Grilled Garlic Shrimp Skewers

Anyone up for shrimp on a stick? Grilled, slathered with garlic butter, and sprinkled with chives, these big beautiful prawns are perfect party food for a backyard cookout.

Here’s a tip when grilling shrimp. First make sure you soak your wood or bamboo skewers (I recommend bamboo, they hold up better to heat) in water for at least half an hour. Then set up your grill so you have one side that is hot, and another cool.

Put the shrimp over the hot side, and the exposed skewers over the cool side. That way the shrimp cook quickly and the skewers don’t burn.

Once you take the shrimp off the grill, immediately brush them with garlic butter, while the shrimp are still hot. The shrimp will absorb the garlic butter flavors better that way.

I do recommend you make more of these than you’ll think you need. Because even though 1 pound of shrimp should serve four, you’ll want to eat them all yourself. They’re sort of irresistible that way.

Grilled Garlic Shrimp Skewers Recipe

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• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 10 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound 16-20 count large prawns, peeled and deveined (can still have tail on for presentation)
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon minced chives for garnish

• Short bamboo skewers, about 20, soaked for 30 minutes in water before grilling

Method

1 Prepare your grill for direct high heat, with one side of the grill as a cool side with no coals or flame.

2 While the grill is heating, thread the pre-soaked skewers through the shrimp. Start at the tail and push the skewers through the middle and end of the shrimp. Brush shrimp with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

3 Place butter and garlic in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in microwave until the butter has melted and is hot. (If you don't have a microwave you can also just melt the butter with the garlic in a small saucepan on the stovetop.)

4 Arrange skewers on grill so that the shrimp are over the coals or flame and the exposed bamboo skewer ends are over the cool side of the grill. Grill for about 2 minutes on each side.

5 As soon as the shrimp are done, remove from grill and place in a serving dish. Baste generously with melted garlic butter. Sprinkle with chives to serve!

Serve immediately.

SAVORY PUMPKIN HAND PIES

Makes 10

Parmesan transforms pumpkin into a savory filling for these tasty, easy and adorable hand pies. Enjoy them as an appetizer or side dish alongside any of your favorite cool weather mains.

Ingredients: 

• All-purpose flour for dusting
• 2 recipes prepared piecrust or 1 (15-ounce) package 9-inch roll-out piecrusts
• 3/4 cup pumpkin purée
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 egg, beaten

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a floured surface, roll out dough about 1/8 inch thick. Using a floured 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 20 circles, rerolling dough as needed. Place 10 circles on each of the prepared baking sheets. Using a very sharp paring knife, cut out jack-o’-lantern faces in half of the dough circles. (Alternatively, roll out each portion of the dough into 10x16-inch rectangles and cut out 10 rectangles from each, rerolling dough as needed. If making these larger pies, bump the pumpkin purée measurement to 1 cup.)

In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin purée, cheese, salt and cayenne pepper until well blended.

Working on the parchment-paper-lined baking sheet, spoon a heaping tablespoon of pumpkin filling into center of an uncut dough circle; brush edges with water. Top with a jack-o’-lantern face circle and press edges to seal. Repeat with remaining filling and dough circles. Brush tops with beaten egg.

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheets before serving. Hand pies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Nutritional Info: 

Per Serving: Serving size: 1 pie, 210 calories (110 from fat), 12g total fat, 4.5g saturated fat, 20mg cholesterol, 290mg sodium, 21g carbohydrates, (1 gdietary fiber, 2g sugar), 3g protein.

Perfectly Grilled Steak

 

Ingredients

4 1 1/4 -to-1 1/2-inch-thick boneless rib-eye or New York strip steaks (about 12 ounces each) or filets mignons (8 to 10 ounces each), trimmed
2 tablespoons canola or extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

About 20 minutes before grilling, remove the steaks from the refrigerator and let sit, covered, at room temperature.

Heat your grill to high. Brush the steaks on both sides with oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Place the steaks on the grill and cook until golden brown and slightly charred, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the steaks over and continue to grill 3 to 5 minutes for medium-rare (an internal temperature of 135 degrees F), 5 to 7 minutes for medium (140 degrees F) or 8 to 10 minutes for medium-well (150 degrees F).

Transfer the steaks to a cutting board or platter, tent loosely with foil and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

Total Time: 

30 min

 Prep: 15 min
Cook: 15 min

Yield: 4 servings

Level: Easy

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

 

"This is an easy slow cooker recipe that cooks while you are at work! It is wonderful on a cold, snowy day. I have four children who are picky eaters, and they LOVE this! Enjoy!"

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 8 servings


   4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

   2 tablespoons butter

   2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup

   1 onion, finely diced

   2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces
 

• PREP
  10 mins
• COOK
  6 hrs
• READY IN
  6 hrs 10 mins

Directions

1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.
2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

 

Carnival Corn Dog Recipe

Carnival Corn Dog Recipe

Ingredients 

Original recipe makes 16 corndogs 

 1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

2 (16 ounce) packages beef frankfurters

16 wooden skewers

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, sugar and baking powder. Stir in eggs and milk.
2. Preheat oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat. Insert wooden skewers into frankfurters. Roll frankfurters in batter until well coated.
3. Fry 2 or 3 corn dogs at a time until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. 
4. 
   PREP 20 mins COOK 20 mins READY IN 40 mins

Corn Nuggets

Corn Nuggets

Ingredients:

1 (11 oz.) can of creamed corn
1 (11 oz) can of sweet whole kernel corn
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Instructions:

You will want to take a medium mixing bowl and add in your creamed corn and your drained can of sweet whole kernel corn and mix them together. In a medium bowl, stir together the creamed corn and drained whole kernel corn. Now take a baking sheet and spray it with vegetable oil and then take a spoonful of the corn mixture and drop it on the corn mixture. Continue to do so until you have used up all of your corn mixture. Now take your baking sheet and place it in the freezer and leave it in there until your corn nuggets have frozen. This should take 2 to 3 hours.

You will now want to make your batter. To do this take a medium mixing bowl and add in your cornmeal, flour, egg, milk, sugar, salt and pepper and mix your ingredients together.

Now, take a large deep skillet and fill it with oil until its 1 inch deep. Heat your skillet over a medium high heat until its 350 degrees F. Drop your frozen corn nuggets into the batter to coat them and then place them into the skillet and quickly deep fry them until they are golden brown. This should only take a few minutes. When fried place them on a paper towel to drain.

Crockpot Chicken and Gravy

Crockpot Chicken and Gravy

Ingredients:
2lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
14 ½ oz can chicken broth
2 packets of chicken gravy mix

Directions:
1. Place chicken breasts in the crockpot. Pour in the chicken broth, cover and cook on high for about 3 – 4 hours or until chicken easily pulls apart.

2. Pour 2 cups of the chicken broth/juices out of the crockpot and into a saucepan. Discard any remaining liquids. Add the two gravy packets into the saucepan and whisk well. Simmer on low until gravy thickens.

3. While the gravy simmers, remove the chicken breasts from the crockpot and shred into larger pieces. That’s it! Serve with the gravy over the chicken. Yum!