Spicy Creamy Shrimp Pasta - Ala Chef Lea Ann

Pat almost never asks us to cook a special dish for her so when she requested SpicyCreamy Shrimp Pasta from Lea Ann’s Cooking On The Ranch blog, we said you bet, especially since it’s from Lea Ann and it’s shrimp and it's pasta.  Be sure to check her site for the original recipe and some great shots of her dish.

This request presented another surprise – Pat reads blogs – I need to asked her if she ever reads mine.  I reproduced the recipe here as I changed it just a little for our diverse palates.

Chicken Adobo Ala Pam

I have been wanting to cook something with Asian flavors but not the normal stir fry and when Pam posted the recipe for Chicken Adobo on her For The Love Of Cooking Blog, I knew it would fit the bill.  Please check her site for some great shots of the dish.

A Couple Of Fine Breakfasts Meals From Leftovers

We've been doing quite a bit of cooking lately and had leftovers from two recent meals – the Grilled Pork Chops and Root Vegetables and some Posole Ala Lea Ann (No new post for this meal).

I'm not sure how it has happened, but Bev used to cook most of the suppers and I made most of the breakfast meals form leftovers, but somehow this has been reversed.  I think it could be that she is more willing to start working earlier then I am.

For the first breakfast, Bev cut up the leftover chop, made the veggie pieces smaller, added a couple pieces of cooked breakfast sausage and made hash from the pork and root vegetables.

Honey Soy Grilled Pork Chops & Root Vegetables & Pups

Another hard time in the life of our four legged kids - Romeo lays on his back way more than any dog we’ve had.

Braised Beef And Root Vegetables

I had been thinking of something different for a St. Patrick’s Day meal than our usual corned beef and cabbage and when I read a recent blog post for a delicious looking Irish Beef Stew I thought it might be the answer until I noticed it contained beer and I knew there was no way to slip that by Bev.  But I still liked the idea of stew and in looking at various recipes I discovered that Irish stew is pretty basic stew often using lamb – another Bev no-go – and beer.  So I recalled a dish we made a while back and has often has crossed my mind.  I did a little blog research and discovered that is was way back in 2010 when we made it and we said we loved it so I decided it was a go – subject to the bosses approval.

Salmon Cakes

Folks our age were the kids of the kids who grew up during the Great Depression and as such most of our parents knew how to stretch their food budgets including making salmon cakes (patties for us) from canned salmon – I don’t know how old I must have been before knowing that tuna and salmon was actually a fresh fish – I did know that ham was available other than Spam though.  Seems like everyone’s mom had their own recipe for salmon patties using different fillers – I believe mine used oats and quite a bit more than Pam's recipe - we likely had salmon flavored fillers.

As Bev and I were reminiscing the other day, we decided we wanted to make some patties from canned salmon (even though we have the real deal in the freezer) but using a more modern recipe and we chose Pam’s version from her For The Love Of Cooking blog.  Check Pam’s blog for the original recipe and some great pics.

Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Casserole

We were out of leftovers so it was time to cook something and we didn’t want to go to the store, so we discussed what we could make and decided we had the ingredients on hand for a chicken broccoli casserole and found a recipe requiring only minor changes.  The recipe came from Cathy at Wives With Knives - and was originally from Trisha Yearwood.

Bolognese Into Spaghetti Pie

Bev and I both like Italian (perhaps my favorite) and we had been wanting to make Bolognese Sauce, and we decided to try a different one than we had made in the past.  I looked around the web and adapted a couple of recipes to come up with one that sounded good and was pretty traditional – a meat sauce rather than a tomato sauce with meat in it.  I thought it was good but not outstanding and I think I may have got it too dry.

White Bean And Tasso Soup

We’ve had some Tasso in the freezer for a while and Bev’s lingering mouth sensitivity has improved to the point that she can now enjoy mildly spicy food so we decided to whip up a batch of white beans using the Tasso in lieu of our normal ham hocks.  I went a step further and found an actual recipe for White Bean And Tasso Soup at Louisiana Kitchen and Culture then adapted it just a little by using less water, chopping the Tasso at the beginning, and not blending part of the beans to thicken it – all personal preferences).

White Bean And Tasso Soup – Adapted from Louisiana Kitchen and Culture

Ingredients:

2 cups onions, chopped

2 cups green pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 lb dried white beans, picked over, and soaked overnight

1 ¾ lb Tasso ham, chopped, preferably Poche's brand (just what we had)*

2 bay leafs

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

8 cups chicken broth

8 cups water (I used four cups)

salt, black pepper to taste

red pepper flakes to taste (none for us)

Method:

Add all ingredients to a large Dutch oven; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook 2 to 2½ hours or until beans are soft.

Taste and adjust seasoning.

* - Tasso is not actually ham (hogs rear leg) but rather it is cured shoulder which is then rubbed with spices and smoked until fully cooked.

We served it over some cornbread muffins and topped with a little diced onion.

I thought it was very good and perfect comfort food for a rainy day.  It had just the right amount of heat and using less liquid made it just the way I like soup.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

2/28/18 Meal Date