shrimp and sausage jambalaya

Oh dear. Oh my. This is very, very good.

I've been wanting to try my hand at jambalaya for a while now. When I saw Amelia Durand make her northern Louisiana family's recipe on Barefoot Contessa, I knew the time had come.

I followed her recipe pretty closely, except for only using 2 cans of chicken broth. The next time I make it, I'll probably leave out the ham - it didn't add enough to the flavor of the dish to be worth what it added in fat.

It also gave me a chance to teach you a few of my favorite kitchen tricks, like chopping veggies while the protein browns, easily and efficiently chopping peppers, onions, jalapenos and scallions, using the most brilliant pantry item ever - tomato paste in a tube, and my favorite trick: stacking my chopped herbs next to the measuring cup so I won't have to wash it. Laziness begets cleverness! Or something like that. Enjoy!

Amelia Durand's fabulous Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya recipe can be found here.

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four ingredient nutella brownies

I love Nutella.

I love brownies.

I don't have a lot of time for baking.

With this one recipe, I can die a happy woman.

If you peek over to the blog list on the right (a little lower... there you go) you will find one of my culinary role models, Alice from over at Savory Sweet Life. I've been following and enjoying her blog for a while now, but today was the first time I've ever had to stop what I was doing and immediately try a new recipe. It was so worth it! Thank you Alice!

Yum oh yum of yum oh yum! These little beauties not only combine my (previously noted) two favorite food groups into one tasty treat, but they do it in 15 minutes and with only four ingredients! That's right, four! Four ingredients that were already in my pantry, and did not include brownie mix.

They have a subtle hazelnut flavor, rich chocolate flavor, a perfect blend of fudgy brownie and crunchy nut textures and aren't the least bit ornery about coming out of their wrappers. Perfect!

Intrigued? Stop by Savory Sweet Life to find Alice's reprint of the recipe for {4 ingredient} Nutella Brownies from Abby Dodge's new cookbook, Desserts 4 Today: Flavorful Desserts with Just Four Ingredients. Then immediately make these and share them with those you love.

Or make them and eat them by yourself in the closet.

Just make them.

If Ms. Dodge's cookbook has more superfast, supertasty treats like this, I might just break my no-more-unrated-recipes-from-cookbooks rule and grab a copy.

Enjoy!

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oatmeal peanut butter cookie heaven

Oh sweet Lord in heaven these are good.

Perhaps the best cookies I have ever made.

And they're easy.

And they're perfect for my peanut butter-loving husband for Father's Day.

But they are VERY addictive, so please enjoy responsibly.

As soon as you possibly can.

I found the fabulous recipe here on one of my favorite blogs, Savory Sweet Life.

Once you get the cookies made, you can either just eat them as they are (which I personally prefer, since I like a more subtle peanut butter cookie) or go ahead and prepare yourself for sainthood and make the cookie sandwich version.

Just put the cream filling in a ziploc baggie, snip the corner and squeeze

Then have your assistant sandwich another cookie on top.

Squeeze, top and repeat until you run out of cream filling. (Did I mention you might want to double the cream filling recipe?)

Feed to your favorite Daddy and prepare to be showered with praise, vows of undying love, hugs, and yes, maybe even a few tears.

Happy Father's Day!

Now go make these cookies!

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new orleans style shrimp

This is not a cookbook review. I read through some recent posts and decided that I am still too angry with Cooks Illustrated to give them a fair shake, and I haven't made any actual entrees from Ellie Krieger's cookbook.

So I decided to spend a week cooking out of The Food You Crave, then try a few more Best Light Recipe things, and then you'll get your review. Girl Scout's honor.

But FIRST, I had to make this shrimp recipe. Because shrimp was on sale. And because we had a french loaf going unused. And because it is heaven.

It will change your life.

Promise.

Here it is:

New Orleans Style Shrimp

serves 4 (I've halved the recipe in photos)

prep/cook time: 1 hour

3 T. Worchestershire sauce

2 T. fresh Lemon Juice

1 T. Olive Oil

2 tsp. chopped fresh Rosemary

2 tsp. chopped Garlic

1/2 tsp. Hot Sauce

1/4 tsp. Black Pepper

pinch Red Pepper Flakes

2 lb. large peeled and de-veined Shrimp

2 Lemons, 1/4" slices

4 tsp. Butter, divided

French Baguette

Combine everything but last three ingredients in a large zip-top back, squish ingredients around in bag until well mixed, refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425F.

Make little cups out of four (12" x 12" ish) squares of aluminum foil. Place in baking dish/pan.

Add 1/4 of shrimp mixture (about 2.5 c.), 1/4 of Lemon slices and 1 tsp. Butter to each foil cup.

Fold and pinch top of each foil cup to seal. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.

Unfold packets carefully. Swoon.

Place in bowl and serve immediately with a reasonable amount of french bread. Make SURE to get every drop of liquid out of the foil cup

because once you've eaten the shrimp and discover the delicious, savory cooking liquid in the bottom of the bowl, you'll need about this much french bread.

Enjoy!

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