Date Night Honey Cilantro Shrimp and Quinoa Salad

Ah, date night. I vaguely remember date night. I can see it now through a fog of diapers, teething and footed pajamas. I remember getting dressed up in high heals (I vaguely remember high heals) and going to a movie.

Now date night is in the living room after baby boy has passed out. I love it. I really do.

A few nights ago I made this Honey Cilantro Shrimp and Quinoa Salad along with these brownies for date night. Then we watched the Sherlock on Netflix.

Make sure you watch the video. Head over to YouTube and leave a comment and give that like button a click.

I made the shrimp with a few things I had in my cabinet. It turned out great. Roasting shrimp makes it sweet and plump and it's so easy.

Honey Cilantro Shrimp:

What you'll need:

1/2 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
A bunch of fresh cilantro - about 1/2 a cup.
2 -4 tbsp honey
2'4 tbsp olive oil (I used Extra Virgin Kalamata Oil)

Combine honey, olive oil and cilantro. Add in the shrimp and mix with your hands.
Place in a greased pan and roast on 350 for about 20 minutes.

Quinoa Salad

What you'll need:

1/2 cup uncooked Quinoa - cook according to package instructions.
2 tbsp dried cilantro
1 tbsp lemon juice
One avocado cubed
2 cups cubed mango
stir together and add some fresh cilantro as garnish

Five Ingredient Fish Dinner

We are keeping up with our simple week of recipes. We had a 3 ingredient dessert, 4 ingredient bread and now a 5 ingredient fish dinner.

I figured out how to cook fish in aluminum foil when I was on a diet last year and constantly exhaused. I learned later my exhaustion was not my diet, I was pregnant. Ha ha!

Anyway, because this recipe was cheap, easy and healthy I began to make it a lot when I was pregnant. I was coming home from work late in the evening and I needed something that could be prepped and cooked in under 30 minutes.

This is very healthy, it has protien, fiber and all the minerals and nutrients associated with squash and zucchini like vitiamin C and magense. And it's so inexpensive I made mine with Tilapia and it costs about $1.90 per person or about $2.06 if you eat over rice.

What you'll need:

Four pieces of tilapia (or red fish or salmon)

Two zucchini

Two squash

Fresh or dried cilantro

Soy sauce

Aluminum foil

**I have also put onion, oranges and lemon pepper. You can use pretty much anything. That's the beauty of this recipe.

Preheat your oven to 350 and let's get started.

Chop your veggies and make certain your fish is fully thawed.

Tear off four peices of foil. Place a piece of fish one each piece of foil. Sprinkle the fish with soy sauce and cilantro.

Cover each peice of fish with a healthy portion of the vegetables. Beleive me, two zuchini and two squash go a long way.

Fold the foil over the veggie and fish like a little envelope. Place all four foil packs on a baking sheet and place in the oven. You will need to cook it about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Three (or four) ingredient bread

This week we are all about simplicity. We have had a simple smoothie, a three ingredient cake and now a three (or 4) ingredient bread.

I have mentioned before that my husband and I are not big drinkers. Drinking isn't something we have a moral or spiritual issue with, we just don't do it very often. So a bottle of wine or beer will last for months in our fridge.

My husband bought a sample six pack at Publix a few months back and was trying this beer - Yeti. It didn't quite suit his tastes. He was about to pour it out when I made him stop.  I don't like to see anything wasted, but I don't drink beer at all. So I scoured the internet until I found this recipe. Okay, it's got to be more simple than that, right?

Why yes, yes, it is. Just Google Beer Bread or Soda Bread and you will find a host of recipes. I just tooled with this one a bit to make it fit what I had in my cabinet 

Let's get started.

What you'll need:

3 cups flour*

1 tbsp. baking powder 

3 tablespoons brown sugar or honey

1 - 12 ounce bottle of beer. 

* if you use three cups self-rising flour then you won't need the baking powder.

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a bread pan.

In a bowl sift or whisk your flour and baking powder. Add your honey and stir.

Then add your beer and mix, mix, mix.

It will be clumpy. That is good.

Spread into your pan and pop it in the oven for about 55 minutes until it passes the knife test.

This is really great with a little honey. (My husband put butter and honey on it and it was amazing.)

Three Ingredient Pineapple Ugly Cake

Picture this: It was Easter Sunday. We had to all be dressed and at church in a pinch and I was in the kitchen cutting potatoes and making sweet tea for Easter dinner when I realize we had no dessert. This is South Alabama! That won't do!

