Shrimp and Cheese Grits

I have been wanting shrimp and grits for awhile. I don't have much experience with them, eating or making.  For some reason, the creaming grits and tasty shrimp have stayed on my mind, much like a nagging child that wants to do go somewhere when you are already settled in for the night.

So I began to search.  I looked through cookbooks.  And I looked on the Internet.  But not one of them matched my vision.  I wanted white grits, cheese, shrimp, some heat but not much, and I wanted bacon.  Because (say it with me), 'everything is better with bacon!'.

So what do you do?  Buy everything that you think you might need and get started!  Which is what I did.

Cheesy Grits with Shrimp


Grits
3/4 cup uncooked grits
2 1/2 cups  chicken broth
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Bring broth, cream and milk to a boil.  Add grits.  Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes (according to package directions), stirring occasionally.  When starting to get creamy, add remaining ingredients and keep on low heat.  Taste and add butter, salt or more cayenne to taste.

Shrimp


4 strips bacon, reserve drippings and crumble
1/2 medium size onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced finely
3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning (more or less to your taste)
1 1/2 pounds of shrimp (fresh or frozen)

Fry bacon.  Remove from pan and crumble.
Add a small amount of olive oil to bacon drippings.
Add diced onions.  When onions are soft, add garlic.
Give that a minute or so then add the tomatoes, shrimp, Old Bay, butter and lemon juice.
Cook until shrimp are done.

If you are using frozen shrimp, thaw and dry before adding to pan.  Allow for extra liquid.






Charlie said this is one of the best things he's ever eaten.  He absolutely loved it.  And me, well let's just say, I will be making this again and again.  The grits are so creamy and cheesy with a little kick.  The shrimp and sauce are so tasty that you can't wait for that next bite.  Did I say they were good?

Live, Laugh, Love.

Karen

It's Wednesday Already?

How can it be Wednesday.  I swear that yesterday was the weekend.  Time gets the best of me.  Other than the fact that my football teams didn't win, it was a great weekend.  We cooked, we enjoyed good food, we watched some really good games.  Hey, we even managed to get a school project completed with James.

This is what pays the bills.  I work for an equipment company.  They call me a Product Support Rep, that's a fancy name for 'I sell the company and make sure the customers are happy'.  Sometimes it's a great job, other times it is the most stressful place to be.

Our kitchen on the other hand, is my de-stressser.  Saturday morning I decided that we would cook a bunch of tailgate food then we could enjoy the games more.  So we turned the music up loud, laughed a lot and made a ton food.  Here's a look.

This started out as a pizza.  I didn't flour the counter enough though and the dough stuck.  Solution...Flip over the torn dough and make a calzone.  it is stuffed with italian sausage, mushroom and onions.  The dough is made with 1 1/2 cups of warm water, 2 packages of yeast, 2 Tablespoons of sugar, 1/3 cup olive oil and 4 cups of flour.  Just bloom the yeast in the water, whisk in the sugar and oil then ad the flour.  Let it rise for an hour and you are ready.  That amount makes two pizzas.  Or a calzone and a base for James' school project.  More on that later.

I remember my Mom doing this with leftover biscuits.  She would put butter, cinnamon and sugar on a halved biscuit and put them back in the oven.  They would get hard on the outside and soft on the inside and I loved them.  I did the same thing but used flour tortillas instead.  And notice the game day activity of color sugar for the teams I was backing.  Let see, green for the Eagles, yea right, they are gone.  Blue for the Colts, Peyton and the boys let me down.  Yellow for the Saints.  Who would have ever guessed they would be out after the first round.  And purple (well, purple-ish) for the Ravens.  At least that defense pulled them through.

These little goodies were delish.. Cream Cheese, a slice of jalapeno and chicken all wrapped in bacon.  I put them in oven to cook the chicken, then broiled to get the bacon crisp.  Ree at the Pioneer Woman (don't you love her recipes?) had this posted.  I usually do this with shrimp but went with what we had.



I've rambled enough and now must run to see customers.  I think today is going to be one of the good days at work except that the wind chill is 22 degrees in Houston.  Yikes!

Live, Laugh, Love,

Karen and Charlie

Burgers with the family

What a great evening.  The kids came over for one last dinner together before Geneva and Jesse head to school in Natchitoches, LA.  It's only about 4 hours away but the drive is boring and makes it seem alot longer.  We have 3 kids, Eric, Geneva and James.  And all three have mates, Katie, Jesse and Crystal.  Eric and Katie live in Pennsylvania so obviously they didn't drop over for dinner but the other four were here.

We kept it simple and make burgers on the grill.  I'll admit it's not the best picture but there seemed to be a million things going on at once.  How does that happen?  It did eventually turn into a very relaxed evening.  We ate our burgers and laughed alot.  Ended up playing a 'Apples to Apples' and some game on Wii.




