this recipe is deeeeeee-lish! i found it on a publix apron recipe card a couple of years ago and have modified it a little bit to make it "our" own. this LITERALLY take 7 minutes to make, and it's so rich tasting you can tell your friends you slaved over it for a long time.

well, that is, if you caught the shrimp yourself. or if you cook it over a campfire. or make your own pasta.

neither of which i do, so this meal takes me 7 minutes. ha!

here's what you need:
1 lb large shrimp, peeled, de-veined, tails off.
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp crushed basil
feta cheese
whole-wheat vermicelli or angel-hair pasta
sliced black olives (optional)

to make:
put butter and minced garlic into saute pan and saute the garlic. don't let it burn! add in the shrimp to cook (just make them pink), basil, and tomatoes to warm them. here is where you also add in the black olives if that floats your boat. in a separate pan, boil your noodles.

drain noodles and add them to the pan (or you can serve up the shrimp and tomatoes on top of the noodles). add the feta on top.

enjoy...and add this to your rotation!

Ahhh, yet another easy recipe that takes NO TIME!

"Dump-n-Go" Santa Fe Casserole

You will need:
2 boil-in-bags jasmine rice
1 small can chopped green chilis
2 whole jalapenos
4 tbs spicy salsa
1/2 can diced tomatoes (or rotel)
shredded chicken
colby jack cheese (shredded)
dash cayenne pepper
dash old bay seasoning

Directions:
Boil chicken breasts and shred with fork. Boil instant jasmine rice. Or any kind of rice. We like jasmine 'round these parts!

Chop up the jalapenos. Remember not to touch your eyes!

Use a medium-sized casserole dish.

Literally DUMP in all ingredients except the cheese. Save that heavenly goodness for later.

Put foil on and bake in your normal (not amazingly hot) oven 350 for 20 minutes to let everything cook together. The last 2-3 minutes, take the dish out of the oven and sprinkle the cheese on top. Put it back in the oven, uncovered, to melt the cheese.

Serve with sour cream and add this one to your rotation :)

Hi, I'm Joanna and I'm a terrible cook. There, I said it.

My mom and my grandmother are fantastic cooks, both have "family recipes" that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Last Christmas my mom gave me a cookbook filled with recipes from family and friends. It was wonderful and I've used so many of them! My friends and family have great "taste"! I, however have ZERO "passing-down-able" recipes and we tend to eat the same thing(s) a couple times in a month. So instead of Reece having no recipes to impress the ladies with when he's 37 years old, I'm going to start writing down some of my kitchen delights for him. Or you. Or to remind me when I've got grocery-list-writers-block and can't think of anything that sounds good!

I'm a big fan of easy dinners. I'm also a big fan of personalizing your "own" dinners since half the time Trey wants to put scads of cheese and pepper on his food and I...well...I don't.


So here you have 'em. And they literally take 15 minutes:


EZPZ knockoff california pizza kitchen chicken bbq pizzas!


you will need:

mama mia's personal "thin and crispy" pizza rounds

bull's eye original BBQ sauce

mozarella cheese (shredded)

1/2 chicken breast (makes 2 pizzas)

fresh cilantro

red onion


brown up the chicken and red onion. cut the chicken into very small chunks. put bbq sauce on pizza shell. top the pizza with chicken, red onion, cilantro and shredded cheese on top of the pizza and put them in the oven for 10 mins on 350.

unless you have an oven like mine...then it's 5 mins on 250.

because 145,693 batches of chocolate chip cookies later i realized my oven is massively hot. ugh.

eat and enjoy...and add them to your rotation :)