Well I’ll be darned…you guys love cook books even more than you love Larabars! I felt your excitement, so I’m just going to go ahead and announce it…the winner of the Slow Cooker Cook Book is:

emily: I want the Slow Cooker book! I have one, but I only use it to make shredded chicken!

and the winner of the Good Appetite Cook Book is:

Danica: The A Good Appetite cookbook looks fabulous! Have fun at the show!

Congrats!! Email your full name & mailing address to me at IowaGirlEats@gmail.com and we’ll get those cook books out to you ASAP.

Seriously, that was a lot of entries in a very short amount of time! Also, in case you were wondering, the cook books have prompted me to put both a slow cooker dish AND grilled cheese on next week’s menu. YUM!

In other news, do yourself a favor and if you have the chance to go see Mary Poppins on stage, stop what you are doing and go buy a ticket immediately! That was hands down the best show I’ve seen!

The music is so catchy, and this particular cast was just fantastic. It also had a great mix of dialogue and singing, which is nice since I tend to get annoyed when these types of shows are all singing… You know how it is.

PLUS Bert dances upside down on a platform on the ceiling of the stage – like 100 feet in the air. I almost threw up, but dear Lord, it was just fantastic. I want to see it again!

And yes, I’ve been singing “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” all damn day…

Anyways!

Dinner tonight was seriously SO fantastic and SO easy. I made Scallops ‘n’ Pasta from SavorySweetLife over at TastyKitchen.com!

I made a few modifications to the recipe including using this Garlic Basil Linguine from Trader Joe’s for extra flavah. While that was cooking up, I got the ingredients ready for the rest of the dish!

First I thoroughly dried some bay scallops on paper towels. So teeny tiny – ooo!

You want the scallops super dry so they’ll sear up nicely. Once dry, season on both sides with salt & pepper.

Next, I sautéed those babies up in extra virgin olive oil, until seared on one side, then flip!

Crispy!!

Ps you might want to get a splatter shield to make this dish. The blast radius is, um, wide.

Goodbye scallops, hello butter, garlic and tomatoes!

I sautéed the tomatoes until they were soft, then added in a big handful of baby spinach to wilt. I have a giant bag in the fridge and plus spinach is like a toddler – somehow it finds its way into everything!

 

Finally I added in some white wine to bubble down until it made a sauce thick enough to coat the pasta.

Charles Shaw (aka Two Buck Chuck aka $2.99 Trader Joe’s wine) yo!

Now before you go turning up your nose, let me just tell you that I never cook with wine I wouldn’t drink. And I would drink Two Buck Chuck. It’s good. Real good.

Oh ps, need a Christmas gift for the wine enthusiast in your life? Get them The Rabbit Wine Opener Kit. Just like a can opener, you never know how bad your old one was until you’ve tried the rabbit. It is AMAZING. Pulls the cork out in one fell swoop – no muscling required.

 

Toss and serve!

Restaurant quality!!!!

This was savory, warm, chewy, salty, buttery and flat out amazing.

Superb recipe.

Also, I won’t tell if you save the chewy scallops to eat as “dessert” after you eat the pasta and veggies.

In other news, my husband is currently drinking Two Buck Chuck straight from the bottle over the kitchen sink. Busted! I…must go.

Goodnight!

~~~~~

Complete this phrase: “All I want for Christmas is _____”