Butter Roasted Lemon Shrimp

Butter Roasted Lemon Shrimp

This recipe is adapted from one that is floating around on Pinterest right now.  It’s super easy to make and my family LOVED it.  The butter melds with the shrimp and the lemony Italian hues are just right, not over powering.

• One stick butter
• 2 lemons, sliced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I use Emeril’s Italian Essence)
• 2 lbs raw shrimp

In a 9×13 pan, and a 350 degree oven.  Melt a stick of butter in the pan. Remove pan from oven and put sliced lemons on top of butter.  Then layer the shrimp.  Sprinkle with the Italian seasoning and bake for 15 minutes.  Stir halfway through to coat shrimp with butter and seasoning.

Serve over rice with your favorite veggie.

Margie’s Energy Bars

MARGIE’S ENERGY BARS

 

My friend Margie brings these to our tennis matches for a quick pick me up, or an after match refresher.  They are simple to make and simply delicious to eat!  An added bonus, my kids LOVE them.

 

• 2 ½ cups crisped rice cereal
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 cup raisins
• ½ cup unsalted nuts (peanuts, sliced almonds, pecans, or use your favorite)
• 1 bag mini marshmallows
• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup creamy peanut butter

 

On a jelly roll pan, in a 250 degree oven, warm the cereal, oats and raisins for 10 minutes.

 

Meanwhile in a large pot over low heat, melt the butter, peanut butter and marshmallows.  Heat through and stir until well combined.

 

Add the warm dry ingredients to the marshmallow mixture, and stir to thoroughly coat.

 

Pour into a buttered 9×13 pan and press down to condense mixture.  Cut into squares and serve.

Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

Winter has ended here in Arizona, and it feels like we skipped right over Spring. Today we hit 90 degrees and I am afraid there is no going back! So, as my farewell to Winter and Spring, I thought I would share a soup recipe. This recipe comes to me from my good friend, Jen. She has talked about this soup and how I must try it and how her whole family loves it. I tried it and I loved it! First of all, I love wild rice. I also love mushrooms. Plus, this soup is packed with lots of other veggies that make it healthy and a meal in itself. Look at these colors!

So thank you, Jen. It is just as wonderful as you said, and my kids loved it!

Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

• 1 (6 ounce) box of Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice Mix
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 package sliced mushrooms
• 3 cup shredded chicken
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 2 cup water
• 2 (15 ounce) cans of chicken broth
• 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk

Prepare rice as directed on box and set aside. Saute the onion, celery, carrots, garlic and mushrooms in olive oil for 6 minutes. Add the flour and thyme. Stir to coat. Cook one minute. Then add water, chicken broth, and milk. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in rice and chicken.

Cheesy Chicken Casserole (A Pinterest Find)

So let’s talk about Pinterest for a moment. I am addicted just like the next person, but I am finding that a lot of the “material” is now going around for a second time. It’s taking the fun out of it for me a little. I am also finding that people are pinning things to Etsy shops or people’s personal work that they sell for money. Breaks my heart, actually. That artist worked hard for the inspiration and deserves credit for their work. It is sad to me that many of us may have done this! What if this is someone’s sole income? Who am I to go steal a great idea because I think I can make it, too? Of course, there are specific sites that are full of tutorials and are meant to be pinned and shared. Or the people that openly share and give tips and its obvious that they want people to “copy” them. Having said all this, Lucy Jane’s Best wants you to know that we feel awesome whenever anyone “Pins” one of our recipes. We want to share what we feel are really great recipes! So “Pin” away on our site! Share it on Facebook! We are okay with that!

So I found this recipe on Pinterest. But the picture took me back to myrecipes.com. You can find the original recipe here, but I will also repost for you below, tweaked just a tiny bit.

I needed a quick and easy chicken dinner and had seen this on one of my friends Pinterest boards. So I gave it a shot. I shall start by saying it makes a lot. A thick layer of 9×13 pan, a lot. It is a very simple recipe with almost no fluff. (I thought the Ritz cracker topping was a good idea!) But if I had to name this dish, I would rename it Mac ‘N’ Cheese Chicken Casserole. That’s exactly what it tasted like, Mac ‘N’ Cheese. And to be honest, we get enough of that around here anyway. So, my overall opinion was an easy, quick, simple meal. Nothing fancy or amazing and very kid friendly!

