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As we all know this can be a very stressful world and I like everyone else I find myself stressed out quite a bit lately. I love to food shop and cooking is therapy for me. It takes my mind off of whatever is troubling me and lets me create. However this past summer I had no kitchen for two months. I almost had a nervous breakdown. We have a big kitchen for the size of our house and although it was 15 years old I had all new appliances. I was pretty satisfied with it. My stove is wonderful it has a cook top and is both a conventional oven and a convection oven. The fridge is a French door style and gives me plenty of room to store perishables. The microwave oven is 4 years old and I swear it thinks for itself.
Why didn’t have a kitchen for 2 months, well I will tell you. One day in July I started noticing black mold growing around the base of our kitchen cabinets and the center island. As it turns out our dishwasher had a slow leak for quite a while and it had caused mold damage. The kitchen had to be completely gutted and the mold had to be destroyed. The construction company responsible to do this sealed off the kitchen and put up a big hazmat sign. I felt like I was living in Chernobyl. The Remediation was a long and intense project. Machines had to be left running day and night for weeks, first to dry everything out, then to clean the air of mold spores. Our insurance company would have paid for us to live somewhere else but with 4 dogs and a cat it was impossible. We choose to stay in the house and I set up a mock kitchen in our spare bedroom. Coffee pot, toaster, crock pot, dishes and utensils were set up on the dresser. I had to wash dishes in the bath tub. Not fun. Our insurance company agreed to pay for our restaurant expenses. However, along with our kitchen crisis I had a digestive problem. May stomach had moved into my diaphragm due to a large hiatal hernia and I could only eat soup. Can you imagine my distress when I found out I could eat out for free, as much as I wanted but all I could eat was frigging soup. Joe could eat whatever he wanted so he was over the moon.
I have a new kitchen now; you can see the picture of it on top of the first page of this blog. However I didn’t really get to cook in it until recently. In November after my surgery to fix the hernia I could only eat soup and cream of wheat. It sucked. Joe had to get use to eating Chinese takeout. Pizza is one of my favorite foods in the world and I have not had any for months. My husband and I shop in Costco, he gets Pizza and I get to watch him eat it. He doesn’t realize how close he has come to dying. No cooking and no eating was making me pretty bitchy. It’s like I had permanent PMS.
However I did started cooking again several weeks ago and although I could not eat what I prepared it did help my demeanor and saved my dogs and husband lives. There are days I still want to leave them all behind and go on a cruise but I can’t afford to. Joe lost his job 2 years ago and is working 2 part-time jobs so we can make ends meet. I’m sure some of you are familiar with that situation. I should just never leave the Kitchen and cook 24/7 to stay calm.
Funny how things work out, I am not overweight because I had Gastric By-Pass Surgery 8 years ago and now I just lost an additional 15 pounds due to my recent surgery. I am not complaining about losing weight mind you, what woman would. Here is how to do it. Forget about all the diet aids on TV or Jennifer Hudson and Weight Watchers. Just go to the hospital and have them put you on an IV for 5 days with no food. You will be amazed how fast the weight comes off, you won't have to go to the gym or hire a trainer. And then to maintain the weight loss just eat Cream of Wheat and light chicken noodle soup for frigging ever.
The first meal I prepared in my new kitchen was Linguini with Shrimp and Pine Nuts. I found the recipe in a magazine that I read while recuperating. It looked great in the magazine and Joe said it was fabulous. I am giving you the recipe. It was really good, I did taste one fork full of it an then prayed it would stay down and it did. As soon as I can eat normally I am going to make it again. But first I am going to eat PIZZA!
Linguini with Shrimp and Pine Nuts
1 1b fresh or frozen raw medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lb. linguini
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ teas. crushed red pepper, more if you like it spicy
1 teas. salt
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
3 cloves chopped fresh garlic
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 ½ cups fresh mushrooms, about 4 ounces, sliced
1 tbsp. butter
4 cups of fresh baby spinach leaves
¼ freshly grated Asiago or Parm cheese.
Thaw shrimp if frozen and clean. Rinse the shrimp; pat dry with paper towels. In a Dutch oven or 5 qt. pot cook pasta according to package directions for Al Dente and drain but leave some water in pot so pasta does not dry out. Return pasta to pot and cover to keep warm. Do no continue to cook it.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine chicken broth, lemon juice, crushed red pepper and salt; set aside. In a large skillet, cook shrimp ¼ pine nuts and garlic in hot oil over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp are opaque. Don’t burn the garlic it gets very bitter Remove shrimp mixture from skillet.
Add mushrooms and butter to skillet; cook for 3 minutes or until nearly tender. Add broth mixture to skillet and bring to boil add spinach and reduce heat. Simmer until spinach is wilted. Return shrimp mixture to skillet and heat through. Strain pasta and add to mixture. Add cheese and serve.
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