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Herbed Rice Pilaf:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground white pepper

Position rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium oven safe saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until opaque (cloudy), and nutty in aroma, about 2 minutes. Add the scallions, thyme, chicken stock and salt and bring to a boil.

Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid. Using oven mitts or pot holders, transfer to the oven, and bake until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the pan from the oven and let sit, undisturbed, for 5 to 10 minutes.

Fluff the rice with a fork and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 1/2 cups, 4 to 6 servings

Baked Shrimp Scampi:

• 2 pounds (12 to 15 per pound) shrimp in the shell
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 extra-large egg yolk
• 2/3 cup panko (Japanese dried bread flakes)
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Peel, devein, and butterfly the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Place the shrimp in a mixing bowl and toss gently with the olive oil, wine, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Allow to sit at room temperature while you make the butter and garlic mixture.

In a small bowl, mash the softened butter with the garlic, shallots, parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolk, panko, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until combined.

Starting from the outer edge of a 14-inch oval gratin dish, arrange the shrimp in a single layer cut side down with the tails curling up and towards the center of the dish. Pour the remaining marinade over the shrimp. Spread the butter mixture evenly over the shrimp. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until hot and bubbly. If you like the top browned, place under a broiler for 1 minute. Serve with lemon wedges.

Sauteed Garlic:

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 bunch broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil, garlic, and pepper flakes in a large skillet of medium heat until fragrant and garlic begins to brown, about 30 seconds. Stir in broccoli and cook until the broccoli is bright green, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and season with salt and pepper and cook until just tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Serve.

My take: I started with the rice and once I got it in the oven I started on the shrimp. When the rice came out of the oven, I put the shrimp in and started on the broccoli. The timing worked perfectly!

I would use slightly less lemon zest in the garlic-butter mixture for the shrimp and more salt. The shrimp was yummy, but needed a little more salt at the table. Also, 2 pounds of shrimp was an awful lot. I did a single layer (smooshed together) in a 9X13 baking dish and then also had more that got tossed. So, if you have more than two people, do the two pounds, but if not, get less and save some hassle and money.

The rice was super delish and extremely easy! We will be having this side with many other main dishes. I may not be going back to boil-in-a-bag rice again.

The broccoli is a recipe I’ve been cooking for months and we absolutely love it. Again, super easy and you don’t have to add red pepper flakes if you don’t want.

Enjoy!

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I found a really yummy recipe a few years ago, and I make it every once in a while, though I change it a bit. Here is the original recipe. I don’t change the ingredients, however instead of stuffing the chicken, before I put it in the oven, I smother the chicken in the Fontina-sundried tomato-artichoke mixture. Also, it takes longer to cook than the recipe states. I give it a good browning on both sides and then put it in the oven for at least a good ten to fifteen minutes.

I usually have extra Fontina-sundried tomato-artichoke mixture so I toss that with some Farfalle pasta and garlic as a side. YUMMY!

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On Saturday we went to Fernbank for the Dino Birthday Bash. It. Was. Terrible. We switched cars and accidentally left the stroller at home…which we didn’t realize until we got there. By the time we got back to Fernbank 45 minutes later both parking lots were full and we had to park two blocks away at the golf course. This should have been our first clue to go home, right? Colin somehow during the car ride morphed into his “BAD” mood and was ferocious. He was happy to play with bubbles out front, though, so we did that for a few minutes before going inside.

Once we got inside it was wall to wall people. A friend made a good point that a lot of people bought their season passes on Groupon, like we did, and all those same people got the same e-mail about the Dino Birthday Bash as we did. No wonder it was packed! There were different stations set up with games, arts & crafts and snacks, but the lines were so long that they all just blended together and you couldn’t tell what went where. After about 10 minutes we decided to just see the Gecko exhibit and then head to the rest of our errands.

Here’s a fun fact about geckos. They tend to blend into their surroundings! It was hard enough to find them with adult eyes, let alone try and point them out to Colin. “See the thing that looks like a leaf, but is’t a leaf, that’s surrounded by a bunch of leaves? Oh, you don’t?” It didn’t go over so well. I am SO glad that there was no out of pocket cost for the visit – I’d have been livid.

Note for the future – only go to Fernbank during the week!

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