Braised Sirloin with Zinfandel and Cremini Mushroom Sauce

page 134.

This wasn't too hard to make and it turned out all right.  I think it would probably be better if you made it and ate it all in the same event, but it froze nicely and wasn't too fatty.

I ate it over rice and am considering egg noodles next time, but the rice absorbed the sauce nicely.

Kristine's Baked Shrimp Scampi

Behold! My first recipe! Nevermind that it's with a protein that I honestly don't like to touch... it's still tasty.

Baked Shrimp Scampi on a Bed of Linguine

Baked Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients

• 3/4 - 1lb large shrimp (prawns
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons white wine (the dryer the better)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 - 2 shallots, minced
• 4 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• dash of red pepper flakes (or more or less depending on how spicy you want the dish)
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• Cooked pasta (recommened: angel hair) [optional]

Right when the shrimps come out of the oven, they should look kinda like this!

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Make sure that the rack is in the center of the oven.
2. If your shrimp are not already cleaned, do so. Leave the tails on.
3. Make sure your shrimp are dry and then put them in a bowl. Add 3Tbsp olive oil, 2Tbsp white wine, and 2tsp salt and mix. Leave them in the bowl while you do step 4.
4. Melt the 1 1/2 sticks of butter. In a smallish mixing bowl, add the butter you just melted, the minced shallot, 4tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp thyme, a dash of red pepper flakes (or more... just keep in a mind that a little goes a long way), 2Tbsp lemon juice, and 1/2tsp salt. Mix together well.
5. Arrange the shrimp in a glass or ceramic baking dish so that they are next to each other but not overlapping or stacked. Pour the remaining olive oil and wine over the shrimp. Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp. The liquid shouldn't come over the top of the shrimp.
6. Bake in your preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes until shrimps are cooked (pinkish).
7. Place shrimp over a bed of cooked pasta. Ladle the butter sauce from the baking dish over the shrimp and the pasta. Serve hot.

French Onion Salisbury Steak

From free "Cuisine at Home" sample magazine
Page 34 - 35

This is one of my favorite dishes. I'd never made it before, but my mom has and I've always loved it.

I used 80/20 ground beef (the butcher said it was the same thing as ground chuck)... this lead to a VERY fatty dish. Not to say it wasn't tasty... it was just very fatty. After refrigerating it, it was really obvious how much fat was in it because it all clumped together in an orange-ish (because of the beef broth) film. It all melted in the microwave though! Next time, I'll probably sacrifice a little bit of the flavor for leaner beef.

With crock pot mac & cheese on the side... yummmm.