Spicy Shrimp Po' Boys

From Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

For the remoulade sauce:

½ cup plus 2 tbsp. light mayonnaise

2 tbsp. stone ground mustard

1 clove garlic, minced

1½ tbsp. pickle juice

½ tsp. prepared horseradish

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

¼ tsp. hot paprika

Dash of hot sauce

For the sandwiches:

1 lb. medium-large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. Cajun seasoning blend

1 baguette (or 4 sandwich rolls) (I used Focaccia Bread)

Shredded lettuce

Sliced tomato

Directions:

To make the remoulade sauce, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. (If you don’t have a blender or food processor, you can just mix it in a small bowl with a spoon.) Adjust seasonings to taste. Chill until ready to use.
To prepare the sandwiches, combine the shrimp with the olive oil and cajun seasoning in a medium bowl. Toss well to coat the shrimp. Heat a grill pan to medium-high and grill the shrimp just until opaque, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.
Slice the baguette into 4 servings, and cut horizontally to open the bread. Spread some of the remoulade sauce onto both pieces of the bread. Layer the bottom slice of bread with shrimp, then top with lettuce and tomato as desired. Top with the remaining piece of bread and serve immediately.

Focaccia Bread

From Ann Burell, Food Network

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Directions

Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Put the bowl in a warm, not hot or cool, place until the yeast is bubbling and aromatic, at least 15 minutes.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1/2 cup olive oil and the yeast mixture on low speed. Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes on a medium speed until it becomes smooth and soft. Give it a sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface, then knead it by hand 1 or 2 times. Again, give it another sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
Coat the inside of the mixer bowl lightly with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
Coat a jelly roll pan with the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. (Chef's Note: This may seem excessive, but focaccia is an oily crusted bread. This is why it is soooooooooo delicious!).
Put the dough onto the jelly roll pan and begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan. Turn the dough over to coat the other side with the olive oil. Continue to stretch the dough to fit the pan. As you are doing so, spread your fingers out and make finger holes all the way through the dough. (Chef's Note: Yes, this is strange. But when the dough rises again it will create the characteristic craggy looking focaccia. If you do not make the actual holes in the dough, the finished product will be very smooth.)
Put the dough in the warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Liberally sprinkle the top of the focaccia with some coarse sea salt and lightly drizzle a little oil on top. Bake the dough until the top of the loaf is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let it cool before cutting and serving.

Pollo Grande Quesadillas

For Mother's Day I got this fantastic cookbook called, "The Worldwide Ward Cookbook". It is full of some great recipes that are really family friendly. This recipe is in the book. The recipe seemed pretty ordinary, but turned out surprisingly extraordinary. These quesadillas are definitley on our family favorites list. It was difficult to tear myself away from these. They also didn't last long enough to take a picture!

Quesadillas:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
1 large sweet onion, coarsely diced
5-10 T. oil, divided
Fajita seasoning to taste
2 bell peppers (any color), very coarsely chopped
8 0z. mushrooms, sliced (optional)

Jalapeno Cheese Sauce: (I doubled this portion of the recipe)

4 oz. Neufchatel cheese
1/4 c. fat-free sour cream
1/2 tsp. garlic (I used garlic powder)
1/4 C. milk
2-5 T. pickled jalapeno peppers, seeds removed

For assembly:

10-12 tortillas (I used whole wheat tortillas)
12 oz. cheese (Monterey Jack or cheddar), shredded

In a pan, fry chicken and onions in 1-2 T. oil and fajita seasoning to taste until chicken is cooked and onions are tender. In a separate in 1-2 T. oil unitl crisp-tender, adding the mushrooms to the peppers during the last 4-5 minutes of frying, if desired. In a blender, puree all Jalapeno Cheese Sauce ingredients. To assemble, layer one half of each tortilla with chicken mixture, peppers and mushrooms, 2 T. shredded cheese, and 1-2 T. Jalapeno Cheese Sauce. Fold over the other half of the tortilla, enclosing all of the filling. On a griddle or pan lightly brushed with the remaining oil, fry the quesadilla until the tortilla is light brown and the cheese inside has melted. Makes 10-12 servings.

