Snapper Pasta

Happy Monday Friends!!!

I am truly having a case of the "Mondays" over here..

this morning I put my sunglasses in the fridge, my phone in the cabinet, and then had a million chores and errands to run that I AM JUST NOW drinking my coffee. That is a darn Monday if I have ever heard of one...

Anyways!! It brings me great joy to say that I have SO many new recipes for y'all this week!! I am going to actually type up three today. In the future I am going to make myself a set schedule on blog posts and then have them up in the mornings!!! So y'all can drink your coffee and read the blog :) For starters I am going to be talking about my much loved Snapper Pasta that I made in stories this past weekend. While at the beach with my parents and family, I made the most divine pasta EVER!!! I have made this pasta for years but never with snapper...and well, the snapper was the total game changer!! I am actually unsure if I could eat the pasta without it now. This pasta is versatile so don't get worried just yet if you don't have snapper at home. You can make this with Shrimp or keep it as a veggie pasta. Those have both worked wonderfully for me in the past so those are my recommendations. It was decadent and buttery but also light enough that it doesn't take away from the main star of the dish.. the fish. 

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of spinach

1 pint grape tomatoes ( halved)

2 lemons

1 shallot

1 bunch basil- chopped

1 can artichoke hearts- drained and rinsed

1 package angel hair pasta 

capers 

1 small yellow onion -chopped

1 cup chicken stock ( or more if needed) 

1 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper

tony sachereys 

2 tablespoons whipping cream

parmesan cheese ( high quality) 

1 egg lightly beaten

flour ( can substitute for almond of coconut)

olive oil

2 large snapper filets ( or more depending on how many you need)

** can also substitute shrimp ** 

Method:

In a pie plate or shallow dish of some sort pour out some flour, add in salt and pepper, Tony Sachery seasoning, and a bit of parmesan and mix together. Dredge the filets in egg then coat them in flour mixture . Set aside on a rack until you need them.  

** Boil the water for pasta*

Next, start sautéing your shallot and onion in some olive oil, cook until soft. Add in a cup of white wine and reduce...add in the juice of one lemon..continue to reduce. Next add in your spinach, grape tomatoes, and basil. Continue to cook down until the tomatoes are soft and start to pop their juices. Add in artichoke hearts and capers ( with a little of the caper juice for extra saltiness and some zing!) allow these amazing flavors to marry and start on your fish!

** Add in your pasta and let cook for 10 minutes!*

In a large pan add in some olive oil and turn the heat up to medium high. Add in your fish filets and sear them for four minutes on each side. the fish should flake and there should be an am amazing golden brown crust once done. 

While the fishing is cooking add in your cream and 1/2 cup parm cheese and stir together. You should be left with an am amazing fragrant and creamy veggie mixture.

Serve the pasta, with the sauce on top, then top with the fish filets. Squeeze a little extra lemon juice if needed and garnish with some fresh parsley!!!

You will WOW your guests/dinner company with this one!

Shrimp Pasta

Happy Thursday Friday Eve!!!!

Tuesday night I decided to get a little crafty in the kitchen and ignore my crockpot..
I pulled out a few pans..some basic ingredients and set out to make a simple shrimp pasta. Tuesday is not my grocery store day so I needed to make use of what I already had in my fridge. This pasta could not have turned out better and it was made with only  a few simple ingredients!!!! I chose shrimp because when I make a seafood pasta shrimp is always my go-to and as always, it did not disappoint.

When  I am making a seafood pasta my two favorite types of noodles to use are linguine or angel hair pasta. I used whole wheat linguine this time but honestly if you are watching your carbs- zoodles ( zucchini noodles) are a great option and taste just as yummy in my opinion!!!!

This recipe took me about 15 minutes to pull together...not difficult at all!!!

Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

Juice of a lemon

Linguine noodles/zoodles/angel hair pasta

grape tomatoes - halved

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 onion- chopped and diced

butter

handful of spinach

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 LB shrimp - salt and peppered and lightly dusted in flour ( or almond flour)

** I lightly dusted my shrimp in flour- you can completely omit this and it will not change the recipe**

Method:

*TIP* Prep your dinner beforehand meaning deveining your shrimp and seasoning them, have your noodles ready and waiting to throw into the boiling water, have all your other ingredients chopped, diced, and ready to just throw in the pot**

In a medium sized dutch oven or large skillet start by sautéing the onion ( over medium heat)  in 2 tablespoons of butter once the onion is starting to turn translucent then add the garlic. While the onion/garlic is cooking go ahead and cook your noodles ( boiling hot water for ten minutes).  

To the onion and garlic add some dry white wine, the juice of a lemon and deglaze ( cook down a bit).  Then throw in your tomatoes and spinach and let them bathe in those wonderful juices allowing everything to sort of wilt and marry together. 

At this point your noodles should be finished- strain them and rinse them and add them to the pot with the garlic and onion and other veggies. Also add more butter at this time if needed and mix the noodles in well. 

Now to cook the shrimp

In a skillet with again..more butter :) 

add your shrimp- take care not to over crowd them

cook evenly for 3 minutes each side and then remove from heat. 

Toss the shrimp in with the noodles and add freshly grated parmesan cheese and basil!!!!

This was a great dinner!!!!

