Obama discusses nominees who will fight for American people

In this week's address, President Barack Obama discussed two nominees he has selected to lead agencies that will help protect the American people from corporate greed. This past week he nominated Mary Jo White to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission and Richard Cordray to continue on as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Angel hair pasta with shrimp and tomato sauce

Another night and another recipe from my new favorite recipe website, Skinnytaste. I was running out of things to eat and had this recipe to save for sometime later so I thought tonight was as good a night as any. It was quick and easy to make and tasted delicious. The original recipe can be found here.  

Review: As I said above, this recipe was quick and easy to make. I'd say it took no more than 30 minutes to fix. It's certainly healthy and one I will make again soon. I followed the directions exactly but for me, the sauce was a little more liquidy than I prefer but that might have been, in part, because I used the juice from the diced tomato can instead of draining it. Next time I might add some cornstarch to help thicken the sauce a bit or first see how it does with actually draining it and then if it still has too much liquid for my liking then I'll add the cornstarch. It was basically a sauce similar to Ragu or Preggo so think about how you like your sauce and go with whatever works best for you. This also could be good with some ground beef. That also would help thicken the sauce a bit. The wine and oregano gave it a punch of flavor that kept me wanting more. I don't like whole tomatoes so I was a little skeptical of using diced tomatoes but once everything mixed together I could barely taste them. They really just blended in with the sauce. Still, if you don't like whole tomatoes you could just use the juice from the can or even try using a tomato puree or petite cut tomatoes in the can. As far as the white wine goes, I used Chardonnay but if you have a white wine you prefer to use than go ahead and use it.

Recipe:

• 1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 cup half and half
• oregano
• salt and fresh pepper
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 8 oz. angel hair pasta (whole wheat, low carb or high fiber)

Boil the water for the pasta. Cook according to the package instructions. Meanwhile, season the shrimp with salt and oregano. Cook the shrimp and garlic in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, wine, salt and pepper and cook an additional minute. Add the half and half and cook 1 more minute. Add the lemon juice and parsley and serve over the pasta.

Summer vegetables with turkey sausage and sweet potatoes

I had to go to the grocery store today because I was out of food. Before I did that, though, I took the time to find a few meals I wanted to cook in the upcoming days and weeks so I went to one of my favorite websites, Skinnytaste. I can always count on this site to have some delicious recipes and tonight's meal did not disappoint. It might have taken a little time to prepare and cook because of the different ingredients that needed cut and sliced, but the end product was worth the wait. It originally can be found here. 

Review: Tonight's meal was healthy and flavorful. My favorite vegetables are those that are cooked and even more so peppers. I simply love the flavor of cooked peppers and this meal had four of them. The recipe calls for yellow, orange and red bell peppers but I also added green to give it additional color. This meal would be good enough with just the vegetables so adding the sausage and the potatoes makes it even heartier and tastier. Also, you could add any type of meat you wanted whether it's sausage, pork, chicken, shrimp, etc. It wasn't spicy at all but you could either add some red chili pepper to give it some heat or add some hotter peppers along with the bell peppers such as jalapeno, for example. It took a little longer to prepare than I normally prefer but that was because I had to cut potatoes, four peppers, an onion and sausage. If you know in advance you're going to make it you could cut those things early so it's just a matter of cooking them, which will cut the time in half before you can serve. It also took me a while because I added extra amounts of the ingredients because I wanted to have enough to have leftovers for a few days. Had I used the amounts listed it might have given me 3 or 4 days worth of meals instead of double that. There really isn't anything major I would change about this meal, though, but just like the ability to change the meat product you also could add whatever types of vegetables you wanted. If you wanted to add some carrots or corn or celery, for example, you could. I also should note that the recipe calls for red potatoes, and that's fine, but I made it healthier by using sweet potatoes instead.

Recipe:

• 1 lb baby red potatoes, cut in half or quartered (I used two sweet potatoes and quartered them)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• fresh cracked pepper
• 14 oz Italian chicken sausage, sliced 1-inch thick (I bought and used two packages of turkey sausage)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of the knife (I used 3 tsp of minced garlic)
• 1/2 orange bell pepper, diced 1-inch squares (I used 1 whole pepper)
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced 1-inch squares (I used 1 whole pepper)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced 1-inch squares 
• 2 tbsp fresh rosemary (or other fresh herb such as thyme)
• 2 cups zucchini, 1/2 inch thick and quartered (I used 1 whole zucchini)

Place the oil and potatoes in a large, deep non-stick skillet with a tight fitting lid on high heat. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. When the skillet gets hot and starts to sizzle, reduce heat to low and cook with a tight lid on for about 20-25 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent the potatoes from burning (or stir with a spatula). Remove from the heat and let them sit 5 minutes without removing the lid. Set potatoes aside on a dish.

Add the sausage to the skillet and saute on medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally until browned but not quite cooked through, about 10 minutes. Season the chopped vegetables with salt and pepper. Add onions, peppers, garlic and rosemary to the skillet and mix. Continue cooking stirring occasionally until the onions and peppers become slightly browned. Add the zucchini and cook an additional 5 minutes, mixing as it cooks until cooked through.

Return the potatoes back to the skillet and mix well. Adjust salt and pepper as needed. Cover and cook 5 more minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked through.