The Kid's Hearty Shrimp Chowder

This recipe is Kevin's. Kevin is Dan's niece's husband. Dad of brand new baby Dominic. He busted out with this recipe at a family gathering and it was a family favorite instantly! I was aprehensice at first as I am a lover of only Campbells Tomato and Chicken Noodle soups. I dont like things mixed together too much. I just added in Broccoli and Cheese soup as well as French onion a couple years ago. And there it is. There is only four soups I will eat. Let me tell you though trying this soup was so worth biting the bullet. It is fantastic!!! The best part about it is that it really is a meal. I LOVE this soup and I know you will too! So now I am up to five soups. I can count on my one hand..

• 3 tablespoons Butter
• 2/3 cup Heavy Cream
• 2lbs Raw Shrimp
• 2 cups Corn
• 1 can (14.5oz) Chicken Broth
• The same can above filled with Chardonnay
• 1/2 cup Flour
• 1 Garlic Head (10-14)cloves
• 1 4oz can Sliced Jalapeno Chiles (mild 0-1 oz, med 1-2 oz, hot 2-3 oz, havent tried 3-4)
• 2 Large  Onions
• 1 Large Potato
• 1 Large Sweet Potato/ Yam
• 2 Celery Stalks or leave the celery out and add 1 chopped red sweet pepper
  

Prep

Shell shrimp and cut. (26-30 cnt cut into 4 pieces. 31-40 cnt cut into 3 pieces). Dice garlic, jalapeno chiles, onions, and celery. Cube potatoes.

    Heat                                      Step

    Low                                       Melt butter in pot.

    Med                                       Saute Onion (3 min)

    Med                                       Add jalapenos (2 min)

    Med                                       Add garlic (2 min)

    Med/High                            Add shrimp. Keep moving them until all turn pink.

    Med/Low                             Add flour. (2 min)

    High                                      Add chicken broth and chardonnay.

    High                                      Add potatoes, celery, corn. (Until boiling)

                                                   Hint: At this point it may appear there's not enough liquid. Give                                                                  it 10 minutes, especially if the corn is frozen.

    Low/Low                              Even on low it usually still boils slightly. (25-35 mins)

                                                   Done when potatoes are cooked.

   Low/Low                              Add heavy cream and serve.

Substitutions: Instead of chicken broth and chardonnay, try same amount of beer. A nice Pale                                Ale works well.

                                                   

Peter's Favorite Pasta

I found stole this recipe from a blog of a friend of a friend. I have heard that she is a fantasic cook, so I thought I couldn't go wrong.  Sure enough this turned out delicious. I have to admit it was the first time I was working three burners but I think I am getting the hang of it now. Three burners turned into three thumbs up from the people I have made it for. 

Penne Pasta (1/2 to 3/4 box)

Chicken Breast Tenderloins

1 Pack Sliced Mushrooms

1 Jar Sun Dried Tomatoes

1 Packet Knorr Alfredo Mix (per directions)

Parmesan Cheese...i use the fresh shredded Wegmans cheese shop brand

Butter

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

• Saute chicken seasoned with salt and pepper in olive oil (set aside)
• In same pan, melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and saute mushrooms until cooked, add sun dried tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil.
• Cook pasta al dente drain/ don't rinse.
• In the pan pasta was cooked, prepare Alfredo mix per directions, then add the pasta until coated with sauce. (I just made the sauce in a sauce pan) hence burner #3.
• Mix in mushrooms, tomatoes and chicken (sliced thin), and lots of parmesan cheese!
• Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with more olive oil.   

Cant think of anyway to tweak this recipe. Its perfect as is.

Chicken Wing Pizza

So Dan thinks I should have titled this blog "What's burning at the Carroll's?" Funny huh? The funny part is that the next day when I was cooking whatever it was- I did burn it. I have thought about changing the name. We will see. Dan's roomate in college was from Rochester and also burned everything. So Dan thinks that if you are from the Roc you can't cook you just burn stuff. Anyway I got this recipe from my boss at work. I haven't tried it yet but what is not to love?

