Shrimp Potato Chowder

You can add a cup of frozen spinach to this for color and health; it won't taste exactly the same, but is also good if you like spinach.

By the way, my sweet potatoes were very large and my red potatoes very small. I would go for a ratio of about 1/3 sweet potato and 2/3 regular potatoes (but you can adjust this according to taste).

Ingredients:

3 T. butter
1 medium-large onion
1 cup shredded or diced carrots
2 T. flour
1 large sweet potato or 2 small ones, peeled and finely diced
8 small-medium red potatoes, finely diced (and peeled, if you like)
8 oz. corn (frozen, fresh, canned, whatever)
1 lb. shrimp
4 cups whole milk
1 boullion cube, dissolved in 1/2 cup warm milk
1 cup half and half (I didn't have, so I used 2 1/2 T. butter and milk up to a cup)
couple dashes of nutmeg
salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, saute 3 T. butter with carrots and onions until slightly tender (about 5 minutes)

2. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute over medium heat

3. Add bullion cube in milk, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and 4 cups milk; cook until potatoes are beginning to get tender

4. Meanwhile, place shrimp in lightly salted, boiling water for 2-3 minutes, until just slightly cook. Drain them and let them cool. Once cooled, peel them if they are unpeeled and cut into pieces (about 4 pieces for a large shrimp).

5. Once potatoes are starting to get tender, add shrimp, corn, half and half, nutmeg, salt and pepper and allow to cook until potatoes are very tender.

French Toast

French people call French toast "pain perdu", or lost bread. The French people I know think that it's kind of a waste to use fresh bread to make French toast. In other words, this is great for stale bread! As long as it isn't mouldy, you can French toast it.

This is very easy to make and pretty much impossible to screw up unless you do something really stupid like use cucumbers instead of eggs (and even then, I'm sure it will be fine).

INGREDIENTS:

Sliced of bread (French bread, brioche, whatever)
3-4 eggs
3/4 cup milk (about)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T. honey, warmed in microwave for 15 seconds
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

1 T. butter

Combine ingredients (except butter), then let the bread soak it up. Cook with the butter on medium heat until both sides are nicely brown.

Top with confectioner's sugar, maple syrup, or nutella(!)

Cream cheese frosting

Miraculously, this stuff seems to keep well outside of the fridge for a few days. Who knew sugar was a preservative?

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. cream cheese
5 T. butter
1 T. vanilla
2 cups confectioner's sugar

Key Lime Tart

The filling is the same as for a traditional key lime pie, but rather than a graham cracker crust (yuck!) this one uses a tart crust. Instead of a whipped cream topping, I top with strawberries.


Crust

1 1/4 cup flour (156 g.)
1/4 cup sugar
zest from 2 small limes or 5 key limes
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. water

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375

1. Combine zest, flour, and sugar

2. Rub with butter between your fingers until it resembles course meal

3. Whisk together egg, water, and vanilla

4. Pour egg mixture oven flour mixture and combine

5. Press into a tart pan; prick all over with a fork

6. Bake for 16-18 minutes, very slightly browning

7. Lower oven temperature to 325 and allow crust to cool while you make your filling


Filling

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
zest from 4-5 key limes
1/2 cup+ key lime juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk together all ingredients

2. Pour into cooled crust

3. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes

4. Remove and allow to cool before placing in fridge; refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving


I like to top this with fresh strawberries. To make a glaze, combine 1 T. jam (any flavor) with 1 tsp. water; microwave for 15 seconds, then brush or spoon over berries.

Shephard's Pie

A very filling and hearty dinner!

Ingredients

2 lbs. potatoes, peeled
1 package ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (set aside 2 T. and chop very finely)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup shredded or finely diced carrots
1-2 cup peas (frozen)
1-2 cup green beans, cut in half (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, divided
3 T. butter
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk
2 T. tomato paste (can use ketchup)
1/2 cup red wine or chicken stock or water
2 T. flour
6 T. Worcester sauce
3 T. A1 steak sauce
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for cooking

Directions

1. Boil potatoes until they are soft enough to mash. While they are boiling...

2. Saute carrots in olive oil until starting to soften and turn more orange in color; add onion (minus the tablespoon) and continue to cook until onions are soft and just starting to look translucent; add garlic and saute for a minute or so before adding beef

3. Add beef and pepper and cook until browned; drain excess fat

4. Sprinkle flour over the whole thing and mix in well

5. Add in 1 T. butter, peas, and green beans and stir until mixed

6. Add Worcester sauce, steak sauce, tomato paste, and red wine/chicken stock/water, then reduce until it resembles a nice meaty stew

7. Meanwhile, mash the potatoes with 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, finely chopped onion, and the milk (just enough to make it creamy) and salt and pepper to taste.

8. Butter a 9x13 dish, then distribute the beef mixture along the bottom

10. Spoon on the mashed potatoes, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar

11. Place into an oven preheated at 400 degrees and cook for 20 minutes (stew should be boiling and potatoes just starting to brown).

Ginger Honey Salmon

Ingredients

4 salmon filets
2 T. lime juice
2 T. honey
2 T. soy sauce
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 1 x 2 inch knob ginger, finely chopped
1 T. black carraway seeds (can substitute black sesame seeds)
Salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for cooking

Directions

1. Mix together lime, honey, soy sauce, black carraway seeds, and 1/3 of the shallots and half the ginger; add salt and pepper to taste

2. Cook rest of the shallots and ginger in olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan until fragrant (about 5 minutes)

3. Place the salmon on the frying pan, and brush the salmon generously with the honey-lime sauce (I was lazy and used a turkey baster

4. Cook on medium-high heat for about 7 minutes, or until cooked through on one side

5. Flip, brush on more sauce, and continue to cook on medium-high heat until cooked through

Lentil Soup

This is an easy and simple soup (other than dicing potatoes, which is sort of a pain) that is perfect for a quick snack or a cold night (just in time for summer!) This recipe makes a LOT of soup, which is okay because it makes good leftovers. Or you could just cut the recipe in half.

I like my soup a little chunky, which means I don't puree it at the end. If you're a pureest (ha!) you can certainly puree it if you feel like it. In that case, you probably won't need to dice the potatoes quite so small.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups red lentils
3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled diced into 1 cm cubes
1 medium white or yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, very finely chopped or put through a press
1/2 cup lemon juice (approximately; to taste)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. oregano
About 8 cups of water, vegetable stock, or chicken stock (or any combination thereof)
salt and pepper to taste (LOTS is good!)

Directions

1. Dump all ingredients into a large pot and cook on medium until it starts to boil

2. Reduce to medium-low heat and continue to boil/simmer for about 40 minutes (the lentils should have split nicely, so the color is not only nice and opaque but it actually starts to taste like lentils and not water); salt and pepper to taste.