Dinner
I’m Back, JACK! …….. and I got some Vodka Sauce to go with it!
Whoo! It has been a long time since I have been able to type on these pretty pages.
It’s not my fault though, it’s my HUSBAND”S FAULT!!!
Let me explain:
First, he goes and get’s me hooked on Breaking Bad. Did I mention that I had never seen a single episode? He tells me, “Don’t worry sweetie. Netflix has all of them and you can watch them all there!”
Word of advice: Never watch it! You will become consumed and it will take over your life.
Well, I finally finished all the episodes and I was done. Life was worth living again and I was fine.
Enter: Sons of Anarchy!
Again! My husband says, “You have to watch this! Netflix has all of them too!”
“NO!”, I said.
“Just watch one episode and you don’t have to watch anymore”, he says.
Five seasons later (*Don’t judge me!), I am finally alive again and not living in a leather made world of tattoos and motorcycles. (*Except for on Tuesday nights when the current season comes on…….)
I have neglected you and I feel bad about it.
SO!
As a peace offering, I give you this:
The easiest ever Shrimp Fettuccine in Vodka Sauce!
Now, I was going to try and make my own Vodka Sauce, but by the time I added up all the ingredients that I would need to make my own, it just seemed more reasonable to go another route.
I am a very practical girl and I’m not afraid to use a bottled sauce every now and again.
I usually buy Bertolli products when I purchase my pasta, so since they had a Vodka Sauce, I decided to go with them.
So so yummy!
I used shrimp and a lot of it because my family is what you call BIG EATERS, but you could definitely use chicken.
Best part is that this is probably a 20 minute meal!
Not to mention that it only has 5 ingredients and the whole family will LOVE IT!
Here you go!
Recipe: Shrimp Fettuccine in Vodka Sauce
Ingredients:
– 1 – 2 lbs. of Raw Medium Shrimp, peeled ( I used 2 only because I have a family of 5 and they eat A LOT!) or 1 lb. Chicken Breast, cut into cubes in place of Shrimp
– 16 oz. Fettuccine
– 2 tbsp. Olive Oil ( I use extra virgin)
– 2 (24oz) jars of Vodka Sauce (*I used Bertolli) *I USED 2 JARS BECAUSE I HAD 2 LBS. OF SHRIMP, BUT YOU COULD DEFINITELY USE 1 JAR) OR still use 2 jars if you like a lot of Sauce.
– 2 tbsp. fresh chopped Basil (Optional)
Directions:
– Cook Fettuccine according to package directions.
– Meanwhile, heat a large skillet on medium heat.
– Add Olive Oil and Shrimp and saute 4 minutes or until shrimp are cooked and are no longer opaque. *Try not to overcook shrimp! Set aside.
– In the same skillet, heat Vodka Sauce and let simmer for 10 minutes.
– Return cooked Shrimp to pan with sauce and add cooked Fettuccine.
– Top with chopped fresh Basil.
– Serve immediately.
*NOTE: If using Chicken, cut chicken into cubes and saute’ in place of shrimp about 6 to 7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and cooked through. Continue with recipe.
Beef Orzo Skillet
Now that school is back,
I really want to utilize my time and be more productive during the day. I have all these wish lists of things I want to accomplish. Like for instance, simplifying MY LIFE! LOL! That will always be #1 and most important on my list. However, I will probably NEVER accomplish it……. and I’m ok with that……… most of the time.
One thing I can probably, maybe, sort of do that with is dinner. You always hear about 30 minute meals and while some of them are good…… others are GREAT!
I happened to find one of those the other night when I was scouring the internet for some culinary inspiration. I ended up finding this one on my Calendar site I use, www.cozi.com.
It was SOOOOOOO good! The best part was that my kids gobbled it up and my little one didn’t even realize that there was Spinach in it!
It’s so nice to only mess up one pan when cooking and not a million bajillion (is that a word?) of them. I honestly do not know how my fingers do not shrivel up and wither away from all the pots and pans I wash????
You MUST give this one a try!
Recipe: Beef Orzo Skillet
Ingredients
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes ( I use the garlic, basil, oregano flavor)
- 1½ cups low sodium beef broth
- 1 tsp minced fresh oregano or ½ tsp crumbled dried oregano
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 8 ounces orzo pasta, dried (1 cup) – try whole wheat if you can find it!
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- ½-¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
- Sprinkle salt into a 10 to 12 inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Crumble beef into pan and cook, stirring often, until meat begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium, stir in onion, and continue to cook, stirring, until onion is soft but not brown, about 5 minutes. Drain grease from meat in a colander and return to pan.