Rainy Monday and a few Recipes... WHAT!

This blog started out as a cooking blog ( I don't even remember the last time I posted a recipe!!!) During the days of being a newlywed in tandem with teaching preschool I would read cook books, tweak them, and blog my own little concoctions. Fast forward a pregnancy and baby later..there are NO recipes to be found! They have all been lost in the sea of newborn pictures and monthly updates!!! So I have decided to start posting bi-weekly NEW recipes now that I have a little bit more time to myself ( baby Jax is on a great sleep schedule now yay!) 

First up is something that a dear friend made for me right after I had Jax. Now I can't exactly take full credit for it but I did some minor tweaking so I felt I needed to share it on the blog. If you have a busy week ahead all you need to do is prep this meal on a sunday and it can be lunch for you/kids/husband all week long. It saves great so thats also a win!

Grilled Chicken Pesto Pasta

This is a simple supper that requires about 30 minutes of your time. If you don't have time to fire up the grill, simply bake your chicken breasts and you are good to go!!! Here is the ingredient list

Ingredients:

two grilled chicken breasts sliced or chunked

two cups grape tomatoes sliced in half

freshly diced basil

bowtie pasta cooked drained and rinsed

olive oil

home made pesto ( or if you want to save time just buy the store-bought version!)

Fresh Mozzarella ( or shredded in the bag)

Salt and pepper

thats it!!

Directions:

Grill or bake your chicken ( salt and pepper/ olive oil both sides) to perfection and then chunk or slice it however you choose. Set aside-

While your chicken is cooking, cook your pasta adding just a little olive oil to the pot . Once finished,  rinse and drain and set aside. 

here comes the fun part :) 

In a LARGE bowl add your pasta, chicken, sliced fresh basil, grape tomatoes, and pesto sauce.. MIX TOGETHER!!! Continue to add salt and pepper until it is seasoned to preference. Serve in a Bowl and top with a few chunks of fresh Mozz!!!!! SO simple!!!

Cajun Chicken Spaghetti

Out. Of. This.World.Good.

I had this craving for pasta all day long.. it's all I could think about really, so when I got home from work I immediately started scouring my fridge to see what I could come up with.  I didn't actually intend for it to be cajun but it ended up that way with the ingredients I had on hand. Thus this spaghetti was born!!! 

Shopping List

one can cream of celery

one can cream of chicken

two bell peppers- chopped

three stalks of celery-chopped 

two large cloves of garlic-chopped and minced

1/2 large yellow onion-chopped

heavy whipping cream

1 cup grated swiss

1/2 cup grated fontina 

cajun seasoning

s&p

four chicken breasts-seasoned the way you like and grilled

angel hair pasta-serving for four

4 tablespoons of butter 

phew. I think thats it. I went to town ya'll.

Procedure

start by sautéing your veggies together over some EVOO and a little butter. Throw the garlic, onion, peppers, and celery in there and give it a little stir. While the veggies are softening, lets work on the sauce. The sauce is going to start with the two cans of cream soups. Plop them in a pot over medium high heat  and add a half a can of water..stir it a few times add in 2 tablespoons of butter and some cream ( I used about two glugs) yes I realize I am adding cream to what is already known as "cream of" soups. Whatever I'm  pregnant.  Crack in quite a bit of pepper and add some Cajun seasoning to your sauce mixture and then just add to your taste. Once the veggies are soft..its time to pour the cream over them.  Once the cream is added to the veggie mix now you need to dump your cheeses in.. this is the best part :) Next Boil your water and add your pasta. Cook for ten minutes...while your pasta is cooking cut up your already grilled chicken and set aside. Once pasta is boiled drain and place back in pot. Add cream sauce and sliced grilled chicken to the pot and toss until everything is well coated. Serve up and enjoy!!!!!

summer spagett!

I always think of pastas as more of a winter type meal since they are usually warm and steamy and filled with heavy sauces or creams and delicious heavy meats..however I came up with a few pasta recipes that are not only light and easy to eat during the hot summer months but they are healthy and low calorie:) I am a huge lover of olive oil...so instead of making a heavy cream sauce or red sauce I simply tossed my angel hair noodles with olive oil salt and pepper and it was AMAZING. Here are the items you will need for this fabulous dish.

 

Shopping List:

 

 

one package of Barilla angel hair pasta (whole wheat)

One medium sized eggplant-peeled and chopped into small bits

one large squash-chopped into bite size peices

one large zuchinni-chopped into bite sized peices

three cloves of fresh garlic-minced

one half of a medium sized yellow onion-chopped

fresh basil

fresh tomato sliced

olive oil

salt/pepper

Pecorino or Romano cheese -grated

 

 

 

Procedure:

 

In a large skillet start by browning the garlic and onion in a little olive oil and butter,

when it starts to give off that beautiful aroma then add the other chopped veggies. Add a little more olive oil and stir and fold in some salt and pepper until they are nice and browned and soft. While your veggies are browning stick your  noodles in boiling water with some salt and pepper and cook until soft. Once the noodles are soft add the desired amount to a bowl stick some veggies on top and garnish with a sliced tomato and basil..add your pecorino and WALA!!!! SO EASY and super healthy:) I had happy tummies in my house that night.