Shrimp & Grits!!!

Obviously I didn't take this picture. I haven't taken any of these pics. I haz no camera at the moment!

Anyway, believe it or not, last night I was my first attempt at making shrimp & grits. I'm a little ashamed that I've never made it before.

They were delicious & Bailey-approved! Very much so actually.

I got the original recipe from lanascooking.com.

Ingredients - Shrimp & Sauce:

- 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled & halved lengthwise

- 6-7 drops of Tabasco Sauce

- 4 slices chopped bacon

- 1/2 onion, finely chopped

- 1/4 green bell pepper, finely chopped

- 1 clove minced garlic (I added a little more because I love love love garlic)

- 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 1 cup chicken broth

Ingredients - Cheese Grits: (I may have made a little too much.. but oh well)

- 1 1/3 cup quick cooking (NOT INSTANT) grits. I used Jim Dandy.

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 5 1/3 cups water

- 1/4 tsp black pepper

- a couple dashes of garlic powder

- 3-4 oz. grated sharp cheddar

GO!!!

Shrimp & Sauce

-Put shrimp in a bowl, squeeze the juice of one lemon over them & add tabasco sauce. Set aside.

-Chop onion, green pepper and garlic & set aside.

-Start on the grits! (recipe below)

-Cook chopped bacon in a large pan on medium heat until brown but not yet crisp.

-Add onion, green pepper & garlic. Cook about 3-4 minutes or until veggies are tender.

-Sprinkle flour over mixture & stir until coated. Let cook another 3-4 minutes.

-Stir in chicken broth & salt. Cook for a couple of minutes until sauce thickens.

-Add shrimp & cook until completely opaque. 3-4 minutes.

Grits

-In a saucepan bring water & salt to a boil. Add grits using a whisk or you will definitely get clumps.

-Cover pot & simmer on low heat. Cook according to package directions.

-When they are done, stir in pepper & garlic powder.

-Add grated cheddar & stir until well blended.

Ladle a generous amount of grits & cover with shrimp & sauce! Enjoy!

Let me know what yall think!

HELLO! Pan-Seared Salmon & Roasted Broccoli with Smashed Garlic

Ok, I started to set this up a few weeks ago but got cold feet?? Why? No idea. I just want to make it clear that this isn't a "food blog".. I'm not coming up with amazing recipes out of thin air & taking amazing pictures of them with my $2000 camera. lol. I'm just trying out a ton of recipes and posting them for my friends who might want new recipes that have been approved by my household! :D

ANYWAY! Last night I made pan-seared salmon & roasted broccoli with smashed garlic!

I got the recipe for the salmon from kevinandamanda.com :]

The full recipe is at the bottom of the page but this is how I made it.. just a few small changes & I'm not gonna lie.. I cheated and used frozen salmon.. whateverrr:

Ingredients:

--Salmon Fillets [however many you want duh]

--Reduced Sodium Dale's Steak Seasoning [the first time I made this, I didn't have Dale's so I googled the ingredients & made it myself! It was just as good!

--McCormick's Grill Mates Steak Seasoning.. it should be in every house.

--olive oil

--butter or margarine

Marinate salmon filets skin side up in Dale's Seasoning for 30 minutes. The fillets were almost completely submerged when I made it.. oops.. oh well.

After marinating for 30 min, remove & season fillets with McCormick's seasoning.

Heat a large skillet over high heat & add 2 tbsp each of olive oil & butter.

Once butter melts, drop heat to medium high.

Add fillets skin side down & cook for about 5 minutes until skin is browned.

Drop heat to medium, or just above.

Flip fillets over & cook for 4 minutes.

Remove skin while the other side is cooking. I use two forks to do it because I'm spastic as hell.

Season skin side with McCormick's seasoning.

Flip fillets and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until done.

Next recipe!!!

Roasted Broccoli with Smashed Garlic from skinnytaste.com:

We are OBSESSED with this broccoli!!! It's soooo delicious.

I stick pretty close to this recipe. I usually fill up one 9x13 baking dish with broccoli & I make a bigger batch of the garlic / olive oil / salt / pepper mixture to put all over it. Sometimes I add some pre-minced garlic in with the smashed garlic. I definitely use fresh garlic though because.. MMMMMMMMMMMMM :D

Let me know if any of yall make either of these & what yall think!