Shrimp Scampi with Thin Spaghetti

 I know I haven't blogged in a while, but things have been pretty crazy! 2 weeks ago our house flooded and we had to throw away a lot of our personal things. It was hard for both of us. We haven't been cooking a lot, and when we do, it has been something out of box or container. Last night Jake tried a new marinade. It didn't go over to well, we couldn't eat the steak because it was too spicy. The funny thing was, Zach came over and ate the steak. He is 8 and autistic, he always says everything is to spicy for him, but he ate this. Crazy kid!

 Tonight I thought I would do an easy fast shrimp and pasta dish. The only problem was, I didn't buy the shrimp peeled and deveined. It took forever to clean those stupid shrimp. I have learned an important lesson though...always leave the shrimp dishes for Jake...lol


 After peeling and deveining the shrimp, I minced 4 cloves of garlic, chopped 1/2 red pepper, zested 1 lemon, chopped 3 green onions,  and chopped a handful of parsley.

 After dropping the pasta into a salted boiling pot of water, heat a deep skillet with 2 tbs olive oil. When the oil is hot add the shrimp, cook until they are pink, remove them to a plate for later. Add the chopped garlic, red pepper, onion, and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes to the oil. Cook it for about 1 minute. Next add in the juice from the lemon you zested, and 1/2 cup dry white wine. Turn the heat to high, let that reduce for about 2 to 3 minutes. Next, whisk in 5 tbs butter (I used margarine), and 1 ladle full of the pasta water. Add the shrimp back in and remove from heat, add in the zest from the lemon and the chopped parsley. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce, toss, and serve. I served it with some grated Parmesan cheese.

Burgers with Creamed Spinach and Sriracha Mayo

  I know I haven't posted here in a while, it's not like we haven't been cooking, but because I have been lazy I guess. We have made some really good dinners, and I have taken pictures of everything, it just never made it here.

  Tonight I wanted to keep dinner easy and fast, and I had laid out some hamburger yesterday, but we ended up going out to dinner. I decided to make burgers, but we can't have "normal" homemade burgers. I decided to make creamed spinach to top off the burger. The following is how I put it all together.

  For the spinach, I took 1 large bag of spinach, and roughly chopped it. I also chopped 1/2 of a large yellow onion, and 4 cloves of garlic. I took a deep skillet, and melted 1/4 tbls of butter, added the onion, and garlic. I cooked that until they were tender. Next, I added the spinach, cook that until it is bright green, then I added 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Next add 1/2 cup heavy cream, cook until thick. I then added blue cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

  For the hamburger patty, I took the hamburger, placed it in a bowl, added salt, and pepper, mix it up, then shape into patties, place on a cookie sheet (with sides), place in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, depending on how done you like the meat.

  For the sriracha mayo, I took mayo, and added a few tsp of sriracha, and mixed it up. For the bun, I placed then in the toaster to brown.

  Jake added some cheddar cheese to the top of his burger. If you make your patties to big, then you may need a knife and fork to eat it, like I did. I served it with chips, that was it!