Quick Shrimp & Penne With Bleu Cheese Vermouth Sauce

If you've heard the old saw that forbids the combination of fish or seafood with cheese, this is one recipe that dispels that misguided advice. Lets be real, there are loads of dishes that ignore that rule including Sole Romano or Flounder with Parmesan Crumbs; Lobster Mac n Cheese; Shrimp, Crab & Scallop Alfredo; or even good old fashioned tuna casserole. So go ahead, it's perfectly delicious to cheese up your fish with abandon!

Quick Shrimp & Penne

With Bleu Cheese Vermouth Sauce

Serves 2

• 12 jumbo shrimp, tails removed, deveined
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 4 T dry white vermouth
• 4 T half and half
• 4 T bleu cheese, crumbled
• 2 small green onions, sliced across - reserve 1 T of the green bits for garnish
• lots of fresh ground black pepper
• freshly shaved parmesan cheese for finishing
• 2 C cooked penne

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes - stir, but do not brown. Once the garlic has softened, add the shrimp. Cook until just pink on both sides. Remove just the shrimp to a plate and set aside.

Add green onions to the oil, garlic and red pepper in the skillet, then add vermouth. Stir up all the good stuff from the bottom of the pan. Add the half & half and stir again; add bleu cheese and stir until smooth. Season with pepper.

Plate the penne in two shallow bowls (to hold all that creamy, cheesy sauce), then divide the shrimp and sauce between them. Garnish with green onion and shaved parm. Add a green salad and dinner is ready in minutes!

NOTE: This really is a quickie recipe...as long as you have cooked pasta on hand, and I did. 

Pro Tip: Cook that whole box of pasta even if you only need part of it, and freeze what's left for fast future dinners (just be sure to cook it only to the al dente stage before freezing in 2 C portions). 

Brunch-Time Bacon Lettuce Tomato Potato..The BBLTP

Here's a super simple take on a lunch classic transformed into a brunch treat....a BBLTP....brunch-time bacon lettuce tomato potato. So simple, it's almost a Quickie. Truthfully, if you have a baked potato on hand, it IS a quickie because it's a simple dish that's quick and easy to make.

Besides mimicking the flavors of my favorite in-season-tomato summertime treat, this hearty breakfast is a real stick-to-your-ribs meal. 

Take a baked Russet potato, scoop out enough flesh to hold one or two eggs (depending on the size of the potato and the size of your appetite), break an egg (or two) into the hole and bake until set. Sprinkle with pre-cooked crumbled bacon (store bought to keep with the easy theme here), a little chopped tomato, shredded lettuce and (not shown in the pic) a side of a little mayo blended with a smidge of lemon juice. What's a BLT or BBLTP without mayo?!

The perfect accompaniment? Well, a Bloody Mary, of course. Isn't that the answer to any brunch question?

The BBLTP

(Brunch-Time Bacon Lettuce Tomato Potato)

• 1 baked potato, cooled - take a thin slice off the top and discard (or butter and eat...bonus for the cook!), scoop out enough flesh to hold 1 or 2 eggs - Make these the night before to this step and brunch will come together in no time
• 1 or 2 eggs per potato, depending on the size of the potato AND your appetite
• a handful of pre-cooked and crumbled bacon, warmed in the microwave - I get mine at Costco
• shredded Romaine lettuce
• finely diced fresh tomato
• freshly ground black pepper 
• kosher salt
• butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 



First season the inside of the potato well with fresh ground black pepper, a little kosher salt, a pat of butter and a sprinkle of crumbled bacon. 

Break the egg(s) into the hollow of the potato and bake until the eggs are set. I like mine runny - makes a nice extra bit of sauce - but, if you like yours hard, go ahead, it's YOUR breakfast! Usually takes my oven about 30 minutes, yours may take more or less time. Remember, it's how YOU like it.

Remove from the oven, plate and garnish with bacon, tomato and lettuce.

And don't forget the mayo!

