BTW: I don't have measurements because real cooks do not measure. (unless your are baking..... but then your a baker? hmm) Cook to what you will logicaly eat. Or cook way too much and stuff yourself- like I did tonight. And not share with your roommates and be stingy and selfish and wallow in your feast of deliciousness.

Veggie: Take away the shrimp. duhh

Vegans: I have no patientce with you! This is built on dairy! >:)

Carnivores: What!?! Shrimp ain't good enough for you. [You could add chicken, but puh-lease. pretty please with cherries on top! Don't add ground beef. There is a time and a place. And it is NOT here.]

And tada whala. Done

I'm a little all over the place tonight that what happens when your a genius ;)

A Study in Nasty

Somethings are just unnatural.

There are certain laws and boundaries in nature 

that should not be crossed.

ie: meatless meatballs.

Figure 1: The first obscenity against nature. 

Hypothesis: Nate's meatless meatballs will be a lovely addition to an already good dinner because they have lots of protein and dangit I miss meatballs.

Experiment:

1.  Create a great spaghetti base.

2. Add meatballs.

3. Taste meatballs and gag.

4. Decide it might taste better mushed up so, mush it up.

Result:

Mushed up= not good idea because it contaminates all the noodles.

Eat cheese cake and salad in solace. 

Shrimp Stir-fry

Ninja Style.

Yeah, I said it.

Don't mess with me and ma' stir fry.

1. Butter fuh yuh veggies. Place any vegetables you would like to cook in your sizzling butter. I put fresh bellpeppers (I have an immense amount of bell peppers that I chopped off right when getting back from store... obsessive much) Then, I added frozen broccoli (fresh would be even more delicious!) and I added a little stir fry frozen mix. (stirfryesque vegetables) and cook it up.

2. Beautiful, I truly mean beautiful shrimp. So, my parents went to Grand Isle for the weekend and brought back 15 pounds of shrimp- straight off the boat. My dad spent like two hours peeling them when we got back. My mom sent me a bunch of bags to eat on. 

And let me tell you. They were soooooooo goood. A little sweet, super big, delicious, scrumptious shrimp. I forgot how wonderful  shrimp really was. (I'll never eat those mini frozen shrimp again!) They really made the dish wonderful!

*Quick Tip* Defrost shrimp: Put in bowl of cold water and let cold water drizzle over them.

Soooooo. Add your shrimp and a little soy sauce and sweet and sour sauce.

3. Let it simmer then BAM add rice!!! (basically previous) 

There you go. Super delicious. Very filling. And soooooooooo shrimptastic!

Pretty Pita Pizzas

You were hungry. 

...

for a while

....

grocery store out of reach

......

Now. You have food.

=

Crazy Party Pita Pizzas

1. Aluminum foil [grind up to put on your pizza it is a great source of extra iron!... please don't tell you believed that... huh. the world these days] cover your pan (I use a biscuit pan) it creates super easy clean up.

2.  #!@!* Saucy! #$%! Add some tomato sauce, bay-bae. You can use any kind of sauce. I use Hunt's Traditional Spaghetti Sauce. It is cheap. And good enough. For you fancy-pants__ you can use pizza sauce.

3. "I'll have uhhhh everything." - what I want at Subway. Put your toppings on! This is where you can let your creative juices flow. Relax after a long day of the daily grind by making food art -that your stomach will just love! (now don't go crazy and paint swirls on your kitchen walls with spaghetti sauce.

For those creatively challenged this is what I did: (pretty much everything I bought at the store that day)

-sliced bell peppers-sliced fresh jalapenos-colby jack cheese (best cheese ever and superior to all other... move aside Gouda)-fresh spinach-sliced tomatoes-feta cheese (all right this cheese is awesome too!)-and my brand new cheese... dundunDUN!!! 

It's wrapped up like American cheese, but it is ITALIAN. WOW. delicious. I could now maybe an Italian American.

Now for dessert. (not desert. desserts is stressed smelled backwards. and yes I did just check it to make sure I spelled dessert right) My new goal is dessert every night. b/c why not. Also, it has no high frucose corn syrup. take that America's corn growers!

Ah-mazing. "Like OM-mi-gosh I'm so in love, I found you finally. You make me wanna say. Ohohohohohogho....." (sorry everybody has an Usher moment now and then.) Roll on the floor ah-mazng. Literally. after the first bite.Then you remember the floor is really dirty. But you are like in one of those Dove chocolate commercials where it is like you are in your own little world of chocolatelyious paradise. 

cheesecake= $1.98

chocolate hallucinations= priceless 

Shrimp and Corn Soup

It should not be cold.

I don't believe in cold weather.

Winter sucks.

1. Saute! (and gather warmth from the delicious sizzle of butter)In butter, of course, bell pepper, of course, onion, corn, and shrimp, and a little Tony's. After a while add a chopped tomato.

2.  Heat up your life with a little spice! Add can of Rotel and spicy V8! Let it simmer into a great warm delicious mixture.  Add, of course, a little red wine vinegar. 

Invest in RED WINE Vinegar. It will save your life and it has magical healing properties. (that's a lie, but seriously that stuff is great!) (also btw it is not in the wine section dummies)

Tada. wahla. Warmth=created.