Weeknight Paella

This was tasty! We have leftovers, and I anticipate that after it has been sitting overnight, it'll be even better!

I doubled the recipe below, because I had a full pound of shrimp and chorizo.

Weeknight Paella

(...and a cookie for dessert, by way of Cooking This and That)

2/3 cups yellow rice (Goya)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small shallot, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/2 pound chorizo, sliced

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken broth

1 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 cup frozen peas

Directions

- Heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium-high heat

- Add rice and cook until it begins to toast, about 1-2 minutes

- Add shallot and garlic and continue to saute until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute

- Add shrimp, chorizo, and broth

- Cover pan tightly and reduce heat to medium-low

- Cook for 18 minutes

- Remove lid, add parsley and peas and cook until heated through

- Continue cooking uncovered until all liquid is absorbed.

Cinnamon Bun Cake

This is heavenly. Seriously. I basically ate it for breakfast and dessert all week! Oops?

I originally made it for my co-workers, but once DH tested it on Sunday....it wasn't allowed to leave the house. LOL

I'll be making this one again -- both for my co-workers as originally planned, and for DH's co-workers (at his request)

Cinnamon Bun Cake

(your home based mom, originally from Mentoring Moments)

Batter:
1 yellow cake mix
3/4 C oil
1/2 C brown sugar
4 eggs
8 oz. sour cream

Cinnamon Swirl:
1 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 C chopped pecans or walnuts (I left out)

Icing:
1 C powdered sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp softened butter

Directions

- Heat oven to 325 degrees F

- For the batter mix the cake mix, oil, brown sugar, eggs, and sour cream together with an electric mixer

- In a separate bowl make the cinnamon swirl by mixing the brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped pecans or walnuts

- Grease and flour a 9 x 13 cake pan and pour half of the cake mix into the baking pan

- Sprinkle half of the cinnamon, sugar, and nut mixture over the batter

- Pour the rest of the cake batter into the pan

- Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon nut mixture over the batter

- Run a knife through the cake mix to swirl the cinnamon--be careful not to touch the bottom of the pan with the knife

- Bake for 45 minutes

- When the cake is removed from the oven, blend the softened butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together until smooth

- Drizzle over the cake while still warm

It's a Ziploc Meal

Ziploc isn't a sponsor for me or anything, but after the meal I made Friday night, they could've been! I used the zip-top bags to save me some dishes in the end. I love doing that on Fridays, especially, because it means I get to relax after dinner!

Baked Cornflake Chicken Fingers and Roasted Potatoes

Chicken Fingers

1-1.5 lbs. chicken tenders, or boneless skinless breasts cut into tenders (My pack of tenders had 10 in it)

1 cup flour

seasoning you like (I use garlic salt, onion powder and black pepper)

1/2 stick melted butter

4-5 cups crushed cornflakes (make sure you crush them to oblivion -- they'll stick better)

Directions

- Mix flour and seasonings in a zip top bag and add chicken pieces; toss to coat

- Put cornflakes in a zip top bag and crush completely with a rolling pin or meat mallet. If you have a food processor, that would be awesome too

- Place melted butter in a shallow dish for dipping

- Place crushed cornflakes in another shallow dish (I use pie plates for both)
- Shake excess flour off of tenders, and dip in butter to coat, then dip in cornflakes, pressing to make sure they stick to the chicken

- Place on a foil-lined baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray

- Bake chicken at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes

- Serve

Roasted Potatoes

4-6 baking potatoes

2 tsp olive oil

garlic powder

onion powder

black pepper

Directions

- Thinly slice the potatoes (about 1/4" thick) and place in a zip top bag

- Add olive oil and seasonings; toss to coat potatoes

- Spread potatoes out on a foil-lined baking sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray

- Cook at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes

- Remove from oven; can eat as is, or sprinkle cheddar cheese over them and let it melt

Menu Mondays

Alas, still no bathroom.

This makes me NEVER want to do my kitchen!

I had some leftover meats in the freezer, so we're using those up this week

Sunday: stuffed french toast with strawberries for breakfast, loaf of bread for the week, baked oatmeal for my breakfast for the week,and a cinnamon bun cake I was originally taking to work, but DH has claimed for himself
Monday: steak, broccoli/cauliflower mix, pasta
Tuesday: pork ribs, wild rice, green beans
Wednesday: chicken thighs on the grill (haven't decided on a recipe), baked potatoes and veggies
Thursday: spaghetti and salad
Friday: weeknight paella

Stuffed French Toast with Strawberries

Last Friday, DH showed me an ad for a restaurant on the other side of town and said it was a shame we had to go over there to get delicious stuffed french toast (they were advertising it).

I told him we didn't; we could have it at home! We had homemade bread leftover, so I picked up some cream cheese and strawberries.

Stuffed French Toast with Strawberries

(Me)

For strawberries:

1 qt. strawberries, sliced

2-4 tbsp sugar

- Mix sugar and strawberries and place in the fridge. I like to do this the night before, so there is plenty of delicious strawberry juice for on the french toast

For the french toast:

4-6 slices of bread (can make more if you have more people to feed)

5-6 eggs

3/4 cup of milk

sprinkling of cinnamon

1 tsp of vanilla

Directions

- Mix the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla together and place in a shallow dish(like a pie plate)

- Heat your griddle or skillet for medium heat
- Soak your slices of bread; taking care to leave them in long enough that they're completely saturated

- Cook each slice as your space permits (obviously a griddle cooks more at once than a skillet!)

The important stuffing part:

1 8oz block of cream cheese, room temperature (low fat is fine. it's what i used)

Directions

- Gently blend the cream cheese so that it is light and fluffy and easier to spread

- As your toast slices come off the griddle/skillet, slather one piece with cream cheese, and sandwich it with another piece of french toast

- Drizzle strawberry juice and strawberries over top

- If you're not ravenous by this point, you can add powdered sugar or whipped cream, but we didn't make it that far!

I'd say each person only needs one of these sandwiches. I couldn't even finish mine!

Pistachio Salad

Alright..it really doesn't photograph well. Especially at 9pm at night as leftovers.

This is definately an old-timey recipe, but it's a nice, light-feeling dessert on a hot night.

I love it, and I don't even LIKE actual pistachios!

Pistachio Salad

(No idea..family recipe?)

1-20 oz. can crushed pineapple

1-3.4 oz. box instant pistachio pudding

1- 8 or 9 oz. (I can't remember which it is?) Cool Whip

1 cup mini marshmallows

Directions

- Mix pistachio pudding mix with pineapple and juices in bowl

- Add marshmallows and cool whip; stir until completely blended; spoon into a container to store in fridge

- Refrigerate until set; about 3 hours; serve.

- Makes approx. a 9"x9" pan of salad