Tag: homemade

Summery Salsa & Shrimp Couscous

When it comes to meals for myself, I like fairly easy recipes and something that can be eaten again as leftovers… and as for not wanting to add to the baby bod poundage, healthy is a ‘bonus’-bonus right now 😂

I also really like shrimp.

That’s why this recipe hits THE spot 👌🏻

It’s fairly simple to throw together, especially after the first time and it has a very summery freshness to it that I love. It would also be super easy to change up and tweak to your personal desires… which is also a plus for me, because I can follow a recipe once but after that, it typically strays 🤓

 

Serves 4 portion aware woman who aren’t overly starving.

(What I’m trying to say by that, is it can feed four pretty easily but it’s for sure a lighter style meal🤪)

Scroll past pictures fro recipe.

 

Preheat oven to 450

For the salsa –

Make first and refrigerate, so that it has some time to blend 😉

1/2 cup mango, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/2 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup salsa
2 Tbsp lime
Salt and pepper

Shrimp –
2 cups worth of thawed Shrimp
2 Tbsp lime
Salt and pepper
2 decent sized cloves of minced garlic
(I always go heavier but we are pretty generous garlic seasoners in my family 🤪)

Base –
1 cup Couscous
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp garlic seasoning…I have used the ‘rosemary garlic blend’ from epicure and also ‘Johnny’s garlic spread’
Salt and pepper

Topping –
Shredded lettuce if desired

Directions –
After mixing the chopped salsa ingredients, place in the refrigerator.

Prepare the shrimp and base mixtures in their own bowls.

Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and oil it.

Spread the base mixture in the dish and layer the shrimp on top, pouring the extra liquid from the shrimp on top as well.
Cover with another piece of foil and pinch closed.

Cook for 12 minutes.

(This can also be made on the BBQ using all the same steps minus the baking dish and just using a foil packet)

Remove and top with the chilled salsa and some shredded lettuce to not only add to the veggie intake but it also gives a little texture affect 😉

Then, devour at as polite a speed that one can devour at! 😉

*Side note*

The salsa can be kept for at least a day, it just gets discoloured so it doesn’t LOOK nearly as appealing 😉

Beachy Wall Decor – My Creativity During Covid

 

Many moons ago, I’d made this decorative wall hanging/decor for our bathroom wall, using a piece of beach wood, air plants and string.

After successfully killing all of the air plants over the span of a year or so, the wood has hung empty for much, much too long 😅

Though I loved how it looked, I wasn’t about to purchase more plants. just to kill them :p

I’d notice the empty piece of wood while in the bathroom and then just as quickly forget about it…
Finally after a little thought and inspiration blossoming after Instagram/Pinterest scrolling, an idea formed.

I bought this ‘air drying clay’ from Walmart for around $5.00 and during one Sunday morning after we’d had breakfast and were listening to some preaching online, I got Mike to accompany me in making some clay shapes to begin the project.

I laid out parchment paper to roll the clay out on and used a variety of home items to cut out my desired shapes.
A small knife, some lids from these bead containers and a sewing needle to create the holes that would be used for assembly.

The clay began to dry out fairly quickly so I wouldn’t take off more than you need at one time… just so you know if you decide to attempt anything 🤓

You can see when the created pieces are dry, as they go from a grey color to more of a white… I didn’t time it and we rolled out pieces pretty thin but I didn’t find that it took crazy long.

What DID take long was installing a loop on each one, then arranging and rearranging the shapes until I found them to be mostly visually pleasing and used jewelry chain to attach them all in the correct order.

They then sat on my coffee table, in order, for probably over a week before I got up the ambition to actually paint them and complete the project 😬🙈 I have to be in just the right mood to actually ‘paint’ anything… anyone else?

I would have left them neutral but since the wall behind the piece is white, I decided to add some color.
I painted them and then used a damp paper towel and my nail to distress them a bit which gave it more of a beach feel to me, since I wasn’t going for perfection in my paint strokes anyways 😉

I used hot glue to attach the top of the chains onto the driftwood and some ‘quake putty’ on the back of some of the pieces to gently adhere the odd one to the wall, so they would lay flat.

 

I don’t know that it’s my favourite creation but honestly, it’s rare that I absolutely love a thing that I come up with 🤪
So, it’s better than nothing and I can see myself turning to clay more often in the future… maybe 😉

Now, after an embarrassingly long time, the stick on the bathroom wall no longer hangs empty 🙂

Italian (or not) Bread

Italian (or not) Bread

This recipe comes together easily and pretty quickly, as far as bread recipes go… two things I appreciate when it comes to bread making!
It can also be tweaked and personalized very easily to go with whatever flavour you’re looking for 👌🏻

Enjoy and not only good luck making it but also in doing your best to not eat a whole loaf or two yourself, once they are out of the oven 😉

 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 cups flour
1 egg white / oil (I used rosemary infused olive oil)
2 tbsp Italian seasoning*
1 tbsp everything bagel seasoning (optional…but nice 😉)

*the seasonings can easily be adjusted to suit personal preferences and make other flavours of bread, so go ahead and play around with combinations!

 

 

Instructions:

Pour the water, sugar and yeast into a bowl and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until the yeast has activated.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix it all together until well blended.

Move to a warm area, cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°

Punch down the dough and then divide and form into three loaves.

Using a sharp knife, score the tops of the loaves and then brush with either egg white or oil.

Let the loaves rise another 5 minutes.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

 

 

I brushed a little butter over the loaves and ground some corse salt on top, once I removed them from the oven.

I’d love to know if you make this/enjoyed it!
Tag me on Instagram @Jemstory or drop a comment here ☺️💕🥖

 

Doable And Delectable Overnight Bread

I give all the credit to my mom (Diamond and Willow) for finding and introducing this recipe to me.

Bread making doesn’t get any easier and the outcome doesn’t get much better! In my opinion 😉

It’s also super customizable… If you try it, I’d love to see or hear about it, either with a comment here or a tag on instagram @Jemstory 🙂

 

 

 

Ingredients :

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp active dry yeast

2 1/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup sunflower seeds*

1/3 cup dried cranberries*

 

* The seeds and cranberries are up to you as far as personal preference goes. The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup flax seeds but I didn’t have any so I threw in the cranberries instead. You can change up the seeds and berries depending on your taste buds or pantry innards 😉

 

Directions :

 

In a large bowl (preferably with a lid), mix the flour, salt and yeast and seeds together.

Pour the warm water into the bowl and using a spatula, mix until it is all incorporated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and let it sit on the counter overnight or for around 12 hours.

(If you use a lid, just check it after a couple of hours to make sure it didn’t pop open from the yeast expanding 😉

 

 

Pre-heat your oven to 450 f degrees.

Place your cast iron, dutch oven or clay pot and lid (I use my moms Pampered Chef Clay dish), into the oven so it heats up as well.

Once the pot has heated, remove it from the oven and take the lid off, as that is too tricky to do after this next bit 😉

Flour your work surface and hands VERY well and with said flour covered hands, gently remove the dough from the bowl onto the counter and roughly shape it into a ball.

Take the ball of dough and drop it into the pot.

Cover with the lid and place it back into the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, after which remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top is nice and golden and crusty looking.

Remove from the oven and after a few moments remove from the pot and let it cool.

 

That is if you can control your desire to taste test a slice with a big slab of butter 😉

 

Easy Italian Cheese Bread

So, it was unanimous… the recipe for Italian cheese bread was wanted and so I now give it to you, the people.
Really though, who in their right mind would say ‘NO’ to an easy recipe called, ITALIAN CHEESE BREAD?😜

 

Continue reading “Easy Italian Cheese Bread”

Easy Tomato Feta Eggs

I am not much of a breakfaster but I will do brunch if the urge arises 😉

I don’t enjoy morning cooking that includes too much effort or to many dishes and personally, nothing overly sweet either (usually 😜).

So, this egg breakfast that comes together quickly, easily and all in one dish, has fast became a flavour packed favourite and easy to change up to suit your own tastebuds 😄

I hope you enjoy it as much as we’ve been, we have eaten it with a side of toast or some fruit!

I got the base recipe from  Innocent Delight but tweaked a few things to make it to our preferences.

Ingredients: Continue reading “Easy Tomato Feta Eggs”

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