Cheesy Chicken Casserole

•            3 to 4 cooked chicken breasts, chopped
•             1 (16 ounce) package wide egg noodles, cooked
•             1 (24 ounce) container sour cream
•             2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
•             1/2 teaspoon salt
•             2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
•             2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
•             1 sleeve round buttery crackers, crushed
•             1/4 cup margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine chicken, noodles, sour cream, salt, soup and cheeses in a large bowl. Pour into a lightly greased 13″x9″ baking dish. Mix together cracker crumbs and margarine. Then sprinkle over top of casserole. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until crackers are crispy and golden and cheese is melted.

Classic Meatloaf for Our Dad

This is our Dad. He happens to be holding Lucy in this picture. He has 11 grandkids and another on the way, and today is his birthday! I won’t tell you how old he is, because even he can’t remember! (love you, dad!) One of his most favorite main dishes is meatloaf.

He has become quite the meatloaf connoisseur. So he was the perfect person to test this recipe out on. This is a classic, no frills, good, All-American meatloaf. I served to him as an early birthday gift last night. His response was simple, “It is better than average.” I’ll take it! Why? Because I really am not a fan of meatloaf. It does nothing for me. It is kind of gross to make and so honestly it’s not a dish I make a lot. However, I paired it with some salad, crusty bread, and yummy mashed potatoes. The perfect birthday dinner for my Dad.

I used red potatoes and kept some of the skins on. I always add about a half stick of butter, salt and 1/2 cup of sour cream to my potatoes. It is one of my favorite side dishes and so easy! So Happy Birthday, Dad! Thanks for eating my Classic Meatloaf and giving it a good review!

Classic Meatloaf

•          1 tablespoon butter
•          1/4 cup minced onion
•          2 cloves garlic, minced
•          1 1/2 teaspoons salt
•          1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
•          2 pounds extra-lean ground beef
•          3 slices bread, toasted and crumbled
•          7 Ritz crackers, crushed
•          1 egg, lightly beaten
•          3 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
•          1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
•          1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
•          3 tablespoons ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic 5 minutes, until onion is tender. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, mix the onion and garlic, beef, crumbled bread, crushed crackers, egg, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 can tomato sauce. Transfer the mixture to a 5×9 inch loaf pan.

Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue baking 15 minutes, to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining tomato sauce and ketchup. Pour over the top of the meatloaf, and continue baking 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let meat rest 10 minutes before serving.

Shepherd’s Pie for St. Patrick’s Day

I used to make corned beef and cabbage every St. Patrick’s Day, but as it turns out, no one in my family is a big fan of that.  So, I found myself inviting friends over to help us eat the traditional Irish meal (Pereira’s, who know who you are), while the rest of my family surfed around the kitchen for something else to eat.  So, about 5 years ago I switched to another Irish favorite, Shepherd’sPie, and my family loves this!  One of their favorite meals, but I save it just for St. Patty’s Day/  They have to have something to look forward to, right?

Shepherd’s Pie

• 2 pounds potatoes, such as Yukon gold, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup cream or half and half
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil,
• 1 3/4 pounds ground beef
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef stock or broth
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, eyeball it
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup frozen tender white corn
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender when poked with a fork. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine creme fraiche, butter, and cream. Add the cream mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. . Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables. Stir in peas and corn.

Preheat broiler to high. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with cheddar cheese and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until cheese is melted and potatoes are evenly browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve.

Farm Fresh Yumminess = THE BIG SALAD

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I just have to say again how lucky I am to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where good food is plentiful and fresh food is easy to find.  I have 3 outstanding weekly Farmers Markets within a couple of minutes of my house, not to mention all the fabulous grocery and speciality food stores.  One of my favorite things is a little farm called  Capay Organic Farm, and the service they offer called Farm Fresh To You .  They are a completely organic farm that delivers fresh food straight to my door.  I subscribe to a once a month delivery, and I’m fully in love with the service!  In my delivery box each month are all the in-season vegetables , fruits, and even flowers.  It’s always such a treat to have the box arrive at my door.  I take it in the house, place it on the kitchen counter and tear into it to see what delicious fresh foods I’ll get to enjoy!  This month my box was full of pink lady apples, grapefruit, navel oranges, eureka lemons, mandarins, Haas avocados, strawberries, red leaf lettuce, cauliflower and carrots.  Can you imagine my delight?

