Dans Gourmet Restoration

Baked Stuffed Shrimp, with Hericots Vert, and champignons. Otherwise known as Baked Stuffed Shrimp, with French cut green beans, garlic, mushrooms and a pinch of Tarragon! This was a dish I came up with based on what we had laying around.   Was a typical Sunday in the Price household – fire going, reading, watching movies – basically a totally lazy day.   Never made it to the grocery store to get the ingredients for an awesome beef chili that I got from Cooks Illustrated magazine – more on that later – what an AWSOME magazine!!!   HIGHLY recommended! So, anyway, no energy to go to the store, so I made what I could with what I had.   Sunday is no diet day, so no worries about fat, etc.   We LOVE baked stuffed shrimp,  - it's a simple, decadent treat.  We always keep frozen, jumbo shrimp – 21-25 count per pound.   Had half a bag of French cut green beans, some leftover mushrooms from an omelet,   some garlic,   and a pinch of Tarragon.  Needed a can of lump crab meat, which I usually

Home from a rough day of work, glass of wine in hand, and BOY do you NOT feel like cooking!  Been there, done that - in fact, I am there almost every night.  Lynne and I often forage through the fridge trying to decide what to eat.   SOOOOO , pasta occasionally raises its tasty head.   We often keep a jar of tomato basil sauce handy – I happen to like Barilla, but it really doesn’t matter, since the transformation from jar to plate is pretty much complete before I get through with it.    So here goes – Dan’s Kitchen Sink Pasta Sauce: Sauce with what ever you have around in it – everything but the kitchen sink….. ok, maybe I am working this too hard… already, did this recipe once on the blog, ( check out November 2010 “ how little do you feel like cooking” post )   but added mushrooms this time…. Seriously, this takes a jar of pasta sauce into the home made realm…: this is good enough for a second hit - last time,  I promise! Here we go: 1 Jar Tomato Basil Sauce, of your choice 3 cloves

This is a fairly simple recipe, and a great party appetizer.  As an aside, I always cut off the white coating on the brie ... which can be a pain, but to me is worth the effort. Servings: 4 - 6 Ingredients: 1 wheel (8 oz.) Brie cheese 1 box Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Dough Sheets 2 pears, fresh 2 Tsp. butter 3 tbs Raspberry Jam 2 eggs 1/2 cup milk Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove puff pastry dough from box and let thaw if frozen Slice pears into wedges, about ¼ to ½ inch thick (no core pieces) Melt butter in a sauté pan and sauté pears until tender Place pears on a flat plate and place in refrigerator to cool Remove white coating from Brie wheel Stretch puff pastry out, place pieces side to side and roll lightly to pull seams together Crack eggs into a bowl and whip with ½ cup of milk Using a pastry brush, brush egg wash onto seams of dough to seal Spread Golden Raspberry Jam on top of the brie Place cooled, sliced pears on top of the jam and then place the puff pastr

Lynne makes this at all of our family gatherings - its always a hit!     Delmonico Potatoes This is an easy, and AWSOME potatoe recipe! Guaranteed to be in the family for generations! Ingredients 1 Bag Frozen Hashbrowns – cubed or shredded 1 Can Cream of Chicken soup 1 Container sour cream 2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese   ½ Cup shredded swiss cheese 1 Small onion, diced ¾ Cup Butter Directions 1.      Mix all ingredients in large bowl.        2.      Place in a greased casserole dish or large oven proof bowl. 3.      Top with Panko Bread Crumbs. 4.      Bake 11/2 to 2 hours at 375 degrees, or until brown and bubbling. Enjoy  -Bon Appetit!

         This is a great side dish – we had them with a small New York Strip the other night – Kind of a twist on the stuffed mushrooms I made last week! Ingredients: 2 large plum tomatoes 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil 2 twists fresh ground sea salt ( or a   pinch of regular – not too much ) 3 twists fresh ground pepper ( about 1/8 tbs) 1/8 tbs garlic powder ¾ tsp dried basil 2 strips bacon crumbled ¼ stick cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese 2/3 cup fresh spinach, chopped fine ( frozen will work – just not as well) ¼ cup or so of Panko breadcrumbs. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees Slice the tomatoes in half, and scoop out the seeds.   In a small bowl, mix olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder with a whisk.   Add tomatoes and toss till well coated. In the microwave, cook bacon on a paper towel at 1 minute per slice, plus one minute, then crumble.   Soften cream cheese in microwave for about 15 seconds on high, depending on your microwave – just watch it so it doesn

