Yogurt Parfait

So, to go with our spring like entree, I also made a fresh desert: yogurt parfaits. And they were cheap. Only used three ingredients! So here's what I put in:
Vanilla Yogurt
Cereal with your favorite dried fruit (mine had blueberries AND strawberries; SCORE!)
Chocolate Chips

INSERT PICTURE I FORGOT TO TAKE OF THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS HERE

So here's how I did it:

Get a tall container and put a layer of yogurt in the bottom. Add a thick layer of cereal followed by another layer of yogurt and then a thin layer of chocolate chips. Your yogurt layers can be as thin or thick as you like, but I recommend your cereal layers be pretty thick so you get that yummy granola crunch, otherwise, your cornflakes will be mushy. Continue to layer until you get to the top or run out of food. Seal it and put in the freezer for about an hour.

Be sure to rinse out the container and don't dry it. That way the top will get frozen on to the container and you have to interrupt your boyfriend in the middle of his TV show to get him to open it. Twice.

 Scoop it out and enjoy immediately so its cold and your cereal doesn't get mushy as the yogurt thaws! :)

And you can't see my chocolate chips because we had to use white ones (but they were just as good as the milk chocolate ones).

Shrimp Pasta

So LoverBoy gave me some grocery money to buy stuff to cook whatever I like so I decided to make some shrimp pasta. It was nice and fresh and yummy :) So here's what I did.

You will need:

shrimp (or other seafood)

garlic powder/salt

butter

mint

mushrooms

cream cheese

tomatoes

noodles

First, you want to decapitate/de-vein/de-leg and (thaw and) wash your shrimp. 

Mine had to defrost in some water as well; this also keeps them nice and juicy while I'm prepping my skillet.

 To cook your shrimp, you want to set a skillet on medium-high heat and melt about a quarter of a stick of butter in it and add a little garlic powder; for those of you who must measure, I would guestimate about a half a tablespoon.

I've got on black crackle nail polish over green HD by the way ;)

 Now, because shrimp kind of create their own juice to simmer in, you don't really have to worry about them burning. You can move on to your next task: preparing the sauce.

You're going to want to "dice" about five or six mushrooms (yum) annnnnnddddd

This is what happens when you don't own a cutting-board and don't trust your counter-tops: you use the egg carton box.

 .....a few leaves of mint to give it that yummy fresh smell and flavor. Don't over-due it though. Three leaves should be enough.

The mint is on the right (the rosemary on the left was for another project which you'll hear about in a few posts. I got these herbs straight from the yard. Yum.

 At this point, you can start boiling your noodles (don't forget the cooking oil or they will stick to each other!). While that's happening, get that stick of butter back out and use about half of whats left from earlier. Put it in a boiler on medium-high heat and when its melted through about a teaspoon or so of garlic powder in. Then, add a half a box of cream cheese and break it up as it melts. Do not stop stirring for more than a few seconds at a time or it will burn. It makes quite a mess. Slowly add (while stirring) about a cup and a half of milk (adding more the thinner you want the sauce to be). When you add your mushrooms and your chopped mint, it should look smooth and creamy, about like this:

At this point, your noodles are probably done, if not, turn down the heat on the sauce and continue to stir occasionally. When your noodles are done, strain and put in a big bowl, add a tad more cooking oil to ensure there is no clumping. Clumpy noodles are gross :P. Add your shrimp.

Now the skillet you cooked your shrimp in, keep that just like it is and throw in some tomatoes, the kind that are kind of cut in triangular shapes (whatever they call that). Let 'em sizzle for a bit. Stir them around every now and then.

Now, when your tomatoes have that nice "grilled tomatoes from Olive Garden" smell, toss them in with the noodles. Mix it all up, put it in the bowls and go stir your sauce yet again. Ladle the yummy sauce onto the pasta (smell it?!) and enjoy!

Of course, if my presentation were better, it wouldn't be in a Tupperware but whatever. :)