What I Made: June 15, 2012

Friday was one of those days that as I was running errands, I wanted to stop at every fast food place I could find.  I'm trying to recollect every place I squealed at when I passed, but here's a tentative list:

• Columbia Gyros
• Potbelly's
• Starbucks (which I did stop at and get a iced latte)
• Cold Stone Creamery
• Culvers
• Five Guys
• La Caretta (Mexican deliciousness)
• Subway
• Potbelly's
• Arby's
• The Bread Basket (some of the best homemade bread in the area)

Somehow, I managed to get home without over-indulging in anything other than a soy latte (with whip), but then my lunch seemed lacking.  I had planned a salad from the April 2012 issue of Food Network.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Warm Butter Lettuce Salad with Hazelnuts

What I Made: June 8, 2012

I was a cooking fool on Friday.  

I'd like to stress the "fool" part.

I slightly overdid it and then was out of commission for the weekend.  The good news is that I was back to cooking on Monday and I have a lot of delicious pictures for your consideration.

For breakfast, I went with Pistachio-Chai Muffins from Cooking Light.

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Pistachio-Chai Muffins

I have to admit, I'm more of a sweet breakfast muffin kind of gal, but my opinion isn't the only one that counts.  My husband took well over half a batch to work.  He returned with empty containers and said they got a big thumbs up.

Let’s Get Together Thai Shrimp

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – September 11, 2011

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Let’s Get Together Thai Shrimp recipe originally published in Taste of Home – August 2011.

I love Thai curry dishes and consistently make the same recipe over and over again.  This one made me read the recipe twice.  Yes, it is the basic curry base with shrimp, but it also has cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and cashews.  That sounded too good to pass up.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Let's Get Together Thai Shrimp

The shrimp looks perfect.  The curry sauce isn’t overbearing the dish and has a great color.  The rice and cashews totally complete it.  I was absolutely proud of the way this dish turned out and kept my fingers crossed that it tasted as good as it looked.

Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo and Roasted Asparagus

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – August 25, 2011

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For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of the Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo recipe, please click here.

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Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo recipe originally published in Cooking Light – September 2011.

Roasted Asparagus recipe originally published in Cooking Light – September 2011.

I love alfredo.  I REALLY love it.  Unfortunately, it has got to be one of the least healthy pasta dishes you can make.  Weighed down by cream and butter, it is one of those meals that we can only have once in a blue moon.  So imagine my excitement when I was presented with a healthier version of one of my favorite dishes.

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Shrimp Alfredo and Roasted Asparagus

Now I know what you’re thinking… it doesn’t look as good without alfredo sauce oozing all over the plate.  Trust me though.  It didn’t need it.  I didn’t get as pretty of a plating (or picture for that matter) but it still looked pretty close to that from the magazine.  I certainly wouldn’t push this away from me at the table.

Shrimp Korma and Basmati Rice

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – June 17, 2011

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Recipe originally published by MyRecipes via e-mail on June 15, 2011.

For reasons I don’t quite understand, I don’t like spicy food.  When I came upon this recipe, I was excited since I had a bunch of basmati rice I needed to use, it was chock full of vegetables and it didn’t have tablespoons of curry powder in it.  This is important for the heat factor but also for a certain individual’s gas factor (not mine, mind you).

© You Want Me to Cook?
Shrimp Korma and Basmati Rice

Yummy, right?  It looks very similar to the original picture, although my curry sauce is slightly more red and brighter.  That is because of the type of curry powder I used, which I’ll detail in the ingredients section.  It was thick, chunky and smelled fantastic!  That is everything I want out of a curry… and more.

Thai Noodle Bowl with Shrimp

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – May 4, 2011

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Recipe originally published in Every Day with Rachael Ray – May 2011

After yesterday’s post, I realized that I have another continuing theme in the dishes I select – curry.  I’m cutting myself a little slack on this one since it is a soup.   

I love a good soup on chilly days and this one intrigued me because of the rice noodles.  I’ve not been able to find them (or bought the wrong ones which is most often the case) so I was on a mission to find them.  I found them in the most surprising of places – tucked away in a grocery store that has one of the tiniest Asian sections ever.  The rest seemed like a perfect dish for me: the sweetness of coconut, saltiness of soy sauce (even if I used a reduced sodium blend), spice of curry, and tasty shrimp.