  Had this for dinner the other night.   10 minutes from start to finish – and it is REALLY tasty – the goat cheese and tomatoes are a totally awesome taste combination.  This is a super simple, super tasty recipe that is good for lunch or dinner.   It is from Suzanne Somers' Eat Great, Lose Weight cook book, slightly altered for two servings and our personal taste.   Her recipes are great, and always user friendly, and her diet plan makes sense nutritionally. Ingredients: 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, (sliced in ½   width wise to thin them down if too thick - then becomes 4 servings.  They should only be about 1/2 inch thick.) 3 tbs olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 1 small clove garlic minced 1/2 to 2/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped 1 small package of goat cheese crumbled – about 4 oz or so ( although for me, the more the merrier!) Mixed greens. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil, and sauté garlic till just starting to brown.

Dan’s Kitchen Sink Shrimp Scampi Ok, here is a dish I made tonight, again, just with whatever I had sitting in my freezer or fridge ( hence the "kitchen sink", as in everything but....)   I keep frozen jumbo shrimp in the freezer pretty much all the time (21-25 per lb)   They are a super lo cal meal, simple to fix, and it was REALLY good!.   Throw in some shallots and garlic... basic necessity, and some veggies - and you are good to go! Here are the ingredients I had to work with: 12 jumbo frozen shrimp, thawed, shelled, and cut in ½ width wise ½ bag frozen broccoli and cauliflower florets, thawed, and pressed in paper towel to remove liquid 2/3 cup sliced mushrooms 12 cherry tomatoes, quartered 3 large garlic cloves, minced 1 small shallot, diced small 2 hand fulls baby spinach 3 or 4 shakes parmesan cheese pinch of red pepper flakes 1/2 tsb dried basil about 4 tbs lemon juice 2 tbs olive oil 1 tbs butter Sauté garlic and shallots in oil and butter , till translucent – about

Ok, I am on a roll - first Brussels Sprouts, now carrot soufle - lets make veggies fun!!  This is an amazing dish, hot OR cold.  I guarantee your kids will love it.  I have made this for cooking classes, even as a sampler for a retail kitchen supply store, and everyone walking by that tasted it loved it.  Super simple, a GREAT holiday side dish, but also good for everyday cooking.  Let me know how you like it! Carrot Soufle Ingredients 1 lb carrot (steamed soft, then mashed) 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup butter , softened but not warm or melted 3 eggs , beaten                    3 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon cinnamon (to taste) 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (to taste) Directions 1.        Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the baking dish. 2.        Mix all ingredients in bowl with a mixer. 3.        Pour into an 8x8 inch glass baking dish. 4.        Bake 45-50 minutes, until knife comes clean. 5.        Can be served hot or cold. 6.        Refrige

Ah Brussels Sprouts!!!   I am thinking YUM, and you are probably thinking….. YUK!!   I would say 8 out of 10 people think they hate these petit chou’s (sorry Tory…) but that is probably because they haven’t had them prepared right!   Sprouts are incredibly good for you – they are LOADED with vitamin C, and a bunch of other good stuff.   Here are a couple of ways to prepare them that are my favorite – and I would be willing to bet they will become yours as well!   One word of advice – use FRESH sprouts.   Frozen are sort of ok for these recipes, but they tend to be too soggy, and just don’t have the same flavor. OK, here goes: Sautéed Brussels sprouts, with shallot, garlic, baby portabella mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Ingredients: One package fresh Brussels sprouts 1 small shallot, diced fine 3 cloves garlic, diced fine (almost minced) 1tbs olive oil 1 tbs butter 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered 2/3 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms ( a good handful anyway – pre sliced are fine, just chop

