Coconut Shrimp with Mango Sauce

I was watching my favorite guilty pleasure The Chew recently and I saw them make their own spin on coconut shrimp. Remember those shrimp caked in coconut flakes and fried to perfection with a sweet dipping sauce? Yup, me too. I think they are delicious. I did however like the idea of making what's already good better.

Grilled Veggie & Goat Cheese Crostini

Summer is here people! I was looking for a light dinner and did not want to even step foot near my stove. I found this recipe on Whole Foods.com and I could not wait to get home and grill my dinner! These are what I would call a fancy open face sandwich and it could not be easier to cook! If you were looking for smaller portions for appetizer just use smaller portions of bread and slice veggies a bit smaller and this will wow your guests!

Cauliflower Nuggets

So I dubbed these cauliflower nuggets because they remind me of chicken nuggets and actually kind of look  and taste like them, but of course they are cauliflower florets. These are the base for baked bang bang cauliflower ( pre-sauce) and I came to the conclusion these are just as delicious and would be a great meal or snack any day!

Spicy Sea Scallops

Scallops may be one of my favorite foods ever. I really enjoy when they are super crusty on the outside and tender on the inside. Give me a squeeze of lemon and I am in Heaven!I enjoy making scallops when I have company or when I want to treat myself to a special meal. I originally wanted to model these after my favorite scallop appetizer at Kartabar in Providence, RI. If you are in the area folks, check it out because the food is bangin and it is not expensive!

WIAW & Crunchy Avocado Fries

Oh hello avocado fries! You are my new favorite snack!I once read an article that said Mayan's thought avocados held mystical powers. Well folks, after eating these babies, the Mayan's have made me a believer! Ok, stop salivating.First, let's recap some of my highlights of what I ate this week for WIAW!

Cilantro Pesto Shrimp

This may be one of the easiest and most flavorful dishes dishes ever made. My friend Katie introduced me to this dish last year and I am so excited to share it with all of you!This a very versatile dish that you can use to make fajitas, tacos, or even a yummy appetizer. I decided to serve these on a bed of cauliflower and goat cheese puree and let me tell you this was quite an exciting dish.

Steamers with Wine & Butter Sauce

I must confess, this was my first time making steamers. Steamers, if you are not familiar are steamed clams. Like most shellfish, they are so easy to cook. You literally throw them in a pot with some liquid (beer,stock,wine) and they open and absorb all that yummyness!Serve this with some crust bread and you have yourself a great meal or appetizer. 

Honeycomb & Cheese Crostini

Chewy.Sweet.Creamy=Amazingness

Can I start by saying this appetizer was such a hit!When I first went to Aquidneck Honey and visited Jeff, he gave me the idea for this appetizer. His honey was so sweet and amazing. Since he uses no pesticides, I felt alot better about using it in my menu. Now we are talking honey comb here, not straight up honey. I think serving honey comb adds such a "wow factor" to your dish. It is different and many guests may not have had it before. That always "ups the ante" for any dish. I paired this sweet honey with an Italian style cheese with nutty and caramel tones. I got the cheese from Narragansett Creamery who uses all local milk and cream with no artificial growth hormones. Hooray! If you cannot find this cheese, ask the cheese man( or woman) for a nutty cheese. Pair this with some amazing crusty bread, and you have one hell of an appetizer that is really simple to put together. The crustiness of the bread paired with the melted,nutty cheese and sweet sticky honey. It is a slice of heaven.

Chewy Soft Pretzel Bites

No one likes soft pretzels like my friend Katie. In college she would buy frozen soft pretzels to bake when we came home from a long night of partying or just because. Well, those days are long over for us ( 5 year reunion this year<cringe>.) Even though college is over, we can still rejoice because there is always an occasion to make soft pretzels.Kids LOVE pretzels and heck, adults do too. These are perfect just to snack on or to serve at your next party.

Insanely Easy Homemade Ricotta.. Oh and I won an Award!!

First I will start off with the blog award since that is more exciting than making cheese. A big, HUGE thank you to Ruth from Spring of a Curiouseed and Maggie from Kitchie Coo for awarding me with the coolest award around town. Please visit their blogs. They are awesome. And funny. Did I mention funny? Anyway, this award is awarded to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. Thank you for making my day ladies!

