Shrimp and Grits

I was very kindly invited to spend Thanksgiving with my little brother's girlfriend's family this year.  With my parents overseas, I am always a bit of a Thanksgiving orphan.  It was nice to be welcomed into another family for the day, everyone was so kind and welcoming.  When I asked what I could bring I was told to be creative.  I decided to go with a traditional Southern dish, shrimp and grits.  But as usual, I put my own spin on it.  Be warned - this is not a healthy recipe.

I made WAY too much, as I had three pans about this size.  I took two pans to Thanksgiving and I have one left over for me to eat this week.  I was pretty pleased with the results.  My inspiration again comes from the ever lovely Paula Deen.  A coworker of mine often makes her tomato grits recipe for work functions, and it is always delicious.  I decided to make "Shrimp, Sausage and Tomato Grits" and it was very well received by all.  The recipe below is exactly what I made, it fed 18 people with some leftovers plus my extra pan... If you were making it as a main dish it would serve a lot less, but you might want to cut it in half.

Ingredients:

1 Pound Raw Shrimp

1 Pound Smoked Sausage

4 Cups of Quick Grits

4 Cups of Chicken Stock

2 Cups of Water

2 10 oz Cans of Rotel

3 Cups of Shredded Cheese

1/4 Cup of Parmesan Cheese

Tony Cachere's 

Put the chicken stock and water in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Add the grits slowly to the boiling stock and water stirring as you go.  (If you dump them all in at once you will get clumps of grits and no one likes that.)  Cover the grits for 3 minutes and then stir very well.  Repeat until the grits are cooked, you will want to taste them and make sure they are done.

Add the 2 cans of Rotel (or any can of tomatoes and peppers) to the grits and stir to combine.  Add in the cheese and stir to combine.  I used 2 cups of Colby Jack, but regular cheddar would be fine as well.  I used a cup of Habenero cheddar as well, but you will want to avoid this if you are not a fan of spicy food.  

Move the grits into a baking dish (or multiple dishes if you don't have a large dish).  Top the grits with a light sprinkle of cheese.  I used about a cup of Colby Jack in total.  Place casserole in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese starts to bubble and brown slightly.  

Slice your sausage into 1/4 inch slices and then quarter each slice.  Saute until the pieces start to brown.  Peel the shrimp and cut into 2 or 3 pieces depending on the size of the shrimp.  Sprinkle the shrimp lightly with the Tony's (or any seasoned salt you like) and then add the shrimp to the pan with the sausage.  Cook until the shrimp turn pink.  Remove the casserole from the oven and top the casserole with the shrimp and sausage mixture.  

Happy Dining!

Stuffed Zucchini

I am a fan of pinterest.  I have been getting a lot of ideas from there lately.  I saw this beautiful picture of stuffed zucchini one day and decided that I had to make it.  This was my inspiration, you can click the picture to go to the recipe.

http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/stuffed-zucchini

As I am want to do, I started tweaking it a bit.  The recipe called for bacon, but I thought that sausage would be better (I was right, it rocked).  I was super happy with the results of this experiment.  It was surprisingly creamy.  The zucchini boat was tender but not mushy, and the filling was packed with flavor.  Here is what mine ended up looking like.

I obviously do not have a great camera like the blogger of my inspiration, and hers were so much prettier.  But I know that mine tasted better. :)

Ingredients:

1/2 Pound Sausage

1 Small Onion 

1/2 Carton of Mushrooms

1 Tomato 

2 Zucchini

Salt/Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

1/4 Cup of Bread Crumbs

1 Egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook sausage in a skillet until browned.  Move from pan into strainer to remove excess fat.  Leave some of the drippings in the pan.

While the sausage is cooking dice the onion and the mushrooms.  Add the onion to the pan and cook until translucent, then add the mushrooms and continue cooking.  

While the mushrooms and the onions are getting happy, slice your zucchini in half lengthwise.  Use a spoon to scoop out the zucchini, you want about a quarter inch of pulp left in the peel. (Reserve your zucchini "guts" in a bowl.)  This will make a little boat to fill with goodness.  Place zucchini boats on a greased cookie sheet.  If they are wobbly you can use a vegetable peeler and peel off a flat section on the bottom so that they will be stable for filling and baking.  

Add a handful or so of your zucchini guts to the onions and mushrooms.  Dice the tomato, but lose the seeds and the juicy part.  Add the tomato to the mixture and cook about 2 more minutes.  Add the sausage back in and remove everything from the heat.  I didn't include a measurement for the parmesan because it is a matter of personal taste.  I grated a whole lot of in at this point, basically blanketed the mixture with cheese.  Taste the mixture after you add the cheese (everything is fully cooked at this point) and then you can season it more if needed.   Set aside and allow to cool.

