Fire Roasted Tomato and Feta Pasta With Shrimp (Official Meal #8)

I chose this recipe because I wanted to try something new without wandering too far from my comfort zone.  I know that I usually use some sort of chicken in my dishes (considering I love chicken), but for my last dish, I decided to use shrimp.

Ingredients
Serves 2

• - 1/2 pound linguine pasta
• - 1 tablespoon olive oil
• - 3 cloves garlic, minced
• - 12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• - 1 (14.5 ounce) can fire roasted tomatoes
• - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• - salt and pepper to taste
• - 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until a dente; drain.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 

 Add the garlic; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the shrimp, and cook until opaque, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the shrimp, and cook until opaque, about 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes and heat through. 

Season with basil, salt and pepper.

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 702 | Total Fat: 23.4g | Cholesterol: 111mg

• Recipe from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fire-Roasted-Tomato-and-Feta-Pasta-with-Shrimp/Detail.aspx

Overall, this dish was good.  It held a medium rank among the other dishes I have cooked within the past week.  This recipe allowed me to become my own chef and adjust the ingredients in order to end up with the dish I wanted to cook.  For this meal, I added in orange bell peppers.  Among the eight recipes I have tried, a few of them contain bell peppers.  Dealing with this ingredient so often has caused me to somewhat favor bell peppers, which led me to adding in 3/4 cup of orange bell peppers to the recipe.  The orange bell peppers have a sweeter taste than its red, green, and yellow cousins.  It stood among the few main contributors to the overall taste.

Another change that I have made to the recipe is the substitution of parmesan cheese for feta cheese.  I decided to do this because of my Asian family's lack of taste for uncommon cheese, especially feta cheese.  Since we had the tube of Parmesan cheese still left in the refrigerator from past recipes, we decided to just substitute the Parmesan cheese for feta cheese and sprinkle that on the pasta instead.

While cooking this dish, I learned how to peel and devein shrimp.  The terms used to describe this technique might sound a bit intimidating, especially for a novice like me, but the technique itself is surprisingly simple.  Within a few minutes, I was peeling and deveining the shrimp at the same rate as my mom.  

How to peel and devein shrimp:

1.  Pull off head (if still attached) and legs.

2.  Starting with the head end, pull off the outer shell.  Depending on how to you intend to present the shrimp, you can keep the last segment of shell and the tail tip on, for decorative purposes.  Place shells in 

plastic bag, securely close, and throw away (to prevent smell).

3. Using a small paring knife, cut along outer edge of shrimp's back, about 1/4 inch deep.

4.  If you can see it, remove and discard vein that runs along right under surface of the back, with your fingers or the tip of your knife.  If you can't see the vein, don't bother with it.  

5. Return the peeled and deveined shrimp to your bowl of ice or ice water until you are ready to cook.  

A few suggestions for this dish would be...

1) not as much sauce - This seemed to be swimming in sauce.  I feel like it wouldn't have made a different whether it was tomato sauce (like Prego) or can fire roasted tomatoes.   

2) add in fresh mushrooms - Considering this dish doesn't have much flavor and variety of ingredients, the addition of mushrooms would be perfect.

3) garlic or butter bread/toast as a side dish - You can't have pasta without bread!

Even though I haven't been cooking for a long time (it's almost been a month), I feel like I am developing a sense of taste that allows me to decipher the appropriate amount of how much of each ingredient to add in.  This new sense of taste helps me to somewhat "imagine" the taste of the recipe/dish just by scanning over the ingredients and each of their quantities.  This also helps me adjust the amounts of spices, such as pepper and salt, I mix in.    

Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladas (Official Meal #7)

I was a little hesitant when choosing this recipe considering beans + spices = stomach pain.  But seeing the pictures of the finished product online didn't do anything but make me salivate, which made it harder to resist making this recipe.

Ingredients

serves 6

- 12, 6″ flour tortillas (~100 calories each)

- 2 cups cooked brown rice

- 1, 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

- 1, 16 oz bag frozen bell pepper strips, cooked and drained

- 1 packet taco seasoning

- 2  1/4 cups medium salsa, divided

- 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 13×9″ baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and spread 1/2 cup of salsa over the bottom. 

Lay your tortillas out on a clean work surface.  In a large bowl, mix the rice, beans, peppers, taco seasoning, and 3/4 cup salsa. 

Divide evenly among the tortillas. Roll each tortilla tightly and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. 

You may have to place some of the filled tortillas horizontally to make them fit. Pour the remaining 1 cup salsa evenly over the tops of the rolled tortillas in the baking dish. 

Sprinkle the cheese over the top. 

 Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Serve with hot sauce and sour cream.

Source: http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2011/03/01/vegetarian-black-bean-enchiladas-2/

This dish turned out very, very tasteful.  I would say that it is definitely on my top three favorite meals that I have made throughout this whole experience.  My parents and I couldn't ponder up any suggestions, other than to add meat.  But I had to remind them that the reason I wanted to make enchiladas was not only to eat healthy and still get the satisfaction of eating at Taco Bell, but to try a vegetarian dish for once.

