Tomatoes Stuffed with Chicken, Herbs, and Cheese

Eric and I moved into our new place--a flat in a 1880s Victorian--about a week ago and we're both completely in love with it. It has a beautiful bay window, a fireplace, French doors, and hardwood floors. Not to mention a huge dining room. Plus, it's so close to Eric's work that he can walk. The kitchen is on the small side, but it's still bigger than any kitchen I've ever had. While we were unpacking, we lived off of leftover pizza, rotisserie chicken, and leftover cake from our wedding shower. But tonight I cooked our first meal in our place!

The other day my mom came to visit, check out the new digs, and go mother-of-the-bride dress shopping.  She also brought us a bunch of tomatoes and cherry tomatoes from her garden. The cherry tomatoes will be made into sun-dried tomatoes. But what to do with the bag of beefsteaks and early girls? Well, we had a little bit of the rotisserie chicken left over so I made tomatoes stuffed with chicken and herbs. It was so good that I can't wait to experiment with other stuffed tomato recipes.

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes (I used 2 beefsteak, 2 early girls)
kosher salt
4 tablespoons minced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pieces of bacon (I used turkey bacon)
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or cubed 
1/2 cup Italian herb breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 cup Italian blend shredded cheese (or mozzarella)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Cut off the top of the tomatoes. Scoop out the innards with a spoon. You can either reserve them for another use or discard them. Lightly sprinkle the insides with salt and set them upside down on a paper towel to extract juices.

While the tomatoes drain, cook the bacon; set aside. Reserve a little bit of bacon grease and saute the onions and garlic in it until they are golden brown. In a medium bowl, mix together the chicken, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, basil, garlic, and onions.

Place the tomatoes on the cookie sheet and divide the chicken mixture between the four tomatoes. Next, divide the cheese between the tomatoes, sprinkling it on top. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it on top of the cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked and the cheese is melted.

We made roasted potatoes to go with our stuffed tomatoes. However, instead of roasting them under the broiler like we usually do, I cooked them at 400 degrees for an hour. After 40 minutes I put the tomatoes in with the potatoes.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Shrimp in an Herb Butter Sauce

Oh how I love shrimp. As a kid it was the only type of seafood I'd eat. Since then I have expanded my palate to include different types of white fish meat, crab, and lobster. Shrimp may still be my favorite. Luckily Eric and my parents like it too. While shrimp can be a healthy dish, I made it not so healthy with this butter sauce, but sometimes you just have to indulge. And this sauce is worth the indulgence. (My mom thought it was so delicious that she couldn't bring herself to throw out the little extra sauce that was left over).

Shrimp, fried rice, grilled zucchini, and grilled parmesan tomatoes

Ingredients:
1 pound frozen pre-cooked shrimp, de-veined, shelled, and thawed
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 tablespoon, fresh chives, minced
2 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon hot sauce

Directions:
Heat shrimp. You can do this on the stove top, in the oven, or on the grill. Since it was in the 90s over Fourth of July weekend, we grilled it. You could probably also heat it right in the sauce since it's precooked. Set aside.

My mom insists on grilling on foil. Less mess.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Once it is melted, stir in the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about fifteen minutes. Toss in shrimp and serve.

My mom wanted to learn how to make fried rice and since Eric is an expert at it, he taught her and we had fried rice with our shrimp.

Normally he makes it in a wok, not a skillet, hence the rice everywhere.

I would love to share his fried rice recipe with you, but it's not really a recipe. He refuses to take the time to measure out how much soy sauce, sesame oil, or vegetables he uses. However, I will share the basics of making fried rice in the future.

We also made my zucchini chips and baked parmesan tomatoes  to go with dinner, except we grilled them instead of baked them. While they turned out delicious, I think I still prefer them baked.

It was such a delicious meal for our last night up north.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Baked Parmesan Tomatoes

My great aunt and uncle came over for dinner on Memorial Day. As we brought the food out to the picnic table, my uncle's eyes went straight to the baked parmesan tomatoes or as he called them "those fancy tomatoes." There is nothing really fancy about these tomatoes other than their taste. Sometimes it amazes me how the simplest foods and recipes taste the best.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes, washed and dried
Grated Parmesan cheese
Herbs such as oregano, basil, rosemary, or thyme (fresh or dried)
Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Cut the tomatoes into thick slices and arrange them on the baking sheet. Generously top with Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with your herb of choice--I used oregano. Bake for 15 minutes.

Most of us ate these tomatoes as is. They reminded me of little cheese pizzas but without the crust. My dad put one on top of his turkey burger (I can't believe my truck driver father not only tried my turkey burgers but ate about three, he liked them so much!) along with avocado and lettuce and loved it. Needless to say, there weren't any left overs. With summer on its way and tomatoes coming into season, I can't wait to make these again and again.

Enjoy!

~Krissy