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 πŸ˜‚

I also really like shrimp.

That’s why this recipe hits THE spot πŸ‘ŒπŸ»

It’s fairly simple to throw together, especially after the first time and it has a very summery freshness to it that I love.Β 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 πŸ€“

 

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 mealπŸ€ͺ)

Scroll past pictures fro recipe.

 

Preheat oven to 450

For the salsa –

Make first and refrigerate, so that it has some time to blend πŸ˜‰

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 πŸ€ͺ)

Base –
1 cup Couscous
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp garlic seasoning…I have used the β€˜rosemary garlic blend’ from epicure and also β€˜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 πŸ˜‰

Then, devour at as polite a speed that one can devour at! πŸ˜‰

*Side note*

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

A Blessed Little Bundle Of Sarcastic, Introverted Goodness

Sunday June 11th –



The day 22 years ago that a blessed little bundle of sarcastic, introverted goodness was born πŸ˜πŸ’•

Me I mean 😏

As I did my hair for church, I heard the coffee being sat down that father had delivered.
I went to retrieve it and this is how it was presented πŸ˜‰πŸ’•β˜•οΈ

Upstairs for the Sunday morning bacon and eggs I went, enjoying it and happily wearing one of my new necklaces πŸ˜‹

(Who else kind of try’s to plan an outfit around a new piece of jewelry when they get some? πŸ™ˆπŸ˜‹)

Anyways, off to church we went πŸ˜ŠπŸ’’

It was a simple lesson about Mosses parents and here’s a smidgen of what I picked up πŸ˜‰

How we need to pray and trust God to answer, be it moments or years down the road but we can know that he will always answer.
It’s up to us on what attitude we take during the waiting process.
Something which I personally, could be reminded of often.

After church it was a lunch out, in honour of my being born.
What better way to be celebrated then with food right? πŸ˜πŸ˜‹

We chose Montana’s to eat at and I ordered the ever tasty, though I always forget just how spicy, Kapow shrimp is.
I may or may not have requested bites from everyone else’s plates too πŸ˜‹

 

 

Always wanting chicken and being interested in tasting the reuben sandwich… both were good too πŸ‘ŒπŸ»

The family jokingly told the waiter to let the staff sing happy birthday to me but I told them if they did, it would ruin lunch so they told him not to do it… but to still bring the birthday dessert 😏😜

It was a cold cookie with ice cream and after tasting it, we understood why it was freeπŸ™„

Then to Starbucks for a free birthday drink😎
Something you can’t really pass up if you’re near enough to a Starbucks and your wallet means anything to you πŸ˜‹

A big size/venti lime refresher with coconut milk,  filled my belly and my taste buds sang a happy (Hawaiian like) song πŸ˜‹πŸŒΊπŸŒ΄πŸŽΆ

(I always forget which drink size goes by what name πŸ˜œπŸ™„)

A customary Sunday nap was taken by all 😴

Dad made us some Virgin Caesars and a while later Mom made cheese bread and heated up some leftover farmers sausage soup for a snack.
She also made dad AND Mikes work lunches.
Another perk of being the birthday girl πŸ˜‰πŸ‘ŒπŸ»

I began the process of sorting through pictures on my phone πŸ™„
A process I abhor.
I decided that every time I’m on my phone I have to delete at least one photo or if it’s pictures of house ideas, I have to create a single collage to keep, rather then multiple/hard to find photos 😬

I got distracted by the pretty sky which matched the lilacs 😊

And had to take a picture… πŸ™„

I never even do anything with my photos!
I’m a horrible album maker so I don’t know why I’m such a photo hoarder? πŸ€”

Speaking of photos though, has anyone ever gotten a blog printed into book form??
I’m considering doing that to kind of save/have a tangible story in our home but I’m horrible with computers and would like to hear some recommendations if anyone happens to have any? 😊

Or if you’re just a smart computer person and have time to help a simpleton in the Prince Albert Sask. area, let me know that too πŸ˜œπŸ™ˆπŸ’•

 

Monday June 12th-




Back to being uncelebrated πŸ™„πŸ˜œ

But that didn’t mean there wasn’t still cake 😎

 

 

It’s awful having it around though because it becomes my breakfast lunch and go between snacks 😬🍰🍴

Mother was headed off to work so I was alone most of the day.

Finding meaningless tasks to occupy myself so I didn’t have to begin what I’d been putting off for weeks… 😬

Folding the clothes in our drawers πŸ™„πŸ™ˆπŸ˜‚

I try so hard, really I do.

But as much as I like a clean kitchen, I cannot seem to keep my clothes folded.

I know some of you are shuttering at the very thought… forgive me πŸ˜‹

But finally downstairs I went, sorting and folding clothes and then boxing up home items we’ve been accumulating so they aren’t stacked all over our room.

It always feels so good afterwords πŸ˜ŽπŸ‘ŒπŸ»

Garage sale #2, where ya at?! 😜

After a quick chat with my sister-in-law, I hurriedly finished the pile I was working on to go sit outside.
She’d told me the UV index was surprisingly high… and my tan was fading 😜

Also, I needed to reward myself for accomplishing what I had…
Yes I’m a self rewarder and I need to promise myself things, to get stuff done πŸ™„

Also, yes, I am an adult… ish 😜

I was in charge of supper and chicken had seemed like a steady meal of late, so I made the meatloaf Mom had suggested the night before.
(It’s just so hard to NOT make a simple chicken dishπŸ™„)

Once Mom was back from work, we decided to go for a walk/jog before the guys got back for supper.

