Best of the Month April 2014

A recap of my most popular recipes from last month (April 2014)

I've found out that any recipe containing chocolate will get almost three times the views of other posts.  April is my husbands birthday month so I made his usual chocolate cheese cake with some alterations.  As expected it received the most views and +1s this month.

Overall I think my blog is doing well.  I have some regular viewers and my google plus page is doing well with almost 1,000 followers.  My twitter, facebook, pinterest, and tumbler accounts are steadily gaining more followers (I'm starting to feel like a cult leader with all these followers ;-) ) too.

I installed rich pins for my blog so when my recipes are pinned you see my favicon and site name with each pin as well as the ingredients and web page.  I love the look of these pins and I'm slowly going through older posts and marking them up.  I'm also gradually updating some of my older posts.  I'm still co hosting Great Idea Thursdays every Wednesday to Sunday and we have more linkers than ever and that also contributes to my recipe views.  Still linking to other link parties weekly and trying to comment on other posts.  So things are looking good and I'm slowly but steadily being seen.  I don't expect fame but I love when my recipes inspire others.

My best of April:

Dark Mocha Cheese Cake

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A dark chocolate cheesecake with coffee flavor.  425 views and 100 +1s.

Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry

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A healthy stir fry made with shrimp, vegetables, and lots of garlic (update 4/7/14 from original 1/21/13).  182 views and 33 +1s.

Mushroom Spinach Tomato Pasta

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Linguine noodles in a light white wine and garlic sauce tossed with mushrooms, spinach and grape tomatoes.  151 views and 18 +1s.

Clam Linguine

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Clams cooked in white wine sauce then tossed with linguine.  A delicious dinner that may look fancy but is really quite simple.  140 views and 113 +1s.

Veal Scalopini

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Thin veal cutlets served with tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach in a white wine sauce.  139 views and 16 +1s.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  See Ya in the Gumbo, Much Ado, Merry Monday, Two Cup, Teach Me, LouLou Girls, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About it, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday, Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Saturday Night Fever, Share it Sunday

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Clam Linguine

Clams cooked in white wine sauce then tossed with linguine.  A delicious dinner that may look fancy but is really quite simple.

Clams are one of the dishes that started my white wine sauce craze.  This is only my second time cooking clams and I love them.  Clams are easy to find in one of my favorite Chinatown markets.  They are right beside the shrimp and always look delicious.  The first time I cooked them I just had clams in white wine sauce that I served with crusty French bread, to dip in the sauce, and a vegetable.  This time I decided to do clam linguine.

The idea for clam linguine actually came from a book series I've read.  Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series.  It's a crime/mystery book series where Kay is a medical examiner.  Kay is one of few characters who actually likes to cook and in the few books, of this series, I've read; one of her quick go to recipes is clam linguine.  Kay uses bottled clam juice (maybe canned clams...I don't remember) making this a great meal to throw together when you have very little in the fridge.  My thinking was that if bottled clam juice makes good clam linguine real clams would be even better.  The sauce from my first clam recipe was delicious with bread so I figured it would be great with pasta too.

Clam Linguine

Ingredients:

12-14 clams
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp shallots, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 pound linguine
parmesan
salt and pepper
parsley, optional

Clean clams and have them ready to go.  Discard any broken clams or any that are open and do not shut when tapped. My goal was to have at least 5 clams per person sometimes you have to discard a few.

Start the pasta cooking in boiling water (I just used the package instructions I think it was 9-11 minutes).

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a large skillet (12 inch is the one I used).  When the butter melts add the garlic and shallots.  Stir and cook until soft and fragrant and add a little salt.

Pour in the wine and let it come to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and add the clams.  Cover and let steam for about 7 minutes or until the clams open.  Discard any clams that do not open.

The pasta should be done by now, drain it and add the pasta to the clams mixing well and remove from heat.  Add chopped parsley if using, cover and let sit for a few minutes to allow the pasta to absorb some of that delicious sauce.

Makes 2 servings.  Serve with Parmesan, I used shaved Parmesan but grated or shredded would be fine.  Crack fresh ground pepper on top if you like and enjoy.

Linked to:  Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper, Saturday Night Fever, See ya in the Gumbo, Much Ado, 2 Cup, LouLou Girls, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About It, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Full Plate, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday


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