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Thai Noodle Bowl with Shrimp

On one of the first cold days of fall in the Chicago-area, I’m staring at this picture wishing I had a bowl.  It is a spicy and creamy (yet not heavy) soup with color and texture.  It looked perfect and smelled fantastic.

Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut-Curry Sauce

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – March 16, 2011

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Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut-Curry Sauce recipe originally published by Cooking Light on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 via e-mail

Not too long ago, I bought a ridiculous amount of tilapia.  It was a great deal (on top of the usual inexpensive price of tilapia) and I couldn’t resist.  Of course, now I had a ridiculous amount of tilapia to cook.  I originally couldn’t decide if I wanted to make this dish or not.  On one hand, it has a bunch of my favorite things: red peppers, curry, coconut milk and basmati rice.  On another hand, the fish is broiled and I’ve only experienced disaster with broiling fish.  It always ends up too dry.  On yet another hand, it is a full meal at around 500 calories.

What to do… oh, what to do.

In the end, my desire to eat low-fat curry and use up some of my tilapia won out.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut-Curry Sauce

My tilapia is swimming in the sauce and I SWEAR that it is the serving size given by Cooking Light.  I believe my nephew said, “WTH – Heck?”  (Yes, he added an additional “Heck” on to the “What the Heck”.  Cut him some slack – he’s only 10.)   

So floating fish aside, I wanted to eat it immediately.  It was bright, had a lot of texture and it smelled fantastic!

© Cooking Light

Cajun Shrimp Lasagna Roll-Ups

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – March 3, 2011

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Recipe originally published in Simple & Delicious, December/January 2011.

I love lasagna.  I love Cajun food.  I love shrimp & cheese.  This recipe could have quite possibly been written with me in mind.

That being said, I hate having to make rolls.  They never turn out as pretty as they are supposed to be.  Also, it usually is ridiculously messy.  Add to that, REGULAR lasagna is time consuming to make because you have to cook the noodles, make the sauce, make the filling and assemble.  However, the attraction to the cheesy, Cajun, shrimp with lasagna noodles blinded me to all of this and I excitedly started this recipe.

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Cajun Shrimp Lasagna Roll-Ups

Look at this picture and tell me you don’t think it looks delicious.  I’ve been flipping back and forth between my picture and the published picture and I gotta tell ya… it looks pretty close.

Scalloped Shrimp and Potatoes with Onion Crescent Rolls

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? on February 11, 2011

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Scalloped Shrimp and Potatoes recipe originally published in Simple and Delicious, December/January 2011.

Onion Crescent Rolls recipe originally published in Taste of Home, Holiday Collection 2008.

When I saw the picture of the Scalloped Shrimp and Potatoes it was being served with sesame seed breadsticks.  I immediately began to scan my recipes for something similar – which I eventually found – but I could not stop my brain from wanting to make these Onion Crescent Rolls.  I looked at the shrimp recipe a little closer and realized that they would work well since there wouldn’t be much competing spice in the cheesy shrimp and potatoes.

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Scalloped Shrimp and Potatoes with Onion Crescent Rolls

My only regret is that it doesn't have a lot of color to the dish.  The crescent roll kind of blends into the shrimp and potatoes.  Of course, that has nothing to do with taste or texture.  I just like my food to be pretty as well.

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – January 31, 2011

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Recipe originally published in Cooking Light, January/February 2011.

I try to make seafood at least once a week, if not more, but I have a slight issue.  My husband and I can’t eat dinner together during the week (he doesn’t get home until 10PM), and fish doesn’t do well as leftovers.  Therefore, I usually go to shrimp since it holds up well to the fridge.

Of course, there are only so many ways to prepare shrimp and I try not to soak our seafood in buttery sauces (although they sure are good).  So when I came across a simple tomato and bread shrimp topping, I couldn’t wait to try it.

My finished product: © You Want Me to Cook?