**I didn't brush the tortillas with thet oil and I used my electric grill to cook the quesadillas.

Baked Lemon Pasta

This was my choice for Mother's Day. I wanted something light, but easy to make because I knew I would be cooking it. This was delicious and easy. I really loved the creamy but lemony sauce. Definitely a keeper and it tasted great the next day.

From Sister's Cafe

1 pound Thin Spaghetti

4 Tablespoons Salted Butter

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 cloves Garlic, Minced

1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested

2 cups Sour Cream

½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, Or More To Taste

Plenty Of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped (I didn't have this so I just left it out and didn't miss it!)

Extra Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente. In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat. Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish. Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.) When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end or feel free to add as much as you like.

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

I am usually not a huge fan of fajitas, but I am now a fajita lover because of this recipe. It was really easy and the flavors were awesome!

Adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

6 tbsp. vegetable oil, divided

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1½ tsp. brown sugar

1 jalapeño, seeded, ribbed and diced

1½ tbsp. minced fresh cilantro

1 tsp. salt

¾ tsp. pepper

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 large red onion (about 14 oz.), sliced into ½-inch thick slices, rings not separated

2 large bell peppers (about 10 oz. each), stemmed, quartered and seeded

8-12 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the lime juice, 4 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, jalapeño, cilantro, salt and pepper. Reserve ¼ cup of the marinade; set aside. Place the chicken strips in the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the marinade and transfer to grill. I used my countertop grill (aka.George Forman); discard the left over marinade. Cook chicken on grill until browned and internal temperature is 160 degrees. Remove chicken and cover with foil. Place the onion rounds and peppers on the grill. Cook onions and peppers until spottily charred and crisp-tender, about 8-12 minutes, turning once or twice as needed. When the chicken and vegetables are done, transfer them to a large plate and tent with foil to keep warm.
In 2 or 3 batches, transfer the tortillas in a single layer to the now empty grill. Cook until warm and lightly browned, about 20 seconds per side. When the tortillas are done, wrap them in a clean kitchen towel or foil.
Separate the onions into rings and slice. Place them in a medium bowl. Slice the bell peppers lengthwise into ¼-inch strips and add them to the bowl with the onions. Add chicken to peppers and onions. Pour the reserved marinade onto the ingredients and stir to combine. Microwave for 1 minute to heat through. Arrange the chicken and vegetables on a large platter with the warmed tortillas and serve with toppings (sour cream, salsa, cheese).

Cafe Rio Chicken

This is a new favorite at our house. It is so good. We have made it twice in the last two weeks, which hardly ever happens. Port loves to take it and put it on salads or in wraps. My four year old said, "Mom, this is dad-blasted good!"

From Kitchen Cafe

1 (16 oz.) bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 skinless, boneless chicken breast

Cook all together in a crock pot on low for 4 hours, shred meat and cook 1 additional hour.

Chicken Piccata with Artichoke Hearts

This was delicious. It was really light and a hit with our whole family. We left out the cream and a lot of the guilt when it came to eating this!

From Tasty Kitchen

2 whole Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 whole Shallot, Diced
1 cup White Wine
1 cup Chicken Stock
2 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice (or More If You Want)
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Cream Or Half-and-Half --I used 1 % milk. We didn't miss the cream.
2 Tablespoons Capers (or More If You Want)
1 can Artichoke Hearts, Chopped (14 Ounce Can)
1 package Your Favorite Pasta, Cooked And Drained (13-16 Ounce Box) I used whole wheat spaghetti.

Pound your chicken out with something heavy. I used a rolling pin and it worked great. Salt and pepper both sides and saute in a hot skillet with a little olive oil until both sides are well browned. Take the chicken out and let them rest (they are tired after all that) on a plate with some paper towels.
While your skillet is still hot add the diced shallot and stir around a little – about 3 minutes. Pour in the white wine to deglaze the pan – this will pull up all the brown stuff that was stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Stir. Add the chicken stock and keep the heat pretty high for a few minutes. Add the lemon juice. Let reduce down for about 10 minutes. Add the butter and cream (or half and half) and stir. Add capers and artichokes. Stir. Add the chicken back into the mixture and keep on low heat.
In the mean time, if you’re serving with pasta, boil your water and cook your noodles. Serve in a shallow bowl and pour the sauce all over the noodles and chicken. You can also add a handful of spinach. And then write home to your momma about it!