Spicy Shrimp Thai Noodles

     Ok, so I'm tired of ordering the same take-out food over and over again, so I've been experimenting with different Asian foods. Thai cuisine was the pick of the week and it was absolutely chock-full of BIG flavors! DELICIOUS! Even if your not a big fan of peanut butter like myself, mixed with other ingredients such as ginger, garlic and sriracha adds a unique and wonderful flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Asian style noodles
• 1/2 pd. peeled and deveined shrimp
• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 2 lg. carrots (julienned)
• 1 cup snow peas (julienned)
• 2 green onion (julienned)
• 1 cup green cabbage (julienned)
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• chopped cilantro, crushed peanuts and wedged lime for garnish

Sauce

• 1/3 Cup  creamy peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp. sriracha hot sauce
• 2 Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1-2 Tbsp. minced ginger
• 2 cloves minced garlic

     In a bowl mix together peanut butter, sriracha hot sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger. Set aside until ready to use.

     Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil for noodles. Meanwhile, heat up sesame oil in a skillet until hot. Stir-fry carrots, cabbage, snow peas, bean sprouts and green onion for about 2 minutes (season with a sprinkle of salt). Remove from heat and set aside in a dish. In the same pan cook shrimp until the flesh turns opaque and pink. Set aside with veggies. Once water comes to a boil season with salt then boil noodles 5-6 min.(do not over cook), when done drain noodles and rinse under cold water. (Before draining, reserve some of the water on the side for sauce.)

       In the same hot skillet, put sauce mixture in with about1 /4 cup reserved cooking liquid. Toss noodles, veggies and shrimp into the sauce until fully coated and heated through. When plated, Garnish dish with chopped cilantro, peanuts and lime wedges.

 Enjoy!!

Valentines Day Sweets

Valentines Day is a day to show the one you love how much you mean to them.....Why not show them with something sweet you've made for them?

Strawberry Shortcake

 Chocolate Covered Strawberries

    
                                                           Little Tuxedos

How to Make Strawberry Short Cake

               You will need:

• 1 package pillsbury yellow cake mix
• 3eggs
• 1cup water
• 1/3cup softened butter or margarine 

 Whipped Cream Icing

• 2cups heavy whipping cream
• 2Tbs of granulated sugar
• 1tsp pure vanilla extract

Strawberries

      Slice strawberries length wise put in a bowl with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Reserve some unsugared strawberries on the side to decorate top of cake.

 In a large bowl mix together cream, sugar and vanilla with a hand held mixer until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

*Follow directions on box for cooking instructions: I used a 8in. round pan

   

  Once the cake has baked and cooled completely, horizontally cut across middle of the cake with a serrated knife so you end up with two layers of cake.

    

    Begin to pipe cream in a circular motion until the top layer of cake is covered. Next evenly distribute sugared strawberries on top of cream, then repeat by layering more cream to cover strawberries.

     

    Top the first layer of filled cake with the second layer of cake. Next spread cream icing all around the cake until covered. Decoratively lay sliced strawberries on top layer of cake, then pipe cream all over using a star tip.  

  

   Refrigerate asap when finished.

My Love for Food

  Hello! My name is Francesca. I decided to start my own food blog so that I can share my passion for food with you all. I'm pretty new at this whole blogging thing, but hoping I catch on pretty quickly. I am super excited to show and write about my latest and tastiest "creations".

    I am an Italian girl with a big Italian family which usually goes hand and hand with food. Food and meals are an important part of family life to me, which is why my love for food started at such a young age. When dinner was ready we'd all sit down as a family to a beautifully set dinner table, tablecloth and all. Our meals would usually involve breads, pastas, salads, cheeses and some kind of meat dish, all washed down with a glass of wine of course. Food around the holidays has always been a favorite of mine. I remember being at Nonna's(Grandmother) house while my family got together and made creamy ricotta pies and beautiful Easter breads for Easter and the smell of delicious fried fish on Christmas Eve that you can smell even before walking in the house. It's memories like these bring me joy in cooking.

 I hope you all enjoy!

                                                Christmas Eve- The Seven Fishes

                                                            Me and Nonna