But what was I supposed to do? I still had to shower, dress, feed the baby and get him in his Easter outfit. And I had nothing to bake.

But I did have a box of cake mix I got BOGO at Publix, (Seriously, I love Publix) a can of Pineapple (also from Publix) and some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (Guess where I got that? Yup. Publix.).

So I threw them all in a casserole dish and hoped for the best. When I pulled it out of the oven I had buttery, flakey, sweet, tangy goodness.

What you'll need:

A boxed cake mix

A can of fruit or pie filling - any will work

Some butter - or in my case fake butter (which I rarely use because well, it can't be good for you)

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease that pan.

Drain your can of fruit and dump it in the pan.

Then dump the cake mix on top of the fruit.

Add some butter and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. That's just enough time to shower and dress mama and baby!

Super banana, berry (avocado) smoothie

Okay, okay, okay, I know that sounds gross. But I promise it isn't.

A couple weeks ago I made a butternut squash soup that was, well, soupy. So instead of adding milk I added avocado. You couldn't even taste it. So I have been thinking about this. I love avocados. They are loaded in health benefits. What if I added them to more things?

I have been making smoothies because, well who doesn't love a smoothie? And they are quick and I can drink them with one hand while I type, feed a baby or clean the kitchen. (Ha, like my kitchen is ever clean.)

Last week I made this Super banana, berry, avocado smoothie with milk and raw honey. It's loaded with calcium, potassium, vitamins C,K, and B6.

What you'll need:

One small banana

about 6 frozen strawberries

one avocado

a cup of milk and a little honey to sweeten.

Throw it all in the blender and blend, blend, blend. This makes two. Take a sip. You're welcome. ;)

Summer (squash) time and the baking is easy

Happy Easter!

I hope you are all lounging around at home, sharing time with family, remembering that He is risen! Doesn't it give you such peace to know that you are loved so much by Jesus?

While you are enjoying this (hopefully) quiet and peaceful day why not take some time to bake with family? I love putting baby boy in his high chair and talking to him while I cook. We talk about colors, words and of course food. 

This past week I made a Summer Squash Bread. I know, it probably sounds terrible, but I promise you that it is amazing. You can't even taste the squash, it just gives is a buttery taste and texture. Also, the cinnamon and other spices give it great flavor. It's like my two favorite seasons, Summer and Fall, got together, had a baby and named it Summer Squash Bread. 

So let's get this show boat movin. 

Print recipe here.

What you'll need:

(Notice all my generic dollar store ingredients. You don't need what I call "sexy ingredients" to bake.)

3 eggs, beaten

2 cups sugar*

1 cup vegetable oil*

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Seasoning (nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and ginger if you can't find pie spice.)

2 cups shredded summer squash (One LARGE squash)

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a bread pan (muffin pan etc.)

Whisk your eggs until they are fluffy and that beautiful yellow color and add your oil*.

Snap a (blurry) photo of your little helper.

Add your sugar and continue to stir.

Add your flour a smidge at a time. (I do all this by hand, but feel free to use an electric mixer. I'm just being difficult.)

Mix in your spices and baking powder. I add lots of spice, you can add a little, it's you're bread after all.

Next stir in your squash.

Once you have everything good and mixed, transfer if it to your pan and pop it in the oven for 45 minutes.

*You can use 3/4 cup sweetened apple sauce and 1/4 cup oil and reduce the sugar to 1/2 a cup. You will need to cook an additional 10 -15 minutes.

Mama and baby cook: French Onion Pot roast (it's not really French)

What is easier than a pot roast? Serisously. You throw stuff in a post and you're good to go.

What you'll need:
A pot roast pork or beef 1 - 2 pounds
Large sweet or white onion
One carton of mushrooms
Rosemary
Paprika
Garlic Pepper
Half a bulb of garlic
1 cup of water
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt

Brown Rice

Asparagus

Pot roast:
Preheat oven to 350
In a cast iron Dutch oven or deep casserole dish place dived onion and mushrooms along with a couple tablespoons olive oil. Mix together with your hands.
Place the roast on top of the onions and mushrooms and sprinkle with kosher salt, garlic pepper and paprika. Cover with a cup of water.

You will need to cook your roast for 3 hours.
(You can use a crock pot and set on the 8 hour low setting.)

Prepare your rice according to the instructions. 2 cup of uncooked rice is equal to four servings.