Picture published with recipe: © Cooking Light

It doesn’t look too bad, although I’m wondering how they got their shrimp to look so pretty.  Mine are definitely cooked and pink, but they don’t have that golden color Cooking Light’s shrimp have.  Yet, I was still very excited to taste it.

Creamy Pasta with Pesto

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – January 20, 2009

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Recipe originally published by The Daily Recipe – Monday, February 10, 2003.

Are you wondering why I didn’t link to the original recipe?  Well there are many reasons which I’ll cover throughout today’s post.  This was one of the first recipe e-zines I ever subscribed to.  They were decent recipes for beginners, but honestly, a lot of it was buying box stuff and jazzing it up.  I progressed past that pretty quickly.  Then I realized they were running the same recipes over and over.  Maybe not every month, but when recipes look familiar and you get them 365 days a year, that’s pretty bad.  As they were less creative with their recipes, they started continually trying to sell me tchotchkes.  Now I have no problem with people selling stuff from their blogs.  I hope one day this blog can generate revenue (please pass the blog along!), but most of my recipe e-zines I get sell stuff like pots, pans, ingredients… you know, stuff I can use while cooking.  Not plastic fart machines – not that I have anything against fart machines – I just don’t want to be bombarded daily with it in my Inbox.  Oh yeah, and there was a little incident of every time I would access their website, I’d get a virus notice from my software.  It was time to say goodbye.

Cue Andrea Bocelli…

This was one of the recipes that I really enjoyed from their site.  It was simple, yet incredibly tasty.  Also, it exposed me to pesto – an ingredient/sauce that seems really scary when you are considering using it for the first time.  When you look at the ingredient listing it is basically pureed basil with a little olive oil and garlic.  That can absolutely terrify a novice chef as well as a picky eater.

My finished product: © You Want Me to Cook?

Picture published with recipe: None

Another issue I had with The Daily Recipe was that they never published pictures of their recipes.  Now, I am far from a professional blogger, but even I take pictures of the dishes I create.  How can you be a professional blogging company, write/publish recipes for said company, and not take pictures of what you make.  It doesn’t make sense!

Putting that aside, even though my photo is a little far away (another one of my first photos) it still manages to look delicious.  A delicate pasta with a light sauce that showcases the shrimp.

Chili-Lime Shrimp

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – August 18, 2010

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Recipe originally published by myRecipes daily e-zine “Dinner Tonight”.

There’s not much to this dish.  There are three basic ingredients: CHILI powder, LIME, and SHRIMP.  Shocking, right?  I went through a period where all I wanted was citrus in my food.  (It was very similar to my mushroom phase, which I’m still in, but not as intense as before).  I didn’t make any changes to this recipe, I just elaborated on the ingredients and equipment needed.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © myRecipes.com

I was really proud of the way this dish turned out.  Of course, it wasn’t like I was making Baked Alaska, a soufflé or Coq au vin.  There’s only 6 ingredients and it’s mostly sauté and stir.  But cooking shrimp takes attention to detail or you could end up with little rubber pieces in sauce.

Shrimp Francesca

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – August 26, 2010

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Recipe originally published by AllRecipes in the daily e-zine “The Daily Dish”.

Another dish that can be served as a main dish or an appetizer!  I decided to serve this over a bed of brown rice and eat it as actual meal.  This was a recipe created by one of the website’s readers.  As I was scanning the comments, so many people were complaining about the calories.  At 391 calories, I can think of a lot worse meals to eat.  I also found it interesting that you don’t cook the shrimp in the butter, but you bake it and use the butter as a drizzle.  I decided to go for it.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © AllRecipes.com

Not bad, right?  I removed the tails from my shrimp.  I always do unless the recipe specifically tells me not to do it.  I just don’t like having to stick my fingers near my mouth while I’m chewing to pull it off.  With my talent for hurting myself, I can absolutely see me biting my finger.

Brazilian Fish Stew

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – October 26, 2010

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Recipe originally published on AllRecipes.com Daily Dish e-zine.

