Shrimp and Vermicelli

I love using baby shrimp in dishes because they are so dang easy and you don't have to remember the night before to defrost anything. How many times have you decided to have brinner (you know you've done it!) instead of painstakingly running water over chicken or ground beef? This is a dish for you :).

You know from previous posts that I'm a big fan of veggies in dishes and the end of the week veggie drawer cleanout. Keep reading...this one is a good one.

Everything is local with the exception of my handy, dandy spices. If you don't have red pepper flake, substitute something spicy such as hot sauce or cayenne or leave it out if you don't like spicy. Also, a piece of ginger can be chopped up into small pieces and added to the dish instead of the powdered variety that I use.

Shrimp Vermicelli

1 tsp olive oil (or other cooking oil)
Dash of red pepper flake
Dash of ground ginger
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup diced red or yellow bell pepper
1/4-1/3 cup of diced carrot
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup diced white, yellow or red onion
1 package rice vermicelli (If you haven't used this before, it's so easy!!! You'll find it in the Asian section of your grocery store.)
3 vegetable bouillon cubes +6 cups of water or 6 cups of vegetable broth (I'd stick with the vegetable broth for this dish as you don't want the dish masked with chicken or beef flavor)
Soy sauce
1/4-1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
2 cups of baby shrimp, thawed by running cool water over
Asian sauce such as sweet chili and ginger sauce (This is optional and I think it gives the end result a little kick.)

Heat large fry pan or wok on medium. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil and add red pepper flake and ginger. Cook for 30 seconds. Add carrot, bell pepper, and salt to spices and cook for about 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Add in onion and garlic and continue cooking until all veggies are tender. While veggies are cooking, warm veggie broth or water +bouillon cubes in microwave. Add vermicelli and allow noodles to soak, separating noodles from each other as they soak longer. Soak for a total of 5 minutes.

Once veggies are done cooking, add noodles to veggies in pan. Turn up the heat just a little. Add some of the broth to the pan to keep noodles and veggie mixture from drying out (about 1/2 to 1 cup). Add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce. Add a little extra chili flake here if desired. After a few minutes, add peas and until warmed through. Turn off heat. Add shrimp, stir in with noodles and cover. Let sit for about 5 minutes to heat shrimp. Top individual servings with a little Asian sauce. Voila!

I had this leftover today and ate it for lunch. It's one of those dishes that you can eat for lunch the next day and it may have even gotten better!

Mom...Meatloaf...now!

In yet another attempt at meatloaf, I decided to take the plunge yet again. Could I do it? Could I make a meatloaf that would taste good and my hubby would eat? Could I make a meatloaf that would be good as leftovers tomorrow?

The answer...yes. Seems that if I follow a recipe for this, it does turn out. Alton Brown has always been a fave of mine on the Food Network. I think I like his science kind of geekyness that he portrays on his "Good Eats" show. Others find it annoying, I find it fascinating. This recipe comes from www.foodtv.com courtesy of Mr. Brown.

Hmmm, I suspect that if you have a fully stocked spice cabinet and also random sauces in your fridge, you can find everything you need. If you don't have Worcestershire sauce, try using soy sauce. While it won't give you that meaty kick, it will give a tang to the sauce topping that you know and love.

Meatloaf
3/4 cup garlic croutons (you can also use bread crumbs here, but I happen to need to use up some stale homemade croutons I had!)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 onion roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic peeled
1/4 red or yellow bell pepper
1 lb ground beef
1 egg

For the glaze:
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of hot sauce
1/2 TBsp honey

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.
Combine croutons, pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme and chili powder in food processor. Pulse until a crumb consistency and put into large bowl. Combine onion, garlic, and bell pepper in the processor and pulse until chopped, not pureed. Add veggie mixture to large bowl with ground beef and mix all together with crumbs/spices. After combined, add the egg and mix well, making sure not to squeeze meat.

Shape into a loaf shape. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and move loaf onto parchment lined pan. Put into oven.

While meatloaf is cooking, combine glaze ingredients and brush over meatloaf after it has been in the oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cook for about 30 more minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 155 degrees when placed in the center of the meatloaf.

Pretty easy, huh? This meatloaf tastes great with some mashed potatoes and gravy. Don't give up on meatloaf, readers! This recipe will do you good.