I got the itch to cook lobster!

Salmon, beef, and chicken are starting to bore me.  My girl Lo introduced me to an Asian market in the city which got my attention really quickly!  I had already cooked octopus, so even though they had huge octopus and baby ones (which you can cook completely differently) I wanted something different.  I've never cooked any sort of shellfish but I decided lobster would be a great idea.  However, with the new job I'm a little strapped for cash.  Wanna know a cheap but delicious way to cook lobster? 

Buy lobster claws.  Seriously.  The claws have a lot of meat in them and taste just as good as the tails.  The only difference is that they're much harder to get into.  Cook some scallops for the side and you have an awesome meal.

Lobster is actually pretty easy to cook.  So if you're looking for something fancy but not that difficult, you should try it!  I'll share what I did.

Bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a rolling boil.  I added crab/seafood seasoning (powder), cajun seasoning, freshly ground black pepper, and Grill Mates garlic & herb seasoning.  Add quartered potatoes (smaller if you use large potatoes).  Let them boil for about 10-15 minutes.  Throw in small ears of corn.  After about 5 minutes add a teaspoon (I just poured some) of Zataran's liquid crab boil.  When it is at a rolling boil again, place lobster(s) in the pot.  Bring back to boil, cook until bright red (around 10-15 minutes).  If you want mushrooms, add these a few minutes before you remove everything because they cook very quickly.

Pretty damn easy, right?

The difficult part was the scallops.  They are finicky.  I thawed mine and then let them sit in a mixture of melted butter and garlic powder until I was ready to saute them.

Usually people just saute them alone, but I wanted to do something crazy.  I found a recipe by Rachel Ray that I changed up and made my own.

In a skillet, I sauteed artichoke hearts in olive oil until they were hot.  You kinda have to remove the oil after so they aren't dripping, so I placed them between layers of paper towels while I sauteed scallions, sweet onions, fresh garlic, and tomatoes.  Then I added the scallops to the mix.  Most recipes tell you to saute them until they're slightly browned, however, mine never turned brown.  I cooked them until they lost the fishy taste that so many people complain about when cooking scallops.  It took about twenty minutes, but will probably take less if I do it again.

Arrange artichoke hearts on a serving dish (or your plate, whichever way you want to do it) and place scallop mixture on top.

Scallops, grape tomatoes, onions, scallions, and artichoke hearts.

Lobster claw with potatoes, shitake (sp?) mushrooms, sweet corn, and scallop mixture.

The boyfriend loved it!  Make sure you have a good shellfish cracker or one of those culinary mallets lol.

Have a wonderful Thursday night!!

Love!!!

Baked Catfish

I don't have a picture of this one, but it is absolutely amazing!

I grew up eating fried catfish in small town Oklahoma.  When I started high school my father started baking it occasionally.  He also grilled it, but we don't have a grill.  When I think of fish, I always think spring and summer camping and fishing trips.

Here's what you need:
several fillets of catfish (or other fish you enjoy)
Butter
1 Lemon
lemon pepper
salt
baking sheet

Here's what you do:
Thoroughly rinse the fish
Spray the baking sheet with nonstick spray (I prefer Pan vegetable spray), lay fillets out flat
Preheat oven to 350
Melt butter in microwave (how much you use depends on your preferences and how much fish you use)
Cut lemon in half, squeeze juice out of one half into the melted butter.  Thinly slice the other half.
Using a basting brush (or spoon if you don't have the brush) lightly cover the fish in the lemon butter mixture.
Sprinkle lemon butter over the fish (I use a grinder).
Very lightly sprinkle salt over the fish (just enough to enhance the flavor, not over power it)
Place a lemon slice on top of each fillet.
Bake for 20 minutes.

The seasoning is all to your personal tastes.  I prefer moist fish, so I put more of the lemon butter mixture on it.  Matt likes it drier so I add less of the mixture.

Not only is this very tasty, but if you don't add too much butter it is very health for you as well.

Enjoy!!

Picture of the soup!!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I FINALLY got my dad's chicken noodle soup right.  I know it's spring time, but here in Oklahoma it's been cold.  That's not abnormal, so I thought a nice homemade soup would help keep me warm.  The hard part is the chicken if you use a whole chicken.  This isn't a quick recipe, so make sure you have enough time to make it.  The time is definitely worth it though!!

