Seafood Chowder

Food.

Since the new year, I have been doing my best to down size.  We honestly live in a very minimalist household, but I tend to stock up a lot on food, including frozen food.  I have this irrational fear of being hungry and having nothing in the house to cook. 

OK, back to the point of this post, recently I have been making meals using what I have in my freezer and ran across frozen seafood mixture from Trader Joe's that I had bought the last time we went on a major food trip there.  The bag contains a mixture of small shrimp, calamari rings and bay scallops. I am sure at the time I had a major plan for it, but it had escaped my mind. The recent gloomy weather requires something warm eaten with a spoon, so I went to searching recipes that I could use with this seafood mixture.

Pasta with a seafood (like this) always is my usual choice, but my husband is not much of a pasta fan and I would ultimately be the one finishing it off.  So, I and my thighs, decided against it and started searching for seafood chowder recipes, not that a cream chowder is any better, but you understand?

There are a lot to choose from, but I ultimately decided on this one because  I had all the ingredients I needed already.  Remember that irrational fear of being hungry?  It's actually helpful.

Picture courtesy of Movita.
 I'm a bad blogger and took no pictures. Hunger was in charge.

I actually followed the recipe as precisely as I could except for a few adaptations.

1-  I used the thawed seafood mix (shrimp, scallops, calamari) instead of the fish and the lobster.  Next time I will add the lobster because you know it will take this recipe to another level.  

2- I added some sliced crisp bacon pieces that were left over from that morning and crumbled them on top. 

Follow the directions! Simmering at low is helpful to keep the seafood from getting chewy.  The next day the chowder was really better, but we had so little left it was hard to share.  I had made the chowder before noon and we actually ate around seven PM.  It had plenty time to sit and get all those flavors to develop.

If you are planning on making this for a group, double the recipe.  What I made was barely enough for just the two of us.  

Enjoy!

<3 mk

Snow Day Comfort Food

Food.

When you think of North Carolina, do you think of snow?  Of course not, but if you have been watching the news, crazy weather has been happening all over the place.  I thought when moving to N.C. that I could put the snow shovel away, but as of today, that didn't happen.  We got about an inch and a half of beautiful white stuff. Being a native New Yorker, out of habit I got out the shovel and salt and got to work, but the joke was on me.  Apparently, it wasn't necessary and many of my NC friends filled me in after the fact that it would melt rather quickly.  Apparently I am supposed to go sledding and make a snowman.

Shoveling the driveway in North Carolina

The funny part of the snow situation is that for the last eight years, any time my husband goes away on business in the beginning of the year, we always have a huge snowstorm and I was the one always shoveling. It's always a great workout, but I still think it is a conspiracy.   

Being at home I had time to get started on some projects, deep condition my hair and was able to watch some cooking shows I normally don't get to see.  I was watching Pioneer Woman while running on the treadmill and she made comfort foods for one.  That was perfect since I was a party of one and there was beautiful snow on the ground.

Source

The Pioneer Woman, Ree, made Pasta with Pancetta and Leek.  The recipe is simple and I was lucky enough to have all the ingredients in the fridge and the pantry.  The only things one might not have is a leek and the pancetta. I used regular bacon instead of the pancetta because that was what was on hand.  I made this meal and scarfed it up so quickly that I didn't have time to take a picture.  It was so quick and delicious that I wanted to share it with you.

Birds enjoying the snow and the modern bird feeder cafe 

Few things are better than sitting on your couch with a glass of wine, fire going, bowl of delicious cheesy pasta with bacon, and snow on the ground.  Even if you don't have snow, try this recipe, you won't be disappointed.

Keep warm!

<3 mk