I would like to introduce you to...

Mr & Mrs P! They are friends of mine, a young, newlywed couple, who have decided to start their own blog about cooking, gardening, home decor, and party planning. Their blog is very new, (probably about a week or so old) with only a handful of postings, but it is very promising! I urge you to follow them as they add new recipes and posts... they will be posting on a very regular basis!

Click here to check them out!

Happy Blogging! :)

Last Night's Lobster...

So last night, I decided to go ahead and cook the 2 lobster tails that my hubby was given by the guy that works with him. I was going to cook them traditionally, but I realized that one was A LOT smaller than the other, which is when I decided to rip all the meat out, and toss it with some pasta. I bought some barilla plus spaghetti (too bad they don't make it in fetuccini style), some creamy alfredy sauce and a little crab (I just had to...).

I took each lobster tail, and emptied it out onto the cutting board, cut it up into chunks, and set it all aside. In a deep skillet, I combined olive oil, salt and pepper (from the mills) and some parsely. I tossed in the lobster at medium heat, and let it simmer for a few. Then, I added the crab, which was already cut up. I added a bit more salt, pepper and parsely, and covered it, occasionaly stirring. Meanwhile, I had the pasta boiling simultaneously. When the pasta was ready, I drained it, and added the sauce directly to the spaghetti. At that point, it was time to eat... I served the pasta on the plate, and then scooped some of the cooked lobster and crab on top.

It was delicious. We INHALED it. Mr. R couldn't stop saying how good it was! This is why I have no pretty pictures to show. Sorry. Next time I make it, I'll try and snap a few ;)

Happy Blogging! :)

Update on Yesterday's Dinner...

If you've been keeping up with my blog posts (this post in particular: http://mrsd1va.blogspot.com/2009/09/playing-housewife-day-2.html), you already know that I spent yesterday slaving ALL DAY (lol... more like 20 minutes of prep time and a little over an hour of baking time) to make dinner for my hubby and I. We finally sat down to have our dinner, and this is what it looked like...

Fresh out of the oven :)

Lemon Pepper Snook Fillets

Roasted Paprika Potatoes: A note on these... I like my potatoes nice and roasted, therefore I prefer them at a higher heat (450º) for about 45 minutes.

And of course, a close up of our beautiful hand-painted Kate Spode Oven-to-Table bakeware...

The Hubby was very pleased, to say the least.

Tonight, I hope to make the Lobster Tails... Will let you know how that goes, as well...

Happy Blogging :)

Playing "Housewife" day 2...

Unfortunately, I didn't get any calls to work today... which is a a bit ironic since I had multiple schools calling last week. But I guess after the long weekend (some Teachers took off Friday and opted yesterday to enjoy a 4-day weekend), there weren't too many people absent. Fortunetely for the Hubby, that means I was able to get my creative cooking juices flowing, and design a nice yet simple menu for tonight's dinner...

A friend of his Business Partner's, who is now working Part-Time for them, is BIG on fishing. Seriously, this guy is always out on his boat catching something... and we have been fortunate enough to benefit from his hobby. He gifted us a fillet of "Snook" and some Lobster Tails... so I decided to use the fish today. I really have no experience with snook because, until now, I've only cooked tilapia when I want some fish fillet... so I went ahead and searched for a nice baked snook recipe, and came up with a baked lemon pepper snook. Looks easy enough ;) Here is the site where I found the recipe:

http://www.justseafoodrecipes.com/sea-0146503.html

I didn't have any "lemon pepper" seasoning, so I just added a bit more "lemon juice" and used my pepper mill. I also added black pepper and both regular iodized salt and salt from my salt mill.

As a side dish, I decided to make roasted potatoes (my hubby LOVES potatoes). I normally make roasted rosemary potatoes when I make chicken breast, etc... but for the fish, I decided to change it up a bit. Since I was experimenting, I went ahead and did a little research by searching for a recipe. This is what I came up with:

http://southernfood.about.com/od/potatorecipes/r/r71120h.htm

I substituted the onion powder for garlic powder, and wasn't very rigid with measurements (actually, I didn't measure at all for this one...).

After preparing everything, I must say it all looks GREAT!!!! I will definitely post an update after everything is cooked and eaten ;)

Happy Blogging :)

Yes! The Diva COOKS! :)

My husband had been begging me to make this dish that I made for him about 2 weeks ago... So I took the opportunity to prepare it tonight, with pictures and all, and share it with you all :) I call by what it is... Fetuccini with Peas and Pancetta. :)

Here are the ingredients I like to use:

Of course, you can use any other brand, or variation of the above. The items above are: Kraft Parmesean Cheese (1/2 a cup), Classico Creamy Alfredo (entire jar), Barilla Fetuccini (entire box), Birds Eye Steamfresh Sweet Peas (entire package), Boar's Head Pancetta (1/2 a pound) and 2% milk (1 cup).

Here are the steps:

First, boil water with some salt and olive oil. When water is "bubbling", add the entire box of Fetuccini.

Next, begin "tearing apart" the slices of Pancetta. I just use my hands, which is easier for me, but you can cut them as well.

Once you are done "ripping apart" the Pancetta, drain the Fettucini, and place it back into the pot where you cooked it. Make sure you set it aside on a cool surface, and not back where you were cooking it ;)

By now, it's a good time to start steaming the Peas. They go into the Microwave for 5 minutes.

Next, place the Pancetta in a pan, and brown it a bit.

I like to let it sit in the pan for a few minutes, while I wait for the peas to finish up in the Microwave... make sure to stir the Pancetta around a bit, to keep it from sticking.

Once the peas are done, add them to the Pancetta in the pan

Stir the Peas and Pancetta together for about a minute, then add the jar of Alfredo Sauce.

Stir all the ingredients together.

Some might want to stop here, mix the sauce with the fettucini, and move on... but I personally like to add a little something extra to my recipe. After stirring everything together in the pan, before adding it to the Fettucini, I like to add about a cup of milk, and half a cup of Parmesean Cheese. This make the sauce a bit softer, and easier to blend with the Fettucini.

The end result... a delicious and EASY dish that will please pretty much anyone :)

ENJOY!!!!!