Lessons Jenny Craig Forgot

My cousin recently found a CNN article that says research shows fatty foods are as addictive as cocaine. I believe it, and tonight's dinner fed the addiction. We had a deluxe (as my Grandmother would say) potato casserole and bacon-wrapped shrimp. My shaggy son wanted to know what we were celebrating with the fancy food, and I responded "Eating."

Let me start with the casserole which I found in my new cooking buddy, Best of Taste of Home, but of course I didn't follow the directions exactly. (You didn't really expect me to, did you?) The casserole starts with boiled potatoes cooked to fork tender. Then dress-ups like sour cream, cheese, butter, green onions, and cream of chicken soup are added to the spuds before baking for a lengthy 40 to 45 minutes. As my potatoes cooked, I rummaged the pantry for a can of soup, but found nothing suitable for the dish. I don't know how I could be out of all cream soups, but I was. (Perhaps someone lives in our attic and eats our food while we're at school.) Since I was soup-less I decided to use a jar of white pasta sauce - garlic and parmesan variety. I also added a good dose of salt and pepper because they make everything better. In the end, this dish was wonderful. Chunky potatoes, rich sauce, steam rising from the casserole when I took it from the oven - all the things I like to see. I'm betting it will be even better after it sits in the fridge over night. (I'm contemplating dishing it up with a scrambled egg for breakfast tomorrow!)

The shrimp dish came from the same recipe collection, but again I didn't quite do what I was told (bid surprise). First, I had smaller shrimp than called for. The bigger ones are a time saver since you don't have to wrap as many bacon slices, but the smaller ones are much less expensive in the grocery. I routinely buy the medium-size shrimp in 1 pound bags on sale for $3.95 while the large tiger shrimp run upwards of $7.95 a pound. For that much of a difference, I can spend an extra ten minutes wrapping bacon. The recipe also instructed me to include a fresh basil leaf in each little package. Alas, I just started over with my basil plant and didn't have enough leaves to even begin this task, so I decided to sprinkle them all with Italian seasoning and a little lemon juice. After they cooked until the bacon was crisp, a little barbecue sauce and goat's cheese went on top before a couple more minutes in the oven. While I am a fan of goat's cheese (love the creaminess!), it did not add anything here. I couldn't really taste it because the herbs, lemon, and barbecue overpowered it. So, next time I will skip the cheese completely. In addition, I think the Italian herbs, a good dose of garlic, and fresh lemon is all the shrimp really needs, so I'll probably skip the barbecue sauce as well.

Overall, the meal was wonderful. A nice glass of wine finished off the plate well, and Jeff did the dishes. Ah....bring on the addiction. (Photos of tonight's dinner are posted below/right.)