Ok, here is another "diet" recipe.  Pork loin chops in mushroom cream sauce with sauteed green beans.  This is a great recipe, and super easy to make: Ingredients:                                                                           Pork Chops with Mushrooms and Cream Sauce, with sauteed green beans  2 boneless pork chops 4 tbs olive oil 1 small shallot, diced small, split in half 3 cloves garlic, diced small, split in half 2 tbs olive oil * NOT extra virgin 2 tbs butter 1/2 bag frozen green beans ( or about a cup of fresh - fresh is preferable) 1/2 pkg mushrooms, diced 2/3 cup 1/2 and 1/2 Salt and pepper to taste In large saute pan, place 2 tbs olive oil, and one tbs butter, melt over med high heat.  Place chops in pan, and brown on each side - about 5 minutes per side.  Remove meat to separate plate, lower heat to med.  Add 1/2 shallots, garlic, and sautee till translucent - about 4 or 5 minutes.     Sautee mushrooms  Add mushrooms, saute till tender, abut 4 minu

Well, Lynne and I are going on diets….. so how do you do a cooking/food blog on a diet?   Well, I am going to start posting recipes we are using to loose weight.   We are using a combination of the South Beach diet and Suzanne Somer’s diet.   Both are low carb, high protein diets, but South Beach uses more lean protein, hence it is a bit more heart healthy.   That is a good thing, considering I have had cardiac issues in the last few years.   Both diets start out with virtually NO carbs – no sugar, no bread, no pasta, and worst of all no alcohol… ugh.    Makes sense, since your body converts starches ( potatoes, bread, pasta, etc) to sugar, and  alcohol to sugar… and ultimately sugar to fat. But we both have fairly stressful jobs, so not being able to come home and have a glass of wine is an issue… more on that later. So, some “diet” recipes.   Please keep in mind, these are NOT calorie counter recipes – they are healthy eating recipes : healthy fats such as olive oil, almonds, etc

THATS alot of snow! Made these for lunch today, while I was contemplating shoveling two feet of snow off the walk out to the cars - about a 100 foot trek.... Came up with the recipe based on what I had in the house at the time, since I clearly wasnt going anywhere to get groceries!!  These were FANTASTIC!!  Highly recommended by my wife! Dan’s Snow Storm Stuffed ‘Shrooms… 6 large mushroom caps ¼ stick cream cheese ½ cup gorgonzola cheese 5 strips bacon crumbled fairly small 8 cherry tomatoes, diced ½ tsp garlic powder fresh ground salt and pepper to taste ( about 6 or 7 twists) 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs ( more or less for texture) Pre heat oven to 375 Place bacon on paper towel, and microwave bacon – 1 minute on high per strip, plus 1 extra minute, on high.   Make sure it is crispy, but not burnt. De stem mushroom caps ( they should be about 1.5 to 2 inches across), place on a paper towel hole down, and microwave for 1 minute on high.   Set aside. Soften cream cheese in microwave for

My daughter and I have been building this blog for about the last couple of months.  It has been totaly cool - we have had hundreds of page views from around the world... all for something she and I love to do on a daily basis. One thing though - we both would LOVE it if you commented on the recipes that you have tried!  Please let us know if you thought they were truly "easy".  Let us know any changes you made to the recipes - changes are good - all recipes are only a guideline - not a bible!  I rarely measure anything, so for me to post these recipes is sometimes... challenging... because I cook very loosely, by taste.  Sign up as a follower - still trying to figure out how to get the blog to email followers of new posts.... hopefully that is possible.  If you have any favorite recipes of your own, please email them to me at navyart@danielprice.com  , and I will be happy to put them up on the blog!  Thanks again for reading, and bon appetit! Dan and Tory

Fettuccini Alfredo – ah, so good, so easy, and oh soooo fattening!   Ok, I get it! This stuff is a heart attack on a plate... or, in this case, a bowl.   This is a total treat – but oh so worth it!   I made it tonight, as a last hurrah before Lynne and I go on a lean protein, low fat diet.   We both are trying to loose some weight for our son’s wedding in July – I   need to loose it, she doesn’t, but we both are doing the diet. So if you are feeling like a decadently rich meal, that takes about 20 minutes total to make, this is your ticket! Ingredients are simple, technique even more so: About a 1 inch bunch of white fettucini ( Please don’t use whole wheat…..just ain’t the same!) 1.2   stick butter ½ cup parmesan cheese, or fresh shredded parmesan reggiano cheese ¾ cup heavy cream 2 cloves garlic diced fine 1 small shallot, or ½ med shallot diced fine 3 slices proscuito diced rough 2/3 cup peas 10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise Salt and Pepper to taste. In a 3 qt sauce pan