HOW TO SPICE UP A “SMART ONES”

• Chop up a whole medium onion.
• Cut up about 6 to 8 dried tomato pieces into ¼” strips.
• Open a small jar of sliced mushrooms.

Sit out 2 Fettuccine Alfredo “Smart Ones” by Weight Watchers – the one with the broccoli florets in creamy parmesan sauce.

In a medium to large skillet, pour about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, drop in a scoop of diced garlic, and your favorite hot sauce. Bring the oil to medium heat and then drop in frozen chicken tenderloins. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the top side of the meat as it begins to sizzle.

Once the meat has begun to thaw on one side, flip it over, salt, and pepper that side.

Cook the tenderloin until a golden brown, remove, allow to cool enough to hold and cut into strips and the cut across making about ½” cubes of the chicken. Sit the cubes aside.

In the skillet, add a little more oil and then drop in the onions, dried tomatoes, and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are translucent and limber. Remove from the heat and sit aside.

In the microwave, cook the 2 Weight Watcher’s meals until done. Then dump the Fettuccine over the contents of the skillet, add the chicken and stir.

It’s ready!

Oh yeah…you have to sip on a Yuengling Black & Tan while cooking. If one isn’t enough…oh well, open another!

There should be enough for two people to eat on two different nights!

BIRTHDAY AT THE CHOP HOUSE

My daughter and her husband treated my wife and me to a May birthday dinner at The Chop House in Knoxville this afternoon. It was a wonderful meal and we enjoyed their and our granddaughter’s company very much. Just being with them would have been enough, but they insisted on paying.

Knowing their strong feelings before going, I ordered unsweetened tea instead of my usual Killian or Sierra Nevada! I do not like to order beer or liquor on someone else’s tab. It also reinforces to everyone that I am not an alcoholic! I just love my beer!

My wife and daughter ordered the small fillet (one with baked and one with sweet potato), while my son-in-law and I ordered the ribeye (one with traditional potato and I went with the sweet).

Katie Bug, trying to be completely different from us “older folk” went with the Lobster Alfredo - lobster, blue crab meat and shrimp smothered in a rich Alfredo sauce with green onions, snap peas, mushrooms, garlic and fresh tomatoes served over fettuccine. It looked delicious, but I would have made it with dried tomatoes instead of fresh for more flavors! But, I am a show off!

Of course, there were house salads around!

We are honored that at fifteen, Katie still does not mind being seen with us!

Happy Birthday Weekend to us!

I sometimes feel guilty about having birthdays, knowing that so many young men did not get to see many past their eighteenth! Let us remember them as well.

FILET FETTUCINE

Tonight, I decided to cook for the first time since my shoulder operation. As usual, there was little in the house to cook, being the middle of the week, so I had to be creative! Luckily, there was a filet left over after the steak grill out the other night (see last post).

So, what to do?

Thaw the frozen filet, slice it up into small thin strips, salt, pepper the meat, and set aside.

Cook some pasta, preferably some shells, large or small, and set the pasta aside.

Chop up half a large onion and some portabella mushrooms (you may have forgotten you had – see last post) and set them aside.

In a saucepan, bring to a boil a jar of Bertolli’s Mushroom Alfredo Sauce, turn the heat to simmer and continue with the instructions.

In a large skillet, put some olive oil, a tablespoon of butter, a large scoop of minced garlic, a large squeeze of parsley paste, a large squirt of your favorite hot sauce, over high heat.

When the mixture begins to fry, dump in the thin sliced steak strips and cook them medium well.

Then dump in the portabella mushrooms and stir for several minutes.

Then dump in the sweet onions and cook until they begin to become opaque (do not over cook either the mushrooms or the onions).

Dump the complete mixture into the drained pasta, stir, then pour on the fettuccine sauce and mix thoroughly.

Once the appropriate buzz has been reached with the George Dickel, serve in a bowl and swoon in soft tones together as you look out over the green of the backyard and rising lake!

A wonderful experience!

WALNUT SHRIMP ALFREDO

I didn’t have any “ribbon like” noodles for a fettuccini, so I had to use a “round like” spaghetti noodle instead!

It don’t matter, if you’re cupboard doesn’t contain everything you need and your in a hurry and hungry…improvise!

I found frozen shrimp, so I let it thaw a little and then pulled off the tails, and then cut it into bite size pieces.

I boiled the spaghetti, which only took 9 minutes, strained the water off, put it back in the large deep pan it was cooked in, and set it aside. I added a little more salt to the noodles for taste.

In a saucepan I heated Bertolli’s Mushroom Alfredo Sauce over low heat.

I cut up a large onion, chopped up a big handful of walnuts and set them aside.

In a large hot skillet, I poured in some olive oil, dumped in a large spoon of garlic, added the onions and walnuts, some hot crushed red peppers, some dried tomatoes (I like a lot of the sweet taste), some salt, and black pepper, and a large jar of sliced mushrooms. Once this mixture began to steam, I dumped in the shrimp and stirred it for about 10 minutes (only slightly longer for fresh shrimp).

When the onions begin to turn transparent, dump it all over the spaghetti and mix.

That's it!

As an extra, I think cooked bacon or a spicy sausage would compliment the flavor. If I’d had some, I would have used it.