Chorizo and Shrimp

Jersey isn't hot you say, PSSSH hush your mouth! It's 100 degrees today! However, this idiot wanted to cook! Since I am going out to dinner tonight, I cooked me a lunch!

I had some chorizo and shrimp in the freezer so  here we go!

Chorizo and Shrimp (this was just one serving alter it as needed)
1 Chorizo link
6-8 frozen, deveined, and raw shrimp
1/4 cup Herdez Salsa Verde
sauteed onions to your liking
1 corn tortilla
cumin
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
garlic salt
1 cup of  microwaveable minute rice
1-2 tbsp lime juice


First defrost your shrimp and chorizo.  Don't defrost your chorizo all the way through because then you can't really cut it up into pieces.  I started to defrost outside in the 100 degree temps but I was too impatient and switched to defrost the shrimp in ice cold water.

The first thing I  did was to start to sautee my onions in a little olive oil and salt on low heat.

As the onions cooked down I prepped my corn tortilla to make some crispy tortilla chip strips.  Take a corn tortilla and spray with vegetable spray on both sides. Then season with desired seasonings.  I used salt, pepper, and cumin. Then cut into strips.

Cook tortilla strips at 350 for 4 minutes per side, flipping 1/2 way through.  Keep a careful eye on these because they burn quickly.

When onions are at desired firmness, add chorizo.

Then drain defrosted shrimp and season with olive oil,  cumin, season salt and red pepper flakes.

Add shrimp to chorizo and onions, after the chorizo is cooked 1/2 way through.

When shrimp turns reddish on the one side, flip the shrimp to cook on the other side and add the Herdez Salsa Verde, stir well.

Let cook till combined, a few minutes.  Then add the rice.

 Stir and cover.  Let cook for an additional 2-4 minutes.  Add lime juice right before serving (like 1 minute and stir). Then serve topped with tortilla strip chips.

The flavors in this dish were amazing.  The rice became well seasoned with the other components and was super tender and delish! I have decided that this will be a go to recipe for me because it was easy and super yummy.    Such a great meal!

GRILLED Grilled Cheese

So I wanted to grill and do something new to me......I don't have much food in the house right now, but I always have my 2 Cheese Staples: GOAT CHEESE and BLEU CHEESE!!!! So why not try Grilling some grilled cheese!!!!

You will need:
Goat cheese
bleu cheese
taco blend shredded cheese
2 slices of the bread of your choice
bacon (cooked to your desired crispiness)
1 tbsp melted butter per sandwich made
Mustard concoction (see below)


First, I put the bacon on the grill burner to get all nice and crispy (I like it to crumble when I bite it)...and when you make a couple of pieces of bacon, you need to make a couple extra to snack on!

Whilst your bacon is a frying.....make the mustard concoction. You will need:
2 tbsp or so of yellow mustard
1/2 tbsp horseradish
fresh ground pepper
garlic salt
1 tsp of Tastefully simple's Fiesta dip mix

Mix all together!

So then, spread the mustard concoction on both slices of bread

Now to build your cheese infused yumminess

First I took the goat cheese (what little I had left) and spread it on one slice of bread.  I had crumbles so I squished it together first, before I attempted to spread it.

Next I added a whopping ton of bleu cheese crumbles

Top the bleu cheese with bacon, as much or as little as you so desire!

At this point make sure your grill is on and getting hot.  You want it to be hot, but you are going to lower your heat once you  put the sandwich on. 

Now add as much of the taco cheese that you wish or your sandwich will hold.

Now close your sammich and squish it together (you're lovin' the proper cooking lingo, aren't ya?)  Then take your melted butter and brush both the top and bottom slices of bread (not sparingly, but not soaking). Through my internet research this melted butter is the KEY to amazing GRILLED grilled cheese.

Time to GRILL.  Lower your heat to low or slightly above low, so that you don't burn and scorch the bread without melting the yummy cheese.

Flip your sandwich when 2 things occur.... 1. the cheese is getting melty  AND 2. when you have a nice set of grill marks on your bread.