Here's what you need:
1 whole chicken
several stalks of celery
2 white onions
2 large bell peppers
2 bags Amish extra wide egg noodles
salt/pepper
large pan (super large is great, as is a cast iron pot)


Here's what you do:
Skin the chicken, place in your pot/pan.  Fill with water.
Boil the chicken for approximately 4 hours (or until the chicken is literally falling apart).
Keep a watchful eye on it, adding water as it boils down (trust me, don't let it boil away!).  Basically, keep the chicken covered in water (it will float as it gets done).
Take off heat when done.
Using tongs (easiest way), pull out all the chicken and place on plate(s).  Sift through pulling out bones and cartilage and random bits of fat.  This is messy and hot, so just be aware.
Put chicken back into water.
Cut up onions, celery, and bell peppers any way you like.  Throw in pot.  You can add as little or as much as you like, my amounts are just an estimate of how much you could possibly need.
Throw in egg noodles (again, as much or little as you want)
Turn on low/medium heat, cook until vegetables are tender.
Serve.

Keep it refrigerated.  Make sure you have a bowl big enough to transfer it to or your pan will fit in the the fridge.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of skinning and boning the chicken, you can use boneless, skinless chicken breast.  I'm not sure how many to use (we never do that), and personally the soup wouldn't be as good without the marrow flavor and the mix of white/dark meat.  I believe that it is healthier with the marrow and mix, but don't quote me on that!

Stuffed Portabellas

Like I said last night, I made stuffed portabellas for dinner tonight.  WOW.  That's really all I have to say for this one.  I kinda just flew by the seat of my pants on the recipe.  Oddly enough, its very spring flavored to me.

Here's what I used:
1/2 cup long grain white rice
3 large portabella mushrooms (whole)
1/2 lb ground beef (93/7)
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 clove garlic, diced
chives
oregano (optional)
garlic powder (optional)

Here's what I did:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook rice according to packaging.
Brown ground beef, season with oregano and garlic powder to your liking (seasoning optional).
Mix and heat spaghetti sauce and cream cheese in small sauce pan with chives and diced garlic.
Carefully spoon out the feathery underside of the portabellas, along with a small part of the meat of the mushrooms (I added some of this to the sauce, but not too much.)  The excess can be a good salad topper.

 

Before and after spooning out the underside.

 Measure out equal parts rice and hamburger meat, add sauce until you reach your desired consistency, without making it running,
Carefully spoon the stuffing mixture into the mushrooms, making sure they are well stuffed (you have to be careful, though, they fall apart very easily).
Spoon a small amount of remaining sauce on top of the finish mushrooms.

Pre baking

Spray baking sheet with pan or other nonstick spray (I cover with foil, as well).
Place mushrooms on baking sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Finish product!

The flavor of the portabella is still noticeable even with this flavorful filling.

After making this, I realized you can alter this to suit your eating habits as well.  Instead of hamburger meat, you can use ground turkey (for those who can't have hamburger) or ground soy meat (for vegetarians or vegans).  I'm sure the vegan alternative for cream cheese, Vegan Gourmet Cream Cheese, would taste great as well.

Hope you enjoy this wonderful recipe!

Love!!

I can't seem to sleep...

Another late night for me...

OMG this sounds SOOOOO good right now!!!  Where can I find this???  Not in Norman, that's for sure :(

This always seems to happen when I get sick.  One of my roommates had a stomach flu that I caught and proceeded to pass on to Matt (at least, I think that's what happened).  So I decided going to work was a bad idea seeing as how vomiting on donors would probably get me fired...

My unplanned day off consisted of laying around, blog hopping, and puppy watching.  Oh and getting into a huge fight with my mother.

My mother is one of my best friends.  While this wasn't always the case--in fact, we hardly ever got along while I was in high school--it is now.  I really don't remember the last time we had an actual fight.  Until today.

For some reason, my loan bill is going to her, my co-signer, and not me.  So instead of enlightening me on this odd occurrence, she's been paying on it.  Well, when my dad got my taxes done a few weeks ago, he failed to send me the check he always sends (back story-he sends me a check for the difference when they run me as a dependent and not as one).  I saw my mom when Matt and I went to Tulsa to visit my Meme last week.  She told me they were keeping my tax refund.

I have been stewing over this for a week now.  I finally told her I didn't want to come visit when Matt and I drove down to see his folks.  This ended up causing a big argument in which I basically refused to sign the check over when it comes in.

I realize all this sounds very childish, but I feel that I have earned that money.  I know I am young and my mother does still help me out financially if its needed, but keeping MY money to pay on a loan I didn't know had started billing me is absolutely ridiculous.

I think this is why I can't sleep...

Ugh... I don't know how I feel about venting on here quite yet....

On a lighter note, I plan on cooking stuffed portabella mushrooms and ribs for dinner tomorrow (I will totally share the recipe if it goes well!!),

Nom nom nom, I love portabellas!!!

starting my little garden (at least in peat pots),

Hopefully mine look this great in a few weeks!

and watching an obscure movie so I can review it for everyone.  Hopefully I have time for laundry during all of this!!! :)

Love!