Quick & Easy Dinner: Mushroom & Shrimp Linquine

Whenever I'm in a rush to get dinner on the table and into the tummies of my loved ones, I always turn to pasta dishes.  Being a mother of 3, I don't always have time to be spending hours in the kitchen. As much as I'd like to it's not always possible. I usually always have pastas on hand as well as prepared pasta sauces (however, I do make my own sometimes) and of course veggies, and frozen shrimp or chicken. I actually made this last week for our meatless Friday dinner. All I did was boil the pasta (I like mine al dente, so I threw in the pasta into the boiling water for 7-8 minutes tops), sautee the mushrooms with chopped onions in olive oil and butter, pour in the alfredo sauce, threw in some parmesan cheese and some pesto as well as whatever seasonings you want to add. While that's heating up on low heat, I steamed some brocolli and heated up the garlic bread in the oven. I went back to the sauce and added some shrimp that I usually buy in bulk at Sam's Club, then I added the linquine. Make sure if you're adding cooked shrimp, to add it in at the last minute when you're about to turn off your heat. You don't want the shrimp to be tough or rubbery. Dinner was served in under half an hour. :)

What are your favorite easy dinner dishes?

Cake Pops!

These little balls of cake-like goodness have been the talk of the town for quite some time now. They are very popular and are even being sold in stores like Starbucks. Being a lover of all things food (especially sweets!) I googled 'cake pops' to see if I could get an easy recipe to try. Lo and behold, there were so many easy recipes out there and most of them featured step-by-step instructions complete with pictures. I just had to give it a go. So I headed out to get the supplies that I needed and went to work.

I've gotta admit that these were fairly easy to make. However, it was a little time consuming considering the fact that I had initially put in too much frosting with my crumbled cake, which resulted in having to bake another cake! Had I not made that mistake, it would've been easier. Keep reading if you'd like to see how I made my own cake pops.

Ingredients/Supplies:

1 (14.25 oz) box cake mix (Any flavor-I used Butter Pecan & Funfetti)

1 (16 oz) can of frosting, you will not need all of it (Any flavor-I used Cream Cheese)

1 (24 oz) package of almond bark/candy coating (white or chocolate) or Wilton Candy Melts (Any color-I used White and Light Cocoa)

Sprinkles

Lollipop sticks

Directions:

Bake the cake mix according to the directions on the package.

Crumble the cake into fine pieces.

Place in a large bowl and stir in half of the frosting container.

Mix with your hands until thoroughly combined and thick. Mix in additional frosting if necessary.

 Roll mixture into 1″ balls and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight. You can do this step the day before and then dip them the following day.  Do not freeze them before dipping or it may cause the chocolate to crack after they are dipped.

 Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the flat end of the cake balls. Put your stick in the cake ball a little more than halfway, this helps it to stay secure while dipping.

(I don't have any photos of the dipping process or decorating process)

Carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered, remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too. Immediately cover with sprinkles before the chocolate has a chance to set, then insert in a styrofoam block to harden. (I just poked holes in carboard box and it worked just fine)

 And here they are! :)

Juse use your imagination when decorating them. The possibilities are endless.

 A shot of my kids, ready to devour their cake pops. :)

I hope you all enjoyed this! I look forward to having more recipe posts! =)

*This recipe was adapted from: Recipe Rhapsody & LittleMissMomma. For more cake pop ideas, visit Bakerella.