Spicy Shrimp and Bok Choy Soup with Mushrooms

When Brent and I were vacationing in Las Vegas a couple years ago we ate at a Mexican and Chinese Fusion restaurant, China Poblano.  It was delicious, we highly recommend it if you find yourself in Las Vegas.  We had an awesome spicy shrimp and bok choy soup that I decided last year to attempt to imitate.  The result was this Spicy Shrimp and Bok Choy Soup with Mushrooms.  It is quite delicious and has become a go to meal for us.

Spicy Shrimp and Bok Choy Soup with Mushrooms (originally recipe from Food Network)

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed ginger
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium bok choy, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces, then cut sticks lengthwise
• Salt and pepper
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 cup seafood stock, (heat 2 cups of water with the shells of the shrimp used in the recipe at a low simmer for 15 min to make it homemade)
• 1 1/2 pounds medium peeled and deveined shrimp
• 1/2 pound vermicelli (thin spaghetti)

Directions:

1. Heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat. Add vegetable oil, 3 turns of the pan, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, and bok choy, then season with salt and pepper.
2. Add chicken broth and seafood stock or clam juice. Put a lid on the pot and bring soup to a boil.
3. Add shrimp and noodles and cook 5 minutes, then turn off soup and let it sit 2 to 3 minutes more.

Homemade Pasta

For Thanksgiving each year we head up to Ohio to visit Brent's family.  Since we stay with his Aunt and they host a beautiful Thanksgiving feast I always like to bring them something.  Last year it was a really neat candle that looked like an ornament.  This year I decided to bring them some dried homemade pasta.  Making pasta is super easy and taste exponentially better than dried pasta you get in the store.  I have always made pasta and then used it the same day so drying it to keep for a couple months was a new feat and worked out great!

Homemade Tagliatelle Pasta (original recipe from A16 Food and Wine Cookbook)

Ingredients

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 cups water
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour and salt.  On low speed drizzle in the water and egg.  Mix until just combined then knead on medium-low speed for 3 min.
2. Check the consistency, it should feel slightly tacky but not sticky.  If the dough sticks to your fingers add 1/4 cup more flour.  Continue to knead the dough for 10 min.  
3. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap and let rest for about 30 min.  

1. Prepare a large amount of counter space and flour it.  If using a hand a crank pasta machine attach it to the counter next the flour area.  
2. Unwrap a piece of the dough and flatten dough into a rectangle no wider than will fit comfortably through the rollers.  Guide the dough through the first setting of the pasta machine, then through each setting until the second to last setting.  At this point guide it through the tagliatelle cutter (if too long then cut in half before putting through).
3. If cooking the pasta that day then coat the noodles lightly in flour then place on a baking sheet until ready to cook.  If drying the noodles hang each noodle over a broom placed between two chairs. 
4.  Once the pasta starts to dry (about 30 mi. to an hour) remove a couple pieces at a time to wrap in a next shape.  On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper place all the nests and let dry over the next 2 days.
5. After completely dry put pasta in an airtight container. Should last a couple months.
6. When cooking the pasta boil for about 5-7 min.

Chicken Stock and Dirty Rice

Two Sundays ago my parents had us over for a family dinner and we had a delicious whole chicken.  It was an ‘Amish’ chicken as my dad liked to point out :) (the chicken was from Lancaster, Pennsylvania). After the meal I asked for the carcass to make Chicken Stock and my mom also gave me the gizzards to make Dirty Rice.  I was very excited to be able to use every part of the chicken and to not let anything go to waste.  Both came out delicious and made the house smell amazing!  

Chicken Stock (original recipe from Food.com)

When my mom initially cooked the chicken she stuffed it an onion, a lemon and some rosemary.  I took all of this and included it in my chicken stock.

 Ingredients:

• 1 chicken carcass (with all the goodies it was cooked with and any scraps of meat that were left on it)
• 6ish cups of water
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 1 large carrot, cut into around 12 pieces
• 1 teaspoon garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon celery seed

Directions:

1. Place chicken carcass in medium sized pot and just cover with water.
2. Bring to boil and then simmer over a low-medium heat for 1 hour.
3. Add onion, carrot, garlic, ginger, bay leaf and celery seeds.  Continue to simmer for 3 hours, stirring once or twice.
4. Allow stock to cool uncovered.
5. Strain into a storage container and place in fridge.  After a couple hours in the fridge spoon grease off top then you can use it immediately or you can store it in the fridge/freezer to use later.

Dirty Rice

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 ½ cups dry long grain rice
• 1 lb ground pork sausage
• Up to ½ 1b chicken gizzards (finely chopped)
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon red pepper (omit if using hot pork sausage)
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to package using chicken stock instead of water.
2. In a frying pan combine and cook sausage, gizzards, oregano, paprika and red pepper until the meat has browned.  Place in a bowl and put aside.
3. Using the dirtied frying pan, cook chopped pepper for about 7 min.
4. Once rice has finished cooking, add the peppers and the bowl of cooked seasoned meat.  Stir and cook for an additional 15 min on medium-low heat.  If rice looks like it is drying out add a splash of chicken stock.

Oatmeal Caramel Butterscotch Cookies

While sitting through a very sad and cold football game last Saturday, Brent and I started dreaming of the fireplace and of baking. But what to bake… I decided I wanted to make cookies with caramel and butterscotch. I am not always in the mood for butterscotch but for some reason pairing it with caramel made it seem like the perfect November cookie combination. Thank goodness for the internet because all I had to do was search for ‘caramel and butterscotch cookie’ and up pops a very yummy sounding Oatmeal Caramel Butterscotch Cookie recipe. These came out so good! If I were you I would probably stop reading about them and start baking them!

Oatmeal Caramel Butterscotch Cookies (Original recipe from Picky Palate)

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (1 cup) softened unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup prepared caramel sauce (I made my own, it is very easy, see recipe below)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 bag butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, a good 2-3 minutes. Slowly add in eggs, vanilla and caramel sauce.
3. Place flour, oatmeal, salt and baking soda into a large bowl, mixing to combine. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with butterscotch chips. Mix until just combined then scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until edges just start to turn golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Serve and enjoy!

Makes 3 dozen cookies

                                    

Caramel Sauce (Original recipe also from Picky Palate)

Ingredients

• ½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place butter and sugar in medium saucepan on medium heat. Cook and stir until mixture turns a deep amber color.
2. Carefully stir in cream and vanilla. (Mixture will be bubbly.) Whisking constantly, cook until sauce thickens and coats back of spoon.