Shrimp and Sweet Corn Soup

Tonight I made another one of my recipes from my heart healthy cook book

This one was called shrimp and sweet corn soup

I was a nice spicy Mexican style soup full of veggies

It had an awesome flavor and it used very little salt but instead used chili powder and cumin to flavor it

Oh and the shrimp were awesome!

I used about a pound of peeled and deveined shrimp tail on

I tossed them with a heaping teaspoon of chili powder and one half teaspoon of cumin...that's it

Then I cooked them in a big nonstick pan so I didn't crowd them so they could all get a good sear

I cooked them on pretty high heat and it took less than 5 minutes to cook

These shrimp alone could be a really awesome appetizer!

Well anyway the soup had great flavor very much like the tortilla soup that I usually make

Oh so my mom isn't a big fan on shrimp or any sea food for that matter so she was kind of mad that I was making this tonight and she had been complaining about it but then when she tried the shrimp she really liked them and she just kept talking about how good they were

sometimes I feel like I'm HER mother lol

Dijon Chicken Salad

Ok sorry this is going to short and sweet because I have to go and I'm not going to be home later to do this so here it goes.

For dinner I made a simple Dijon chicken salad from my heart healthy cook book that I got for my dad.

It was really simple just some grilled chicken seasoned with salt and pepper and Dijon mustard

the lettuce is romaine and I also put some peas in it because we didn't have green beans like the recipe called for

The dressing was a Dijon white wine vinegar dressing that was very tasty

It was a quick yummy dinner and I think everyone enjoyed it!

well that's about it not to exciting but hopefully Ill have something better tomorrow

Broccoli Chicken Alfredo

Delivery meal night!

So when I got home today my mom let me know that I had a delivery meal tonight which I was SO not aware of. I had already planned to babysit my cousins from 5-6 and I was really in no mood to cook but my mom told me we didn't have to deliver it until around 8 so I decided to just take a nap until I had to babysit then once I got home I would figure something out.

Well on my way home I decided to make some kind of pasta, and I decided on pasta with some kind of cream sauce since I have done a lot of regular tomato sauces

So any way I made broccoli chicken Alfredo as you can see

I started by getting my water boiling while I made my bechamel sauce

First I heated 2 cups of cream with one cup of milk and about 2 tablespoons of garlic in a small sauce pan

Then in a large pan I melted 3 tablespoons of butter and an equal amount of four to make a roux. I added the hot cream to my roux and whisked it until it came up to a boil and it began to thicken, then I added about a cup of Romano cheese and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I let the sauce stand while I grilled 4 chicken breasts and began cooking my pasta.

With about 2 minutes left on the pasta I added a bag of frozen broccoli to the water and let it finish cooking with the pasta. I then drained the pasta and broccoli and added it to the sauce.

Lastly I sliced the chicken breasts and also added them to the pasta.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that I also made garlic bread!

What is a good pasta dinner without garlic bread?

Well my parents both loved it and my mom was impressed that I came up with this on the fly even with the way I was feeling after school and all, but for me cooking is something I like to do when I'm in a bad mood it just gets my mind off things and it makes me feel productive and it really calms me down =]

Chili Dogs

Chili Dogs!

Tonight for dinner we made chili dogs with all the fixings

For me I like it with mustard, chili, fresh chopped onion, and cheese

It is such a simple dinner and something so American but I love it!

I had been wanting to make chili dogs for awhile but I figured my parents would never go for it, so I was just going to go for it one night and start making the chili then at the last minute pull out the hot dogs and force them to eat it lol

But what do you know it was actually my dads idea to make them tonight...go figure

My dad and I went to the grocery and he started looking at the hot dogs and he said that sounded good so I mentioned chili dogs and he went with it and so we got some for dinner.

My mom maid fun of us when we got home and she saw what we were making but she liked it.

Btw sorry Liz I know you wanted hot dogs while you were home, I promise we didn't make them tonight to make you jealous lol

Chicken Ceasar

Alright sorry we went out to dinner again lol

It was just me and my dad and he had to do some things out and about any way so we just decided to go to good old Bob Evan's

I got the chicken Ceasar salad and it was Really good

but it was also full of bacon bits and cheese and what not so I'm guessing it probably wasn't the healthiest but that's ok it was tasty!

Oh and the tomatoes were really good tonight I mean most of the time they are just watery and flavorless but these were really good, just FYI

Well I think I'm making my delivery meal either tomorrow or Thursday so I will for sure get back to cooking some good stuff this week

Lemon Pepper Surf & Turf

Alright so I finally got to cook again!
It seems like we have gone out to dinner a lot lately so I think its time for me to get back to it and start cooking some good meals for my parents
Tonight I made a lemon pepper surf and turf of tilapia and chicken along with green beans and some good grains
My dad bought a lemon pepper salad dressing the other day and I figured it would be good on some fish or chicken so tonight I tried both!
well I made both because as you might know my mom very much dislikes fish so for her sake I cooked a chicken breast along with our fish
To make the fish and chicken I just rubbed both down with the lemon pepper dressing and and sprinkled with salt and some more pepper.
I placed my chicken breast on a lined baking sheet and baked a 375 for a bout 25 minutes then about 10 minutes in I placed the fish on the sheet and finish baking them with the chicken
(mind you I used frozen fillets of fish so simply follow directions on package or if fresh cook until opaque and firm)
For the green beans I just blanched them until tender then sauteed them in a pan with some scallions, garlic, salt and pepper
and for the grains I cooked bulger with sauteed onions and garlic and chicken broth until tender then I seasoned with salt and pepper and some lemon juice to tie in with the fish and chicken
So that was dinner and it felt really good to get back in the kitchen and do what I do best which is using my creativity to make a great meal from whatever I find

Cheeseburgers

Tonight for dinner my dad and I made cheeseburgers!

we haven't gone grocery shopping in awhile so there wasn't much to work with but we did have some hamburger leftover from another night

So we decided to make some hamburgers and french fries, oh and some corn on the cob

But I think we went a little over board and made a bit to much =/

My dad caramelized some vidalia onion while I made the burgers

and once the burgers were cooked I put some colby jack cheese on them and covered them to steam them and melt the cheese

Oh and we had some corn in the frig that needed to be cooked so we also did that

Like I said WAY to much food for two people