Happy Weekly Food Fun to You!

Getting a little more sleep now as Louie puppy
is getting used to routines and our home.
I am still a little crazy, just a little less.
Sadly there were a few more food trials than usual.

Started the week off with ham steaks.
My ham steak trial – falling into pieces.
A word of advice, don’t try to cook them if they are still a little bit frozen.  The plan was fried ham steaks with pineapple chunks.  When I started cooking them they were still a little frozen. I put the in the pan, added the pineapple juice and chunks and let them do their thing.  Although when I went back to turn them over they broke into pieces.  Not good, not good.  The ham was still cooked and tasted good, just not the solid steak I had planned on.  So, a quick change of plans was in order.  I cooked up some rice and put the pieces over it.

Next up, the dinner choices were shrimp and grits or shrimp scampi.  Our son picked shrimp scampi.  Normally I make up plain noodles and pour the garlic butter sauce over them.  We have used Pasta Roni for quick sides on other dishes and he wanted the Parmesan Cheese one instead of plain noodles.  It did turn out to be a good combination.

Step One – cook the shrimp with enough butter to coat the pan so you can get a little crisp on the shrimp.   And this time wanted a little spice so I sprinkled Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning I was happy with the flavor it added and not an overwhelming amount of spice.

Once the shrimp is cooked add a little bit of butter and garlic.
Oh you know that can not be correct.
Very true, add a ton of butter and a ton of garlic.

Once the butter is melted stir and add a little white wine to create a sauce.  Non-alcoholic is fine, other alternatives are white grape juice, chicken or veggie stock, or ginger ale.  I think the ginger ale would add an interesting flavor to shrimp.

The finished meal with a side of broccoli and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

I again made one of our new favorites,  Grilled chicken with spiced yogurt.  This time I wanted mine with chicken thighs.  They were on sale at the local grocery store and sounded great to me with the grilled crunchy skin.  My husband and son just wanted skinless boneless chicken breast.  They both turned out good.  The side dish, well that was a complete fail.

My side dish trial – pinto beans refused to cook.
Curried Pinto Beans, recipe here –  They look good, so many spices and layers, they smelled fantastic although they just wouldn’t cook. After a quick soak and 6 hours of cooking still crunchy.  I will try this recipe again, with some more preparation next time.  I will do the overnight soak instead of the quick soak.  Then I will cook in the crock pot overnight with no salt, then in the morning add the salt. Then the seasonings later in the day.  I will let you know how they turn out next time.

The chicken, pure yummy for me.  Topped with the yogurt sauce, and poured some over the asparagus, so was nice and fresh.
My asparagus trial –  I steamed it in the microwave and it just shriveled up.  I saved that batch and will use in an omelet.  So the second batch I steamed in a steamer pot and it turned out just how I like it.

This is a trial for me,  this meal of Elk Spaghetti marks my last package of elk burger from the freezer.

Even through the trials, they turned into smiles and still edible and good with some flexibility.  Except for the pinto beans, at least for me, my son and husband said they were edible, just not cooked enough.

Enjoy the fun of food, even if there are trials, they can still become smiles.