MENU MONDAY

Tomorrow is T's birthday so in honor of that, I've planned my menu with his favorite dishes:

Last night: S.O.S., crockpot mac n cheese
Tonight: taco pie
Tuesday: Pruda's chicken casserole (strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert)
Wed: cheeseburger joes
Thurs: Taco Nite
Fri: coconut shrimp

SHRIMP, STEAK AND SAUSAGE

GRILLED TEQUILA LIME SHRIMP

2 Tablespoons lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 pinch garlic salt

1 pinch cumin

1 pinch black pepper

1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2-3 limes, sliced

.

.

.

.

Oh, seems I forgot one of the main ingredients:

.

.

.

.

2 Tablespoons Tequila

(please ignore the shot glass and the fact that the bottle is half empty)

(But it sure does make all this cooking alot more fun)

Whish together the lime juice, tequila, olive oil, garlic salt, cumin, and pepper in a bowl until well blended. Pour into a large resealable plastic bag; add the shrimp, seal bag and turn to coat evenly. Refrigerate 1 to 4 hours.

Drain and discard marinade from shrimp. Place on soaked wooden skewers, alternating with lime slices. (Sometimes I add some pineapple chunks into the mix.)

Grill until shrimp turn pink (about 5-7 minutes per side).

(This time I didn't skewer them like I usually do. I had just bought a handy dandy bbq basket and I put them in there loose and grilled them.)

*****************************

MARGARITA STEAK

(I'm sensing a theme here)

1 Cup margarita MIX

2 Tablespoons tequila

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon white sugar

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4 cup vegetable oil

bacon (if you want)

and these:

T and I had filet mignon. I made sirloins for the kids.

Combine all ingredients (except the bacon and steaks) in a bowl and whisk well. Pierce steaks with fork. Place steaks in a resealable plastic bag. Pour marinade in and coat. Marinate in fridge for at least an hour. Discard marinade. Wrap bacon around steaks and secure with toothpicks. Grill.

Let me tell you, the filet mignon with this marinade melted in our mouths. It was heavenly!!

******************************************

Another staple of any of our bbq's is this hot sausage that we get from the butcher.

***************************************

FESTIVAL, MAC N CHEESE, MARINATED GRILLED VEGETABLES

MARINATED GRILLED VEGETABLE SKEWERS

1 eggplant, cut into 3/4 inch slices (I forgot this)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into squares

1 zucchini, sliced

4 fresh mushrooms, stems removed

4 Tablespoos olive oil

4 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons basil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Place veggies in medium bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, basil and garlic.

Pour mixture over the veggies, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Alternate veggies on skewers. Cook on gril 2-3 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.

*******************************************

FESTIVAL

I had this every day in Jamaica. It's kinda like a deep-fried dumpling.

1 1/2 cups flour

3 Tablespoons cornmeal

1 Cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir together flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and baking powder.

Add the teaspoon of vanilla to the cup of water.

Add a small amount of water in to the flour mixture, work in with fingertips. Keep adding small amounts of water until it becomes a firm dough which is only slightly sticky (you won't need to add the whole cup). If it gets too sticky to work with, add more flour.

Cover and leave stand for 30 minutes.

Take a small piece, knead in your hand, and roll into small sausage shape.

Cover each Festival in a mixture of flour and cornmeal.

Deep fry until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

**********************************

MACARONI AND CHEESE

This was the easiest part of the dinner:

STUFFED MUSHROOMS and JALAPENO POPPERS

I cooked so much on Saturday night and had soooo much fun doing it!! I took pictures of everything and will try to share the recipes this week.

Let's start with the appetizers:

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Here are the ingredients:

3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (I just use Bacon Bits)

8 crimini mushrooms

1 Tablespoon butter

3 Tablespoons chopped onion

3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Remove mushroom stems. Set aside caps. Chop the stems. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Slowly cook and stir the chopped stems and onion until the onions is soft.

In a bowl, stir together the mushroom stem mix, bacon and 1/2 cup of Cheddar. Mix well and scoop the mix into the caps.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Here's the finished product:

********************************************

JAPAPENO POPPERS

I make this so often I don't even have the recipe anymore.

20 jalapenos, seeded and sliced in half lengthwise

8oz cream cheese

1 1/4 cups shredded cheese (any kind you want..cheddar, peperjack)

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tablespoons bacon bits (or 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled)

red pepper flakes to taste (which I forgot this time)

bread crumbs (I usually use roasted garlic flavor)

Mix cream cheese, shredded cheese, bacon bits, garlic, and red pepper flakes together. I use my hand mixer. Fill each pepper half and put on baking sheet. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake at 200 for 10 minutes for hot, 15 minutes for medium.

I bought this guy just so I could take a picture of him.

Finished:

Tomorrow I'll post the recipes for the side dishes: Festival, mac N cheese, and marinated grilled vegetables.

OREO & FUDGE ICE CREAM CAKE

I got this recipe from kraftfoods.com. It was so easy to make that KT did it mostly all by herself. It was a BIG hit, especially with the kids.

OREO & FUDGE ICE CREAM CAKE:

1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed, divided
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
8 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup) **I crushed ours**
12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

Pour fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the Cool Whip; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 minutes or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.

Arrange 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24 inch long piece of foil; top with half of the Cool Whip mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining plain Cool Whip. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftovers in freezer.