Organic produce, on the whole, tends to go bad more quickly than say, produce you’d buy at a grocery store.  I’m not bashing grocery stores, they serve a purpose and most times the produce I buy there is really good, but getting this organic stuff make me feel like I’m doing something good, for the environment and for myself.  One of my favorite things to do is take the veggies, chop them up and crunch them down in a yummy BIG SALAD, like on Seinfeld, remember that?

There really nothing better than fresh lettuce, it’s just so sweet and light.  And farm fresh carrots?!?!  Carrots, like tomatoes, are one of those things that just taste entirely different when they are fresh.  They are earthy and crisp and so so yummy!  And this month I got cauliflower, which I prefer to eat raw, rather than cook all the flavor out of it, so of course that got chopped up and put in the BIG SALAD.

So, ok, this is more of a post than a recipe, but it’s just me, reminding you to eat fresh.  Eat organic.  Put good food in your body so good things can come out of you!  Food is the fuel for our productive days, so I say, eat the good stuff!  EAT A BIG SALAD!

 

Lemon Muffins

My house smells so good! Lemon muffins have to be one of my favorite things to take out of the oven and then to eat! I have tried and experimented with several lemon muffin recipes. Some are too tart, too sweet, to dry. This recipe puts all others to shame. The secret sauce “topping” gives it that extra tang that I think several lemon muffin recipes are lacking. If you are feeling saucy, add some blueberries or cranberries. I just prefer the plain old lemon today. Yum!

Lemon Muffins

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
•  3/4 cup sugar
•  1 tablespoon lemon zest
•   1 teaspoon baking powder
•   1 teaspoon baking soda
•   1/4 teaspoon salt
•   1 egg
•   1 cup lemon yogurt
•   6 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
•    1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping

• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, using a wire whisk, beat the egg, yogurt, butter and lemon juice. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for for 12-16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes. Leave muffins in pan. Using a toothpick, poke 6 holes in each muffin. In a saucepan, combine the topping ingredients. Cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Spoon over warm muffins.

Yields 12 muffins

Monkey Bread

 

If you like dessert for breakfast, then this is the dish for you! OK, it’s not exactly dessert, but the way my family inhales this you might think that it was! Buttery, cinnamony (is that a word?), gooey, pull apart, yumminess! Monkey Bread has been around for a while and this recipe is a semi-homemade, make the night before, easy recipe! Plus, it has all the gooey goodness that monkey bread is famous for. The secret is adding the butterscotch pudding packet. Yes, pudding! I had my doubts at first too, but once I tried it I knew it was a must! The recipe is semi-homemade because I use Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls. (I can’t always be a rock star momma!) But, when I have the time I use Shannon’s Famous Roll Recipe. Both are delicious, one just takes a wee less time.

Monkey Bread

• 20 frozen Rhodes dinner rolls
• 1/2  package cook & serve butterscotch pudding (NOT INSTANT)
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Place the frozen dinner rolls in a greased bundt pan. Using only half the pudding packet, sprinkle over the rolls evenly. In a medium bowl combine melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Pour cinnamon mixture over the rolls. Place on counter uncovered overnight to rise. Get up before your kids and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 20-28 minutes, or until tops of rolls are a dark golden brown. Remove from oven. Place a large plate on top of the bundt pan and quickly flip so the bundt pan is now on top, upside down. Remove bundt pan and let monkey bread cool 5 minutes on plate before serving.

Look what I’m making today… Sugar Cookie Perfection

This is a picture of our famous, light and fluffy sugar cookies.  Emily and I both make these as a regular item on our catering services.  We get hundreds of orders for these all year long.  They are ridiculously popular with our clients.  They are sugar cookie perfection!

So, I’m making some for my handsome nephew’s Eagle Court of Honor tonight.  They are his favorite, so I can’t disappoint by showing up with anything less.  He has worked so hard to achieve this huge goal, and we are so proud!!!!  The sugar cookies shall be his!

Unfortunately for all of you out there in “web land”, Emily and I have decided that this recipe, among others, will be saved only for our cookbook.  We have to keep you guessing, and we have to let you know that some of the VERY BEST recipes will only be available in our book.  But I just couldn’t resist putting up some pictures… maybe try to tempt you a little…

Stay tuned, the book will be coming out soon.  We are hard at work, and getting really excited to get it released!