Cache's birthday meal--grilled shrimp

This is a favorite of ours and tonight we experienced why once again:

Cilantro Lime Grilled Shrimp

2 cloves garlic

2 TBSP chopped cilantro

zest and juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup oil

1 jalapeño, seeded and minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 lbs large shrimp

Combine first six ingredients in food processor (or chop finely yourself if your processor is kaput). Marinate shrimp for 30 minutes. Thread on skewers and grill for about 5 minutes. (unless you have a *very* old junky grill like ours then grill them-rotating often for heat distribution-until they turn pink--about 20 mins.)

With this meal we also had white rice, rolls and asparagus with the following recipe.

Baked Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce
1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed
cooking spray
salt and pepper to taste
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce

Arrange asparagus on baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees or until tender.

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Brown slightly. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar and soy sauce. Pour over asparagus.

Then I served his favorite cake--carrot. We love the yummy recipe found on this post. I've made it WAY too many times!

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Just a note about this meal. . . I accidentally purchased and thawed a package of precooked shrimp ($6.98/2 lb. bag). So Tom ran and got me some thawed, uncooked shrimp; it was quite a bit more pricey at $13.98/2 lbs. When I spend that much on an item for a meal I start calculating the price of the entire meal to make myself feel better. I figured that with the dessert the whole meal, including the price of shrimp, for a family of 7 was $20. Tom and I had eaten out earlier that day at The Lion House (which is considered quite cheap for that type of meal) and the two of us ate for $16. (And it wasn't even very good, I left very dissatisfied that I had spent that much money on not very good food.) Since I can usually feed my family for $4-$10 a meal, this was a more expensive meal--but not that much. It was WAY cheaper than eating out, even if you added the cost of the shrimp I didn't use this meal. (By the way, other plans were made to use the other shrimp.)

Waffles--Cache's birthday breakfast

I learned something about waffles in preparation for this. I wanted to know if I could make the batter up the night before and have it still be good the next day. I found out that you probably could (although in the end, I opted not to mix everything together, but got everything measured and set out so assembly would be quick.) While reading about batters, I read the difference between waffle and pancake batters. I knew that waffle batters always had more oil in them and often more sugar but I never knew why. I thought it was to prevent sticking so I always have used only half the oil in waffles. But the reason why waffles have more oil in them is to help them become crispy (the extra sugar helps that a little too). It said that waffle batter could pass as a pancake batter, but not vice versa. So I decided that for a birthday meal I would make the real thing. YUM!!! I don't know that I've ever had the real thing on waffles. I don't believe I will make them like that every time, but every once in a while I think I will. Here is the recipe I used. It is from my Betty Crocker cookbook.

Waffles

2 large eggs (I separated them per some things I read online)

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup oil

1 TBSP sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

In large bowl beat eggs until fluffy. (If you let your eggs sit out for 20 minutes or warm them up in warm water, they whip up VERY quickly.) Add remaining ingredients and stir just until smooth. (I like a wire whisk to mix quick breads because they get most of the lumps out quickly without much stirring. And I never worry about all of the lumps--just the big ones.) Cook in waffle iron.

Beef Benihana

Tonight: A family favorite--Beef Benihana. Yummy!

Sloppy Joes

I needed a quick-to-eat and quick-to-serve meal tonight since we had Pack meeting at 6:30. So we had Sloppy Joes. Not my favorite, but it served it's purpose. Here are the recipes:

Buns These are pretty good. I'd like to eventually tweak them, but they are good with pulled pork sandwiches and Sloppy Joes. I'm still working on better options for hamburgers.

Filling

1 lb. hamburger cooked with 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped green pepper (drain and rinse fat)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp mustard

3/4 cup ketchup

3 tsp brown sugar

Simmer together.

We also had a green salad with tomatoes and pickled cucumbers. In the past I would have served chips with this, but I haven't bought chips (other than corn chips) for several months and it saves so much money not to mention so much healthier (which is probably my biggest reason).

Stuffed Peppers

Monday night was a big meal because we were anticipating company (however they didn't end up coming :(. . . they missed a great meal!) Here is what we had:

Stuffed Pepper Mmmmm. . . we love this recipe! I've never used the Hungarian peppers--I've always used Anaheim with great success. I follow the recipe quite closely. Although I was out of Basil so that was omitted this time with just as great results. (Just for my records: Greta was quite sick and needy this day but I needed to get the peppers done because Jerry and Carolyn were coming to dinner so I employed Chandler to put her in the stroller and walk around the block. That wasn't a lot of time and so unwittingly I used my index finger to pop out all if the seeds and membranes instead of using a knife like I normally do. . . .BAD idea. My finger was burning for close to 24 hours!)

I also made this Swiss Chard. It was quite good. Swiss chard is not my favorite vegetable but I (and a few others) had 2nds of this. I'll make this recipe again if I have more Swiss Chard.

Rice Pilaf--I just threw this together. I didn't think it was stellar, but Chandler loved it and requested this whole meal for his birthday. Here are the basics of what I did:

1/2 cup wild rice cooked for about 20 minutes in the microwave (it takes longer than regular rice to cook in my rice cooker so I have to give it a head start)

Add that to 1 1/2 cup uncooked rice and 2 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of water. Also add to rice cooker, 1/2 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp butter and some parsley flakes.

While cooking toast some almonds (I did about 1/3 cup but wished I had done quite a few more) in frying pan in a little butter. Remove. Saute 1 finely chopped carrot and 1/2 red onion (or more) and 1/2 tsp garlic. When rice is finished, add vegetables and almonds to rice. At this point it didn't taste quite right. I ended up adding about 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp. sugar. That seemed to do the trick, but it could definitely could use something else. I'll have to work on that next time.

Cut up cantaloupe.

For FHE treats we had Blackberry cobbler. We liked this.

Stuffed Tomatoes--Sunday

I had 8 tomatoes*(see note below) that I needed to do something with. Fresh salsa is about the only way my family will eat fresh tomatoes (except for a few of us) and since we've had fresh salsa so much in the last few weeks I really wanted to do something else with all of those tomatoes. They were quite ripe and needed to be used quickly. So I found this Stuffed Tomatoes recipe. I was really doubtful that most of my kids would eat it, but I shouldn't have been worried. It was quite well received. While it didn't instantly become a new favorite, everyone ate it quite well. I'll definitely make it again when I've got more tomatoes than I know what to do with. I followed the recipe fairly closely, however having the cheese throughout the stuffing would have been good. I'll mix a little in the stuffing next time as well as on top. I also added more bacon than called for because of my nervousness. Of course that made it better, but I think I could get away with less. The final thing I would change is to spray Pam on the bottom of the baking pan instead of covering with water. Stuffing and cheese fell out that would have been eaten had it not been sitting in a pool of water. We had rolls and corn on the cob with this.

For Sunday treats I made this Corn Chip Surprise. Mixed reviews. If you believe, as Tom does, that corn chips should be their own food group then this treat is for you. If you are like me and can completely live without corn chips, don't waste your time, money or calories!

*It probably seems weird that I would 'just have' certain fruits and vegetables on hand, but I order a Bountiful Basket every week and so my meals are planned around the fruits and vegetables that come in the basket.