Garlic and Parmesan Pasta with Bay Scallops

  Looks like it's my turn to write the blog post for the day. And before you say "Hey, I thought this was for people / couples on a budget!" Keep in mind that the scallops were given to us, so no charge there. And now...for the list of ingredients.

The scallops cooking with butter and
 garlic before adding the noodles

Ingredients:
1 Stick of Butter (That's right, Paula!)
1 Pound of Scallops (We used bay scallops, but regular scallops or shrimp would work, too)
Parmesan Cheese (The kind that comes in the shaker)
Enough spaghetti for 2 people
Garlic
Pepper
A pinch of salt (For the pasta)
As you can see, this would make Paula proud. We tried to use 3/4 of a stick of butter, but needed a bit more. With the extra, it came out perfect! =)

Ronnie stirring the scallops, step 7. 

1.) Boil a pot of water, then toss the pasta in. Add the salt
2.) In a separate pan, melt the stick of butter on medium until it forms a liquid and starts to bubble. You'll need to stir it to keep it moving, and so it doesn't get burned.
3.) Add the garlic into the butter. As you can see from the picture...we like garlic. =)
4.) Stir the butter for 1 minute, so it has a chance to soak up the garlicky goodness.
5.) Add about 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese. This will give the butter an even more wonderful flavor, and a good bath for the scallops.
6.) Drain and put the scallops into the garlic butter mixture. Sprinkle a little pepper on the scallops and butter. We didn't add salt, because there was plenty of garlic in the mixture.
7.) Make sure you stir them, so they don't get too done on one side. The butter should begin to froth up and make a cream. Around that time, the scallops will start to turn white, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 8

8.) When they are just about finished, drain the pasta, and put it into the pan with the butter and scallops. Use a spoon or tongs to move them around, making sure to coat the pasta with the butter sauce.
9.) Instead of using something like corn starch to thicken it, we decided to use more Parmesan cheese...about 3-4 tablespoons more. ;)
10.) Turn the burner off, plate it, add a little more cheese to the top, and eat!

The Cats really wanted to try some, sorry kitties. 

Ashley does not like cooking with fish, so I did most of the cooking for this one. However, once it's cooked...she has no problem digging in. Bonn apatite!

--Ronnie

What kind of stuff do you like adding to your pasta?

Grown-Up Pizza

Ronnie and I decided to cook our own pizza tonight. This may not seem that significant, but we had lots of fun, I even got to play a little (which I will explain shortly).

Ingredients:
1 Boboli Pizza crust- $5.49 for 2 crusts
(next time we plan on making our own pizza crust)
1/2 pack of pepperoni- $2.99 for pack of 100
1/2 green pepper- $.76 for 1 green pepper
1/4 of an onion- already had
about 8oz Progresso italian sauce -$5.19 for 67oz
Shredded white and sharp cheddar cheese- already had

As you can see we only used a small portion of what we bought, and you will see the rest coming up in later recipes.

You may have guessed this is a fairly easy recipe. You just follow the directions on the back of the pizza crust and that is what we did. The thing that made this recipe so fun/unique for us was the toppings and the preparation behind the toppings. Neither of us have chosen to have green peppers or onions on a pizza before, usually it's just pepperoni and/or cheese. However, after a recent night out with girl friends and trying a pizza like this, I talked Ronnie in to trying it. He was very unsure of it, but decided to put up with my crazy idea. :)

After going through the food processor. 

So we set to work. Coming from a family who does not do a lot of home cooking, there are certain devices in the kitchen that hold an appeal or fascination for me. The food processor is one of these devices. Tonight, I got to play with it for the first time, and went to town with it. I shredded the cheese, and sliced the onions and green peppers with it. When I first started the sound scared me when the cheese got to the bottom, and I jumped, which of course caused Ronnie to laugh. :)

Ronnie with the Pizza out of the oven.

So after everything went through the food processor, we put the sauce, cheese, onions, green peppers, pepperonis, and more cheese onto the crust. Once the pizza was cooked, we dug in. Ronnie response was surprised pleasure with the comment, "I guess we are grown ups now". (Thus the name of the pizza) My response was "Of course we are grown up now, we have a couch." :)
Well, I know that this was a very simple recipe. I cannot always promise you a complex recipes, however I do promise more fun stories and unusual creations.

~Ashley

P.S. Next time I want to some how make this pizza have more of a Mexican taste.

Question to the readers:
What unusual toppings have you put on a pizza?
Do you and your significant other like the same type of pizza?