Shrimp Cargot

I love shrimp.

I love seafood.

Unfortunately, I live in Oklahoma, 

and fresh seafood isn't something I see often.

So, I settle for giant bags of frozen

shrimp from Sams.

I love to go to restaurants and eat something

fabulous and then come home and recreate it.

This shrimp dish comes from a restaurant 

here in Tulsa.  Charlestons.  This is my 

version of their Shrimp Cargot dish. 

It's supposed to be like escargot, but with shrimp.

Snails scare me.  Why would we eat them?

And they're expensive too!!

My sister-in-law loves them.  There's a

restaurant in Panama City Beach that we like
 that serves them.  I tried it once.

It tasted like a snail :(

This is 24 large shrimp.

You need to peel and devein them.

I needed an escargot dish.

This is surprisingly hard to find.

I found 2 of these on ebay a few years ago.

If you don't have one of these - 

I don't know what to tell you. 

I was going to use a deviled egg dish,

before I found mine, but you need 

something that can go in the oven.

Havarti cheese.  This is what you need.

I asked the people at Charleston's 

and this is what they use.

Don't try to substitute.  It won't work.

I shredded about a cup for my 24 shrimp.

You need to melt some butter.
You might be thinking - that's a lot of butter!

Well, yes, it is a lot of butter.

But, that's one of the things that 

makes this dish so good!!

Add some garlic.

Then add a little of the butter-garlic

mixture in each of the holes.

Then I put a shrimp in each hole.

Spread 1/2 cup of the cheese around.

I broiled these on a lower rack for about 10 minutes.

It came out hot and bubbly 

and swimming in butter.

Calm down - you don't have to eat all that butter.

It's just for flavor!!  Although - at Charleston's,

they serve little toast things with it and it's

really yummy if you dip them in there.

Cheesy, buttery, garlicy shrimp.

yum

My kids LOVE this!! 

You will too, if you can find a dish to cook them in.

FYI - I doubled this recipe.  Because we love it so much

and because I have 2 escargot dishes!!

Shrimp Cargot

12 large shrimp

1/2 cup havarti cheese

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp or 1-2 garlic cloves

Clean, peel, and devein the shrimp.  Shred the cheese.  

Melt butter and add garlic.  Drop a little butter in each 

hole of an escargot baking dish.  Put one shrimp in each hole.  

Cover with cheese.  Broil on low rack for about 10 minutes.

Chicken Tacos

My family loves tacos.

Or anything that you can put in a tortilla.

This recipe is basically the same as the Mexican Pot 

Roast that I make, just with chicken.

Mmmmm.

Looks so good, I might warm up 

some leftovers for lunch today.

When I got out the crock pot this morning,

the kids started whining.

They said they don't like anything out of the crock pot!!

I told them they don't know what they're talking 

about, and then I took them to school.

I had actually planned on making curry chicken, but 

since the kids' complained, I thought I'd better make

something that I know they will eat and like.

So, at the last minute, I switched recipes.

I got out 4 big chicken breasts and trimmed the fat off.

Then I threw them in the crockpot with some

cumin, chili powder and a pack of taco seasoning.

 

Then I added a cup of salsa.

You could add a can of ro-tel instead if you want to,

but I just love this walmart salsa!!!

I put a little dried onion flakes in there too.

I set it on low and let it do it's thing.

This is what it looked like after 5 hours.

It kinds looks a little gross here.

But, wait....

 

Once you mix it up a little and shred the chicken

with a fork, it starts looking a whole lot better.

I barely had to touch my chicken and it fell apart.

There it is.

There was a lot of liquid in there, but after I 

mixed it, the chicken soaked most of it up. 

I made a hard taco.

(The chicken is in there somewhere)!

And a soft taco.

 

And I LOVE spicy.

So, I put some of this super hot salsa on mine :) 

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

  

4 large chicken breasts

1 cup salsa or 1 can ro-tel

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp chili powder

Spray the inside of your crock pot with non stick spray.

Put the chicken on the bottom.  Sprinkle spices and

taco seasoning on the chicken.  Pour salsa on top. 

Set to low for 5-6 hours.  Shred chicken with a 

fork and serve with your favorite taco fixins.

 

Pumpkin Cupcakes and Adoption

This is the best cupcake in the world.

If you've had one, then you know I'm not kidding.

And if you haven't had one - you need to!!!

