Stuffed Jalapenos

Ingredients

• 12 fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
• 12 slices bacon, cut in half
• Franks RedHot Original sauce to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Whip together cream cheese and Franks hot sauce. You may leave out the hot sauce if you want, but it give it such a yummy flavor :)
3. Stuff each jalapeno half with whipped cream cheese mixture.
4. Wrap a half slice of bacon around each stuffed jalapeno half and secure with a tooth pick. Arrange wrapped jalapeno halves in a single layer on a baking sheet.
5. Bake in the preheated oven 45 minutes, or until bacon is evenly browned and crisp.

These little babies turned out so good for our Super Bowl party!! I made some with the hot sauce and some with plain cream cheese. Both turned out good, but I personally liked the ones with a bit of Franks in them the most. I wish I had a picture of them, but I forgot to bring my camera.

I ended up using more cream cheese then expected because the jalapenos I bought were huge!!! So if you have large peppers make sure to have extra cream cheese on hand.

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients

• 1 pound large shrimp, shelled and de-veined (you can use any size shrimp, I used medium this time, adjust for size)
• 2-4 garlic cloves, slivered, or 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2-3 Tbs real butter
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parley (use less if using dried)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (use less for less of a kick)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tbs lemon juice

Directions

1. Heat a saute pan on high heat. reduce the heat to medium-high and add the olive oil and butter. Once the butter melts, foams up and subsides, add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute for a minute, or until you see the edges of some of the garlic just beginning to brown.
2. As soon as the garlic begins to brown, add the shrimp to the pan. Then add the white wine and stir to combine and coat the shrimp with the butter, oil, and wine. Spread the shrimp out in an even layer in the pan. Increase the heat to the highest setting and let the wine boil vigorously for 2-3 minutes.
3. Turn the shrimp over, or toss them so the cooked sides are mostly facing up, and boil the wine for another minute. Remove from the heat, add the parsley and toss to combine. Add the lemon juice and black pepper.

You can serve this over pasta, bread, rice, or just eat plain :) We had this with a whole wheat thin spaghetti.

I found this recipe here (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/shrimp_scampi/) on a lovely site called Simply Recipes :) It turned out fantastic and so simple to make! I'll definatly be making this again.

1 year blog :)

So I guess I've had this blog for a whole year now! 19 posts, not to bad for me since i'm a terrible blogger! I'll try and do better this year! I've tried some really good recipes lately!
My most recent I need to blog about is the delectible Baked Avocado Fries!! So so good!

So here is to a better food and blogging year! :) It has been fun to share some of my passions with other people through this blog, even though only like 5 people actually read it. haha :) My hubby sure likes it.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

I found this recipe on Pinterest it comes from a blog called http://www.lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup flour



• 3/4 tsp baking powder



• 1 Tbs Italian seasoning



• pinch of salt (optional)



• pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)



• 3/4 cup milk



• 1 egg, lightly beaten



• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese



• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese



• 1 cup cubed pepperoni



• 1/2 cup prepared pizza sauce for dipping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24-cup muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes. Whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni. Let stand for 10 min.



2. Stir the batter and divide among the muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden. 20-25 minutes.



3. Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

Note: I didn't use all 24 cups. It all depends on the size of the muffin tins you have.

These turned out fantastic! Kyle was surprised at how much he enjoyed them. These would be great for kids or for party finger food. These were also very quick and easy to make. You can alter the fillings and add olives or mushrooms, whatever you like on regular pizza :) The pepperoni ones were wonderful just by themselves.

Papa La Huancaina

This food is as fun to say as it is to eat! It is a traditional Peruvian food. It can be served as an appitizer to share or as the main dish. Word to the wise, this is spicy! If you like it a little more mild go easy on the pepper sauce. Do it to taste.

Ingredients

• 6 potatoes


• 1 bar Cream Cheese (traditionally you use a 1/2 round of queso fresco sold in any Latino store instead of cream cheese)


• 20 Saltine crackers


• 2 tbs Peruvian Yellow hot pepper sauce (Aji amarillo molido)


• 2 cups evaporated milk


• 1/8 cup oil


• salt to taste


• Hard boiled eggs


• Large leaf lettuce

Directions

1. Blend together milk, yellow hot pepper, crackers and cream cheese until well blended


2. Next while blender is running add oil.


3. Separately boil potatoes then peel and slice into rounds.


4. Boil eggs


5. To serve lay the boiled potatoes on a bed of lettuce leaves. Then pout creamy sauce over potatoes. Add sliced eggs on top and serve.

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour




• 1 tsp salt




• 1 tsp baking soda




• 1 tsp baking powder




• 3 tsp ground cinnamon




• 3 eggs




• 1/2 cup vegetable oil




• 1/2 cup applesauce




• 1 cup white sugar




• 1 cup brown sugar




• 3 tsp vanilla extract




• 2 cups grated zucchini




• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch bread pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.




2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.




3. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugars together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined.




4. Pour batter into prepared pans.




5. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.




6. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

My first attempt at this i didn't have any nuts so I put in chocolate chips. It didn't work out the best :( they made my bread stick to the bottom of the pan and so it didn't come out very clean. next time I will use the walnuts.

This bread came out moist and so yummy :) This is a great way to use up some of that huge supply of zucchini everyone has sitting around their house!

I will post pics of it later :)

Sushi!!

Look at what I made :)

This doesn't have a recipe, its kind of a California roll. It has cucumber, imitaion crab, avacado, and cream cheese. It is rolled in sushi rice and a nori sheet.

This was like the third or fourth roll I did. It was fun learning to make sushi with Kyle :) It turned out pretty good. I'm going to try different and more fun rolls next :)