Sausage Fest!!

Spicy Sausage Pasta

Let me start by welcoming all of my little Shamsters back! It's been a WHILE since I posted last and let me tell you, I have missed this! As most of you know, food is my life and I love nothing more than finding a delicious recipe and then sharing it with as many people as possible! So here goes! I found this recipe on the recipe sanctuary, also known as Pinterest. It looked amazing on there and sure enough, it did not disappoint! It was fairly easy, affordable and good enough to triple the recipe next time I make it. I love recipes that involve using precooked meat, as I will do just about anything to avoid handling raw meat. Smoked sausage, penne pasta(or whatever pasta you desire,) monterey jack cheese, heavy cream, green onions...does it get any better than those ingredients? No. I have had over ten people message me about this recipe since posting it, hence the blog post. So here you go, I hope everyone reading this goes out and makes this recipe so that I can hear feedback! I was seriously considering going on a diet this week to rid the last of the pregnancy weight, but then I saw this recipe, and it just seemed wrong. Enjoy!

Spicy Sausage Pasta Recipe

Shammy Says "Pasta is the Key to True Happiness"

Cake + Cookies = HAPPINESS

These were nothing short of fantastic

I was extremely excited when I saw a recipe on Pinterest that mixed cake mix in with cookie batter. The result was pure perfection. Sprinkles, white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, I need to stop typing because this is making me hungry all over again for these. The recipe was a little more difficult than most cookie recipes but you know the saying, hard work pays off. This is so true in this situation, go the extra mile and your mouth will be very happy that you did. Since there is not too much more to say about this recipe I will make you wait no longer. Here it is:

Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Shammy Says "Best cookies I've ever made"

Surprise Surprise!

I have been eyeing this recipe on Pinterest for months now, and just assumed it was a bland recipe that looked good but tasted like crap. What happens when you assume? It makes an ASS out of U and ME. I've always waited for the perfect moment to insert that into one of my blog posts. Moving forward, I decided to try these out this week and I am sure glad I did. Not only were they much easier than regular enchiladas, but they were so good that I may be making this my go to recipe for enchiladas from now on. Funny story on how these finally got made; I put the chicken in the crockpot yesterday and got it cooking. By the time dinner rolled around, pancakes sounded much better than chicken enchiladas. So I turned off my crockpot and whipped up some pancakes and bacon. I was so tired and nearly on the brink of just tossing the chicken because I didn't want to mess with cooking the rest of it. But I rose above the exhaustion and decided I didn't want to throw away $8 worth of chicken. I was surprised at how quickly these came together, I mixed some ranch and picante and spread that onto corn tortillas(because I was out of flour tortillas,) topped with the shredded cooked chicken, and some shredded cheese. After they were prepped and in the pan, I baked them in the oven for 30 minutes. By this time, the exhaustion had worn off and pregnancy brain had set in. I decided to hop in the shower, only to panic halfway through when I realized that my enchiladas had been in for about 10 minutes too long. As I screamed at Pooh Bear to go get them out of the oven, I had come to terms with the fact that they were probably ruined and that this dish was just not meant to be. Low and behold they were not ruined and they tasted DELICIOUS. My leftovers today had everyone at work salivating and asking me what I was eating. I will say I am most surprised with this recipe out of all the recipes I have made. It is easy, cheap, yummy and apparently idiot proof. Whoever thought to use ranch in enchiladas in place of enchilada sauce is a GENIUS. 

Ranch Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Shammy Says "Don't ever judge a recipe by it's picture"

Crockpot Beef Carnitas Tacos

Not bad if I say so myself...

Original picture, personally I think mine is better.

