Sauce and Vacation Adventures

Vacation is over and I have one week's worth of work under my belt.  As usual, I left for 10 days and returned to not know a good number of employees in one of my stores.  That's what happens when you have almost 200 direct reports who like to move around a lot, I guess.  Nametags are a very handy thing -- for the most part.  I have become accustomed to answering to 2 of my other co-worker's names because for some reason, they always mix us up.

My March vacation was great.  We got so much wedding planning done that it's almost insane.  We took 2 hours, sat down with our wedding planner and florist and got 75% of the wedding planned out!  Best of all -- lots of cake tasting!  I'm not going to spoil the surprise, but let's just say we're going to have 3 different types of cupcakes at our wedding.  And everyone is sure to love all of them.

We also took a few days and flew North to visit my family and go dress shopping with my Maid of Honor and one of my Bridesmaids.  While there, I had the opportunity to make a few of my favorite dishes as my family requested them.  Eggplant Parmesan, Chicken picatta, Raspberry shortbread cookies, chocolate chip snowball cookies and (a first) home made sauce!

I now have a good backlog of recipes to go through as I have a feeling I will be slacking the next couple of weeks as Easter and Spring Break come up.  Often, we are required to work 6 days one of the weeks and long hours the rest of the weeks.  I believe my 6 day week is the 2nd week of April.  And, when I'm working long hours and/or 6 days, I typically completely crash on my days off, doing nothing except exactly what is necessary.  Which may or may not include cooking...

Before I sign off for the night...I'm going to share the recipe for my new favorite sauce -- which I may or may not have used in both eggplant parmesan and chicken parmesan (because someone doesn't like eggplant...)

I don't always have a car available for use when I visit home, so I always request my ingredients be purchased ahead of time.  So, the sauce recipe was born out of necessity as I had requested 4 cans of sauce be at my disposal and I instead found myself with 4 cans of diced tomatoes!!  Well...no worries.  With the help of my dad's handy immersion blender, a pantry of spices and some cheese I was able to turn the diced tomatoes into a really good sauce.

First...dump the tomatoes into a sauce pan and season as desired.  I added Salt, Pepper, Italian Seasoning, Red Pepper, Garlic Powder, and Chili Powder.

 Once the flavors have had a chance to mingle and the tomatoes are heated, pull out your immersion blender and blend it together to the desired consistency.

Heat the sauce back up again and add some shredded Parmesan-Romano Cheese.

 Let it melt into the sauce, stirring occasionally.  Serve the sauce as desired!

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
4 cans diced tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Red Pepper
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Other seasonings as desired.
3/4 shredded Parmesan-Romano Cheese

Directions:
Add diced tomatoes to an empty sauce pan and heat over medium heat.
While heating, add seasonings as desired.
Once spices have been incorporated to tomatoes, remove from heat.
Blend with an immersion blender to desired consistency.
Replace on heat.  Add cheese and stir occasionally.
When cheese has melted and sauce is the desired temperature incorporate into another recipe as desired.

Until next time!  

Seafood, Alfredo, and Cannolis...Oh My!

As of 3pm Thursday, I was officially on vacation.  Which means that I have plenty of time to read, cook, and relax, right?  WRONG!  As usual, I have jam-packed my schedule with appointments, wedding planning, events, and more.  First up was Goofy's Mystery Tour which took place Thursday night.  This has quickly become one of my favorite activities of the year.  The Disney Cast Events folks work tirelessly to put together trivia, puzzles, and other activities all which give us clues to solve some sort of final mystery.  For the last two years I have had the privilege of competing with three of my wonderful co-workers.  It's a long, late night, but it is ridiculously fun...especially when we get tired and start going crazy...like being given a clue sheet with close up pictures of classic Disney treats that any good foodie would recognize right away and we started yelling out the answers before we realized we should probably be quiet so the teams around us wouldn't steal all of our answers.  Or, when we start forgetting which way is right and which way is left so we start walking into each other.

Oh...did I forget to mention that we are also bungee corded to each other?? All four of us are clipped together with a bungee cord so we can't be more than a few inches away from each other at all times and there are another 150 or so teams all bungee corded to each other are also running around trying to collect clues that we have to try to avoid.  We had a few close calls where we'd be walking down one of the streets and another team couldn't decide which way they were going.  Half of them would scream "left!", half of them would scream "right!" and since they're tied together that wouldn't work.  So, we would just stop and let them figure out which way they were moving around us.

Next up was bridesmaid dress shopping with one of my bridesmaids yesterday afternoon.  The trip was very successful, we found a dress that we think everyone will like and that looks great on her.  We'll know next Saturday if the other two like the dress or choose to pick out their own dresses.  Either one is good with me.  As long as they have the same color, same fabric, and same length, I'd rather them all be comfortable and wear what they want.

Last night, my fiance and I celebrated a handful of good things that have happened recently and a few good things that are to come.  Including, being able to move in together a few months earlier than originally expected and my fiance officially being accepted into his graduate program!  I, of course, volunteered to cook dinner.  So, what was our celebration meal? Seafood Alfredo and Cannolis!

