Scallops Pesto with Vermicelli

Click here to print recipe

Scallops Pesto with Vermicelli

This recipe came out of Cooking for 2 in the Fall 2007 edition.  It was submitted by Marilyn Lustgarten of Wentzville, Missouri. Andy and I loved it.  It was quick and easy.  Not too high in calories and made the house smell wonderful! 4 ounces uncooked vermicelli 2 Tbs. butter 1/2 tsp garlic powder ( I used the jarred minced garlic and used about a tsp.) 1/4 tsp. oregano 1/8 tsp. pepper 1/2 lb. bay scallops 2 Tbsp. white wine or chicken broth ( I found it to be a good excuse to open a bottle of wine to drink while cooking) 3 Tbsp. prepared pesto Cook vermicelli according to package directions and drain.  Meanwhile, in large skillet, melt butter.  Stir in the garlic, oregano and pepper.  Add scallops and wine or broth; cook an d stir over medium heat for 5-6 min. until scallops are firm and opaque. Reduce heat to low.  Stir in pesto; heat through.  Toss vermicelli into pan, toss and make sure it is heated through. A 1 1/4 cup serving equals 536 calories, 24 grams of fat, 76 mg. cholesterol, 481 mg. sodium, 47 carbs, 3 gms. fiber, 31 gm. protein. Now to get to sewing!  I have two orders to fill today plus a pile of things I need to mend or embroidery to give as gifts.  I also want to make one of the kitchen towels with scripture for myself!  I have loved making those and everyone that has used them has said they love them.  So it's about time I get to use one for myself!

Fall Designs & Pumpkin Bread

  Fall.  Bleh.  I love the colors and flavors.  I like the decreasing humidity and the slightly cooler temps and the end of yard work.  I do NOT like the feeling of impending doom.  I am not a fan of heavy clothes, coats, shoes, frost, snow, ice etc.  I like shorts and sandals, the beach, no coats, being able to walk outside without freezing and being encumbered by clothes.  

 

To add to that, fall means I have to return to work.  I used to work full time as a school nurse.  Now I've been blessed to do it only as a substitute which means I can make my own schedule.  Since we still need the income, that translates into me working as much as possible.  I'd rather be home cooking and sewing.  Even when I had a year round job and my children were young, I still didn't like fall.  Some parents like sending their children back to school but I liked having mine home and setting my own schedule.

 

I do love fall colors though.  They are so vibrant.  Nan's Nappies has some really cute fall designs that could look adorable on your child's shirt, onesie, burp cloth or blanket.  There are also beautiful designs for towels and adult shirts.  Click on the following links to check out the designs that are shown on Nan's Nappies Shutterfly share page:

School Daze

Back to School

Harvest Happenings

Back to School Critters 

Split Back to School ( names are not included, I can add your child's name in the font you choose)

 

Or what about these cute little designs on a shirt or bag?   You can choose the font or saying to be "written" on the "paper".

The one above is also applique' so the apple & leaves, heart and I will be filled with fabrics of your color choice.

Backpacks are another school necessity and I have added some names to some.  I have around 500 fonts from which to choose so your child's bag can be unique. I have over 100 colors of thread from which to choose also. 

  

   

Some don't want their child's name on the pack but a monogram or unique saying will set their pack apart from the rest.

 

 

 Now, for another thing I love about fall.  Pumpkin.  I love pretty much anything pumpkin.  One of our family favorites is Pumpkin Bread.  I make it all year round.  I teach 4 & 5 year old ( Pre-K & K) Sunday School and take pumpkin bread in as a snack fairly often.  Even the really picky ones will resist it at first, then they ask for seconds and even thirds!  I haven't had even one turn it down yet.  It is so moist and goes really well with some cream cheese or just plain.  Here's my recipe:

 

 Click here to print recipe

Pumpkin Bread

In large bowl mix together the following ingredients then set aside.

4 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 tsp. salt

In  your large mixer bowl, mix together:

1 large ( 29 oz) can pumpkin ( not pumpkin pie mix but plain)

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

4 1/2 cups sugar

6 eggs

As mixer is going, gradually ass the flour mixture.  Mix till well blended.

Pour into three greased 9" loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 min or until toothpick comes out clean.  After 10 min. dump the loaves onto a cooling rack.  When well cooled, wrap and refrigerate.  I often use heavy duty foil to wrap each loaf and then freeze.  Another way I wrap them is with Glad Press N Seal and then put several loaves inside a gallon size freezer bag.  Even after months in the freezer, you can thaw it and it won't taste like it's been frozen!

I often make mini loaves instead of the big loaves.  I have 6" mini pans and 4". I fill them around 2/3 full.  Both of those only take 40 - 45 min. to bake.

Sunday School and Mother's Day

I love my little Sunday School Class.  I co-teach Pre-K 4 and K5 with Kate Howard.  Last week, Kate was out of town.  She was attending her daughter's graduation from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA .  When Kate is out of town, my son-in-law Ryan comes in the class to help me.  When all are present, we have 6 little boys and two girls.  Three of our students were celebrating birthday's last week.  Becky Lankford  and Isaac Clarke turned 6.  Asher McGuire turned 5, and my son-in-law turned 31.  We always have a snack time but with all of those birthday's it had to be something special so I baked a cake.
Just look at those sweet faces!  Asher wasn't able to be there because his father, our associate pastor, needed to be taken to the airport where he left for a three week missions trip to Uganda!  We had two more missing for other reasons. 