Pumpkin Cream Cupcake with Cinnamon Fluff

The name sounds Heavenly too, doesn't it?

My friend asked me to make some for her for a thing at work.

And since I had to make 1 dozen, I thought 

I might as well make 4 dozen :)

Gotta have real pumpkin for this one.

The brown batter actually doesn't look very 

appetizing, but it sure tastes good.

Here they are in the oven after the cream filling was added.

I had to work alone in The Cupcake Factory today

because My partner, Renee was in Cincinnatti with 

her adopted Chinese special need orphan child

having surgery on one of her special needs.

It's a rule that no one should ever work alone in 

The Cupcake Factory because anything can happen.

And, sure enough, 30 minutes into baking - 

something happened.  I over filled a whole dozen

and they spilled over in the oven.  It was a mess.

But they were still edible, so I kept them.

They just weren't the ones I gave to my friend :)

Here they are with the Fluff.

Ya'll thought I was gonna give you the recipe, didn't you?

Not a chance.

It's a Cupcake Factory exclusive.

And if I gave you the recipe - you might try to make 

them yourself, and then you wouldn't get the chance

to help Chinese orphans with special needs!!

Look at this child.  Isn't she cute!!!

This is Lily.  She's the Chinese special needs

orphan that was having surgery.

I love adoption.

I am adopted.  So was my mom.

It could be in my future too.

Last year, The Cupcake Factory went into business

to raise money for the Hook Family to adopt

TWO special needs Chinese orphans.

We made over 3000 cupcakes in a few months.

Adoption is VERY expensive.

This year, we are back in business only for a 

little while.  We'll be offering these Pumpkin Cream

Cupcakes with Cinnamon Fluff for the week 

of Thanksgiving.  We're paying for surgeries 

this time.  Even with insurance, is SO expensive.

So, here's your chance to get a delicious dessert

for Thanksgiving and you're helping a precious

family pay for surgeries for their Chinese special

needs children at the same time!!!

Let me know if you're interested

and I'll give you the details.

Lentil Stew

It got a little chilly here last week,

and I wanted something warm to eat.

So, I made lentil stew.

It's SO good.

If you don't believe me, just ask Renee.

I took some over to her.

I made this for the first time a few years

ago when I was on a Daniel Fast

and couldn't eat meat or dairy.

It's a great recipe for vegetarians.

These are lentils.

They scared me at first.  

I had no idea what to do with them.

They're small and hard and not very pretty.

First, you have to rinse them.

There could be rocks in there!!

 Here are my other ingredients.

I also used garlic, but it's not pictured.

Start by chopping up the vegetables.  

I like them to be small because the lentils are small,

and I don't want large chunky potatoes

swimming around in there. 

You could put some celery in here too if you want,

but I don't really like celery, so I didn't.

I got my big stock pot out and put some olive oil in.

I put in about a tablespoon or so of garlic.

I'm not really sure.

If you have the real stuff, use 2 cloves.

Then add the carrots and potatoes.

Stir these around for a few minutes.

Then throw in the lentils.

I put in some dried onion because I didn't have a real one.

If you have a real one, you want to put it in 

with the potatoes and carrots.

Then I added a can of small diced tomatoes.

And some salt and pepper. 

And I put some cumin and essence in there too.

Then add chicken stock.

I finally used the last of my chicken stock I had in the freezer.

If you're going vegetarian, use vegetable stock instead.

I actually used half chicken and half vegetable.

You'll need about 8 cups of liquid.

So, I brought it to a boil and then turned it to low

and put a lid on it and left it alone.

This is after 30 minutes.

We're half way there now.

Another 30 minutes.

It's thick and the lentils and vegetables are tender.

This is a very cheap meal.

I think the whole thing cost less than $3.00

and this will feed about 10 people.

We went on a mission trip to Panama a few years ago,

and we ate lentils every day we were there.

Now I know why.  A small bag of lentils costs 

less than a dollar and it goes a long way.

I enjoyed mine with a piece of focaccia bread :)

* 

The recipe:

Lentil Stew

1 lb lentils

1  28 oz can diced tomatoes

4-5 medium potatoes

1 onion

2 large carrots

2 stalks celery

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp Essence

salt and pepper

8 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Rinse your lentils.  Chop your vegetables up small.

