Grilled Shrimp and Scallops

I love my grill. Everything just tastes better grilled. Especially seafood! 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

8 large sea scallops (fresh or thawed) I only had six to work with but there is enough marinade for 8

8 large raw shrimp (fresh or thawed)

1 large yellow pepper cut into squares or strips

1. Mix juice, oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour into a bag with the scallops and shrimp. Seal and set in the fridge for 2-4 hours to marinade.

2. Skewer your scallops, shrimp and peppers on metal skewers or wooden skewers that have been soaked in water. Two scallops and two shrimp seemed enough on each skewer since they were such large pieces. This should make four skewers. 

 3. Grill the skewers until the shrimp turns pink and the scallops are white with grill marks.

4. While this is happening I cooked up a box of Far East rice pilaf and added a little lemon juice to the mix.

This was delicious. I love seafood and I love lemon. The best part was lemon pepper tang everything had. And the rice was the perfect compliment.

Something as easy as this can be made a million different ways. Next time I'm thinking grape tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini with my shrimp and scallops.

Butterfinger Cupcakes?!

So did you see how large that Crushed Butterfinger bag was in my last post?! Yea, needless to say I have some of that left over after making some brownies. 

So, it's a good thing I have cupcakes (regular and minis!) at the ready. I keep already baked cupcakes in the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap then in a freezer bag. They thaw in minutes, literally, and are still moist if you froze them as soon as they cooled! Smart!!

This isn't really a recipe but a quick suggestion on how to use up ingredients.

First I heated up my ganache I buy already made. Get it nice and runny.

Have a bowl of crushed candy, extra sprinkles, etc at the ready too.

Dip the cupcake in the ganache...

Then in the candy...

Easy, quick and yummy! Half the plate was gone before the end of the night!

Sometimes you just need a quick snack!

Butterfinger Brownie

Candy in my brownie? Uh... yes please! 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup crushed Butterfinger (This is the amount I used but next time I will probably double it)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter and then stir in cocoa until well blended. Remove from heat.

2. Add in the sugar and stir well.

3. One by one, slowly mix in the eggs. Make sure the mix isn't still hot. You don't want to cook the egg.

4. Stir in the vanilla, flour and salt.

5. Now add the candy and mix well.

6. In a greased pan, spread the batter and sprinkle a little more crushed candy on the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Yea, it wasn't out of the oven long before I took a big piece. The crushed Butterfinger was crushed pretty fine so I could have added some more to the batter but the crust on top was delish!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Shells

 I love chocolate shells filled with just about anything. In fact, where I work sells really small ones made for cream liquors that people buy up around the holidays. 

A few months ago my Gram gave me these two Wilton silicone flower cupcake molds. I put them in my pantry and thought that I'd make some flower cupcakes when summer was here. Well, I came across them while cleaning and thought... chocolate shells! Duh!

It's easy. In a glass bowl or double boiler, melt some chocolate. I used dark chocolate ;)

Scoop some melted chocolate into each mold. I guessed the amount and added some more to cups that didn't seem full enough.

I held the mold and tilted the chocolate around and around and around and around.... you get the point. I did it until the chocolate barely moved anymore. I put the mold in the fridge to set.

Then ta da! They popped out of the silicone mold very easily. A little cracking at the tops of the shells but you can cover that with your filler...

I made two types... a mud cup and chocolate with strawberries.

Both used a fudge chocolate pudding from a box.

For mud cups you use crushed Oreo ( I found peanut butter Oreos... aside from being delicious they looked more like dirt!) and a gummie worm.

And for the second kind I just topped the pudding with slices of strawberries.

YUM!

I kept them refrigerated but before you serve them you should take them out to come a little to room temp. It makes eating the chocolate shell easier.

Chicken Enchiladas

I am a huge fan of mexican food. A standard quick meal around my house includes nachos, quesadillas and soft tacos. One thing I had never attempted, though, was enchiladas. Check these out because they were delicious and completely customizable. 

INGREDIENTS

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed if frozen
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion chopped
1 green bell pepper sliced
1 cup corn kernels
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp dried cilantro
1 cup monterey jack shredded cheese
Mild salsa
8 corn tortillas (I could only fit 7!)

1. In a large pot, boil water and add in the chicken. Cook 12 minutes or until cooked through. Preheat oven to 450F.

2. Remove from water and shred with forks.

3. Meanwhile, saute the olive oil, onion and peppers until tender.

4. Add in the corn and warm through.

5. Fold in the chicken, 1/2 cup of the cheese and the sour cream. Remove from heat once it is warmed through. Do not over stir.

6. Microwave the corn tortillas for 10-20 seconds until soft and pliable. In a large baking dish, spread about a 1/2 cup of salsa on the bottom of the dish to prevent sticking.

7. Fill tortillas and roll. Place seam side down in the baking dish.

8. Top the filled tortillas with salsa and the rest of the cheese.

9. Bake for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges of the enchiladas start to brown.

These were amazing and the best part is once you get the basic recipe down you can fill these with anything. I'm thinking steak is next. And another suggestion I found online for enchiladas was to use a salsa verde which sounds amazing. Yum!

Mother's Day

I didn't bake my mom anything for mother's day. Instead, we created something that we can enjoy and savor all summer long. A mother-daughter vegetable garden!

We hit up the hardware store's garden center and picked up a bunch of plants that were already started. Easy peasy.

When I got there today my mom had already started taking up the grass. We finished that and I leveled out the area as best I could. I'm new to this!!!

We planted roma tomatoes, zucchini, leeks, red bell peppers, yellow banana peppers, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and lettuce. Holy garden! And I know she had pots she was going to put some herbs in too!

This is my dog Dexter. He helped dig up all the sticks and roots so we could plant our veggies. What a good helper!

A little water... 

Job well done team!! 

I can't wait for this to grow into delicious veggies! I'm already looking up new recipes to try, my mouth is watering at the thought of some homemade salsa again and I'm so happy my mom finally got her courtyard garden! Happy mother's day!

The Big 5-0!

 Some people mourn turning 50... others celebrate it. And when you celebrate anything what do you need... sweets!!!! Check out these 50th birthday cookies I made for my stepmom and a family friend. They went to a casino for the night and one of the ladies going wanted to surprise them with some birthday treats!

I made two cookies: a birthday cake and a square. I went with my favorite sprinkles (they just scream party right?!)

 I love these. The "50" is black royal icing covered in navy blue edible glitter. It kind of made it look like it exploded. I liked the effect.

I ended up bagging each individual cookie in a clear bag with red ribbon tied at the top. Too cute right!?

Happy 50th Eileen!