Once the mixture has cooled sufficiently, you want it cool enough that the egg won't start cooking when you add it, sprinkle in the bread crumbs and mix to combine.   The mixture should be fairly dry at this point, if it is still wet add more bread crumbs, you want something that will stick together if you balled it up but not something that is runny.  Add in your egg and mix it in well.

Spoon your filling into the zucchini boats, top with a little more cheese :), and then bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Check the zucchini to make sure they are fork tender then serve and enjoy.  

Happy Dining!

Breaking Dawn

So at this point I am pretty over the whole Twilight thing.  I liked the books, quite a bit actually.  There is a strength to Bella that often gets over looked by critics of the series.  I won't apologize to anyone for my love of these books.  I will, however, apologize to anyone that I made go see these movies with me.  I am sorry for your wasted time and money.

My issue with the movie boils down to a few points.  My first point of contention is with the lead actors.  They hate the series and it shows.  They have this contempt for a book series that they do not understand and they believe is beneath them.  This fact shines through in every scene.  Things that were sweet or touching in the books just come across as creepy and weird in the movies.  The acting all in all throughout the movie was just terrible.  Robert Pattinson looked like he was constipated for the entirety of the film.  Kristin Stewart shows her emotion through biting her lip... and that's it.  Seriously woman you are a highly paid actress, learn a new facial expression.

To be fair to the movie they did do a relatively decent job of sticking to the book, but they also did a wonderful job of making the book look ridiculous.  Maybe it is ridiculous and always has been, but I was never embarrassed to be a fan of this series until this movie.  The best part of the movie was a part not in the book and it was when people were making toasts at the wedding, Anna Kendrick shined in her small role as Jessica, she had me cracking up.

Spoiler Alert: The werewolf falls in love with Bella's baby. It was weird in the book.   I  remember putting the book down and going "what just happened here?" over and over.  When it happened in the movie I literally laughed at how cheesy the whole thing was.  Truth be told I laughed through most of the film, but I am pretty sure they didn't intend to make a comedy.  Bella and Edward's first night together, overwrought and silly.  Bella giving birth, disgusting and creepy.  Jacob freaking out with the other wolves about the baby, confusing and corny.

Please don't go see this movie.  If you like the books you probably already have, and I hope that you were able to get more enjoyment from it than I did.  If you haven't read them then just walk away now knowing that you are a smarter person for avoiding this series.  Commercialism has bastardized it anyway and you don't want to be a part of that.  They make Twilight covers for classical books and convince young girls to buy copies of "Bella and Edward's Favorite Book" when you can just go get Wuthering Heights off of the freelibrary.com for absolutely no money.  I saw Twilight branded curling irons and hair straighteners last night.  Really people, really?  "Now you too can get Edward's shiny hair look in no time."  I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

I would say Happy Viewing, but if you go see this film it won't be.  Walk away, friend, walk away.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Oh no faithful reader, you did not read this incorrectly.  I made cookies.  The holiday season is quickly approaching, and it is not the holidays without baking cookies.  I have always loved peanut butter and I began to think that maybe I could figure out a way to make a peanut butter cookie that would fit into my post operative world.  I didn't have to search far, and I found a recipe from a surprising person: Paula Deen.  If you know anything about Aunt Paula, you know that the woman is not the healthiest chef and that the woman never met a dish that didn't need more butter.  But lo and behold here was her recipe for magical peanut butter cookies.   You only need 4 ingredients: Peanut Butter, Splenda* (or whatever sugar substitute or sugar you like), an egg and some vanilla extract.  I added chocolate chips because I was afraid that the Splenda would make the cookies taste funny for people who are not living in this crazy post op world.  

As you can see from the picture, this produces a really crumbly cookie.  I think this is due to the fact that there is no flour or binding agent aside from the egg.  They taste pretty good though.  For a "diet" cookie they are flippin' amazing.  I guinea pigged them on a few unsuspecting people and got favorable reactions prior to telling them that they were "healthy" cookies.  If you are not used to the taste of artificial sweeteners you will definitely get a slight aftertaste due to the Splenda, but aside from that I don't think that they taste like diet food.

Here's how you make them:

Ingredients:

1 cup Peanut Butter (you can use smooth or crunchy, but seriously why would you want crunchy?)

1 cup plus 1/3 of Splenda

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Chips (optional, I used Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips)

Mix your peanut butter and splenda until thoroughly combined.  I used a fork to do this, and I will warn you that when you are choosing a bowl you want to choose a large one because otherwise you will get splenda everywhere.

Mix in your egg and vanilla to the peanut butter Splenda mixture.

Roll into balls about the size of a walnut and place on a greased (I use Pam) cookie sheet.  Dip your fork into the extra Splenda and then push it into the cookie to make the signature cross.  Top with chocolate chips to your taste level.  