I'll admit, I took the easy way out this time -- mostly because we are trying to use as many ingredients that we have on hand as possible because we don't want to move things if we don't have to.  But, it makes for a good quick and easy meal.  I had this one done beginning to end in only about 30 minutes.

First up, because the shrimp and scallops were previously frozen, I had to drain the excess water.  They were taken out of the freezer about 12 hours before I started cooking with them.  After draining (and rinsing) the shrimp and scallops, add them to a skillet with a little garlic salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Be sure to cook the seafood through.  Once cooked, the scallops should be firm and translucent, and the shrimp should be pink all the way through and curled slightly.  You can see in this picture the shrimp are just starting to be cooked through.  

While the seafood is cooking, put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta.  Once the water is boiling, make sure you add some salt before adding the pasta.  This will season the pasta while it is cooking.  Cook the pasta until just al dente and drain and rinse.  Once drained, add a little bit of butter (just enough so that the pasta doesn't stick together) and salt to taste.  Set the pasta aside.

Now, this is the point that I would usually start making my own alfredo sauce.  However, this time I used a jarred alfredo sauce -- with my own little twist.  Once the seafood is done cooking if there is an excess of water, drain the water and place back in the skillet.  Pour the jar of alfredo sauce into the skillet and season to your liking.  I added some garlic powder, pepper, and chili powder to it (SHHHHH...don't tell my fiance, he doesn't like chili powder, but he loved dinner last night).  Mix the sauce well and heat a little.  Next, add some frozen vegetables, mix well, and heat the mixture through.

We had a bag of peas in the freezer, so that's what we used.  But, I'm sure it would be wonderful with broccoli too!  Once the vegetables are heated, add the sauce mixture to the pasta, mix so the pasta is coated, dish up and enjoy!

Next up were cannolis -- mostly because my fiance and I were talking about them last week.  I'm part Italian and originally from Boston.  So, I grew up with many good Italian bakeries around.  We're headed to Boston in a few days, but because of the snow, we probably won't be able to get cannolis from my favorite bakery in Boston while we're there.  From what I hear, transportation is still a mess so no cannolis and Italian cookies from Mike's Pastry :( if you haven't heard of Mike's Pastry, be sure to check them out the next time you're in Boston.  The lines are usually long, but semi-orderly.  There's very little space to eat in the shop, but that's okay!  The whole of Boston's North End is right outside the doorway to explore while eating your pastry.  Whenever I'm there, we will pop in and grab a couple of cannolis and a few pounds of Italian cookies and wander over to Boston Common or the Public Gardens and relax and people watch while enjoying a cannoli.  

For my cannoli filling, I mix together about 2 cups of ricotta cheese (I use fat free, but feel free to use whichever), 1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp cinnamon, and about 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.  Make sure you get all of the powdered sugar that will inevitably hide at the bottom of the bowl.  It's usually a good idea to taste the mixture at this point to see if it is as you like it.

Next, pour this mixture into a pastry bag, or a ziploc bag.  Place in the fridge to firm up a little bit and to let all of those flavors blend together.

After letting the filling rest a few hours, snip off one corner of the ziploc bag and fill each shell evenly.  Feel free to add a few more chocolate chips to the end of each cannoli.  And, enjoy!

In a few days, we'll be headed to Boston to visit my parents.  They've requested that I cook a few things for them.  So, stay tuned for some cookies, Eggplant Parmesan, and chicken picatta recipes!

Seafood Alfredo

Ingredients:
1 bag bay scallops
1 bag shrimp (use whichever size you would like -- pre-cooked or raw)
1 box pasta, any shape
1 jar alfredo sauce (any brand/flavor.  I used Ragu Creamy Mozzarella)
1 bag frozen vegetables (I used peas)
Butter
Garlic salt, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, chili powder to taste

Directions:
Boil water for the pasta.  Once boiling, add salt and pasta.  Cook until pasta is just al dente.  Drain the pasta and return to the pot.  Add salt to taste and just enough butter so that the pasta does not stick together.
Meanwhile, heat a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray over medium heat.
Drain excess water from the scallops and shrimp and place in the skillet.
Season with garlic salt and Italian seasoning.  Cook until shrimp are pink and scallops are translucent.  Drain any excess liquid and return to the skillet.
Add the alfredo sauce to the scallops and shrimp and season to taste.
Return the skillet to heat, add frozen vegetables and heat through.
Once vegetables are heated through, add the sauce mixture to the pasta, mix together, and serve.

Cannolis

Ingredients:
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Cannoli shells

Directions:
Drain any excess water from the ricotta by placing it in a strainer placed over a bowl.  Cover ricotta with a piece of plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and put a heavy can on top of it.  Drain in the refrigerator for a couple hours.
Mix together all ingredients, except cannoli shells, until well combined.
Place in a pastry bag or Ziploc bag and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
Pipe cannoli cream into cannoli shells.  Garnish with chocolate chips, if desired.
Serve immediately