Beef and Noodle

This is a quick supper I made with the leftovers from my French Onion Soup and Mushroom Roast. It turned out so yummy I had to blog it so I do not forget the recipe.

Ingredients:
leftover french onion soup roast (has onions, mushrooms and beef roast)
A can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup (with one can of milk)
Dried or fresh parsley
Egg noodles (I used no-yolks)

What I did:
I first started to bowl the egg noodles.
At the same time, in a large pot I added the cream of mushroom soup with a can of milk and started to stir over medium heat. Once the mushroom soup was completely dissolved in the milk I added the left over roast. This included some leftover portobello mushrooms, Campbell's french onion soup onions and beef (Yum!). I stirred this all together until heated through.

Once the noodles were done, I added some butter to the noodles and then poured them into the mushroom/beef mixture. I then topped with dried parsley. I wanted fresh parsley to add some green to the dish to brighten it up, but all I had was dried. I'm hoping to start an herb garden this Spring, so hopefully I won't have that problem anymore.

I hope you enjoy this double duty dish of beef roast and beef and noodle. This is a real crowd pleaser.

A Week in Atlanta for Work...and Food!

I had to train for my work in Atlanta. We stayed at one of the embassy suites hotel. I love embassy suites, but I took my mom with me and each day we would venture out and find some good eats!

One place we went to was the Cheesecake factory. If anyone has been there they know that it has every type of food imaginable on their menu. The menu is literally 20 pages, with everything from Chinese, Italian, Mexican, up-class food and of course 60+ different kinds of cheesecake.

I wish I would have taken a picture of my piece of cheesecake. I had the chocolate-raspberry cheesecake.
It had five layers of delicious!

The bottom was a chocolate crumb crust, then on to a chocolate cheesecake layer, then a chocolate-raspberry cheesecake layer, then a chocolate ganache layer, then finally topped off with a chocolate icing.


Another place my mom and I went was Joey D's Oak Room. It was within walking distance of the hotel.

This place was kind of expensive, but boy was it worth it.

The first course was oyster shooters. These were fresh cold raw oysters in shot classes, covered in a slight spicy vodka water and spicy cocktail sauce on top. I would take an oyster with cocktail sauce and a squeeze of lemon, place it on a cracker and gulp it down. Fantastic!

My mom had a very large filet mignon with creamed spinach on the side. The spinach was a little heavy on the nutmeg, but her steak was cooked perfect.

From where we were sitting we could see the filet cooking in the large rotating oven. Couple passes in the oven and it was a excellent medium.

As for me, I had a mushroom and shrimp pasta, with a light wine sauce. It was very good. I could only eat half, but that was the best next day lunch. I am not a drinker, but I love the taste of cooked wine; it permeated the pasta and really sent this dish over the top. The mushrooms also absorbed the flavor so they just popped in your mouth with juicy flavor.

All in all, this training trip for work turned into a food extravaganza. I really had a wonderful time enjoying the sites, smells, and food of the little area of Atlanta we stayed in that week.

Hopefully I will need more training soon!

Shrimp Marinara

This is a family favorite recipe. My mom wanted a different kind of pasta. She was watching Robin Miller on food network and came across this recipe.

The crushed red peppers add such a kick of heat, and the shrimp after simmering in this simple sauce just pop with flavor in your mouth.

What we use:

1 pound spaghetti noodles
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 shallots (sometimes you can get already minced shallots in a little jar in grocery store!)
2 cloves garlic (sometimes you can get already minced garlic too!)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

What we did:

Cook the pasta in some boiling water for 7-10 minutes; drain and leave in pot until sauce is ready.
In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add shallots and garlic to skillet and saute for 1 minute.
Add oregano, basil and red pepper flakes and stir to coat.
Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and bring mixture to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes.
To the simmering sauce, add shrimp, cover skillet and simmer for 2 minutes, until shrimp are bright pink and cooked through.
Pour sauce over spaghetti.

This goes great with parmesan cheese grated over top! I even shave thin slices right on the plate, then add the pasta and sauce over that. Then by the time you get to the bottom of the plate you have a nice melted surprise of cheese on bottom.
And don't forget the garlic bread... enjoy!

Valentine's Day Dinner 2008

Here is what my mother prepared for Valentine’s Day dinner 2008. It turned out awesome, and of course, I was there to enjoy all the wonderful flavors!








First Course: Red Ugly Tomato Salad with Gorgonzola Cheese

Ingredients:
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing
1 large ugly tomato
1 bucket of crumbled gorgonzola blue cheese that you can pick up at your local grocery store
2 Hearts of Romaine
1 medium red onion
Couple of twists of Fresh cracked pepper

How to:
Slice the ugly tomato into large slices. Shop the romaine heats into medium pieces (big enough to eat with a fork). Thinly slice the red onion.
Make a bed of romaine lettuce. Put the tomato slices, onion slices, and cheese on top of lettuce.
Then drizzle with salad dressing. Add a twist of cracked pepper.

Main Course: Bourbon glazed salmon, marinated BBQ shrimp, and Olive oil garlic vermicelli with spinach pasta.

Ingredients:
Salmon fillets
Quarter Cup of bourbon
Quarter cup of brown sugar
Quarter cup of soy sauce

Shrimp, deveined
Ken’s steak house tomato vinaigrette
Clove of garlic
Balsamic vinegar
Lemon juice

Box of olive oil garlic Vermicelli pasta (any brand)
2 pounds of spinach
Shaved parmesan cheese to top

How to:
1. Marinate salmon in bourbon, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Marinate shrimp in vinaigrette, garlic, balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of lemon juice. Both for a couple of hours.
2. Place salmon and shrimp on hot grill; cook 5 minutes on each side.
3. Prepare Vermicelli to box directions. Cook spinach and add to prepared vermicelli, and top with parmesan cheese.
4. Prepare bread to go with your meal… everything tastes better with bread.
5. My mom recommends a white pinot grigio to go with this meal.