I would say that I do enjoy eating at Taco Bell's chicken burritos, Crunchwrap Surpremes, and tacos, but due to the recent allegations of Taco Bell's "fake meat", I have decided to try my own enchilada recipe.  According to the USDA, Taco bell uses a synthetic mixture called "Taco Meat Filling" as shown on their container labels, such as the one pictured below.

The list of ingredients include beef, water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, acaramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

The amount of real beef in a packet is 36%.  The other 64% of "beef" consists of tasteless fibers, various industrial additives, and some flavoring and coloring.  In other words, I have chosen to cut back from Taco Bell and try to cook up my own Mexican delicacy.

(http://gizmodo.com/5742413/this-is-what-really-hides-in-taco-bells-beef)

By cooking this dish, I have learned that learning how to cook our own meals can benefit our health.  First of all, by cooking our own foods, you use pure and real ingredients.  You are given the opportunity to choose the ingredients you want to use along with making your dish as chemical and artificial free as you want.  When you're cooking, you are well aware of what foods, spices, oils, etc. that you are using, therefore putting you in charge of your own health.

Chicken Parmesan Wraps (Official Meal #6)

Within the past few weeks, I have noticed that I tend to gravitate towards dishes that contain chicken, cheese, tomato sauce, or some sort of yeast/flour wrap.  First the Chicken Pitas, then the Chicken Linguine, then the Chinese Chicken, then the Mini Lasagnas, then the Enchiladas (which contain cheese), and now the Chicken Parmesan Wraps.  In other words, this dish was a combination of the ingredients that I have seemingly favored.

Ingredients:

makes 6

- 8 oz raw chicken breast

- 1 cup marinara sauce, plus more for serving

- 6 egg roll wrappers (each 7 inches squared)

- 1 cup baby spinach leaves

- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese 

- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Place the chicken breast in a small pot and fill with enough water just to cover. Bring to a boil on your stovetop, reduce the heat slightly, then simmer for about 12 minutes, or until cooked through. 

Drain and let cool before shredding with two forks, pulling against the grain of the meat. 

Mix the meat with the marinara sauce in a small bowl.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lay the egg roll wrappers on a clean work surface. Layer each with a few leaves of spinach, then chicken, followed by mozzarella and parmesan.

Lightly brush two adjacent sides of the wrapper with water and fold the upper left corner downward, covering the filling, and press to seal on the bottom right corner. Press to seal each of the sides. Repeat with remaining wraps.

Place all 6 filled wraps on a greased wire rack set over a cookie sheet, coat each in cooking spray or a light brushing of olive oil, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn a golden brown.

Serve with warmed marinara sauce for dipping. 

Nutrition information for 1 wrap: Calories: 178 | Fat: 4.4g | Cholesterol: 32.8mg | Carb: 17.7g | Fiber: 1.1g | Protein: 15.7g

Overall, this was more of a lunch meal than a dinner meal.  It was a bit humorous to see my parents and I awkwardly dipping our Chicken Parmesan Wraps into a clear bowl of marinara sauce during dinner time.  Usually, we would have a variety of plates containing different foods laid out in the center of the table, but tonight, we were all contained to our own plates while we made small talk over the recipe I had tried.
To be honest, I seem like I am being a bit too harsh on these Chicken Parmesan Wraps, considering they actually have potential (as a lunch dish).  It felt as if the flavors of the chicken, marinara sauce, cheese, lettuce, and the crunchy spring roll wraps meshed into one, which started to bore me after the fifth bite.  My parents and I found ourselves continuously dipping our wraps into our marinara bowls, hoping to add a bit of flavor to our dinner, which surprisingly, it did.

A few suggestion for this dish would be...
1) Add flavorful, independent ingredients - This way, the ingredients of the dish wouldn't somehow "mesh" together

2) Be sure to use only one egg roll/spring roll wrapper for each wrap.  I accidentally used two for one of the wraps.  This caused the resulting wrap to still have a lot of flour on top.

By making this dish, I have learned that I should try to have a little more diversity.  My lack of variety and variation among ingredients have ultimately done me wrong.  From not taking any chances, I have ended up with an overall boring and flavorless dish whose taste is very forgettable.  In the future, I will try to "spice it up" a little and venture out  and explore the world of new and never-before-used ingredients.  

Mini Lasagnas (Official Meal #5)

Ever since I started taking an interest in cooking, I've wanted to cook this dish.  The first thing that I noticed about this dish was the cute cupcake form each lasagna serving came in.  My parents were impressed with the dish I had chosen to cook, but were not at all surprised considering they both knew I had (and still have) an obsession for cupcakes.  After all, why else would I have a cupcake sticker on the back of my phone?

