I get to keep a cookbook! Linguine with Shrimp, Garlic, and Lemon

I absolutely adore America's Test Kitchen. If you've never been introduced to them, let me tell you about them. They take a food, let's for this example say brownies and they try every possible recipe they can find and they test it and tweak it until they come up with the absolute best possible brownie recipe you can imagine. They do all the hard work for you! They also test different products and find the best tomato sauce, paring knife, barbecue sauce, etc.

I have several cookbooks from them and I have never tried a recipe from them that didn't come out as delicious as I wanted it to be. You know how sometimes you'll take a gamble and try and recipe and it just doesn't taste good at all? I hate that because, one, you just wasted a bunch of money to buy all the ingredients for something that you aren't even going to bother saving the leftovers of because they're nasty. and two, because you feel jipped, why did someone even bother to write down this recipe and lead you to believe it would be a good idea to cook it? It's disgusting!

I love using the recipes from their cookbooks because I know that whatever it is, it is going to come out great. I used to subscribe to their magazine, "Cooks Illustrated", which I need to do again. The subscription is a little pricey because they have absolutely no advertising in the magazine. They have a show on PBS too. (check your local listings :P)

Anyway the reason I'm mentioning this is because the first recipe I tried was from "The Best 30 Minute Recipe" It is Linguine with Shrimp, Garlic, and Lemon and it is divine! I made it for our special Valentines day dinner, I also had leftovers of it last night and it heats up great too. I wish I would have taken pictures for you but I didn't, sorry! I'll try to do better next time!

So, If you are interested, here's the recipe:

Linguine with Shrimp, Garlic, and Lemon
Serves 4 to 6
The key to moist, tender shrimp is to finish cooking them off the heat, so be sure to follow the visual cues in the recipe.

1 1/4 pounds (31/40) shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon sugar
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, minced
8 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water
1 pound linguine
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup minced parsley

1. boil water for pasta
2. Saute' Shrimp: pat shrimp dry with paper towels, then season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and sugar. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just beginning to brown. Add shrimp, spread into single layer, and cook without stirring for 1 minute. Stir shrimp and continue to cook until spotty brown and just pink at edges, about 30 seconds. Transfer shrimp to clean bowl, cover and set aside.

3. Make sauce: Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to skillet and melt over medium-high heat. Add onion and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine and cook until nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth and dissolved cornstarch mixture and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, cover, and set aside.

4. Cook and drain pasta: Add linguine and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water, then drain linguine and return linguine to pot.

5. Toss pasta with Shrimp and sauce: Stir remaining 2 tablespoons butter, lemon juice, parsley, sauce and reserved shrimp, including any accumulated juices, into linguine. Season to taste with salt and pepper, adding reserved pasta cooking water as needed to loosen sauce. Serve immediately.

Recipe - Taco Pasta Salad

I got this recipe out of Eating For Life by Bill Phillips. but I have modified it to fit my family since the recipe in the book only made 2 servings. This modified version makes 4 servings.

We have made this recipe several times at the Hawkins' house and after we finished eating it last night I was reminded that I wanted to share this recipe the first time we ate it. It is really yummy and, as long as you use lean beef, healthy too. At first I thought, "pasta with taco meat?" but it really works well together!

1 box rotini pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup water
1 package taco seasoning
1 green bell pepper diced
1 red bell pepper diced (I added this part)

Toppings (sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, etc.)

Prepare the pasta (you can use whole wheat to make this even more healthy).

While the pasta is cooking brown the meat in a skillet until no longer pink. Drain the beef of excess fat and return to the skillet.

Add water, taco seasoning and bell pepper to ground beef; simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally

Plating: place a portion of pasta on your plate, top with the ground beef mixture, top it off with sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, or whatever else you think would be good.

If you try it, Let me know what you think!

Meatloaf

I made meatloaf Sunday night and it was delicious. I am usually not a fan of meatloaf but for some reason I had a hankerin' for meatloaf Sunday and this recipe was fast and it was very moist and flavorful. I thought I would share it with my readers because I definitely recommend it!

All American Mini Meatloaves

17 Saltines crushed fine
¼ cup whole milk
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
3 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 large egg
1 ½ tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 ½ lbs meatloaf mix*
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Glaze
½ cup Ketchup
¼ cup light brown sugar
4 teaspoons cider vinegar

*Walmart did not have meatloaf mix so I bought a pound of 90% lean ground beef and 1 ½ lbs ground pork and mixed them together and took out what looked like ¾ lb. And put it in the freezer for next time.

1. Heat oven to 500 degrees and put oven rack in the middle position.

2. Mix saltines, milk, parsley, wors. Sauce, egg, mustard, onion powder, garlic powder and meat together. I used my hands to make sure it got incorporated well. Shape the meat into 4 oval loaves.

3. Heat the oil in a nonstick 12 inch skillet and brown the meatloaves on one side for about 5 minutes then carefully flip them over to brown the other side. Neaten up the edges with a spatula. In the meantime, while the meat is browning mix the glaze.

4. If your skillet is oven safe, top the meatloaves with glaze and place in the oven until the center of the loaves reach 160 degrees, this takes about 15 minutes. My skillet was not oven safe so I rubbed the bottom of a casserole dish with vegetable oil and placed the meatloaves in there before glazing them. Bake for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

If you try it let me know what you think!