I Love Pumpkin

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the plethora of items that are available made with pumpkin.  There is a local bakery here in Bowie that makes Pumpkin danishes that I just absolutely love.  My wife picked up two of them for me last week.

This is also one of my favorite times of year when it comes to Starbucks.  I do not treat myself to Starbucks as much as I used to these days, but this time of year I have to treat myself to a Pumpkin Spiced Latte.  It also means that it will soon be time for them to come out with their Eggnog Lattes.

There are several locations where I can pick up other pumpkin goodies like pumpkin donuts, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin cheesecake.  Of course, for more adult treats I can always pick up one of several pumpkin brews available at the liquor store.

One of the reasons that I have been thinking about pumpkin today is that I received an email from Kraft.  In it, was a link to their website with literally hundreds of recipes for pumpkin dishes and desserts.  I saw one recipe for a pumpkin pie that I made one year that I got from a Philadelphia Cream Cheese cookbook that has a layer of cream cheese and a layer of pumpkin  

One of my coworkers might be an even bigger pumpkin fan than I am,  plus he does a lot of baking, so I forwarded the link to him.  Hopefully he will find a few of them to his liking and make a few of them and let me sample them.

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Wanchai Ferry-Sweet & Spicy Shrimp

Have you seen this commercial for Wanchai Ferry frozen Chinese dinners?

That panda is so cute. I love Chinese food, but I have not found too many Chinese entrees in my local frozen food department that actually taste good. So while I do rave about the breadth and quality of items available in the freezer these days, I was a bit skeptical. But, they were on sale and figured it was worth giving them a try.  My local grocer had four varieties available.  I opted for the sweet & spicy shrimp.

Similar to the Stouffer's Anytime Gourmet item that I reviewed earlier, the Wanchai Ferry product come with each component individually packaged in the bag.  The first step was to heat a little oil in a non-stick skillet and stir fry the shrimp for 3-6 minutes until brown.  You remove the shrimp from the pan and set it aside.  Next you add a little water, the sauce packet, and the vegetable packet and bring it to a boil for three minutes.  Next you add the shrimp back to the mix and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.  The rice comes in a small steam pack that you nuke in the microwave for 2 minutes. 

The shrimp are pretty good sized shrimp; not little baby shrimp.  Likewise, the vegetables (baby corn, sugar snap peas, red bell peppers, and carrots) are substantial.  The sauce is sweet with a little bit of spice, but not overpowering.  The rice cooks up perfectly.  Their tagline at the end of the commercial is "Restaurant quality Chinese in your grocer's freezer."  Not quite, but very close.  It is by far the best quality Chinese meal that I have found to date in the grocery store.

If you want to give Wanchai Ferry a try, you can go their website and print a coupon good for $1.50 off a package.  There are five varieties available, Orange Chicken, Shrimp Lo Mein, Spicy Garlic Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, and the variety I tried, Sweet & Spicy Shrimp. 

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Prosciutto Wrapped Breadsticks

My family watches the Food Network on a regular basis.  My 15 year old autistic son is particularly fond of the competition shows like Iron Chef America.  My wife is constantly looking for new recipes to try out on me to change up our daily meals.

One of the recipes that she had found was a Prosciutto-Wrapped Breadsticks from Giada de Laurentiis. The dish is really intended to be an appetizer.  My wife would occasionally make it whenever she would fix a spaghetti dinner for us.  Every time she did, I would comment that  I could have it as a meal with a salad.  Last week she made them with a ceasar salad for dinner. 

The breadsticks are fairly easy to make.  The only ingredients needed are a can of refrigerated breadstick dough, grated parmesan cheese, and sliced prosciutto.  You take each strip of dough and roll it in the parmesan cheese. Then you twist the dough into sticks.  Wrap each breadstick in a slice of prosciutto and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or golden brown.  They are simply delicious.

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Bertolli Garlic Shrimp, Penne & Cherry Tomatoes

Here is another dinner for two that I recently found in the frozen food section of the grocery store.  Like I said previously, the quality and variety of frozen food that is available these days continues to improve.  It is so quick and easy to get a high quality meal to the table.

Bertolli Mediteranean Style Garlic Shrimp, Penne & Cherry Tomatoes is one such meal.  The dish consists of penne pasta, shrimp, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes in a light and tasty garlic sauce.  All it takes is about 8 minutes in a skillet and dinner is ready to be served.  I have tried other garlic shrimp dishes, but this one is my new favorite.  I really enjoy the tang that the cherry tomatoes add to it.

Bertolli has developed several different frozen entrees.  Some are skillet meals like the garlic shrimp, and others are oven baked dinner kits.  You can go to their website to see the wide variety they have available.  While there, you can print a coupon good for $1 off any Bertolli frozen meal.

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