Buffalo Chicken Wing Pizza

• 1 jar of Nancy's Chicken wing sauce (found at Tops -not avalible at Wegmans)
• 2-3 Tbsp of Butter
• 2 boiled chicken breasts
• 1 4oz can of tomato sauce
• Blue Cheese dressing
• mozzerela cheese
• Franks hot sauce 
• optional chopped celery --(yuk)  

After the chicken is boiled, cube it small or shred it. Combine wing sauce, butter, tomato sauce, and enough Franks Hot to taste. Add chicken and let simmer while you roll out the pizza dough. On your pizza crust cover with blue cheese dressing to personal preference. Ladle chicken on to pizza crust (sauce will come with it) add additional sauce if needed and celery  if desired (yuk). Cover with Mozzerela and bake according to the directions on the dough.

Oreo Truffle Balls

This is my friend Sarah's recipe from work. She brought some in and I was hooked. They are pretty popular around Christmas time. Next time I make them I think I will try the peanut butter or mint Oreos

• 1 (1 pound,2 oz) package of Oreo cookies
• 1 8oz package of cream cheese @ room temperature
• 2 8oz packages of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 8 ounces of white chocolate--optional for decoration

*Use good quality chocolate. The taste and quality of these truffles are dependent on the quality chocolate you start with. I use Ghiradelli

-Line two large baking or cookie sheets with wax paper or a silpad. set aside

-In a food processor or blender, process and crush all of the Oreo cookies into fine crumbs. Add cream cheese and process until thoroughly mixed (there should be no white traces of cream cheese.

-Using your hands roll into walnut sized balls about 3/4 inch in diameter. if the mixture becomes too soft to work, place remaining mixture back into the refrigerator to slightly harden.

-Place Oreo balls on the lined baking sheet and refrigerate at least 45-60 minutes

Tips

• The Oreo balls may be stored in the freezer up to a week
• if you put the Oreo balls in the freezer for a short time before dipping in chocolate, this helps to keep the balls cold longer. You can also put the cookie sheets in the freezer first (but really who has that much room in their freezer?)

Melt the chocolate-in a microwave safe bowl on 10 percent power microwave for one minute. Check and stir. if you need more time, do it in 10 to 20 second intervals and check and stir after each time. Remove the container from the microwave and stir the chocolate until completely melted. Chips and baking chocolate may be formed but become fluid after stirring. At this point you can add in liqueur, brandy,coffee or whatever else fancies you. i like mine plain.

When ready to coat with chocolate remove the chilled Oreo balls from the refrigerator, replace the wax paper if the trays are not clean, a small toothpick or chopstick works great to dip. Let the excess chocolate run back into the bowl. And place the Oreo ball on wax paper. If the chocolate hardens reheat it in the microwave.

Let the Oreo Truffle Balls harden and then store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

makes 40-50 candy balls.

Heath Bar Apple Dip

This is great to bring to a party or gathering and the recipe is for a double batch-the perfect amount.

• Two packages of softened cream cheese
• 1 and 1/4 cups of brown sugar
• 1 bag of chopped Heath Bar that is located by the chocolate chips
• 1 jar of Caramel ice cream topping
• Apples
• Lemon Juice

Mix the brown sugar and cream cheese together with a mixer. (you can do this ahead of time and refrigerate it). After that is mixed add in a half of the bag of Heath bar chips. Place in a dish that you will serve it in. Take the caramel topping and microwave it for about 30 seconds until it is pourable. Pour the caramel over the cream cheese/brown sugar/Heath mixture until it is covered. Sprinkle the rest of the Heath Bar pieces on that. About 30 minutes before serving slice Apples and dip them in lemon juice to prevent them from browning. This is delish!!

Artichoke Chicken

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tbls garlic salt
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, mix together the artichoke hearts, Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic salt. Place chicken in a greased baking dish, and cover evenly with artichoke mixture.
Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center and juices run clear.

What's Cookin'?

Welcome to my little recipe blog. I stole this idea from a blog that I follow called Kellys Korner. I stole her idea and some of her recipes. Its a very cute blog with quite a following that took off when she had her daughter Harper. Anyway I thought I would do a similar recipe blog but for me it certainly is not to brag about my wonderful creations. Its more of a place to keep my recipes so I dont have to try and find/dig out my cookbook and also a place to send people if they do want a recipe of mine because I have awful turn around time with that...so here is what we are eating. Enjoy.