Asparagus:
Preheat your oven to 350.
Drizzle a little olive oil in a deep pan and place the asparagus in the pan. Mix the asparagus in the oil with your hands to make certain the vegetable is fully coated.
Sprinkle with kosher or sea salt and roast in oven for 20 minutes.

Zucchini and Summer Squash, oven fried goodness

 

Print this recipe

Spring came early. Which concerns me. But it also means spring and summer crops are now available and since shopping in season is so important to save money and have a more sustainable plate, that makes me happy.

So summer squash and zuchini are plentiful in these parts. Since I do most of my produce shopping at the local farmer's market, that means they are a little cheaper now.

Last night we had burgers. And I wanted a good side dish that wasn't french fries. But seriously, what is a burger without french fries?

What about seasonal oven fries??? I have saved the day!

What you'll need:

Zucchini

Squash

about a cup of bread crumbs

1/4 grated parmesan

2 eggs

a paper bag

a greased cookie sheet

Preheat that oven to 425 and let's get started!

Wash your veggies and chop off the ends. Then cut each in half. The halves can then be cut in to four fries each. (Each vegetable will yield 16 fries.)

Dump the bread crumbs and parm in to a paper bag and shake.

In a bowl whisk your eggs.

Put your chopped vegetables in to your eggs and mix with your hands. Yes, use your hands. You can wash them later.

Then put the vegetables in the bag and shake, shake, shake.

Place the vegetables on your cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. These are so good. If you can't eat "fries" without dipping them might I recommend a little Greek yogurt and ranch mix. Yummy!

Prosciutto and Kale with Orzo

Kale! Kale! Kale! It's not just for making chips and soup no one wants to eat. I was sure of that. I had half a bag of kale left over last week and since I am now living a waste not want not lifestyle I really didn't want it to go to waste.

So I thought and I walked around my kitchen and I pulled everything out of my cabinets and then it came to me! One of my favorite things to make is a pizza with caramelized onions and prosciutto. The salty and the sweet are incredible together.

What if I took my favorite elements of the pizza and made pasta I could throw in some baby bella mushrooms and the kale and the meaty baby bella and the bitter kale would balance each other. Right? Yes!

What you'll need:

Prosciutto a 3 0z package (I got mine on sale at Publix for $3.99)

1 medium size sweet onion

2 Roma tomatoes

4 cups Kale (it cooks down)

1 carton baby bella mushrooms (regular white button mushrooms or canned mushrooms could work too)

Garlic (duh) 3 cloves or one tbsp minced.

Orzo

Get your Orzo going according to the instructions.

Heat up your oven for 350 and placed your Prosciutto in a greased cookie sheet. You will cook the Prosciutto in the oven for 8 minutes until it renders. (Becomes crispy.)

Break it into pieces and place in a serving bowl.

Heat up your skillet over a medium heat and drizzle with olive oil. Add your chopped onion. It will take 30 minutes to properly caramelize. (But that's not quick? I know. I didn't say this would be fast.)

Add your minced garlic once the carmelzation process seems good and almost done.

Chop up your tomatoes and place it in a bowl with the Prosciutto.

Add your kale and mushrooms to the skillet with the onions and cook for about 5 minutes. You don't want the leaves mushy.

Once your orzo is finished put it in the bowl with the Prosciutto and tomatoes.

Add the onion, Kale, mushroom mixture to the orzo and mix everything together. This is a really good mix of flavors. Believe me.

Print this recipe

Sausage Pepper Bake - Mama and Baby in the Kitchen

It's hot. So hot and it's only March. So that means it's only going to get hotter in Alabama. Why am I complaining now? I should reserve my complaints for August, right? This is a quick, easy and simple meal that requires few ingredients. 

Also, you want something cheap. Right? We are all about cheap. And nothing complicated. Nothing fancy? Got it. Here we go.

What you'll need:

Print recipe

One 14 ounce package of sausage ($2.50)
One green pepper ($.66)
One red pepper ($.66)
One yellow pepper ($.66)
1/3 of an onion or a whole small onion ($.35)
1 lb of potatoes ($1.19)
Cooking spray. (.05)
Total: $6.07!
Preheat oven to 350.
Chop all your vegetables and add to a grease pan. Then add your sausage. And spray with Pam. You can add salt and pepper or your favorite seasoning.
Bake at 350 for 30 - 45 minutes.

And Like us on Facebook