Shrimptastic!!!!

Ok....those of you who know me well, know that I have a thing for shrimp! Just like Bubba on Forrest Gump, I can rattle off at least fifty ways I love to eat my favorite seafood. The only exception being coconut-crusted shrimp...I don't know, something about it just throws me off...BUT never one to waste a shrimp, I just peel off the coconut and enjoy:)

Recently, I've discovered the Costco shrimp in their freezer section. It comes in 2lb. bags and is already peeled and deveined (with the tail still on). It has THE best taste, even though it's been frozen...and the best part is, it is $11.99 a bag! I think that is a good price considering they are pretty generous in size and they are already peeled/deveined. SO, since we are trying to incorporate a healthier lifestyle for our family, we like to have shrimp twice a week for dinner.

With that said, I want to share with you one of my favorite and quickest ways to prepare these tasty little creatures:) First, I must give credit to The Pioneer Woman for the inspiration and original recipe that I loved so much. Her spicy shrimp is soooooo good, but I thought we would have to give it up forever, since it uses SO much butter. In the south, a lot of people make their own version of this dish, sometimes calling it BBQ shrimp or cowboy shrimp...kind of like everyone has their own version of gumbo, tweaking it here and there to suit their regional palette.

What I did was similar, but all I do is spread my shrimp evenly in a shallow baking dish or jellyroll pan, drizzle with a minimal amount of extra-virgin olive oil, about five shakes of Worchestershire sauce, sprinkle with lemon pepper (to taste), and garlic powder (to taste). Maybe a little seasoning salt or sea salt, but not too much. Mix it all around with your tongs and put it under the broiler in your oven for about 7-10 minutes, checking every few minutes and turning with your tongs. This last time, I added a carton of fresh mushrooms for the last four minutes and it turned out just right, with the mushrooms absorbing just enough of the sauce, but not becoming soggy. Garnish with some fresh lemon wedges to squeeze on your shrimp, add a salad or baked potatoe and VOILA...quick, healthy, DE-LISH-IOUS dinner that everyone loves!! (at least in our house)

If you are a shrimp loving house like ours, try it and see what you think! It's very easy to tweak to your tastes, experiment and find out how you like to make it. I'm having fun trying to take some of the recipes we have always loved and make them healthier. If you have a favorite recipe you have done that to, email it to me to try out on the fam. I'm always looking for new ideas:)

P.S. Sorry Laschelle and Ryan, I hope you made it through this post without gagging...you two are the only ones I know who don't like shrimp! (not that there's anything wrong with that;)

Spring is in the Air...and Other Musings...

We have had gorgeous weather this week! It's hard to stay inside on beautiful days like this:) I am so thankful that we've remained healthy (knock on wood) when there is so much flu/strep/lice outbreaks/stomach viruses going around all around us. I'm sure our time is coming, but this week, it was a blessing to be healthy:) Monday, we met up with some of our friends at the Buda park and the kids were able to play with friends that go to different schools and they don't get to play with often. We brought scooters and just let the kids run free! Wednesday is the day I watch Lusia and so we went to playgroup with our snacks. The weather was perfect but I did get a little too much sun and my face paid the price....Ouch! After we came home, we watered the grass and the girls played in the front garden. They found all these little snail shells and thought they were so cool. Also unearthed was an unlucky earthworm and a cricket that was just a little too slow. Poor things, they started out wriggly and full of life, but by the time the girls were through with them, I could detect no movement from our captive creatures:(

Today, we are going shopping for a carpet steamer so that I may begin my battle with our white, yes white, carpet. I HATE, loathe, detest carpeting in the house. If I had my way, I would rip up every stitch and live on bare concrete floors until I could afford wood throughout the house. Since this is a rental, I have no such option, so the next best thing is to steam the heck out of the carpet I'm stuck with. Dirty carpet is my pet peeve and I cannot rest if I see a spot. Worn areas in the pile drive me nuts too, so I have a method for combating that (an intensive process involving a steel bristle brush). I really hate it....and why does it have to be white???!!!! Ok Ok, carpet rant over...(for now)!

Anyway, I'm so glad it's Friday...I hope to be able to find someone to watch the kiddos so that I can go to the cannery in the morning, but it's looking pretty hopeless. I have limited resources when it comes to finding people to watch my kids and I harldly ever ask, but I really want to go tomorrow. The usual people I ask are either vacationing in Cancun or have a semi-lice scare going on in their house. Randy has to work Mardi Gras, it's mandatory (of course) and the only family we have to ask has to travel an hour to get here, but it doesn't matter anyway, because they are busy. Seriously, it's pretty frustrating! I can't wait until Jordan can demonstrate to me that he is responsible enough to watch his siblings for an extended period of time (longer than 30 minutes), but as of now, I just don't feel comfortable leaving them here when I'm so far away, and Lesley is not even home to keep an eye on the house or for the kids to run to if there is trouble. Oh well!!

SO, I am off to enjoy the weather with my two daughters, grocery shop, and to compare the features of various carpet steamers, I'm just glad it's finally the weekend...laissez les bons temps rouler!!!!!!!!!