It takes anywhere from 4-6 minutes per side roughly, but I don't recommend leaving grill-side at all.

Now before I comment on this meal, I have to say 1 thing.  I HAD TO MAKE TOMATO SOUP (canned).  It is sacrilegious in my world to eat grilled cheese without tomato soup.....but one day I will attempt it from scratch.

I WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER MAKE GRILLED CHEESE ON A PAN OR GRIDDLE AGAIN.  This was THAT good.  The bread got super toasty without being greasy. I t wasn't soggy. The cheesy was ooey-gooey and even when dipping into the tomato soup, it stayed firm and crisp!

BEST HOMEMADE GRILLED CHEESE EVER! Can't wait to experiment with other cheeses!

Burn update and Dr. Pepper Cookies

Before I start....here is the current condition of my face after Saturday night's mishap....

Now I still don't know what is sunburn and what is burn burned.....but my nose is the worst by far....



So I was in a baking mood tonight, but didn't have the stuff to make chocolate coconut cupcakes, so I made these.....

This is from this place

Ingredient list:
2 1/4 c cake flour ( or for all purpose flour take away 4 1/2 tbsp of flour)
1/3 c brown sugar
3/4 c margarine
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 c Dr. Pepper (I used a little bit more to loosen the dough)
Confectioner's sugar for rolling

 Standard ingredient picture.....

So, first, preheat (alcohol-less) oven to 325.  Then cream the margarine and brown sugar together until light and fluffy-ish....

Then add the flour/salt in small batches adding a little Dr. Pepper alternately. Then add vanilla and chocolate chips.

Roll into small balls and bake for 30 minutes.....these needed the full 30!

After you bring them out of the oven, roll them in the confectioner's sugar.

So the overall result: good cookie, can't taste the Dr. Pepper.....at all....or maybe a little if I tell my head to believe it enough.... Not sure how to fix it without making the dough all runny or adding way too much flour.   Will need to do further research to perfect the soda flavor.....

MIS-adventure in Cake Vodka

BE VERY CAREFUL IN DUPLICATING THIS RECIPE! (I probably used WAAAAAYYYY too much vodka in this one)

So me and some of the girls get together monthly.....you must bring something....so I had this plan..... Coconut Cupcakes, infused with Cake Vodka....... roomie had a bottle that neither of us was drinking so hey why not.......

You will need:
2 cups coconut flakes (extra for decorating)
1/2 c sweetened condensed milk
Box cake mix and all the required ingredients
Cake Vodka

First: take 2 cups of the coconut flakes and mix in the 1/2 c sweetened condensed milk....then set aside.

 Then prepare the box mix as directed, substituting the Cake Vodka for the water.

Fill your cupcake liners as normal.  Top with the sweetened condensed milk and coconut mixture. Bake as directed on the box.

Then I took some coconut and dyed it with food coloring for garnish....

THEN the MISADVENTURE HAPPENED.....I opened my gas oven to remove the cupcakes and a fireball carried on the steam of the oven came out and burnt my face.  I had singed hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and my face was sore.   I immediately jumped into an ice cold shower to try and cool my face.  Never once did I imagine that the alcohol would ignite like that.  As I was showering, my roomie turned off the oven and removed the cupcakes.....  I kept cold compresses on my face for over 3 hours.......It felt like sunburn.

this is me cold compressing with a bag of frozen vegetables.  I also compressed with a soaking wet towel and a wet towel with ice cubes.  After about 2 hours of compressing, my roomie googled treatments and found that tea bags dunked in cold water, remove the sting from sunburn... so we tried that......AND IT WORKED.

I was able to finish and test the cupcakes.

These cupcakes were amazing and according to the girls worth the singed face......

That being said, I  do not envision EVER baking with vodka again....cooking, yes.....

The good news is I was sunburnt on my face, so I don't know what is sunburn and what is facial burns

BE VERY CAREFUL IN DUPLICATING THIS RECIPE!