There’s nothing better in fall than a hearty soup or stew in the fall.  I had been looking for a fish soup for a while, specifically one that had more than a simple broth base.  Not a big fan of those – it tastes like fish water to me.  This recipe appealed to me because it had coconut and tomato base.  If you’ve never cooked with coconut milk, you’re really missing something.  I know it looks a little on the “icky” side, but it is a rich broth that really enhances the flavor

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © Taste of Home

The picture from AllRecipes wasn’t professionally taken (visitors can submit their own pictures of dishes that they make) so it is a little fuzzy looking.  From what I can tell, it looks about the same, although their picture looks a little creamier than mine, but that’s probably because one of the ingredient changes I made.  I don’t know if that makes a difference or not, because the one I made tasted delicious.

Indian-Spiced Salmon with Basmati Rice

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – June 30, 2010

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Recipe originally published in Cooking Light, June 2010.

Salmon is a super food.  It’s got healthy fats in it (Omega-3 anyone?), a great source of protein, and a large supply of vitamins, including Vitamin D – of which I have a severe deficiency.  Because of this, I’m always looking for different ways to cook salmon.

There are several things that attracted me to this recipe.  Obviously, the salmon is one of them, but I was also excited to try the rice side dish.  I’ve never cooked basmati rice and this seemed like a very straightforward recipe to try.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the dish when it was done, but more on that later.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © Cooking Light

The pictures reveal everything that I found wrong with the recipe.  First, the amount of spice rub you make for the salmon clearly wasn’t enough for the amount of salmon in the recipe.  Second, I think the cook times are a little off.  The fish was a little dry and didn’t get that pretty broiled look on top.  Finally, I think the rice could use a little more cashew in it.

Havarti Shrimp Quesadillas

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – July 30, 2010

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Recipe originally published in Taste of Home, June/July 2010.

These quesadillas can be cut up into smaller sections for an appetizer or eaten as an entrée in larger portions.  I had never bought/used Havarti and was a little nervous because of the cost.  I mean, who wants to pay $5 for a brick of cheese and screw it up!  Fortunately, it is meant to be sliced and served so I really only needed to worry about burning the tortillas.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: © Taste of Home

The end result was fairly similar, but at the time I didn’t have a grill pan so I didn’t get the pretty grill lines across it.  Interestingly enough, I found these to be a little bland.  Although they weren’t bad, I definitely had to eat them with a salad and had guacamole and salsa as a side.

Macadamia-and-Panko-Crusted Cod with Orange-Butter Sauce

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – June 2010

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Recipe originally published in Every Day with Rachael Ray, May 2010.

I often get stuck in a rut.  I’ll eat a ridiculous amount of shrimp and chicken in my quest to eat healthier, and then get really bored.  The hard thing about most non-shrimp seafood recipes is that it doesn’t keep well and can quickly go bad before I get a chance to cook it.  Additionally, I have to worry about the eco-friendliness of the different types of fish.  Still, I took a chance on this eco-friendly cod recipe that had a significant sauce to keep it moist during the re-heating process.

Picture published with recipe: © Every Day with Rachael Ray

My finished product:

The thing that frightened me most about the picture from the magazine is that it wasn’t finished.  It did look incredibly yummy, so I pushed ahead.  My final dish doesn’t look nearly as pretty as the published picture.  I have a couple overcooked areas on my fish & the sauce looks kind of squishy, but don’t let the picture fool you.  It was delicious!

Trattoria-Style Shrimp Fettuccine

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – April 2010

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Recipe originally published in Good Housekeeping, February 2009.

Every time I turn around, I’m being told to eat dark, leafy greens – specifically spinach.  My problem is that I really don’t like spinach salads and I don’t care for frozen (and usually soggy) spinach.  When I stumbled upon this recipe in Good Housekeeping, I decided to go for it – and I’m so glad I did!  The baby spinach is perfect in this dish and while it is substantial enough to eat for dinner, it is equally perfect for a light lunch.

Picture published with recipe: © Good Housekeeping

My finished product:

I always get really excited when my dish looks almost exactly like a published picture.  If I don’t say so myself, I think it looks even better.  My spinach looks much more crisp and tasty and there’s a reason for that.