Heat a large stock pot on medium high heat and put a 

little olive oil in it.  Put your garlic and vegetables in 

and stir for a few minutes.  Add the lentils, tomatoes, and 

spices.  Add the stock and bring to a boil.

Then turn it on low for about an hour.

Check it every 15 minutes and give it a stir.

After about an hour, it should be thick and 

lentils and vegetables should be tender.

40th Birthday!!! and Carrot Cupcakes

Russell turned 40 on Wednesday!!!

Carrot cake is his favorite.

I have a little experience with making cupcakes,

so I thought I'd try that instead of the traditional cake.
I found a Martha Stewart recipe, and I figured
she knows what she's doing - so I'll try it.

Pretty, huh?
A few years ago, on Russell's birthday, I made him
the most beautiful and delicious carrot cake ever.
I had it on a cake stand.  When we were about to sing
Happy Birthday - I grabbed the cake plate too fast
and the whole thing plopped upside down on the floor!!
It was awful.  We scraped it up and ate it anyway.
My kids will NEVER forget when I 
dropped daddy's cake on the floor!
Memories :)

So, you gotta start with some carrots.
My recipe called for a pound of shredded carrots.
This isn't quite a pound, but I thought it would be enough.

Shredding is a lot of work!!!

My recipe called for 1/2 cup toasted walnuts.
Toasted?  Really?  Whats the point?
So, I stuck them in my toaster oven, and in less
than 3 minutes, half of them were burned.
Trash.
Suddenly, toasted walnuts didn't seem so important.
I set these aside for later.

I also needed these ingredients.

Recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil!!!
wow
That's a lot!!!

This is the eggs, oil, sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla.
I was so happy I found a recipe that used buttermilk
because I still had some left over from my
buttermilk chicken recipe and it wasn't expired yet!
 I got to use a little more, and then the rest went
into the trash with the burnt walnuts.

Then, I had to add the carrots.
My pound of carrots yielded about 4 cups!!
That seemed like way too much.
So, I added slowly.  But, I used them all.
The recipe called for raisins. 
Gag!!!
I skipped them.  But, if you want them,
now is the time to add them.

Then, the flour, baking soda, baking powder,
salt, ginger, and cinnamon.  The recipe
called for cloves too.  Who has cloves?  
I don't.  I skipped this one too.

Then, the batter goes into muffin tins.

I did some mini ones too, cuz mini cupcakes are fun!

I made the cream cheese frosting while the 
cupcakes were baking in the oven.  
This is butter, cream cheese, vanilla, 
and a LOT of powdered sugar.
Yum

Here's the minis when they came out of the oven.
They must cool completely before you ice them
or you will have runny icing.  And that's not good.

I chopped up some non toasted walnuts
and sprinkled them on freshly iced cupcakes.
I didn't put nuts on the minis because my
kids like the minis and they don't like nuts.

It's such a pretty cupcake.


Unfortunately, I didn't like them.
When I gave one to Russell, I asked - Is it good?
His response - this icing could make anything taste good!
This means - No, the cupcake is horrible,
but the cream cheese icing is awesome.
Then he said it tasted a little like cornbread.


I had my Bible study group that afternoon, so 
I took some for them to try.  They all lied
and said they were good.  A few said it was like cornbread.
I think it needed brown sugar or something like that.
Maybe you can try the recipe and tell me what it needs!!


So, out of the 2 dozen regular and 2 dozen mini
cupcakes I made, the birthday boy only ate 1 :(


But Jackie ate like 7!!  Thanks Jackie.
You're such a great friend!!


So, now that I've made them sound so great,
here's how you do it:


Carrot Cupcakes  

1 pound medium carrots, peeled and finely grated 
3 large eggs, room temperature 
2 cups sugar 
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 
1/3 cup buttermilk 
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use 
or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional) 
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped  
3 cups all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon ground ginger 
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
  
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with 
paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together carrots, eggs, sugar, 
oil, buttermilk, vanilla seeds, and raisins and nuts if desired. 
In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, 
salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into 
carrot mixture until well combined. 
Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, 
rotating tins halfway through, until testers inserted into centers 
come out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks, 
10 minutes. Turn out cupcakes onto wire racks, and let cool 
completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored overnight at room 
temperature, or frozen for up to 2 months in airtight containers.

Cream Cheese Frosting
  

 1 stick of butter, room temperature

1pkg cream cheese, room temperature

 4 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

 Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high 

speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. 

Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth.