Shrimp Pesto Pizza

I had originally wanted to add a bit of fresh baby spinach to this pizza,  but I could not find any fresh enough at the store. And was a huge accident on the interstate and I knew that getting into Pittsburgh  to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's was out of the question. So I decided to just go with a  plain old shrimp pesto pizza. You can use jarred pesto. I make my own, but that is only because I have an abundance of basil and need to use it up. My husband and I love this pizza. Try  it  grilled and you will be squealing with delight. I baked ours this time, just because my husband was outside smoking trout and I didn't want to ask him to start the grill. Note - I can do it myself. But after being married to him for so many years, I have learned that the grill  is his domain. It is a man thing ,I guess. I can see him sweat, literally, when  get anywhere near his grill. So I just go with it. Unless he is out of town.Then I fire that puppy up and grill to my heart's content! ;)

Shrimp Pesto Pizza

• 1 pizza crust 
• 1/2-3/4 cup  raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 6 garlic cloves, roasted and mashed
• 1/2 cup pesto sauce ( homemade or store bought)
• 1 small onion, halved and sliced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon  sugar
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded 

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Melt 1 tbs butter over med-high heat.
3. Sautee mushrooms until softened (about 5 minutes). Remove and set aside.
4. Add remaining 1 tbs of butter and the  onions to the pan and stir. Cover and let cook  until onions soften.
5. Remove lid and let cook until nicely browned and caramelized ( 10-12 min), stirring midway. Pour balsamic vinegar and sprinkle sugar over onions and stir to combine.
6. Meanwhile, spread roasted garlic over crust.
7. Spread pesto over crust.
8. Top with chicken or shrimp, onions,  and cheeses.
9. Bake 10-12 minutes or until crust is brown and cheese is melted and bubbly and slightly browned.
10.  
11. 

Devil's Food Cake Cookies with Coconut Chocolate Kisses

I made these earlier today for my husband. As I have said before, the man can live on chocolate and coconut anything. These are cake mix cookies and couldn't be easier to make. Around Easter I picked up a few of  Coconut Hershey Kisses. They are so good. I highly recommend them to snack on. Like a mini mounds bar! Heaven.

Devil's Food Cake Cookies with Coconut Chocolate Kisses

box Devil's Food Cake mix
1/3 c vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/8 c water
sugar
48 Coconut Creme Hershey Kisses

In a medium mixing bowl,mix all ingredients but the chocolate kisses.When all is mixed well roll into balls the size of quarters. Place on a cookie sheet. With the bottom of a glass, dip into the sugar, then onto the cookie ball, slightly flattening it.Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. When you take them out of the oven,  press one Hershey's kiss into each cookie.Cool on wire rack.Makes about 48  cookies.

Baked Trout with Lemon, Rosemary and Garlic

Yesterday my husband went trout fishing. He brought home 4 beautiful rainbow trout. He cleaned them up and added lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh rosemary sprigs, fresh garlic and salt and pepper. Covered them tightly and baked them in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes. So good. I love fresh trout!

DIY Journal

I am one of those people who have to write everything down. I have so many journals with quotes, recipes, thoughts. And I go through them so fast. So when I was at Michael's I saw cute journal notebooks in the dollar sections. This one is black and white. I seem to gravitate towards black and white for some reason. Anyway, I picked up a few for future use. I went through my scrapbooking supplies and found a cute blue frame. Printed up a fun quote and glued them all to the front. I suppose I could decorate it more, but I like the simplicity of this journal.

Sunday Walk

Today is beautiful! Thunderstorms are being predicted for this afternoon, but right now it is perfect. I took a walk this morning and snapped some pictures with my phone. Happy Sunday everyone!

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9

 

 

It Still Doesn't Work!

I have 4 kids. And they all have chores. I have to repeat myself  many,many times to get them to even acknowledge me when I ask them to do a chore. I came up with this system (after numerous systems have failed!) and it seems to be working. Sort of. Each child has a color and a small cup with their name. I wrote down different chores on each colored piece of wood. I decide what chores they need to do for the day and pop them in the right cup. When they are done , they hand me back the stick and when all sticks are out of the  cup they get a star for the day. Enough stars and they get rewarded. But that is another blog post. It has been a few weeks of this system and it was going smoothly. Now they are getting bored.The newness has worn off, I guess. Now I have to think of something to get their attention again...