My son-in-law helped me pass out the cake.  My daughter and the baby and 2 1/2 year old grandson joined in on the party as did my husband.  After Sunday School, my 4 1.2 year old granddaughter joined us also.

My parents church, Grace Baptist,   has an annual Mother/Daughter banquet.  My daughter was 3 weeks old when I attended the first time.  In fact, it may have been the first one.  Now she's 30 with three children of her own.  Where does the time go?

Taylor and Morgan looked beautiful in their gorgeously girly dresses.  My nephews wife, April joined us also. 

 Isn't she a beautiful little angel?  She's 7 weeks old.

 I love the look of love in Taylor's eyes.

I love watching my mom hold Morgan.  What a joy to have these pictures!  Mom is 91.  She will probably not get to see Taylor or Morgan as grown women but they will always have these pictures to know how much she loved them!

I have never really had a Mother's Day given to me.  I've always cooked for others and had a few times when we went out to dinner.  I was treated to a really nice Mother's Day yesterday.  My son-in-law cooked an entire dinner for us.  Lauren and I didn't have to life a finger!  Now that is a real treat!!  After dinner, we went to Mom and Dad's house.  We gave her a beautiful red Knock-Out Rose.  My son has never been the best for remembering Mother's Day.  What a wonderful surprise when he showed up at Mom & Dad's with a gift for me!  He lives across the field from them.  He not only gave me a gift and great card, but he gave one to Mom and to Lauren.  Lauren's was such a wonderful card, she cried! Seeing love between siblings does a mother's heart good! After a short visit with Adam we drove Mom & Dad to Salisbury to Cold Stone Creamery and bought them an ice cream treat.  They each got the Germanchokolatekake in the Love It Size.  I knew they were going to be amazed at how filling it would be and they were.  Those cups don't look nearly so big when they are empty!  I got the Mud Pie Mojo in the Like It size and had plenty!  Andy made his own creation with Sweet Cream, brownies, M&M's, and Reese's cups.  I definitely had to make sure I got in all of my walking when I got home, but even though I reached my goal, I had still gone over by almost 200 calories today.  Oh well, it was worth it! 

Facebook and Ice Cream Cups

Recently Facebook made it easier to give everyone a way to find my  Nan's Nappies page.  If you are on Facebook, please be sure to click on the link below and "Like" it so you can keep up with all of my work.
 
https://www.facebook.com/NansNappies


Now to tell you about something yummy, clever and easy!  I saw this link on my good friend, Hannah's blog.  (http://aholeistodig.blogspot.com )

 http://www.confessionsofacookbookqueen.com/2012/03/thin-mint-ice-cream-cups/#comment-25389

The ice cream cups in the photo are made with Thin Mint cookies and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.  My husband is not a fan of mint flavors but I can imagine all sorts of ice cream/cookie combinations for this.  How many times have you had a party and stood there trying to quickly dip ice cream for your guests?  How many times do you hear someone ask for " just a little bit" ?  How many times have the first bowls you dipped been melting while you were frantically dipping and your hand was getting tired?  No more!  You can make these several days ahead of your party.  I can imagine vanilla wafers with any flavor ice cream, Oreo's with cookies and cream, Pecan Sandies with Butter Pecan.  What flavors do you think you would try?    They are like individual ice cream cakes without the sore hands from trying to rapidly cut the cake for your guests.  CLEVER!

I worked for a couple of hours today at my second job as a school nurse.  Today I went with a group of special needs students to a pool.  I have one student in particular that I travel with.  He is a sweet autistic boy with diabetes.

I have an order to embroider a Formula 1 Race Car on a t-shirt.  The customer's first choice was for a red-t-shirt.  I didn't have a red t-shirt on hand but just knew that I could find one at Hobby Lobby.  I went there after work only to find that their smallest red T-shirt was a size 2-4.  I needed an 18 month size.  The second choice was light blue; they only had royal.  The third choice was white but they didn't have a white t-shirt in that size.  The customer told me to use a onesie.  Guess what?  They were sold out of 18 month size onesies!  I stopped by Babies R Us and bought 18 month size onesies.  Unfortunately they do not sell plain t-shirts in any size so I couldn't get the t-shirt there either.  There are days when things just don't work out as I'd like them to.

Dinosaurs

My favorite items to embroider are ones for my grandchildren.  I know the photo is a little grainy.  It was taken in low light with a cell phone. But I like it because it is my little grandson wearing an onesie with a triceratops applique'.  The design comes from Designs by JuJu Dino Crossing Applique' set.  http://www.designsbyjuju.com/designsets.aspx?pscat=63  

His older sister likes him wearing this top because Triceratops are her favorite dinosaurs! 

Burp Cloths

I began hand painting burp cloths 30 years ago when my son was an infant. Over the years my designs got more detailed. Every time I gave them as gifts they were well received. I have some mothers who have told me that they still have their babies burp cloths from years ago.

Recently, my husband gave me a Bernina Artista 630 and I have discovered the world of Machine Embroidery. (ME) I love it. I love all of the colors of threads and all of the many designs from which to choose. I also love the software that enables me to customize my burp cloths.

The moon and stars burp cloth , above, has some yellow glow-in-the-dark thread. Once the lights go off, it glows!

Below, you can see a sample of other burp cloths I've made. All are embroidered on Gerber pre-fold diapers for excellent absorption.  I also use high quality Isocord thread which will not bleed or fade.  These burp cloths can be tossed into the washing machine without any worries.

Please check these and others out at my new Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/nansnappies