Shrimp

Shrimp is one of my favorite foods. That's about the only seafood, other than fish, that I like. Not a fan of lobster or crab. I tried this easy shrimp recipe a while ago and we both love it! I've been told that it's like Shrimp Scampi, but since I've never had that I can't really say! I'll let you know the next time I go to Red Lobster :)

Ingredients:

1 lb. frozen shrimp. (I buy the frozen medium shrimp that's cooked, peeled, and deveined)

2 tbsp oil (I've used vegetable, olive, and sunflower)

1 tbsp garlic powder

parsley flakes

To Make:

1. Pour oil into large skillet and heat over medium high. Once it's warm, swirl around to cover bottom of skillet.

2. Sprinkle garlic powder and parsley flakes over oil. I don't measure the parsley, I just sprinkle an even layer across the whole pan. Then I let it cook for about 30 seconds so the flavors can start to blend.

3. Add the frozen shrimp to the pan. Let cook for 5 minutes, then mix/flip the shrimp so they cook evenly.

4. As the shrimp cooks, it will release water. I cook the shrimp until the water is almost completely cooked off. Usually it takes about 10-15 minutes depending on how high you have the heat. I mix the shrimp one additional time while it cooks.

5. Turn off the burner and serve up the shrimp!

We ate the shrimp with fries, because we're fancy like that :) Pretty simple and oh so yummy!

Mmmm....Meatloaf

Last night, I decided to try meatloaf. Don't ask me why, it just suddenly sounded REALLY good. I had attempted it once, a few years ago, but it wasn't quite right. So last night I decided to give it another shot.

I started with this meatloaf recipe from allrecipes.com. We're kind of picky eaters at my house, so right off the bat I knew we didn't have an onion or mustard. But I figured I could find something to substitute. And I had to add garlic powder. Below is what I ended up with. Please note that there is Worcestershire sauce in the photo (I intended to add that as well) but I forgot to add it to the recipe. Oops!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/3 cup ketchup

2 tbsp barbecue sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a big bowl, combine ground beef, egg, milk, bread crumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper.

3. Line a 5x9 loaf pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray, and add ground beef mixture. Or use a 9x13 pan and shape the ground beef mixture into a loaf.

4. In a small bowl, combine ketchup and barbecue sauce. Mix well and then pour over the meatloaf.

5. Bake for 1 hour.

When it was finished, we cut it up and served it with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Looked pretty good if I do say myself!

I got a thumbs up from my husband, and was told I could make it again :) But I did learn a couple of things that I'll be sure to note for next time. One, get your hands dirty! I tried to mix all my ingredients with a spoon and, while it looked well mixed, there were definite bites that tasted different than others. Next time, I'll be diving right in with my hands! Second, this made enough sauce to cover about a third of the meatloaf, so I just ran it in a strip down the middle. I think it would be much better to double or triple the ketchup and barbecue sauce and make enough to cover the entire loaf. Other than that, I think it's a winner! Gold star for me :)

Update 1/9/11: Discovered that the sauce on top isn't so great during reheating. Gets a little nasty to be honest! If you have mustard and brown sugar on hand, I'd suggest trying the sauce that was in the original recipe I linked to above. Good luck!

I'm Starting a Blog!

The idea for Chasing Dorothy started last week when I decided I needed to get more "domestic". After almost 6 years of marriage, I am serving the same rotation of meals and my house looks practically the same as it did when we moved in. We spend a lot of time working and playing outside of our house, so I didn't really feel like I had to cook a lot or invest in making the house look better - we simply weren't here enough. But I've changed my mind. And instead of dabbling a bit as I've done over the past couple of years, I've decided to make a real effort to be a better cook and housekeeper. Not that I'm a total slouch - I have a couple of recipes (fruit pizza and taco salad to name a couple - I'll share those with you later) that have earned rave reviews. But I want to do better. And I decided to start this blog and bring you all along for the ride!

I called this blog Chasing Dorothy after my grandmothers (both named Dorothy). Growing up, I was amazed at the seemingly effortless way they could whip up meals, entertain, and keep their homes immaculately clean. I'm nowhere near that now but maybe, someday, I'll be close.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again!