The kids munched all night on a no bake cookie I got from my mother's recipe box.  There are lots of these out there and I'll post it sometime but it's just cocoa, sugar, milk, butter, peanut butter and oatmeal.  The kids love them but they are kinda rich for me.

Oh and yes, we did finally go to the store and stock the pantry.  Charlie was afraid of 'how many things can you do with an egg', so he stopped on the way home and bought a variety of things so I can continue to make up stuff as I go.

We have stuck to the 'Eat in Month' Challenge.  How are you doing?


Live, Laugh, Love,

Karen and Charlie

Making the Most of My Bare Pantry

I'm challenging myself to be frugal, use what we have and still eat at home.  Not just for the month of January but as a life change.  Who know if it will work, only time will tell.  And isn't there a saying that if you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit.  Well I'm giving it my best shot.



This was last night's dinner.  Not my typical chili recipe but it worked really well.  Of course I didn't measure anything but this is what I had on hand.

Ground beef

Italian Sausage

Onions

Garlic Powder

Chili Powder

Diced Tomatoes with Peppers (Rotel by a different name)

Light Kidney Beans (leave them out if you don't put beans in chili)

Tomato Paste

Ketchup

Water

Salt and Pepper

Corn Bread Mix - Love it, Love it, Love it.  You need milk and an egg.

Butter for the corn bread

Saute onion in a little olive oil. Throw in the ground beef and sausage.  After it is all nice and browned, season it as hot or as mild as you like it.

Add tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, water to the consistency that you want it.  I had to add ketchup to this because the taste wasn't right.  I really needed another can of tomatoes but...you gotta make due.

Simmer for about 20 minutes.  Make the Corn Bread while you wait. 

The house will smell so good.  If you weren't hungry when you started, you will be now.

This is what my regular pot of chili looks like.  It's a little darker and thicker.  And actually much spicier.  But this made for a great dinner and I didn't spend a dime or even alot of time putting it together.

Don't forget to join the group for 'Eat In Month'.

I also got to preview a new show on OWN through SheSpeaks.  That would be the Oprah Winfrey Network. It was pretty cool.  I'm a reality show freak anyway and Oprah is going to give the winner of this show their own talk show.  It premiers Friday, January 7th at 9E/8C.  The line up of other shows is very Oprah-like so I'm sure there will be lots of makeovers for body, soul and homes.

Eat In Month

Charlie and I joined 'The Chic Life's' Challenge for January.  Diane calls it 'Eat in Month'.  For the entire month you don't go to a restaurant.  I didn't think this would be too difficult since we cook 90% of our meals at home anyway.  Then I started going through my pantry for dinner yesterday.  Geezzz, I should have made my grocery list before I decided to join.  And I should have asked Charlie to go to the store.  We were out of almost everything.  Not sure how that happened but it is definitely time to stock up again.

Back on track for the Challenge though, I took some of the chicken that we had from New Year's Eve, cut it into chunks and made an alfredo sauce.  Served with noodles and a salad it was a great way to eat something simple and use the leftovers.  Not to mention it was darned good and warm.  Isn't Houston supposed to not have winters because even though it is only in the low 50's, it's windy and feels much colder?  I'm moving closer to the equator.

After realizing that our cupboard is almost bare, I decided to take the challenge a bit further.  It is all about saving money and eating more sensibly.  Charlie gets his lunch packed for him everyday.  Aren't I a good wife! 

OK, stop laughing.  However, he is a breakfast skipper.  I have always wanted him to eat something in the morning within a few hours of waking up.  If he doesn't he goes 6-7 hours with only coffee.

So today, he got a scrambled egg with cheese on toast.  For lunch, he has tuna salad with carrots instead of chips.  I also threw in a few Nilla Wafers for a sweet treat. 

I'm hoping that if he spreads that out over the day, he won't be so hungry when he gets home and he will eat a lighter dinner.  Which, by the way, is going to be chili because it's cold outside and HOORAY, I have all the ingredients.  Not really difficult to have, hamburger meat, italian sausage, canned tomatoes and spices.  Although I have to sub tomatoes that have jalapenos since I don't have plain diced ones.

It's funny that this challenge has really made me think.  Running to the grocery store to pick up one or two items isn't really a big deal for us.  Generally the problem is, I run in for 2 things and come out with 20.  So after looking at what I have and deciding to use it in ways that maybe I wouldn't normally, is a good thing.  I did make a list though and Charlie will be going to the store so we only buy what's on the list.

Thanks Diane, I welcome these small changes and I am hoping that they become routine.

How do you plan your meals and do your shopping?   One meal at a time or do you shop for the entire week?  Let me know.  I would love to hear from you.