Now.... time to pass it on to five blogs. I would love to give the following blogs this award!
Oh Cake
Texanas Kitchen
What Would Jessica Eat?
Oh Shine on
Quest for Delish

Now, for the recipe!!
Can I tell you how exciting it is to make your own cheese? I could have put thirty question mark/exclamation points after that sentence to show you how excited I am over this. Who knew making your own cheese was so easy? I found this recipe on the blog Tasty Kitchen, which features step by step directions and pictures to help you along the way. Dear God, I bought a gallon of milk for this. i wanted to make sure I did it right so I didn't ruin it!

Pepperoni & Cheese Monkey Bread

When I tell you.. "this is one of the most ingenious appetizer ever" I am not lying. I first saw this recipe on The food blog, The Sweets Life. You guys are familiar with monkey bread right? It is pieces of dough with cinnamon, sugar and a  yummy glaze. You get it. This is a savory twist on that and I swear to you, I will make this for every party we have. This is perfect party food and it is really inexpensive to make. You can assemble it before hand and then throw it in the oven before guests arrive. I borrowed my sister's bundt pan ( thanks Kel) since I didn't  have one. This is actually a great dish to make with kids too. It is really easy to make so they can easily help and I know they will like eating it. Who doesn't like pepperoni and cheese? Well, I guess if you don't you can fill them with whatever you want. Ham and cheese, veggies, steak and cheese, buffalo chicken and blue cheese. I just thought those up in five seconds. I'm sure you could think of more. You are creative.

Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls

Cheesy.gooey.Delicious

If you have been to a party at my house you are familiar with these amazing morsels of deliciousness. It is the perfect hybrid between street food and Chinese take-out. We first came across this recipe at Dave & Busters ( the adult Chuck E Cheese where you can drink lots of beer and play skee ball.)

The Nest's Recipe Swap: Mungo's Salad

Greetings from my couch. I am starting to get familiar with sleeping late and sitting on my couch for endless hours in my pajamas. God I love vacation. 

A Very Merry Foodie Christmas!!

The day after Christmas. wow. It is now the day after Christmas and I am sitting on my couch in PJ's and I have no desire to move from my current state. Except to maybe get some more food. Now, while I am cozy and sitting let me tell you a bit about my Christmas day. 

Feast of Seven Fishes( Kind Of): Coconut Shrimp

First off, "Merry Christmas Readers"! I hope you all had amazing holidays with your families and got everything you wanted this year! Today I want to talk about my Christmas Eve Celebration with my family and the yummy coconut shrimp I made. Traditionally my family eats lots of fish on Christmas Eve. This year we got "creative" with the seven fishes. We had coconut shrimp,crab cakes, and sushi. That's right. Can you picture a bunch of Italian people eating sushi on Christmas Eve? Classic. I think it makes things a little different. Plus who eats salted cod or eel anyway? Here is the recipe for coconut shrimp that I used from Paula Deen. I usually use panko, but I realized I had no breadcrumbs at home! There is no way I was going to the supermarket with it being so close to Christmas and all so I drove to my sisters and stole whatever breadcrumbs she had on hand. Regular breadcrumbs it is. I served these little morsels of goodness with an orange marmalade sauce Yum.

Coconut Shrimp with Orange Marmalade

Ingredients

·2 cups shredded sweetened coconut

·2 cups bread crumbs

·Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

·2 cups all-purpose flour

·4 large eggs, beaten

·24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

·Vegetable oil, for frying

Dipping Sauce:

·1/2 cup of orange marmalade

·1-2 tsp of dark rumDirections

In a large bowl, combine coconut and bread crumbs and season with salt and pepper. Place flour, eggs, and bread crumb mixture into 3 separate bowls. Dredge the shrimp in flour and shake off excess. Next, dip the shrimp thoroughly in the egg and rub against the side of the bowl to lightly remove excess. Finally, coat the shrimp thoroughly with the bread crumb mixture. Lay out the shrimp so they do not touch on a parchment-lined baking sheet or platter until ready to fry. In a large Dutch oven, heat several inches of oil to 350 degrees F. Fry the shrimp in batches until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Be careful not to overcrowd shrimp in the oil while frying. Drain on paper towels.

For the Dipping Sauce: heat the marmalade in a small saucepan over low heat. Thin with rum as desired.

My First Cooking Demo- Behind the Scenes!!

My and Kevin the awesome camera man/director

Today I want to talk about this awesome project I have been working on with my friends who are a part of the film group, Three Desert Films. They helped me film my first cooking video! We did two videos. One making easy holiday party snacks! We made spinach and feta puff pastry bites! Yum! Then we made some fun a festive holiday cocktail, sweet & Spicy eggnog with Spice Box Whiskey!