Spiderman:)

So, Jonah has been obsessed with Spiderman since he was three, he's now six and a half. I think that beats the longest running toy/hero obsession we've ever had including Jordan's Pokemon and Power Ranger phase. Noah never seemed to settle on one thing long enough for it to evolve into an obsession, who knows why? But since Jonah is my last son, it gives me a smile to still see him loving his Spiderman action figures so much (I just noticed this particular one is missing his right foot), I hope it lasts a while longer...I will miss it when it's over...we love you Spiderman!!!

Our Sweet Day!

Alternative desserts

Ballerina

Market Days

The Negley third grade class is studying economics and hosted a market day for the elementary students. They had to come up with a product or service to market and sell, set up their booth (desk) and sell their goods/services to the various classes. Noah chose to make and sell brownies. He made his sign, helped me find a good recipe, helped me bake them, and package them up in clear wrap with gold curly ribbon. He also wanted to sprinkle them with powdered sugar to "make them different":) I convinced him to carry this picnic basket I found at a garage sale and to sell them out of the basket with his sign attached. He sold each brownie (we made them BIG) for 50 cents each. We made 25 brownies and he sold every one! He says he wishes we would have made more because he ran out early:) They learned about the amount of work that goes into starting a business, start up costs, making a profit, the importance of advertising, and paying taxes. All of the money they made will go into the third grade fund and they will vote on what to do with it, like have an end of year party or buying something for the school. I thought it was a great idea for the school to give the third graders this learning experience and I know Noah will always remember it.

Busy Bees

Our Little Girl!

I felt bad for Emmy after I posted a picture of just her sister, so I thought I would post these of her yesterday with her wet Koolaid mouth:) She just turned three this past Christmas day and is full of sassy goodness...just like her momma;)

Our Big Girl!

Avelyn is really starting to be a big girl! She just recently started to willingly go into Primary on her own and is loving her new dance class and the friends she is making there:) We are very proud of her! Here she is right before church this past Sunday, she looked so cute that I just HAD to take her pic:)

Down to the Wire: Superbowl XLIII

So the day that we have been waiting for all season was finally upon us. Our beloved team had made it all the way to that pinnacle of games...the Superbowl!! It really is so exciting to watch and follow a team from the preseason to the playoffs and amazingly on to the championship matchup. The delight I see in my husband's face and the passion he has for this team and the sport, is very special to me....it gives me so much joy to see him so thrilled:) It's like watching your children open their presents on Christmas morning, that's the only way I can think of to describe the feeling.

At first, we were just going to stay home and watch the game since everyone around us were cheering for the Cards, but our good friends the Allen's invited us over to watch the game and promised to cheer for the Steelers:) So now, not only do we get to share the game with good friends, an added bonus was we would get to watch it on a huge flatscreen in HD!!!!! Since they live on our street, we just grabbed our desserts and walked up to their house.

When we got there, we had dinner and watched the pregame show. I thought Jennifer Hudson did an awesome job singing the National Anthem, and some of the commercials this year were really funny! Finally it was time for kickoff and from that moment forward we were on the edge of our seats the whole game! What an exciting Superbowl! Even if you're not a fan of football or don't have a favorite team, it was fun to watch. Steelers started out strong, but then the Cards really kicked into gear and I'm just surprised my nails survived. That final quarter, I was a wreck! I couldn't even stay in the room...I went into the front room to try to calm down and figure out how I was going to console my pile of a husband if we lost. I just didn't see how, with two minutes left, they were going to pull off a win. When I went back in to watch the last couple minutes, Randy looked at me and said, "you gotta have faith in 'em babe, don't lose the faith!!"...ha..haa...I was thinking that the poor man must be in denial, but was thinking it was cute that he was hanging onto his thread of hope. THEN, the unbelievable happened!!! That momentous catch by Santonio Holmes......are there any words that can possibly convey the unbelievable magic and jubilation captured in that one defining moment???!!!! AMAZINGLY MAGICAL!! His feet, beautifully touching just inside the end zone...two beautiful poised set of Steeler toes making history for their perfect placement!!

And so it goes...the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 to win their sixth Superbowl title and to go down in history as the greatest football franchise in the NFL!! Head coach Mike Tomlin becomes the youngest coach, at 36, to ever win a Superbowl, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger leads his team to their second Superbowl title in four seasons, becoming the second youngest quarterback to win two Superbowls!! The guy is twenty-six years old people!! So that means that Big Ben will be around to lead this team for many years to come (barring any unforseen motorcycle mishaps).

A BIG HUGE thanks to the Allen's for hosting our Superbowl experience and for supporting us in our passion for Steelers football. We feel closer to you guys now that you have seen us in our most vulnerable states;) WE LOVE YOU and are SOOOOOOO thankful for your friendship!

All in all, this season lived up to our hype. Now it's time to tuck football into a cozy bed and let it sleep until August! As much as I have enjoyed the trip, I am relieved that the stress is over:) I'm ready for a break, and besides..it's time to get prepared for the next sport of the season...little league baseball, of which we have two sons playing on two different teams, one of which Randy is head coaching....SO, let the games begin!