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  They were fantastic just out of the oven, but they fall apart a little more at this point.  Be warned, these cookies will not stay whole at any temperature.  I will experiment in the future with adding some whole wheat flour and maybe some oats to help stabilize the cookie.  

I was pretty happy with how these turn out.  It was great to be able to share them with people as well.  

*I am not trying to hawk Splenda on ya'll but it is what I use and one of the only sweeteners that you can bake with just like sugar.

Happy Snacking!

Footloose

I was skeptical... very skeptical about this movie.  The darn trailer kept calling to me though.  There is something about that Kenny Loggins song that I couldn't resist.  "I've been working so hard..."  Goodness it just makes you want to get up and dance.  I saw the original Footloose movie one weekend when it was on television.  I liked parts of it, but I thought it was relatively boring and slow. I knew that the newer version would be faster paced so I decided to give it a try.  I loved it!

For those of you that have never seen the original, here is a basic plot break down:  Ren moves to Bomont, GA from somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon line.  Bomont is a unique town in that three years prior the town enacted several laws to regulate teenage behavior after the tragic death of 5 high school seniors.  In Bomont there is no public dancing and no loud music.  Ren falls for Ariel, the rebellious daughter of the town's preacher and biggest advocate of the laws.  Hi jinks ensue and then lots and lots of dancing.

I can't tell you all of the plot deviations from the original film, as I said I thought it was a little dull.  I do know that they definitely paid homage to the film.  The angry dance is still there just like it should be.  The horrible red jacket is still worn to the prom.  Ariel is still a spoiled little whiny brat.  I am still a sucker for a dance movie though.  I also love movies filmed in Atlanta, it is fun to see local things on the big screen.  They drive into the city in one scene and go to Cowboys to go line dancing, I loved it.

Kenny Wormald and Julianna Hough really shined in the film.  The acting was good all around I thought, but the biggest stars to me were the children. The cutest little girls you have ever seen play Ren's cousins, I wish they had given them three times as much screen time.  Adorable.  Dennis Quaid played the reverend, a man who could easily be quite hated.  Quaid did a great job with the character as he did not come across as a power hungry preacher, but as a man struggling to figure out what is right and best for his daughter and the town that he loves.  Wormald and Hough are both professional dancers, this was Hough's first big acting role.  Wormald was in the sequel to Center Stage, a straight to tv movie.  (ok let me be honest, I kinda love that movie.  I am a sucker for a movie with lots of dancing and I might actually own the movie)  Both actors performed well, I liked the Ren character a lot more in this movie than in the original.

Should you invest $10+ to see this film?  Well that depends.  If the original is one of your favorite movies of all time, you might hate the updated version.  If you are a dude, you probably couldn't care less about this movie. Hough does wear some skimpy outfits, so if your lady drags you to chick-flicks this one may not be so terrible for you.  If you love dancing and Kenny Loggins, you have to go see this one.  It is definitely a great film to rent once it is available for that, it would be a really fun girls night movie.

Warning:  I don't care who you are, you are going to want to get up and shake it at the end of this film.  That song starts pumping and your feet just can't keep still.

Happy Viewing!

Moneyball

I have been a bit out of the movie viewing business lately.  This is mostly due to the paltry offerings from the studios as of late.  I am looking forward to the holiday season when we will get some of the better movies for the year.  I did decide to try out Moneyball with a friend recently.  I thought that all in all it was pretty darn slow, but when it did pick up it was pretty interesting.

Moneyball is the story of the Oakland A's 2002 season.  This season stands out for the A's becuase of the interesting tatctics used by the team's general manager, Billy Beane played by Brad Pitt.  Beane is trying to field a winning team with a very small, by the standard of baseball not normal people, budget.  He meets a young man, Peter Brand played by Jonah Hill, who is taking a different view of hiring players.  The plot is pushed forward by the opposition that these two meet while trying to implement their new system of evaluating players.  Brand's theory involves looking at the statistics and the math behind the game of baseball.  The math nerd in me loved this part of the movie, normal people may find it a bit dull.

Hill and Pitt both do a wonderful job in this movie.  It was very interesting to the see the more serious side of Hill.  I would have liked to have gotten to experience a bit of Brand's world away from the stadium to really get to see Hill stretch his ability, but that would have added time to an already very long movie.  Pitt is fabulous as always, although I have to say that one of my favorite things about the movie was watching him stuff his face.  I once read an interview with a man that "plays" Pitt, in voice-over French translations of his movies,  who said that the hardest thing about voicing Brad over was that he was always eating.  Seriously watch any movie with Brad Pitt in it and just watch for him to eat.  It happens a lot!  I find it hilarious for some reason.

In the long run I would say this is definitely a renter movie.  There is nothing that really needs to be seen on the big screen with this film.  If you don't like math, baseball or character movies you should probably skip this one.

Happy Viewing