July Recipes 1 & 2

July was a delightfully busy month here.  We hosted so many visitors in our home and have had such a great time!  In the last 4 weeks we've hosted our youngest visitor (our nephew!), my entire family for a meal and a weekend of fun (30/30/ update to come!), childhood friends traveling through the state, and our local friends for a house party.

Between all the excitement here I did find time for two new recipes. 

1:  Potato Salad

My first potato salad EVER!  Made to serve a group of 10 I might add!  Yes - I put this together while my family was visiting for the lunch that we hosted.  It was a success!  This will surely become a summertime staple in our house.

2.  Shrimp Tacos with Corn Salsa

July 31st arrived so quickly but I was able to squeak this new recipe in that very night.  I found the recipe in our Cooking Light magazine.  This meal was so summery and delish!  I added in a Corona with lime to complete the meal.

Happy August!!!

Random Thursday

1.  I went running today.  It felt great.  It had been too long.

2.  I swam in the pool today without Hubs.  He was golfing.  Tally up on the board for me!

3.  I made jello shots for the first time tonight.

4.  I picked Queen Anne's Lace flowers from the side of the road for a vase on my table.

5.  I hosted my family at my house last weekend.  More details to come!

Book Inspired Travel Plans

Have you ever read a book and been inspired to travel somewhere?  I have - in 6th grade.  In 6th grade we read "The Witch on Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare.  I recently revisited this book to see if it still had the same effect on me.

It did.

Because of this book, I have always wanted to visit Barbados. 

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The book takes place in the year 1685.  It follows a young girl named Kit that recently lost her grandfather and travels from Barbados to Puritan Connecticut to stay with her aunt, whom she has never met.  When she arrives in Connecticut she has a rough adjustment to New England life.

At times throughout the book the author mentions Barbados, the island that Kit is originally from.  It is described as a place with warm turquoise water, beautiful flowers, and colorful clothes.

Here are a few of the Barbados references in the book:

"The bleak line of shore surrounding the gray harbor was a disheartening contrast to the shimmering green and white that fringed the turquoise bay of Barbados which was her home."

"He knows Barbados.  He explained that the sea is always warm and that even respectable people sometimes swim in it."

"Grandfather was sure Shakespeare must have visited Barbados.  I suspect he liked to think of himself as Prospero."

"Do tell--from Barbados?"  marveled the woman.  "Thee seemed different somehow.  Is it like paradise, the way he says?"


Visiting Barbados is on my 30/30 list.  So - when should I go?

June Recipes 1 & 2

Holy cow - June has come and gone in a flash!  Fast and rainy is what I'll say about June here.


Fortunately, the weather is starting to break.  There's lots of sun in the forecast.  In fact, we spent a few too many hours poolside today.  I've got a pretty bad sunburn to show for it.  But boy was it great!



June recipes were kept very simple courtesy of our July 2013 Cooking Light  magazine.  

Recipe 1:  Tomato and Feta Toasts

This recipe was incredibly easy.  Crumbling feta, mixing in basil, other spices, broiling bread.  Ouila!  Hubs was surprised by the cold tomatoes in this meal.  He expected them to be warm and toasty.  He did enjoy this one and says it's acceptably repeatable.  I'll call that a win. I bet it's good with mozzarella too.  Might make it more caprese next time.

Recipe 2:  Spicy Shrimp Sliders

This recipe was also pretty easy.  It's required me to purchase and cook with sesame oil for the first time ever.  The sesame oil, ginger, and lemon made for great flavor.  Hubs agreed that it was delish and we'll be repeating this one for sure.

Ok July - I'm officially ready for you!

Random Thursday

Today I had a moment where I couldn't believe how rude someone was.  I wanted to go all Stephanie Tanner.

I restrained myself and instead pulled up this YouTube reel...enjoy!

"How Rude!"

Wronskian

We got a kitty!!!!  Wronskian (pronounced "ron-skeen") joined our family on May 25th!! 

Hubs and I had been wanting a kitty for quite some time.  When we lived in an apartment we weren't allowed to have any pets.  As soon as we settled into our new house we both started looking around online for a kitten.

We visited a local shelter one day and didn't find what we were looking for.  We left a little disappointed.  The "kittens" that they had were pretty big and it didn't feel right.

Then one day I came home from work and Hubs was filling out a pet adoption application online.  There had just been a news story on our local news saying that a litter of kittens was rescued from an alleged drug house.  They showed pictures of the kittens on the news.

Hubs proceeded to flip through pictures of the kittens online with me when I got home from work.  He was serious.  He even sent a Facebook message to the animal shelter to inquire about adopting a kitten the coming weekend.

Here's Wronny's glamour shot that was shown on the news that night:

I fell in love with his little white toes.  He looks like a squeak toy in this picture.  Actually, anytime I get a picture of him like this I think he looks like a toy or something you would see in the AddaKitty app.

When we first met Wronny at the animal shelter he was sleeping.  When we reached in to pet him he rolled over and let us pet his belly.

Wronny was a little nervous on the trip home from the shelter. He mewed a bit and actually climbed out of the box that we brought along to transport him in.  He ended up falling asleep in my lap purring.

Awwww....

Wronny currently weighs 1 pound.  You can pretty much hold him in one hand.

Welcome Wronny to our family!  You are so much fun!

May Recipes 1 & 2 & Extra

May was all about quinoa for my recipe experiments.  Quinoa is incredibly easy to make and can be decked out numerous ways to get different flavors.

Both recipes were found on pinterest.

Recipe 1:  Crispy Quinoa Burgers

This recipe was a bit of a fail. The "burgers" that I made out of the quinoa didn't stay together very well in the pan.  They fell apart.  After attempting to keep a few pattys in shape I gave up and resorted to cooking everything together on the stove top like a stir fry.

The result was good, but not what I was hoping for.

Recipe 2:  Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad

This recipe was a bigger hit with Hubs.  This may be because he feels the urge to add buffalo sauce to many of his meals.  He doesn't like blue cheese so I kept the blue cheese out and only added it to my portions.  It was pretty tasty!

Extra:  Homemade Cheese Itz

Props to Hubs for this one.

I LOVE cheese itz.  I may be addicted to them.  I saw a recipe for homemade cheese itz on pinterest but passed by it because it looked like so much work.

Little did I know Hubs saw a recipe for homemade cheese itz online and thought he'd give it a whirl.  It took him a few hours in the kitchen, but boy were they tasty!