Yum-O!

Ina's Shrimp Scampi Linguine Recipe:

Ingredients

* Vegetable oil
* Kosher salt
* 3/4 pound linguine
* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
* 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
* 1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
* 1/2 lemon, zest grated
* 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
* 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
* 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

This is absolutely delicious, and SO easy. It's my new summer go to recipe, thanks to Erin at Blue Eyed Bride. Enjoy!

Where oh where have I been?...

I'll tell you where I've been...
Two of my favorite girlfriends came to visit me. We had a 24 hour long girls night, and it was much needed.
I am really thankful for them. We had chips and guac, salsa and queso, and homemade sangria. It was delicious and probably the perfect girls night dinner. (I don't even want to begin to add the calories!) Regardless, it was perfect! And homemade sangria is surprisingly easy to make!

I broke one of my salad plates, and had a wee little melt down. Ok fine, I was devastated, but I know it can be replaced, so it's not THAT big of a deal.

I've been spending time with Dylan, on his days off. We had a date night and went and saw She's Out of My League, it is pretty cute! I definitely won't be buying it, but I'm really glad I saw it! I really was pleasantly surprised, and even more inspired by the main character, Molly's, figure. Omg. As if I didn't already need a healthy kick in the pants to jump on the healthy train, that movie did it.

So we've began our lets get ready for summer diets, so if anyone has any healthy recipe ideas, send them my way! :)

Tonight I made Light Chicken Enchiladas, yum! The best part is you can have 2 enchiladas, for a whopping 267 calories! That's right, 267!

Don't those look delicious? Now this picture is from online, but mine looked practically the same. :)
I did do a few variations, so here is my adapted version:

Light Chicken Enchiladas: 3 Servings
2 frozen pieces of chicken breast, thawed and boiled.
1 tbs. of EVOO
1 tsp. Minced garlic
1/4 cup of flour
1-2 tbs. taco seasoning
Salt & Pepper
1 cup of chicken broth
6 small corn tortillas
1/2 cup of monterey jack cheese

Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan boil the chicken in salted water.
2. While Chicken is cooking, spray a square baking dish with cooking spray, and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Remove chicken, shred chicken with two forks, and place in a small bowl.
4. In a different medium saucepan, heat olive oil and garlic until you can smell the garlic cooking (about 1 min.)
5. Then add flour, and taco seasoning, chicken broth and 1/2 cup of water, and whisk while the sauce thickens.
6. Pour 1 cup of the sauce into your bowl with the chicken and leave the remaining sauce on the burner to simmer, whisking occasionally.
7. Wrap your stack of 6 corn tortillas in a damp paper towel and heat in the microwave for 1 minute.
8. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and strategically place them in the baking dish seam side down.
9. Pour remaining sauce on top, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees until cheese and sauce are bubbly, about 15 minutes.
Yield: 3 servings, 2 enchiladas per serving

Enjoy!

Bisquik Banana Bread...

2 1/2 cups Bisquick Mix
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup mashed banana
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
*You may also add, nuts, raisins, chocolate chips..etc.

Mix all ingredients, pour into a greased bread pan.
Bake at 350 degrees, for 50 minutes.
Enjoy!

Seriously, best banana bread I've ever had. Yum!

PW's Chicken Spaghetti...

For Christmas, Dylan's mom got me the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. If you haven't seen this, or heard of it... Quit reading this post, and go buy it. Now! Or at least check out her website, here.
It is the greatest thing of all time. It is written by Ree Drummond, a self proclaimed accidental country girl, who cooks delicious food her cowboy (AKA Marlboro Man) will love. Everything I have ever made from her book has been nothing short of divine. Tonight I'm trying her Chicken Spaghetti, which I have heard so many good reviews about! I did change a few things, so here is my version:

Serves 4: Preheat Oven to 350'
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
2 cans of Chicken Broth
1 2 oz. jar diced pimientos, drained
1 small onion
1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1 can 98% FF cream of mushroom soup
salt, ground pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste
2 cups of reduced fat 2% shredded monterey and cheddar jack cheese
1/2 box of linguini, break noodles in half

1. Trim and cut up chicken breasts into small bite size pieces and place into a small pot of 1 can boiling chicken broth, heat until well cooked.
2. With the same pot, pour in the other of chicken broth, and one can filled with water and boil, then cook the noodles.
3. While your noodles are cooking, set out a medium sized bowl, mix together, chicken, pimientos, onion, green pepper, can of mushroom soup, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper and 1 cup of cheese. Taste to check spices, and set aside.
4. Drain noodles, and mix in with other ingredients.
5. Pour into a small-medium sized baking greased baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake until cheese is bubbly.

So Delicious! Definitely will go in our Family Favorites book! :)

YUM-O!

Made these yummy treats by chance, making them again-by choice!

I shall name them- YumBites, Dylan wants to call them- Nu-Bu-mmms. "NuBums". :)...

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup Nutella
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour

In large bowl combine softened butter, peanut butter and Nutella. Add in sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat in 1 egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in flour.

Shape dough into small ping-pong size balls, and place on greased cookie sheet. Cook for 8-10 minutes at 375'.

Seriously, Heaven in your mouth!

What's for dinner tonight...

So in my free time these days, I have become an avid Food Network watcher. I saw yesterday this recipe for take out chinese, which is one of my favorite things, so I knew I had to try it. I went to the store, bought all of the ingredients, and today we are having General Tso's Chicken (made by yours truly) for dinner. This recipe was pretty easy, but the mess that it made to make it, automatically makes me never want to make it again. I'd rather just order it from a take out place. But, I did have a chance to snap a picture before it was put away into storage containers in the fridge, so heres a look. You can't see my rice and broccoli, but at least you can see the big winner. Enjoy! ;)