Simple South-of-the-Border Meatloaf

Time for a Quickie. A few basic ingredients...some with a bit of a kick(!), a little time in the oven (while you're at it, throw in some small red potatoes and baby carrots to really make it a quickie), add a fresh green side salad and there you have it. Dinner Plan-it Quickie!

Simple South-of-the-Border Meatloaf

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 3/4 pound ground pork
• 3 slices bread, torn into pieces (gluten-free bread to make this GF) - leave the crusts on!
• 2 eggs
• 1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes and chiles
• 1 t freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 T Jane's Crazy Salt
• Heinz Jalapeno Ketchup - my new addiction! (or regular Heinz if you can't take the heat)

• 1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, cut in half
• 1 pound baby carrots

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Combine all ingredients well (except ketchup), but lightly - you don't want a compacted, dense meatloaf, do you?

Divide mixture in half and make two loaves out of the mixture. Spray a roasting pan with Pam or line it with parchment paper. Arrange the meatloves in the pan with enough space between them to allow the heat to circulate. Drizzle the jalapeno ketchup on top - I like LOTS(!), scatter the potatoes and carrots around them and pop the pan into the oven for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Stir and baste the veggies a couple of times with the pan juices to keep them moist. If you need to, add a little water.

When the meatloaves are cooked through and the veggies are slightly browned, remove the pan from the oven. Set one meatloaf in the center of a platter, surround with the veggies, let them sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

I love cold meatloaf sandwiches, don't you?

Don't need 2 meatloaves at once? Freeze one for easy dinners during the week...that's exactly what I do.

Jalapeno Chipotle Pork Chops with Tomato Quinoa

Good old fashioned pork chops and tomato rice (like we made back in the 60's when we thought they were gourmet) just got a makeover. In my kitchen. No, they're still not a fancy dish by any means, but they're still some doggone good eating.

The old version consisted of pork chops, canned tomatoes, onion, green pepper rings and instant rice. Period. 

The makeover? A little heat of jalapeno and chipotle, a bottle of beer (gluten-free in my case, maybe a nice Mexican beer for you?), a little accent of cumino and cilantro, some roasted sweet corn and instead of rice (confession time, I only had black, red and arborio and didn't want to use any of those), quinoa stood in to get a whole new thing going on. There's something to be said for a jazzy new dish that's still familiar.

You might want to add a green veggie or a salad, but with peppers, onions, tomatoes and corn already in the mix, if time is short what's in the skillet is really all you need. On top of that, it's so easy I'm putting this one into the "quickie" category...after all, it goes together quickly AND it's a one dish diner!

Jalapeno Chipotle Pork Chops 

with Tomato Quinoa

• 2 T canola oil
• 4 nice sized, thick, bone-in pork chops - I like center cut loin chops
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 large jalapeno, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 cans fire roasted tomatoes, UNdrained
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1 t cumin
• 1/2 t dried basil
• 3/4 t chipotle powder (seriously, if you haven't gotten yourself a bottle of this smoky wonder-spice, get ON it!)
• 1 1/2 C quinoa - rinse well in a sieve under running water before adding to the skillet
• a 12 oz bottle or can of your favorite beer - gluten-free, of course, to make this GF
• 1 C roasted corn kernels (if you're roasting these yourself, dry fry in a skillet or buy already roasted corn in the freezer section of Trader Joe's (yep...MY choice!)
• a handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

In a large skillet (I use my trusty electric skillet), heat the oil. Season the chops liberally with salt and pepper and brown them on both sides. 

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl mix the onion through quinoa together thoroughly. Once the chops are browned, spoon a pile of the mixture on top of each chop and then distribute the rest of the mixture around and between the chops.

Carefully pour the beer between the chops, cover, reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 45 minutes to an hour until the chops are tender and the quinoa is cooked. Check occasionally to be sure the liquid hasn't dissipated. If it's getting dry, add a little water (or more beer) and keep an eye on it.

Serve with a sprinkling of roasted corn and chopped cilantro.