Ingredients

(makes 12)

- 12 oz raw ground turkey

- ¼ tsp salt, divided

- ¼ tsp pepper

-1 cup chopped onion

- ½ cup chopped mushrooms

- 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes, or tomato sauce

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 3 tsp dried oregano, divided

- ½ tsp dried basil

- 1 ½ cups part skim ricotta cheese

- 24 small square wonton wrappers (the kind near the tofu in the refrigerated section of the produce dept)

- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375˚F and heat large skillet over medium heat.  Add turkey, onions, mushrooms, salt, and pepper.  Crumble the meat as you add in pan. 

 Saute mixture for around 10 minutes, or until the turkey is cooked thoroughly.  

Add the garlic and stir constantly for 30 seconds.  Add the crushed tomatoes and 2 tsp of oregano. Bring the pan to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, a pinch of salt and pepper, the remaining teaspoon of oregano, and the basil. Stir to mix well. Set aside.  Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Place 1 wonton wrapper into each of the 12 cups, pressing firmly in the bottom of the cup and up the sides.

Using half of the ricotta mixture, divide it among the 12 muffin cups. 

Next, using half of the turkey tomato sauce, spoon it evenly over each of the ricotta filled cups. Sprinkle with 2 tsp of mozzarella.

Gently press another wonton wrapper on top of the mozzarella layer.

Repeat the process by distributing the remaining ricotta, then the remaining tomato sauce, and finally the rest of the shredded mozzarella.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.  Let the cups cool, remove them from the pan, and serve!

I couldn't really choose just one photo for this dish... The cute cupcake form of the lasagna just had to be appreciated.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 181.2 | Total Fat: 7.9g | Cholesterol: 41.9mg | Sodium: 389.5mg | Total Carb: 13.6g | Fiber: 1 g | Sugars: 1.6g | Protein 14.1g

This recipe calls for minced garlic, which didn't pose as a problem for me.  Throughout the past few meals I have cooked, three of the recipes called me minced garlic. As you can guess, I have become more and more comfortable chopping up small garlic cloves into even smaller garlic bits.  This comes to show that practice might not make perfect, but it sure helps you get a lot better at whatever you're practicing!

A few suggestions for this dish would be...

1) Use tomato sauce instead of the diced tomatoes I used - The diced tomatoes took up a lot of space and didn't compliment its surrounding flavors as well as I had hoped it would.  Tomato sauce would give it a more "lasagna" taste while making it more appealing in appearance.

2) More turkey (or hamburger) - When biting into these petite lasagna bites, I didn't taste as much meat as I would've liked.  Most of the taste and texture came from the excessive amounts of cheese, which brings me to the next point.....

3) Use less Ricotta cheese - My parents and I both agreed that there was too much of it.  Even though the ricotta didn't have a pungent or foul taste, it felt as if half of the lasagna was just ricotta cheese (which wasn't that pleasing, especially for a girl who doesn't have a taste for cheese.

4) More salt and pepper - The dish was made up of cheese, a small amount of turkey, diced tomatoes  that tasted a bit sour, and the crunch of the crispy won-ton rolls that encased the cheese, meat, and vegetables.  More seasoning would've added a bit more flavor, thus, making the taste of the final dish more exciting and tasteful.  

5)  Same amount of Mozzarella cheese -  I know I had just ranted about my dislike for cheese, but even though I may not like cheese, the mozzarella topping on this lasagna seemed perfect.  The mozzarella cheese was a boost for the taste, along with the appearance of the final dish.

I must admit to the overall boring taste of the lasagna.  I'm not saying that I didn't like it.  It's just that the taste of the lasagna didn't meet my exceedingly high expectations.  Going from the pictures from the website, I was expecting a party in my mouth.  The dish I ended up with was more like "a night out at the movies"- somewhat entertaining, but still immeasurable to a day out at the beach or a party of some sort.  Sorry if "a night out at the movies" was a mediocre example.  I meant to say that the taste of the dish was nothing more than all right.

After making this dish with the help from my mom, she came up to me and said, 

"You know what?  We're a good team".  She hugged me and continued to help me clean up the rest of the kitchen.

Those words lingered in my head for the next few minutes until the excitement of trying my new lasagna bites overshadowed any other thought that had been in my head at the moment.  What I realized is that food brings people together.  Food sustains life, but yet is so much more than something we need to nourish our bodies.  While cooking with my mom, we have to work together in order to accomplish the same goal.  While I lined the muffin pan with the egg roll wrappers, she whipped together the ricotta cheese mixture.  Cooking is similar to any counseling exercise.  In a typical counseling activity, you and your partner would have to work together to overcome whatever challenge you are faced with.  In cooking, you and your fellow chef have to work together to whip up a really good meal.  Even if the finishing result might not be the most delicious food you've ever tasted, what really matters it the friendship and relationship you build in the process.  Like many say, what's waiting beyond the mountains isn't important, it's the climb that is.

Recipe from http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/recipes/.