- Add garlic, tomatoes (break them up with a spoon) and their liquid, broth, oregano, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil then stir in pasta. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently until pasta is tender to bite, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Meanwhile, squeeze as much liquid as possible from spinach. Stir spinach into pasta mixture just until heated through. Serve with cheese to add to taste.
*By the way, if you like a spicy kick, do what my hubby and I do and add cayenne pepper to yours!
ENJOY!
XOXO,
Esther
The Brentwood Restaurant
As you may know, it our my 11 year Anniversary a couple of weeks ago. I know what you are thinking, “Wow! 11 Years? How could someone who looks as young as you be married for 11 years?”
NO?
You weren’t thinking that?
Well, who asked you anyway?
Well, we like to call ourselves “foodies” around here. (*Not to be confused with the term “food snob”. Though, I have been called that a few times.)
I had been wanting to try out a local restaurant called The Brentwood Restaurant in Little River. It was a farmhouse that had been turned in to a restaurant and they concentrate on “farm to table” cuisine. Not to mention the Chef and Owner is French. Stir in a little Low Country with that and you have yourself one heck of a meal!
Here is a pic of the Restaurant. I love everything about it. It’s country home feel, the greenery,
the gazebo…………… We used to have one just like it when I was little. Everytime I see a gazebo, I think of my mom. I remember the house we lived in at the time and even though we were renting, my dad decided to buy her one. Then we moved to another house 30 minutes away and even though I don’t remember seeing my dad move it to the next location, I imagine he did it in True Redneck Style, perhaps hanging off the end of a small pick up truck going down a back road. (Love you Daddy!)
My parents were in town for the weekend, so they offered to keep the “babies” for us. SCORE!
Since I like to stay in hotel rooms that are close to where I plan on eating…. (More on that later),
we decided to get a room for the night at Prince Resort in Cherry Grove.
I was one Happy Momma! LOL!
The Restaurant was only a few miles away, so it was perfect!
We decided to do the Chef’s Tasting Menu, which was a seven course menu. They have 3 different ones you can choose from. There is the Silver, Gold, and Platinum Fork.
Since it was neither our Silver nor Golden Anniversary, we decided to go with the Platinum! Hey! You only live once! Right? 😀
I even brought my camera with me anticipating I might blog about it. (If Z was embarrassed, he hid it well). Some of the pics came out ok and some didn’t due to the light.
The first course was a Smoked Salmon dish. It was sooooo good! I’m just going to warn you. The Platinum had a few courses of Seafood, so if that isn’t your thing, you can always try another one.
They are very accommodating too. They were more than happy to substitute a few dishes for us as well if we didn’t like a particular item.
Next, we had White Sturgeon Caviar with Warm Blinis and Chive Cream. I originally turned my nose up to this because of a bad experience I had as a child with Caviar. I even told the Chef’s wife about it and after I finished the story, realized how much I SHOULDN’T have told ANYONE that story! Since I never learn my lesson, I’ll tell you too.
As a child, we met a family at the beach while camping at The Outer Banks. We decided to go to the Mountains and camp with the same family. (*First MISTAKE) Looking back on it, what were my parents thinking????
Then, the dad of the other family, decided to bust out a can of “Caviar”…………. with Saltine Crackers…………. did I mention we were camping in the Mountains?????? Oh yeah….. So, they asked me if I wanted to try it and being the daring 12 year old that I was said, “SURE!” ………. You might as well have poured Table Salt into my mouth because that is exactly what it tasted like………………………. AGAIN! Did I mention we were CAMPING IN THE MOUNTAINS?????????
Anyhoo, when I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to try the White Sturgeon Caviar at the Restaurant, I ultimately decided to give it another shot.
I’m so happy I did. It was so Fresh, it didn’t taste like Salt at all! It had arrived the day before and had been harvested the same week. White Sturgeon, ironically enough live in The Mountains! 😀
I’m not sure where the “other dad” got his, but it wasn’t from the same place! Haha!
Our next course would have been Seared Duck Foie Gras, which is basically Duck Liver. *Don’t you love it how the French make it sound that much nicer? I have had it before and I don’t really care for it, so they were sweet enough to let me choose whatever I wanted from the Appetizer Menu.
I chose Lobster Risotto and oh man, was it good. RidONculously good!
I love Lobster and I love Rice, so naturally this was a great choice! It was cooked perfectly and the risotto was so creamy!
