Gourmet Meals For Less

Good Cheap Eats....just how I like them

 

I'm so excited to be featured today on Good Cheap Eats'

 

 

Jessica, the author of Good Cheap Eats, has a philosophy we all need to be following...
eat well, act your wage, enjoy life!  

Her website is full of great recipes, resources, and tips on how to eat well and still "act your wage", so I was honored to have Gourmet Meals for Less included today...and as long as she doesn't ask me to act my "age" we'll be good...cause that's kinda hard for me sometimes...grin.

So head on over there and check out the great recipe I made the other day, inspired by my love for shrimp and Gulf Shore shrimpers!  But don't forget to come back here tomorrow, where I'll be featuring another great gourmet recipe for less!

 

 

 

A fresh idea for a hot summer day...Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Well, we’re back…coming home from vacation is always such a mixture of emotions.  On the one hand you are glad to be home to catch up on everything, check on your flowers and garden, mow your 2 foot tall grass…on the other hand it’s hard to get back to reality.  Laundry, pets, chores.  Sigh..it was a great vacation.

  

I arrived home to an abundance of herbs and wanting to stay true to my promise I was eager to get started on another recipe using these fresh and free(!) seasonings.  I had a chance while I was gone to really peruse my cooking magazines and I came across a recipe for Summer Rolls or as I knew them “Fresh Spring Rolls”.  I just love them.  They were my favorite menu item at our little Thai restaurant in Seattle…that I miss so very much.

 

This is a great recipe to create with kids.  So I pulled my girl and her darling best friend into the kitchen with me to recreate these.  A few things we learned along the way.  There is definitely an art to making fresh rolls.  Out last ones looked way better than the first ones we made.  Also, these are an acquired taste.  Not everyone will like them.  I LOVE them,  hubby ehhh so-so…he likes the fried ones better go figure. J

 

But they were so much fun to make!  We made one version of them but there are a million possibilities.  I will give you some more options at the end.

Lemons, Herbs and Pesto...a great combination! Part 1

 

 

 
  

So what do you do when your mother in law gives you a bag of lemons…no you don’t make lemonade (how cliché!)…you make Lemon Sautéed Shrimp and Pesto over Penne Pasta and Lemon Thyme Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Raspberries.

Spring is in the air...Shrimp over Coconut Rice

Sigh…yes I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a new recipe.  I blame it on the weather, it’s just been too beautiful to sit for hours in front of the computer editing photo’s and typing out recipes.

 

I’ve also been preparing for two major events coming up in our lives, a 16^th birthday, with 40+ kids in attendance and a college graduation for my husband.  I confess I have been quite consumed with the preparation for these two events.  They are major milestones in our family and deserving of my undivided attention.  That being said, I have still continued to prepare $10 and under meals (with the occasional dinner out I must confess) and will post these as I have time.  So forgive me for my sporadic updates over the next few weeks.

 

The other day I made another great $10 Everyday with Rachael Ray recipe.  I promised more uses of that curry paste I encouraged you to buy several months ago, and this recipe made good use of that.  I learned something disturbing though, when I made this most recent curry dish…my hubby doesn’t particularly like curry.  GASP!   But, claims to like Indian food…not sure how that works out but anyway, I digress.   So, he would tell you this was probably not one of his most favorite dishes I have made but I LOVED it!  I figured the less he eats of it means more leftovers for me.  It was quick and easy, which I need these days, and looked very “springy”.   

 

I modified the recipe slightly…a little secret…I HATE green beans, so I left those out, but you can include them as called for in the original recipe.  I also used the mild red curry paste instead of green, since we are being frugal here and that is what I had on hand…modify, modify, modify…don’t be scared to modify. 

 

 

I Love My Funny Valentine....

 
  I love my husband.."Well, of course you do",  I can hear you saying.  But in today's world that's not a given anymore.  After almost 18 years of marriage and 20 years together, I can honestly say I love him more today than I did then, and I love him more than I did 5 years ago or 1 year ago.  I am so blessed that I get to love him a little more each year, each day....can't wait to see what 50 years looks like!

Because I love him and because he gives me the gift of providing for me, and allowing me the blessing of staying home each day to educate our children in our home and the opportunity to be a homemaker in a beautiful house, because he never denies me really anything....I decided to do something special for HIM for Valentine's Day.  Really, who decided that Valentine's Day was a "ladies only" holiday? 

I wanted to surprise him, so I had to do a lot of secret behind the scenes preparation.  This involved finding a place for all four "children" to go, two who are human and two who are canine.  And then, deciding where to take him...This is where we ended up

Is there anything better than pasta or shrimp? How about them together...

 
  
  
I love pasta and I love shrimp and I just happened to have both of these on hand last night, so I decided what better than to combine these two loves and throw them in a rich creamy tomato sauce.  Well let's just say the results were fabulous!  Hubby even told me to tell you all it's his all time favorite yet, so I'll take that as a favorable review.   Now I'm going to share this new recipe with you:

Cheese Tortellini with Shrimp in Tomato Cream Sauce