I received so many messages and requests for this particular recipe that it blew my mind. I've made these twice now and I am shocked that it hasn't been more. These are low carb and cheese free, so it is shocking to me that I even enjoy them. Not only are they amazing, but this is one of the easiest recipes I have ever made. You buy a flank steak, yes you heard me right a flank steak, rub it with a generous amount of spices and place it in the crockpot. Chop up some onion, peppers, and jalapeno, throw those on top of the steak and set that baby on low for 8 hours. While that is cooking, I make my pineapple pico, which I found a while ago originally intended for a salmon recipe. I thought it didn't go very well with the BBQ Salmon so I tucked that little gem away for a different recipe later on down the line, and this is the perfect recipe for it. They go together like salt and jolly ranchers. I often find myself eating the pico all by itself with a bag of Lime Tostitos. The pineapple pico is pineapple, cilantro, onion, lime juice, jalapeno and salt. Simple, and in my opinion so much better than regular pico with tomatoes. I like my tomatoes sliced plain, with about a pound of sea salt. I will halt my raving about this recipe so you can rush out to the store for these ingredients right away. Don't be alarmed at the price of the flank steak, it is pricey but so worth it, especially when you will have dinner for 3 nights.

Crockpot Beef Carnitas Tacos Recipe

Shammy Says "Who knew flank steak could be so delicious?"

PANCAKES!

This is the picture from the original post, I have NO clue how they got them that fluffy.

My picture looks nothing like the picture above from the original post, but they tasted so delicious I that I really don't care.

Pancakes pancakes pancakes, where do I begin to describe my love for pancakes? We have pancakes for dinner on a normal basis, and we have them for breakfast on a more than normal basis. I have perfected the art of making the perfect pancake, or so I thought. This recipe is the absolute best pancake recipe I have come across. The only thing is that mine did not turn out fluffy at all, in fact they were quite limp. It may have been because I use Almond Milk instead of cow's milk, but like I said the taste is so yummy that I chose to disregard that small detail. When I saw sugar, melted butter, and white vinegar in the ingredients list, I was more than intrigued. Don't be alarmed about the vinegar, it is intended to curdle the milk(i.e. buttermilk,) so that it creates that delicious flavor of--BUTTERMILK PANCAKES. It really is the secret weapon in this recipe and it is going to be hard for me to rely on my Krusteaz mix from now on, which is damn good but not as good as these. The taste is creamy, rich, sweet and very cake-y, if that is even a word. Next time I make these I will try it with cow's milk to see if that gets me the fluffiness that I am longing for. Until then, ENJOY!

Best Pancakes Ever Recipe

Shammy Says "Batter up!"

Costa Vida...Muy Bueno!

Sweet Pork Nachos

Flan and Key Lime Pie

I was perusing Facebook a few months back and stumbled upon a video that one of my friends had posted. It was a guy preparing a tub of nachos, in a restaurant called "Costa Vida." I came to realize that he would soon be opening one in Tulsa, to my excitement. As I watched him drizzle multiple layers of nacho cheese, and apply shredded cheese, beans, slow cooked pork and then top it with cool guacamole and sour cream, I was sold. I had to have this dish, and SOON. Chuck Smith, my friend and the manager of Costa Vida was generous enough to invite me, along with many others to the soft opening to sample the food--for free. It doesn't get much better than that! The food was SPECTACULAR. There aren't words to describe the sweet pulled pork, it really is in a class of it's own. I've never actually tasted anything quite like it, it is sweet, tender with a little bit of a kick. I could have eaten a meal of that by itself, and I'm not a big meat person, as you all know. I knew the nachos would be tasty, but I wasn't expecting them to be as good as they were. The thing that separates them from 90% of the nachos that I have had in the past is the LAYERS! They start with a layer of chips on the bottom, then meat, then cheese, and then they bake them. After they finish baking, they add MORE meat, MORE cheese and their delicious homemade queso--which is out of this world. It is similar to Chili's skillet queso, except 100 times better! I topped mine with mexican cheese, guacamole, cilantro and of course 2 scoops of sour cream. I ate nearly the entire thing. I was so full that I could barely walk, but it was so worth it. Chuck then brought us out some of their key lime pie and their flan. I am not a huge fan of flan, but it was very good. The key lime pie was awesome. Overall I would give them a 10 out of 10. If you haven't heard of them until now, you need to check them out! They open today and they are located at 68th and Memorial next to Red Lobster. If you want to browse their menu before going, I posted a link to their website below, you're welcome :)

Costa Vida Website

Shammy Says "My new favorite mexican place!"

WOW

All in the crock pot!