So bear spray and water were readied and off we went for an hour-long bout of exercise.

Bears have been spotted a fair bit around the area lately, adding an extra adventure factor to the walks 😜😏🐻

Meatloaf, fried rice and a caprese salad was prepared for dinner, with Dad questionably eyeing the salad 😜

           The salad was a copycat of one, Mike and I ate in South Africa.
Just mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers sliced and layered, salt and pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (the odd basil leaf would have been tasty too but I only just thought of that now 😜) πŸ‘ŒπŸ»πŸ˜ŠπŸ₯’πŸ…πŸ§€

What Mornings Were Made For

Monday Jan 2nd –

 

 

 

A Monday that did not feel like a Monday at all😜

Some canned cinnamon buns were whipped out for a breakfast ish brunch and they were as tasty as ever πŸ˜‹

 

 

The guys headed into town again, Josh for items needed to build Mom something and Mike to go finally try his hand at running skidder with Dad and Nathin in the bush 😬

Alaina went over to play with Emily and the house was relatively quite, minus the little moose Brynlee of course πŸ˜‹

Rebecca was making everyone supper that night so there really wasn’t much on the schedule for us to be accomplishing.

She was making her spicy shrimp just for me an it was so good πŸ˜πŸ‘ŒπŸ»πŸ€β€οΈ

That along with garlic shrimp, Caesar salad, fries and stuffed mushrooms made up our delicious supper.

I was honestly so pumped about eating it all that I didn’t feel like taking the time to set up a decent looking plate for photographing, so use the imagination folks 😜 Continue reading “What Mornings Were Made For”

A Taxing Morning

Wednesday Dec 21st –

 

 

 

We set Mike to work that morning, getting him to prepare the dinner for that nightπŸ˜‹
He’s that slow 😏

No, not so much slow as overly precise in his chopping/measuring and he enjoys using every counter space 😜
Hey, neither mom nor I had to cook though so really, what’s a little extra mess?

Becca had gotten him the ingredients to make the Dutch chicken dish and we would be in town throughout most of the day so we needed a readied supper for once we got back.

We enjoyed a moose meat smoke (compliments of the bro’s hunting) for lunch before we headed to town and dropped off mom so she could go enjoy a massage while we did the errands πŸ˜‹
One of which was to purchase the parents some new speakers so it wouldn’t sound like some awful trumpet player was playing loudly in everything they listened to 😜🎺

In one small store Mike was giving a sales pitch for a product he doesn’t even sell yet himself and as we left the store I laughed at how he just couldn’t help himself.
He said that was true and I should be happy he hadn’t tried to sell me yet!
The turd head 😏

Town was finished with and we headed back home where mom made us some tasty Clamato juice to sip on pre Mikes supper.

Which was very good πŸ˜‰

 

 

Maybe a tad too onion-ish/curry-ish for some of us, but we aren’t ones who fear trying new and for Mike to have made it for us meant it was appreciated either way ☺️

 

 

 
Thursday Dec 22nd –

 

 

 

Taxes and GST and one very aggravating phone call made up our morning.
We had to call to figure out some number stuff/give information that the government was asking for since our marriage hadn’t been reported soon enough during assessments.

No biggy right?

Wrong.

Since I’m rarely here and well taken care of by my mother, she looks after my book work and what needs to go where, therefore I didn’t know the answers to the security questions the lady was asking.
She proceeded to tell me to ‘tell your mother to stop giving me the answers, that’s illegal and I will have to hang up’. 😑
Sorry that I wasn’t aware of what tax accountant my family uses lady! πŸ™„

All in all, it was not a nice start to our day and we were all in a rather non delightful mood afterwords.

Our day cheered up when we got a phone call saying our niece Emily wanted to invite us over for lunch πŸ˜‰

Her meal choice was shrimp and soup, a choice we think she didn’t realize the consequences of because shrimp isn’t her thing but hey, the rest of us liked it πŸ˜‹

We visited there for a while and I was honoured to receive some newspaper wrapped presents (wrapped and chosen by Emily herself I’m sureπŸ˜‰).

I was super happy to get a set of watercolor markers, ones I truly needed and had been trying to decide which to getπŸ‘ŒπŸ»πŸ–Š

Some macaroons, a photo of Emily and a few other goodies filled the bag and it seems like I’m the spoiled Aunty more so than spoiling the niece πŸ˜‹πŸ’•

Once we got back to the house it was time for me to test my markers, mom to write her daily things out and Mike to complete his car drawing that will go in the kids play room here. 

They both succeeded better than I 😬

Supper was taco salad and then Mom, Dad and Mike went out for Thursday night pickle ball and I stayed at the house.

Not ready for that much excitement 😜

No, I stayed back and straightened up a little and then sat down to test my markers until they returned 😊

Upon which return we ventured downstairs to watch a movie and have a listen to what the new speakers sounded like.
The speakers worked good… the movie was about 2.5 hours too long.
Full of confusion and no point in the end 😜

Much like that mornings phone call…

%d bloggers like this: