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Archives for May 2016

C’s Picks – week of 5/29

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c's picks 5:29

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! Can you believe it? Sumer is HERE! This winter wasn’t as bad as some in the past but my goodness does summer always feel so. good.

We have another hot week ahead, which is exactly how we like it! Lots of grilling, can’t wait. Here is what we are making, I so hope it helps inspire something for your family! 

Sunday is a bit up in the air with baseball plans, but, I hope come the end of the day we are lounging on our patio and enjoying these skirt steak tacos with home roasted tomato salsa. (The salsa is insane, by the way!)

Monday is Memorial Day and we are off to Lake Geneva with friends – can’t wait! Thinking this may need to make an appearance.

Tuesday is a slow cooker night, we enjoyed this awesome bbq chicken recipe a few weeks ago and can’t wait to make it again. I served it on whole wheat buns with sweet potato fries.

That brings us to Wednesday and to these awesome shrimp tacos on the grill. Homemade guacamole and margaritas on the side, obviously.

Oh, we haven’t had a burger in awhile. Time to change that Thursday night. These Drury Lane burgers are loaded with bacon, crisp apples and sharp cheddar cheese. A killer combo, by the way.

And then it’s Friday – yippee! We are at the baseball field and hope to enjoy out with friends afterwards! 

That’s our line up for the week, tell me, what do you have planned? I would so love to hear!

C

 

 

Grilled shrimp tacos.

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IMG_8308When the 10 day on your iphone shows 80+ degrees every. single. day. you break out the good stuff.

The flip flops, the strawberry salsa, the sunscreen, the burrata, and the margaritas.

Heck yeah, our season is here.

We like hot. We like summer days the never seem to end. Dirty feet, sticky popsicles, sand, bug spray. We like barefeet on the patio with a cool drink in hand and something sizzling on the grill.

And this particular evening it was all about the grilled shrimp tacos.

I seasoned these little guys earlier in the day (think smoked paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic) and let them hang out in the fridge. Come dinner time they took all of six minutes or so on the grill and on they slid into warm tortillas topped with all the fixings.

I may have, perhaps, gone a bit over board on the fixings part as you, um, barely can see the shrimp. Whoops. But know that they are down in there. We piled ours with cojita cheese, shredded purple cabbage, salsa verde, homemade guacamole, and a few tomatoes on top. A mouthful for sure, but worth every delicious messy bite.

Grilled Shrimp Tacos
Full of flavor seasoned shrimp perfect for the grill and shrimp tacos!
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 lb raw, organic shrimp
  2. 1 tsp olive oil
  3. juice, 1 lime
  4. 1 garlic clove, minced
  5. 1 tsp chili powder
  6. 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
  7. 1/4 tsp cumin
  8. dash of red pepper flakes
  9. 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  10. salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Season the shrimp with all of the above at least one hour before cooking (I gave mine three hours to marinade). Place on a medium hot grill for a few minutes a side.
  2. Top with your favorite toppings!
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Strawberry salsa.

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IMG_8288Is this not the most delicious looking thing on earth?

I’m telling you, it is. Like best summer recipe to have ever graced the planet.

It all began while I was daydreaming during the six hour car ride home from Nana’s 95th birthday celebration at the farm. The boys were zoned out to Scooby Doo, M was jamming to his gangster rap, and I was busy scrolling on my phone for the most perfect recipe to celebrate 80 degrees and sunshine on a beautiful Sunday evening.

And then I saw it: strawberry salsa. My goodness was it just so beautiful.

We arrived home a bit tired and cranky as most people are after being in a car for hours. I threw the boys into the yard and told them absolutely no TV or electronics for the rest of time and off to the store I went.

And there they greeted me, in all their bright delicious summer glory: pounds upon pounds of juicy red strawberries. The kind that disappear for months around here and then reappear just begging to be made into something glorious.

In the cart they went, along with all the usual salsa contenders: cilantro, lime, jalapeno, red onion. Mmmmm.

Upon arriving home it was all chop chop chop and in the fridge it went to blend flavors while we took the boys out on the boat for a bit of fishing. One (almost) bass later, we arrived home to strawberry salsa and tortilla chips on the sunny patio. Very happy boys, very happy mama. My goodness I think it’s safe to say it….SUMMER IS HERE! (I hope).

Strawberry Salsa
A healthy and delicious summer twist on salsa!
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Prep Time
10 min
Prep Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 lbs fresh strawberries, chopped
  2. 1/2 red onion, minced
  3. 1/2 jalapeno, minced
  4. 1 juicy lime, squeezed
  5. 1 handful of cilantro, chopped
  6. 1 tsp sea salt
  7. sprinkle of sugar
Instructions
  1. Mix above ingredients together. I then let all the flavors hang out and blend together for an hour or so in the fridge. Serve with tortilla chips and a good margarita.
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

C’s Picks – week of May 22nd.

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c's picks - week of 5:22

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend so far. The sun is shining and the forecast is beautiful for the week, woohoo! Let’s get some stuff on the grill this week, shall we? 

Sunday night we will be arriving back from Nana’s big birthday bash at the farm. I’m thinking a family date night out is in order.

Monday let’s get something going on the grill! We loooove buffalo chicken. Even better wrapped up in a healthy wrap. YUM!

Tuesday let’s go with some help from the slow cooker. I’m hoping this black bean taco chili is a win with the whole family. 

Zesty grilled shrimp tacos and an icy margarita sound pretty fantastic for a Wednesday evening. Ole! 

That brings us to Thursday and to a new staple that B asks for pretty much every night. Mom, can you make the noodles tonight? Yes B, I can. 

And that brings us to Friday and we are kicking off the Memorial day weekend with a bbq with friends! Not exactly sure what I have on the agenda yet, but, I’m thinking this mexican street corn and perhaps this strawberry salsa needs to be involved. Oh my heavens.

And that’s a wrap – happy cooking this week!
C

Ceviche.

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1I’m assuming we are all on the same page with this one. Ceviche is fancy. It’s something you order when you head south to some exotic island or beach or resort. It’s nothing something you are like, making for dinner mid week. And that’s exactly what I love cooking club so so much. It’s about trying new things you wouldn’t normally do, like dine on fresh almost tropical ceviche on a random Thursday night in Illinois. Who does that? We did my friends, we did. And you know what?

It seemed totally attainable. Like, I could actually do this mid week on a Tuesday. Or, serve on a large tray for friends on the patio while entertaining because it totally has that fancy, impressive vibe but all that is involved in chopping away. Which, I just happen to love to do.

Yep, chop chop chop – lots of fresh flavors and beautiful colors and bam! You’ve got yourself quite the impressive dinner. And hey, want to hear the way cool tip I learned?

Fresh Ceviche
A fresh, delicious, tropical, and EASY ceviche!
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 lbs tilapia (finely diced)
  2. 1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
  3. 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, finely diced
  4. 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
  5. 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
  6. 1/2 cup purple onion, finely diced
  7. 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro
  8. 1 TBS hot suace
  9. salt & freshly ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Dice the tilapia when it's partially frozen and place in a bowl. Pour lime juice over, stir, and place in fridge covered for 30 minutes or so (until fish turns white).
  2. Pull out and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Serve chilled with corn chips.
Notes
  1. Be sure to buy the fish from a source you trust!
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

The lime juice is actually what cooks the fish! Make sure to chop your fish quite finely so that it’s small and thin enough to absorb the juice and get cooking. 

Julie, thank you for being our adventurous cook! So inspiring. 

 

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