Anybody who knows me in the slightest knows that Chicken Spaghetti is pretty much my favorite dish. I normally make the Pioneer Woman's recipe, which has been my favorite...until about thirty minutes ago. This recipe, Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti by the Crockin' Girls is fantastic AND easy. My best friend Fawna has been raving about the Crockin' Girls for a while now. She told me about this particular recipe last night and I immediately wanted to try it for myself. I mentioned before that I usually make the PW recipe, which is very good but it is pretty time consuming. This recipe was simple and it tasted just as good, if not better. My husband raved about it, making only one suggestion--to add more chicken. Men. They always need more meat. I could have eaten this sans meat and been just fine, but I am a woman, so that's par for the course. If I consumed cheese for the rest of my life I would be a pretty happy camper, I'm not picky. Back to the recipe, the only heavy lifting was chopping an onion and a bell pepper, if you even consider that heavy lifting. It calls for canned chicken, which is what really made this recipe a breeze, and all the more appealing to me. Throw in a couple of cans of cream of whatever soup and a can of rotel, and of course the star of the dish, VELVEETA. I used the white Velveeta per Fawna's recommendation. I do everything Fawna says because she's never steered me wrong :) The total cook time was around 2-3 hours, leaving me plenty of time to shove Doritos in my face while dinner was cooking. This may be one of my favorite recipes now, and so I shall share it with you all, if you don't already know about it!

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Recipe

Shammy Says "Crock Pot Recipes Rock"

Who You Gonna Call? DOMINOS

Bacon & pineapple = killer combo

I'm a lifer

We used to order from Mazzios all the time, then we started ordering from Pizza Hut, then Papa John's, and then finally just flipped back and forth between the three. Never did we order from Dominos. I have never cared for Dominos pizza, until recently. Ever since they revamped their recipe and came out with the famous "pizza tracker" I have been hooked. So hooked that I will NEVER order from Mazzios, Pizza Hut, or Papa John's ever again. Not because they aren't good, but because Dominos is better, way better. Let me start by saying that their cheesy bread is enough to make anybody break a diet(I am guilty of this,) their buffalo wings are extraordinary for a pizza place and their new pizza recipe is OUTSTANDING. Let me note that I have never really been a pizza person either, I have never craved it until recently. I now crave pizza. Weekly. Dominos has somehow perfected the pizza to a heavenly crispy crust, a perfect amount of cheese and their toppings are above any other. They always have my pizza at my door in less than 20 minutes. That's impressive. I order my pizza with pineapple and bacon, yes bacon. If you have never thought of putting bacon on your pizza, now you do. You're welcome. It's delicious. The crispiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the pineapple create the perfect taste, in my opinion. Give it a try, you won't order differently ever again.

Dominos Website

Shammy Says "You can call me shammy any day as long as I can shove Dominos in my face"

Any Dish That Begins With CARB...

How beautiful is this?

Carbonara is one of my favorite dishes to eat, but not to prepare. If any of you ask me the one dish I absolutely hate to make, I would vehemently answer "CARBONARA!" Every time I make it I feel like I am running a marathon with two broken legs. You need to have nearly all of your ingredients prepped and ready before you begin cooking your bacon, because once the bacon is done, you have about 30 seconds to chop it up, add the noodles, make the sauce and whisk in your eggs fast enough so that they don't scramble. However, on the bright side, once you're done being a maniac in the kitchen you get to sit down and enjoy this delicious meal, with a few glasses of wine of course. I have made numerous carbonara recipes, from healthy to heart attack on a plate. After making this particular recipe by Emeril Lagasse, I find that with food, along with everything else in life, "less is more." (Nacho cheese does not apply to that.) The healthy recipe I tried was by Bethenny Frankel--which was AMAZING by the way--but this one was better. She used turkey bacon instead of regular(which is sacreligious in my opinion,) soy milk instead of regular, and whole wheat pasta. My love for Bethenny runs deep and her recipe was very yummy so I will post a link to her recipe at the bottom as well. Some of the others I tried used heavy cream(whole milk works just as good in my opinion,) along with excessive amounts of fancy cheeses. This resulted in a dish that was too rich and when a dish is too rich you can say sayonara to leftovers, blegh! Ok now on to the winner, Emeril! I found this recipe after scouring the internet for an hour in search for the perfect carbonara recipe. His recipe seemed so simple and easy, that I almost didn't even make it. But Emeril is one of the greatest so I trusted his recipe and decided to go for it. His recipe was one of the only ones that didn't call for milk or cream. All it called for was bacon(duh,) spaghetti(I used linguine-which I find to be a perfect fit for carbonara,) garlic, parmesan of course, eggs and parsley(I sub'd for chives, because chives are the shit.) I also added cooked chicken, because my husband has to have his meat. The end result was so delicious that I was standing over the skillet(after two servings,) spooning more into my dome. Who has been there before? That's what I thought. It was creamy and delectable but not too overwhelming, the perfect combo. I will say that when you go for the leftovers add a bit of milk or water before re-heating it because it was a tad dry, but that still didn't stop me from devouring the entire bowl. Overall, this was the best carbonara recipe YET!

Emeril's Classic Spaghetti Carbonara - The winner

Bethenny's Low Fat Pasta Carbonara - If you are wanting a healthier version that still kicks ass

Shammy Says "BAM!"

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Can you guess which picture above is mine and which one is the original? Yeah, I can too. I am very upset with myself for how I screwed up this recipe. I am notorious for never getting a recipe right on the first try, the guilt and self loathing never goes away either. Sigh. Ok, this recipe could have been phenomenal, and super easy I might add. But I got ahead of myself and thought I would rush it instead of doing it right. First of all, the recipe calls for double the amount of filling, but I used half per the comments from the woman who posted the recipe. She explained that it was too much filling. WHY did I listen to this woman? There is no such thing as too much cream cheese filling! Lesson number one learned, moving along. My next mistake was making them and then refrigerating them overnight, big mistake--HUGE! Of course refrigerating it dried out the crust. The glaze was also too much, I should have halved that. So for any of you wanting to give this recipe a shot, and you really should because even my ruined disaster was still quite good, go ahead but follow these tips: use the suggested amount of filling, half the glaze recipe, and DO NOT REFRIGERATE! I will be buying the ingredients this week to make up for my blunder. 

Cheese Danish Recipe

Shammy Says "Don't mess with my cheese"

It's Like A Taste Explosion!

I have been wanting to make fish tacos for a long time now, a very long time. I always talk myself out of it at the last minute because I am daunted at making multiple things just for one dish, and I'm lazy. You can't have fish tacos that are worth a damn without the slaw, the pico de gallo or the fish(in my opinion.) So tonight I made the best decision of my life, and that was to create my own combination of recipes to make the perfect fish taco. I started with the Pioneer Woman because she is my idol. I found her shrimp taco recipe and got all the stuff to make the slaw and the shrimp. Here is where life happens...I finish preparing the slaw and put it in the fridge to chill, I go to make the shrimp and I peek at my can of specialty mexican sauce and see that it is over a year expired. This seems to be a recurring theme with me when I am making new recipes. As I was throwing my temper tantrum about nothing ever going my way when cooking, I suddenly realized that mexican/enchilada sauce actually didn't sound too appetizing along with the other ingredients anyway. So I took to my computer and googled "cilantro lime shrimp," clicked on the first one I saw, gave it a once over and headed back to the kitchen. It was SUPER easy, and turned out better than I expected. Most of the heavy lifting was in the preparation of the pico de gallo(my own recipe,) and the slaw prep. When I was done cooking the shrimp I warmed my corn tortillas and started topping them with the shrimp first, then slaw, then pico, then I squeezed fresh lime juice all over my tortilla(which is a non-negotiable step) and finally, topped with fresh avocado slices. So there you have it, my version of the perfect fish taco. I will post all recipes below just because I love you guys so much and want you to enjoy these just as much as I did! By the way I would like to note that this is NOT a normal pooh bear styled recipe, however like most of the things I have been cooking lately he devoured it and went back for seconds. I'm not sure if that means that his palate is expanding or if I am becoming quite the phenomenal cook, I prefer to go with the latter;)

Pioneer Woman Shrimp Tacos (Slaw Recipe)

Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe

Pico De Gallo Recipe

4-6 Roma tomatoes diced finely
Ton of cilantro
Half a large red onion chopped
Half a jalapeno chopped
1 clove garlic minced
Lime juice
Salt
*I added some white corn to mine

Top your corn tortillas(or if you prefer flour like my husband, those are fine too,) with the shrimp, then the slaw, then the pico de gallo, then squeeze some fresh lime juice over your taco and top with fresh avocado! YUMMY!

Shammy Says "Literally a burst of flavors all at once"

Enchi-lotta yumminess!

They looked like they were straight out of a restaurant

Perfectly topped with homemade guacamole and my very own life source SOUR CREAM

Where do I begin? Oh, hello there it's been a while since I've done a post and I have missed you! I have been seriously pondering creating a YouTube channel for myself to cook, eat, moan about how delicious the food is, and finally fulfill my dreams of eating and sharing my love for eating with others. Ok I lost track of what I was doing again...the Enchiladas! Yet another Pinterest delight, who needs cookbooks anymore? I saw this, and the picture immediately caught my attention, and then when I arrived at the website and read the woman's eager description of the recipe, it made me feel right at home. I will note that these were not the easiest, yet also not the most difficult enchiladas I have ever made, but they WERE the most delicious. Have I confused you yet? Let me clarify, it wasn't the easiest because it required a lot of cook time, and I'm a simple gal. I like "pop in the oven for 20 minutes and voila!" This was, cook, prepare, roll, pop in oven, remove from oven, cover with foil, blah blah blah. Don't get discouraged and stop reading, they were worth EVERY MINUTE of cook time. The good news is that there was virtually zero prep, all I did was mince some garlic(which you could even skip if you have minced garlic, I just happened to have fresh,) and chop up some cilantro. I am still attempting to come up with a few words to describe the taste. I really can't put my finger on it, so I will just say that when I eat something REALLY good, I go into a state of euphoria, yes I have mentioned this multiple times in previous posts but it really does happen. It happened, and it was just as I remember it. I reach the same state of utter satisfaction when I eat the Chicken Cobb Salad from Charleston's, my beloved Cream Squares from Daylight Donuts, Sour Cream, Buffalo Calamari from Sonoma, Veggie bowl from Chipotle, my Green Monster from Haruno, or anything from ITR. I could go on, clearly. But I won't. I'll stop there so you can go check out the recipe, print it out and make it for your family. ENJOY. 

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Shammy Says "Fifty Seven Thumbs Up"

My Own Delicious Creation

Last night I was making tacos, when I suddenly got the craving for a taco salad instead. Me choosing a salad over tacos is something that happens, well, never. The only thing I can attribute this craving to is having a delicious taco salad at my friend Fawna's house recently that she made using a pork loin and it was PHENOMENAL. As I was browning the ground beef I decided to add a packet of "cheesy" taco seasoning(which I had never tried up until last night and coincidentally will be using from now on.) It created a thicker sauce that I enjoyed much more than regular taco seasoning. After the beef was ready I tossed some romaine lettuce into a bowl, crumbled some whole grain tostitos scoops over the lettuce, added some meat, a large scoop of my homemade guacamole(recipe below,) shredded medium cheddar cheese, picante sauce and of course a very generous dollop of light sour cream. Now I state the specifics of all these ingredients because I think it makes a difference, so just do it. All of these ingredients worked surprisingly well together; even my husband(who is on somewhat of a strict diet at the moment) had me make him a bowl as well. I don't have a beautiful picture to accompany the recipe because I wasn't intending on blogging this, until after I finished licking my bowl. I will post an actual recipe below so you guys can make this for yourselves and taste just how delicious it is. ENJOY.

Shammy's Taco Salad

1 lb of ground beef

1 packet of Cheesy Taco Seasoning

Shredded Romaine Lettuce

Shredded Medium Cheddar Cheese (Do not buy the prepackaged shredded cheese, buy the block and shred it yourself, it makes a huge difference in taste)

Light Sour Cream

Medium Picante Sauce

Tostitos Whole Grain Scoops

Homemade Guacamole (2 or 3 avocados, fresh lemon juice, sea salt and garlic powder)

Shammy Says "I don't want to toot my own horn but---TOOT!"

The Dark Horse

I have never really cared for spaghetti until a few years ago, when I started making it myself(sorry mom.) Most spaghetti recipes are very runny, and coincidentally make me want to vomit rather than eat. A few years ago, Pooh Bear asked me to make spaghetti and I vehemently declined. It got me thinking that I could make it and possibly tweak it to where I might actually eat it. I did the usual, boiled the noodles, browned the meat and added a jar of sauce, thus creating a runny, yet not so terrible bowl of spaghetti. I suddenly realized what was wrong, it needed to be THICK! The next time I made it I added cream cheese, tossed it in a casserole dish after preparing everything and baked it, voila! Scrumptious! Now I had achieved the perfect spaghetti, or so I had thought. Yes it was perfect, but now it was double the cooking time. I have been wondering for a while now why I couldn't just use my crockpot to make it, so today I logged into Pinterest and searched for "crockpot spaghetti," and my dream came true. Not only is this recipe slightly better than my own, but it was EASIER! This will definitely be a weekly meal at our house from now on. And if you are trying to keep it on the healthy side, then you probably won't want to make it. Let's face it, the cream cheese makes this dish. Don't skip it.


Creamy Crockpot Spaghetti



Shammy Says "I am proud to say that this recipe just bumped Chicken Spaghetti out of it's number one spot"

Best Barbecue In Town

What Barbecue should look like

Hello there, it has been a while since my last post but that certainly doesn't mean that I haven't been shoving my face with delicious food in the meantime. I ate at Oklahoma Joe's again a few weeks ago and it was even more glorious the second time around. I love me some barbecue but I don't eat it often because I have yet to find a place decent enough to rival Chipotle, my home away from home. I'll start with these three words: spicy cole slaw. I am not exaggerating when I say that I could order 3 sides of that and be completely satisfied. Their french fries are so phenomenal that I am having trouble finding ways to explain just quite how phenomenal they are. Their meat is tender, juicy, amazing. Their barbecue sauce is REALLY good, and not too rich(like most barbecue places.) I still haven't had the pleasure of trying the beans but I hear they are just as wonderful as the slaw so that gives me an excuse to go again this week for lunch ;) Oklahoma Joe's rocks, and so does the manager Chuck Smith! If you go there, tell him Shammy sent ya!

Oklahoma Joe's Official Website

Shammy Says "Be prepared to inhale your food, not just eat it"

The Best Dilly in Town

The "Till"

It's about time I'm sitting here writing a review on Dilly Deli. I have been wanting to try this place for about a year now. Man have I been missing out. I didn't get a picture of it, but they make the BEST skinny margarita that I have ever had, and I have tried too many to name. None stack up to this one. It was light and fizzy, but most importantly it was refreshing. I have also heard great things about their mimosas(their orange juice is homemade,) their brunch--particularly their Eggs Benedict, their sandwiches and too many other things to name. Unfortunately I couldn't try all of these things in one visit, so I will be revisiting very soon. Another thing I love about Dilly Deli is that after a little researching and reading, I found out that they get their rye and tuscan breads from a local bakery here in Tulsa, and you can never go wrong shopping local for your food. Also their turkey and chicken are both all natural, no preservatives, no nitrites, no MSG,  no artificial ingredients, AND they are gluten free! Overall this is an awesome little deli that serves up fresh, homemade sandwiches, soups, salads, drinks, pastries and breakfasts on a daily basis. I will be going for brunch next time for sure.

Dilly Deli

Shammy Says "Don't Dilly Dally"

Buffalo Calamari is PRIMO

Utter Perfection

I professed my love for all things buffalo a long time ago. Therefore it should come as no surprise that this is going to be a rave review. I have eaten buffalo shrimp, buffalo chicken, buffalo fries, buffalo enchiladas and have even been known to dunk my tater tots in buffalo sauce. I honestly could eat anything as long as it is doused in buffalo sauce. It truly is the sauce of champions, in my opinion. Now to the entree of the year, Buffalo Calamari with Bleu Cheese. I love calamari so I was fully aware that I was about to have my mind blown. This meal did more than that. When I eat something truly delicious, I tend to slip into a deep state of euphoria, paying close attention to each delectable bite, and savoring every chew knowing that this wonderful feeling will not last forever. That being said, I normally can't recall eating said meals afterwards because my mind was somewhere else the entire time. Some of you may think that this is weird but my fellow foodies will know exactly what I am talking about. The sheer genius of Buffalo Calamari is a combination of a few things: the first is that they are thin so with each piece you get a perfect ratio of buffalo sauce to meat, unlike chicken, which I normally have to re-dunk in between bites; the second being that they were served underneath an avalanche of bleu cheese crumbles; the third and final reason for perfection was that they were tangy and not vinegar-y. They were also crispy and not soggy, which happens sometimes with buffalo sauced dishes. I'm done with my rave review, now all of you can go to Sonoma Bistro and Wine Bar and order the Buffalo Calamari, with a side of anything else on their menu. Great food, great atmosphere and great wine.


