Creamy Garlic Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus

This recipe came from Eating Well. The original recipe also had peas and red peppers but I only used the asparagus. Instead of adding the shrimp and asparagus to the pasta while it was boiling, I sauteed them seperately. I also added a shallot. I bought pine nuts, but later realized I forgot to add them. Oops! The sauce was really good. The raw garlic really gave it a bite. I think, though, that next time I'd add less raw garlic to the sauce and saute it with the shallots, asparagus, and shrimp instead.


Ingredients

• 6 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti
• 1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain well.
2. Sautee shallots and asparagus. After a few minutes, add the shrimp and cook until pink and cooked through.
3. Mash garlic and salt in a large bowl until a paste forms. Whisk in yogurt, parsley, lemon juice, oil and pepper. Add the pasta mixture and toss to coat. Serve sprinkled with pine nuts (if using).

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I've been wanting to use my slow-cooker more. I just want to choose recipes that are at least somewhat healthy - and don't include cream of something soup. This recipe was simple and good. If you have any good slow cooker recipes, please pass them on!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped

Directions

1. Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.
2. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

Pumpkin Bars

This is another dessert I made for my friend's baby shower.  It's so easy but so good. Everyone seemed to love this dessert too, in fact I had several recipe requests.

Ingredients

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg

• 1 (29 oz) can pumpkin
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (I made my own. Recipe below.)

• 1/4 cup butter, chilled
• 1/2 cup white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly greese a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Set aside 1 cup of cake mix. Combine remaining cake mix with melted butter and 1 egg and mix until well blended. Spread mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
3. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, milk, 3 eggs, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well and pour this mixture over cake mix mixture in baking dish.
4. In a small bowl with a pastry blender, or in a food processor, combine chilled butter and white sugar with reserved 1 cup of cake mix until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinklie over pumpkin mixture. 
5. Bake 45-50 minutes until top is golden.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

1. In a small bowl mix together the ingredients. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Caramel Chex

My mom has made this recipe SO many times and everytime I obsess over it. I can't get enough of it. In fact, she's visiting this week and we'll probably make more.  The recipe below is the basic recipe, and the one I used for the party. But mom has changed it up in many different ways. She adds m&m's allowing the colors to change for any season, candy corn for fall, and so much more. The recipe calls for chocolate chex but it's really hard to find so I used regular corn chex. Mom said she uses the honey chex sometimes too.

Ingredients

• 8 cups Chocolate Chex® cereal
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup vanilla baking chips or milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Into large microwavable bowl, measure cereal; set aside. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper.
2. In 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup uncovered on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on High 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread on cookie sheet. Cool 10 minutes. Break into bite-size pieces.
3. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High about 1 minute 30 seconds or until chips can be stirred smooth (bowl will be hot). Drizzle over snack. Refrigerate until set. Store in tightly covered container.

Cookie Dough Truffles

As you may have noticed, Annie's Eats, is one of my favorite blogs. I had been eying her Cookie Dough Truffles for months now. My friend's baby shower was the perfect excuse to give them a try. They were so good. Everyone loved them.

The recipe called for semi sweet chocolate for dipping. I realized part way through that I had one box of semi sweet and one box of unsweetened. I mixed them and was worried how it would taste. I wondered if it was too rich. Matt thought it was great and tasted like the dough was dipped in dark chocolate. I didn't get any complaints from other guests either. I still will try to do just semi sweet next time though.

Image from Annie's Eats

Ingredients

• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
• 2¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1½ lb. semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, coarsely chopped
• Mini chocolate chips (for garnish)

Directions

1. Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls.
2. Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1½ inch balls.  Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for 1-2 hours.
3. When ready to dip the truffles, melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Dip each chilled truffle, one at a time, coating in chocolate and shaking gently to remove the excess.  (If at any point during dipping, the cookie dough balls become too soft, return to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.)  Transfer to a wax-paper lined surface.  If using mini chocolate chips for garnish, sprinkle on top quickly after dipping each truffle before the chocolate sets.  Once all the truffles have been dipped, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I hosted a baby shower for a really good friend this weekend. She said she wanted chocolate cupcakes. I searched all over the internet for THE perfect from scratch chocolate cake recipe. I finally decided to try the Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Cake. She made a sheet cake but I still did cupcakes. AMAZING!

The cake was perfect. It was easy, moist, soft, chocolatey, perfection. I won't be using a box cake mix anymore!  The icing was meant to be poured onto a sheet cake, but I still decided to give it a try. The flavor was great but it is probably better for sheet cake than it was cupcakes. I used cupcake wrappers and there was just enough lip of wrapper for each cupcake to hold the icing in place. So I took a spoon and poured a small amount of icing onto each cupcake. The mom-to-be said it was perfect, just sweet enough without being too much. I will definitely be making this again.

No pictures yet, by the way. I was too busy so I just hoped someone else got pictures. :)

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

For Frosting:

• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
3. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
4. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into cupcake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
5. While cupcakes are baking, make the icing. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together and pour over warm cake.

Raspberry Lemonade Punch

I almost forgot to post the punch recipe I made for my friend's baby shower. I wanted more than just lemonade but something simple without too many ingredients. I found this recipe from Martha Stewart. This punch was so good, one of the best punches I've had. One thing I'll note, though, is that when you add the lemonade to the ginger ale, be careful because it foams. I found if you put the lemonade powder in first and then add the ginger ale slowly you can control the fizz a little more. The recipe calls for 4 cups of ice cubes but I couldn't fit them into my pitcher and with the frozen raspberries it didn't really need the ice.

Ingredients

• 8 cups (2 quarts) Ginger Ale
• 3/4 cup lemonade mix
• 4 cups (16 oz) frozen raspberries

Directions

1. In a large pitcher or punch bowl mix the ginger ale and lemonade mix. Before serving, stir in the raspberries and ice.