Shrimp Wonton Cups & Coconut Pineapple Bars

Wow! This is my first cooking/baking post in, like, over a year. I can't believe it. It's just that I've been so busy since I moved to El Paso a year ago, that I kinda just stopped cooking/baking. This weekend, I was invited to a friend's house for dinner and I decided to get off my butt and make something. And I thought that I'd start of nice and simple just to ease back into everything. And I hope it doesn't stop here. With the baby coming in two months, I'll have to start cooking more!

First off, I wanted to make an appetizer. So I made these Shrimp Wonton Cups. They're so easy to make and delicious. Now, I'd rather deep fry wontons any day, but I suppose baking it, like this recipe calls for, makes it just tad bit healthier. Only, I found that the shells soften up a little to quickly for my taste. And, these cups taste best when served immediately out of the oven. By the time I got to my friend's house on the other side of town, not only had the wonton cups softened, but the cheese was no longer hot and stringy. Apparently, no one else noticed. They were practically all gone. I'd consider this a hit!

Shrimp Wonton Cups
(taken from the Pampered Chef Celebrate! Cookbook)


24 square wonton wrappers
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
10 oz. shelled, deveined, cooked, medium shrimp, chopped
2 green onions with tops, finely chopped
1/3 cup grated carrot
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 Tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded mozarella


1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Using a pastry brush, brush one side of each wonton square with melted butter. Press each wonton, butter side up into muffin cup. Bake 8 minutes or until edges turn golden brown. Remove pan from oven to cooling rack.

2. Finely chop green onions and grate the carrots. Combine cream cheese, pressed garlic, and worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Blend well. Stir in chopped shrimp, green onions, carrots and mozarella cheese.

3. Using a small scoop, fill each wonton with a rounded scoop of the cream cheese mixture. Bake 5 minutes or until wontons are golden brown and filling in bubbly around the edges.

Enjoy! See how easy that was? Now for dessert...you guys know that being from the islands and all, I love anything with pineapple and/or coconut. So I made these yummy Coconut-Pineapple Bars that were to die for! Now the bars have a cake-like consistency. I think I'm going to have to come up with a good frosting for this. Anyone have ideas?

Coconut-Pineapple Bars
(from Simply Better, Easy Potlucks, May 2006)

1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
1 20-oz. can drained crushed pineapple
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 c chopped nuts toasted (if desired)
1/2 c shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 325. Grease 3-quart rectangular, baking dish. Set aside

2. In large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add eggs, pineapple, and butter. Stir until combined. Fold in nuts and coconut. Spread mixture in prepared baking dish.

3. Bake about 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in dish on wire rack. Cut into bars.

And there you have it! Again, I'm going to try to post more recipes here in the future. Hope you guys stop by again!

Spaghetti with Eggplant, Butternut Squash and Shrimp

I saw Giada De Laurentis whip this dish up on TV around Halloween time. She commented that the orange of the butternut squash and shrimp, as well as the black of the eggplant, along with the fresh orange-colored pasta she used made it look scary. I didn't think so, but I did think that the dish looked good--good enough for me to want to make. I was having my parents and brother over for dinner so I thought I'd try something new with them. The name of the dish says all about what goes into it, as you can see here. The recipe called for Japanese eggplant, but since I couldn't find any, I used the regular kind that you can find at any grocery store. Then there's the vibrant butternut squash (my favorite kind of squash), the large shrimp (my favorite seafood), garlic and onions.

Overall, I thought the dish was just okay and not anything to rave about. My family said it was good, but they didn't take too well to all the vegetables in it since they're used to some kind of meaty marinara sauce. Basically, what I had left when everyone had their serving was a dish full of noodles, eggplant, and squash. The shrimp was the biggest hit of the evening, although I must say that the butternut squash was wonderfully sweet. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be making this dish for a while. I think I'm more likely to use marinara sauce in the dish next time to give it more flavor, but I'm not so sure the combination will work well. Oh yeah...and I think I'd eliminate the eggplant. The squishiness kind of got to me. I don't know, we'll see. But hey, if you're curious and would like to give this a try go ahead. You might like what you get!

Spaghetti with Eggplant, Butternut Squash and Shrimp

(Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentis)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 small butternut squash, peeoled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 5 cups)

1 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 1/4 cups dry white whine

2 cups fish broth, fresh or frozen, or canned vegetable broth

2 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Salt and pepper

17.5 oz. orange-colored fresh spaghetti or linguine

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1. Heat the oil in a heavy large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for just a minute. Add the squash, eggplant, rosemary, and thyme and saute for 8 to 10 minutes.


2. Add the wine and broth and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer until the squash is tender and the liquid is reduced by about half, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.


3. Add the shrimp and simmer gently until almost cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but firm to the bite, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta (alternatively, you can use dried pasta which will take 8 to 10 minutes to cook).


5. Toss the pasta, squash mixture and butter in a large bowl until the liquid thickens. Serve and enjoy!