Sonoma Bistro and Wine Bar

Shammy Says "Five Stars"

Million Dollar Brownies Are Priceless

Unbelievable


I am going to let you all in on a little secret. I hate brownies. For me to even be dedicating an entire post to them is like going against my nature. I have never been tempted by them, ever. I love chocolate but brownies have never been a dessert I would even look twice at, because they are all either too dry or thick and in my opinion just not tasty enough to earn my attention. Now, with that being said I was having a major chocolate craving last week, you ladies will know what I am referring to. The kind of chocolate craving that makes you head to the grocery store at 8:30 at night to buy ingredients to make an entire chocolate cake. Yes I've done that. So last week when the above referenced craving was in full force, for some reason brownies were on my mind. But if I was going to make them, I was going to find the best recipe I could find and make the best brownies in the world. I succeeded, not surprisingly. They say when you want something bad enough, nothing can stop you from getting it. That was precisely what happened. These brownies were creamy, soft and so flavorful I could have eaten the entire pan if I allowed myself. Without further ado, here is the recipe.


Million Dollar Brownie Recipe


Shammy Says "The title is not an exaggeration"

Not Your Regular Chicken Taco

A refreshing twist on our normal tacos


I get stuck in food ruts from time to time, as I'm sure most of you do as well. This week I was trying to come up with different recipes to try that would please not only me, but my picky husband and my 2-year old. When I came across this one, I won't lie I wasn't too intrigued until I started reading the reviews. Every single review was raving about how delicious this was, not ONE bad review. I always read reviews, they never steer me wrong. I was also very anxious to try it since it only called for 5 ingredients. The entire dinner cost about $4 to make, which made me extra happy because that left me enough money to buy the economy sized can of nacho cheese I had been eyeing at the store. Chicken, cream of chicken soup, salsa, taco seasoning and sour cream, that's it folks. The only thing I was debating on was how to serve it. The recipe I found served it over white rice, but frankly that didn't sound too appetizing to me. After reading through nearly all of the reviews I found one lady who suggested serving it in a soft taco with fresh pico, sour cream and lettuce so that is exactly what I did, except I added even more toppings! I put shredded monterey jack and cheddar cheese on mine, along with sour cream, lettuce, pico de gallo, fresh guacamole and some crumbled tostitos. It tasted even better than it looked, if that is even possible. It was such a nice change of pace, kind of like when Taco Bell brings the Crunchwrap Supreme back around after it's been gone for a while.


Crockpot Salsa Chicken Recipe



Shammy Says "Mouthwatering"

Two Different Recipes, One Delicious Dish

As the title states, this dish consists of two different recipes, one for the shrimp and one for the pasta. I decided to pair them together in a fit of creativity and it was a raging success! The shrimp recipe is a Pioneer Woman recipe, need I say more? Didn't think so. The pasta recipe is one that I have pinned over and over and salivated over on many a night. The reason it took me so long to make the pasta is because it called for pine nuts and basil. Here is my problem with pine nuts, yes they are delicious and add a nutty and crunchy texture to pasta, however they cost an arm and a leg. The problem I have with basil is that my grocery store NEVER has it, it is always the one herb that they are out of. So I finally decided to snub these two high class ingredients and go on my merry way, using my beloved parmesan cheese and garlic. The pasta turned out great, but next time I will use fresh grated parmesan instead of buying the prepackaged tub of the flakes because they didn't melt into the pasta like I was hoping. The shrimp was SUPER easy to make, consisting of about 5 or 6 ingredients. Once they were both prepared and tossed together, it was like heaven in my mouth. Enjoy!

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp Recipe

Lemon Garlic Pasta Recipe

Shammy Says "It takes two"