Baked Shrimp in Lemony Garlic Sauce

In my world, lemon and garlic are always perfect together. When you add shrimp, it becomes an amazing combination. I have been making this shrimp for awhile, but I think this time I finally found my favorite way to serve it.

This dish comes together in a matter of minutes, and you can serve it with rice, pasta, crusty bread, cous cous etc. Another plus is if served alone, it is relatively healthy for you, only 4 weight watchers points per serving!

Baked Shrimp in Lemony Garlic Sauce

Source: Weight Watchers

Ingredients:
1 1/4 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (I always just use frozen shrimp, and it works out great if you pull of the tails after you defrost the shrimp so you don't have to worry about them when you eat)
1 spray cooking spray
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbls. butter, melted
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp. lemon pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper
2 Tbls. parsley, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Arrange shrimp in a single layer in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine lemon juice and next 5 ingredients; pour over shrimp.


Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until shrimp are done. Sprinkle parsley over shrimp; serve immediately.

*I served this with cavatappi pasta and green beans that were boiled along with the noodles for about 4 minutes; drain noodles and beans, pour shrimp and sauce in with noodles and beans. Grate some parmesan cheese in, add extra extra-virgin olive oil if needed.

Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup

Baked potato soup is one of my favorite soups this time of year, so I was very intrigued to find a recipe to make it in the slow cooker. When I saw that Cub has 5lb bags of potatoes for 68 cents (!) this week I figured it was a great time to try this.

Wow, is this soup good. It is so creamy, perfectly seasoned, and tastes better than some restaurant soup I've had. The only difficult thing about this recipe is that I do not have an immersion blender or a potato masher, so I ended up just using my blender and doing about 3 batches of soup. I did leave some big chunks of potato as well. Also, this makes A LOT of soup, so make sure your slow cooker is at least 6 quarts. We probably have enough left over to eat for lunch and dinner for the whole week! Maybe next time I'll try to halve the recipe.
Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup
Source: A Year of Slow Cooking, adapted from RecipeZaar

Ingredients:
-5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
-1 teeny onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon seasoned salt
-1/2 teaspoon black pepper
-1/2 teaspoon red pepper
-2 quarts chicken broth (8 cups)
-2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, to add at the end
-crumbled bacon and green onion or chives as garnish (optional)

Directions:
Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware. Add onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork-tender. You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. I suppose you can also leave the potatoes in chunks, if you really wanted, but I wanted a smooth soup.

After smashing the potatoes, crumble in both packages of cream cheese, and put the lid back on. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during the 30 minutes. (I let it cook for about 1 hour more after adding the cheese)

Garnish with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives, and I'd assume cheddar cheese would be just delightful.

Tiramisu Bundt Cake

Mmm, coffee and Kahlua, such a great combination. This cake is amazing. I really don't know what else to say, it is so moist, with a hint of coffee and Kahlua flavor. I was not at work for 2 weeks, so I decided to bring this cake as a sort of "welcome me back, thanks for not firing me" treat, and I have never had such rave reviews from my co-workers. They always love when I bring treats, but the response was nothing like this, I think they had the cake gone in less than 2 hours. I can't wait for an excuse to make this again!


Tiramisu Bundt Cake
Source: Baking Bites

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup espresso or very strong coffee
1/4 cup Kahlua

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.


In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking power and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk into the large bowl, ending with an addition of flour, and mixing just until everything is incorporated.

Remove 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Remove another cup of batter into a second small bowl. Add espresso to one of the small bowls and whisk until well-combined. Add Kahlua to the second small bowl and whisk until well combined.

Pour half of the plain batter into the bundt pan and spread into an even layer. Pour the Kahlua batter into an even layer on top of the plain batter. Pour espresso batter on top of Kahlua batter. These batters maybe slightly thinner, but do not mix or stir them. Carefully spread all remaining plan batter into the bundt pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Serves 16.


Kahlua Mascarpone Frosting

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
4-oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup Kahlua
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl and beat at medium-high speed until very smooth and fluffy. Use a butter knife or spatula to apply the frosting to the bundt in a thick, even layer.

Bacon Potato Frittata

Growing up, I loved having breakfast for dinner. Something about pancakes at night was comforting and fun. However, I am now married to someone who has never allowed me to cook breakfast for dinner. This frittata was my way of tricking him into it, and we paired it with blueberry muffins so it really was like breakfast!

I have never made a frittata before, and it is so quick, easy and versatile that I foresee more in the future. However, I do not have a non-stick skillet so we had some trouble getting this out of the pan. I will add a non-stick skillet to my neverending list of kitchen gadgets and tools I want.

Bacon Potato Frittata

Source: Recipezaar

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
2 teaspoons finely snipped fresh basil or dried basil, crushed  (I used parsley)
salsa (optional) or sour cream (optional)

Directions:
Using a large, nonstick skillet, cook bacon pieces until crisp; Reserve 2 T. of bacon drippings; Drain bacon pieces on paper towel.

Add potato slices to skillet with reserved bacon drippings; Cover and cook over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes until tender and lightly browned.

Turn potato slices over and turn down heat to prevent over-browning (if necessary).

In large bowl, beat eggs, milk, pepper, and salt until combined. Stir in cheese, green onion, and basil(parsley). Set aside.

Spread cooked potatoes in an even layer over the bottom of skillet.
Sprinkle the bacon over the potatoes.
Pour in egg mixture.

Cover, reduce heat to medium low.

Cook 15 to 20 minutes until top surface of egg is set.

Decrease heat to low if necessary, to allow center to cook without over-cooking the edges.

Loosen edges of frittata from pan, carefully invert onto large serving plate.

Cut into wedges.

Put a dollop of sour cream or salsa on top right before serving, if desired.

Crockpot Burrito Soup

This was one of those recipes that I knew immediately when I saw it, I would need to make it, and make it soon! This soup is delicious and so comforting. It also seems to be much tastier the next day, but don't most soups and chili's?

I've actually made this twice already, and it is definitely better if it cooks for a long period of time. The first time we had this, it only cooked for a couple hours and it was very bland, but by the next day everything had married together and it was great. The second time, I let it cook for about 6 hours, and it was perfect. We also upped the rice to about 1 cup, so it is very thick and more like a chili than a soup. I also used a whole cup of corn just to get more veggies in:) We also don't used ground beef, so I used ground turkey. My changes are reflected in the recipe below (refer to originals to see the difference).


Crockpot Burrito Soup
Source: adapted from Loves to Eat, originally from elly says opa!

Ingredients:
2 tsp. oil

1 large onion, diced
1 lb. ground turkey
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
5 cups beef broth
2 Tbsp. aleppo (or any) chili powder)
1 Tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 cup corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup uncooked rice (or, cook rice separately)

Directions:

Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat and add oil. Cook the onions for a couple minutes before adding the turkey. Brown the turkey with the onion and drain if necessary. Put back on the heat and stir in the garlic, just until fragrant.

Pour the turkey mixture into the crockpot and then add the tomato sauce, beef broth, spices, corn and black beans. Cook on low for…however long you’re gone.

Increase temp to high and add the rice, just until cooked. Alternatively you can put the cooked rice in bowls and ladle the soup over it. Garnish with your favorite toppings.