This was our “Palette Cleanser”. It was a Fresh Mango & Spicy Rum Sorbet with a Hazelnut Wafer. Z kept trying to turn up his glass and proceeded to tap the bottom of it so he could get all the Rum out that was teasing him on the bottom………. I can’t take him anywhere! (*Love you Baby!)
This is where my camera started to act up so I had to resort to using my phone instead.
This was our Main Course, which was Lamb. It was AMAZING! Not sure if you can tell, but there are also Grapes and Spinach in there and it is over a Bordelaise Sauce. The sweetness from the Grapes complemented the Spinach so well. The sauce was rich and thick. It was very Yummy!
Our next course was Cheese.
My computer has acted up and lost my pic on this. It was a Roquefort Blue Cheese on a Toasted Baguette with Poached Pears and a Honey Candied Pecan. It was really good. It was a very Strong Blue Cheese and the Pears and Pecans all paired really well with it. I layered everything everytime I took a bite!
And last but surely not least, THIS WAS DESSERT! Another stinky picture taken by my phone, but oh my….. SO GOOD!
Up until now, I had never had a Caramel Cage! Sure, I had seen it on TV and even tried to be so ambitious as to try to do it myself with NO LUCK!
Other people from other tables were asking what we had gotten. It is very impressive in person.
Our dessert was a Belgium Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Ice Cream, the Caramel Cage, and was garnished with Fresh Mint.
Enough Said! 🙂
We had a Wonderful Anniversary! One that we will never forget thanks to Chef Eric and his staff!
Here is a link to The Brentwood Restaurant’s website.
Next time you are in town or in Little River, give them a try! You will not be sorry!
But be careful, it is know to have a few extra ghostly guests from time to time as well. So, you may not be “entirely” alone at your table.
XOXO,
Esther
Turkey Tenderloin w/ Blueberry Sauce
I am always looking for something different to cook for dinner. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, I just want to fix spaghetti or order out a pizza, but I think we can all agree that we tend to get into a “dinner rut” from time to time.
Well, the other night, I had a Turkey Tenderloin that I had been wanting to cook. I new I wanted to do something different, so I started searching Eating Well’s website. I heart that site by the way. They have plenty of healthy recipes and the ingredients are not foreign sounding names that you look at and go , “HUH???”
Anyway, I searched Turkey Tenderloin recipes and this one came up: Turkey with Blueberry Pan Sauce
Now, before you go “HUH???” again, trust me on this one. It was REALLY good!!! Normally, I would put something like this in front of my kids and they would look at it…… sniff it…. and walk around it like a curious animal before pushing it with their nose over to the side, then eating the stuff they really wanted. *Did I just refer to my kids as dogs?
But NO! They ate it up. Even the little one!
It has the most subtle sweetness to it and let’s be honest. Cranberry Sauce goes just fine with Turkey at Thanksgiving, right?…….Cranberry haters, don’t answer that!
I liked this recipe so much, that I think I may just switch out the traditional Cranberry Sauce next Thanksgiving for something like this instead.
I did notice that the longer the sauce had time to sit in the pan, the sweeter it became. To tell you the truth, I preferred it that way.
I used frozen wild blueberries in mine because I didn’t have fresh on hand. I think either would work just fine. The recipe didn’t state whether or not they needed to be fresh or frozen.
If you want to look up the nutritional info, I have put a link to the recipe here. However, if that kind of thing doesn’t interest you, you could also just look below for the recipe. Notice the *’s . This is used wherever I substituted ingredients for the things I had 😉
Turkey Tenderloin w/ Blueberry Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound turkey tenderloin
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup chopped shallots (*I used regular onions)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (*I used what I had, which was dried ground)
- 2 cups blueberries (*I used frozen)
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Whisk flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge turkey in the mixture. (Discard any leftover flour.)
- Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add the turkey; cook until golden brown on one side, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn the turkey over and transfer the pan to the oven. Roast until the turkey is just cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the turkey to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.
- Place the skillet over medium heat. (Take care, the handle will still be very hot.) Add shallots and thyme and cook, stirring constantly, until the shallots begin to brown, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add blueberries, vinegar and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; continue cooking, stirring occasionally and scraping up any brown bits, until the blueberries burst and release their juices and the mixture becomes thick and syrupy, 4 to 5 minutes. Slice the turkey and serve with the blueberry pan sauce.
Enjoy! and let me know what you think!
XOXO,
Esther
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