Mini Cranberry Orange Muffins

I made these muffins to give the boys as an after school snack. I was nervous about the sweet-tart combo, but they loved them. I have learned over the years that they are more willing to eat mini muffins than one whole regular sized muffin, so I rarely prepare them in anyway but a mini muffin pan. It also keeps me in check and I am satisfied with just one or two small ones and do not have to eat a high calorie one! Win, win!


Mini Cranberry Orange Muffins


* 2 cups flour
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup craisins
* 1 egg
* 3/4 cup orange juice
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1 T grated orange rind

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Gently stir in cranberries.
3. Using a whisk,beat egg, orange juice, oil and orange rind.
4. Add wet to dry ingredients all at once.
5. Stir just to moisten.(do not overmix)
6. Spoon into greased mini muffin cups (I fill them a bit over 3/4 full)
7. Bake 400F 10-12 mins , or until lightly browned and firm to the touch.

Glimpses of Home

I love the way my house casts shadows in the late afternoon. We are getting ready to sell our house and par of me is ecstatic to be moving on with our lives and off to a great  new adventure. But part of me is sad to be leaving my beautiful house. It is an old turn of the century house and I love the old bones of this place. So I am determined to take as many pictures of it as I can to keep it fresh in my memory for many years to come. Here are a few snapshots I took today. With more to come in the future I am sure.

Spring Door Wreaths - DIY

I love wreaths. I have purchased or made wreaths for every holiday or occasion you can think of. And our old house has 3 doors. I love creating wreaths that reflect what I am feeling at the moment. And I always like to make them with little to no money spent. Just using what I have around the house. Every time I am at the dollar store I pick up those round wreath forms. There are about half a dozen on my craft room floor. For spring I wanted something feminine and colorful. I found these  wood bird forms in my stash and a skein of yarn. So I wrapped a couple of wreath forms with the yarn. Not hard to do, just a bit time consuming. I covered the bird with  a bit of material and fabric flower cut outs and hot glued everything to the wreath. I like the way they turned out , but I think they need a little something more. So tomorrow I am off to the store to stock up on burlap. I will add a burlap bow to the top of the wreath and see how it looks then. I might even add a few rounds of pink or red yarn to give them a bit more color. But all in all I like them. Next time I will find bigger wreath forms. They look so small on my doors. I think a size or two larger would be perfect. Another work in progress. As for the third door, I think I am going to attempt a live herb wreath. An early mother's day gift for myself!

I am linking up to


Kimba's DIY - A Soft Place to Land

Made it Monday @The Persimmon Perch
 
Metamorphosis Monday

Making the World Cuter

It's so very Cheri

The Girl Creative

Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple

Market Yourself Monday @Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Metamorphosis Monday

Made by You Monday @ Skip to My Lou

Tip Me Tuesday@TipJunkie

Trash to Treasure Tuesday

Today's Creative Blog - Get You're Craft On Tuesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Toot Your Horn Tuesday

DIY Showoff - Project Parade

Fireflies & Jellybeans - Show Off Your Stuff Party

somewhatsimple - Strut Your Stuff Thursday

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Transformation Thursday @The Shabby Chic Cottage

sunday showcase party

Holiday-Haven - Mother's Day Blog Party

so be sure to check out all of the other wonderful projects out there in blogland!

Peppermint Lemonade

Sort of. My boys love to go to Cracker Barrel. They always,always order pancakes.I think they like the hot maple syrup. Because at home they get the room temp, sugar free kind. But they really love when we come home with a bag of Bob's Peppermint Sticks from their candy section. Because it means that they can have peppermint lemonade.  All you do is roll a lemon on the counter until it is relatively soft. Then you cut and "x" at the top and insert a peppermint stick. You see, the sticks are porous and you can use it like a straw. The lemon juice and the peppermint mix and it tastes yummy. Not too lemony-sour. Not to pepperminty-hot. But a warning... they can get messy. My boys like to poke their peppermint stick all the way through the other side of the lemon. Lots of lemon juice and melting peppermint. oh, and make sure their fingers have no boo boos. Lemon juice in small cuts will make them cry. I promise! Here is a pic of boy #3 getting ready to dive in.

Broccoli Pecan Salad

 I make this salad when we are having burgers on the grill. My kids love broccoli.Yes, you heard me right. They love broccoli. And all of them will eat this salad. The pecans give it crunch, the cranberries give it sweet and the dressing gives it tang. All things that my kids like, in one dish.It makes for a great side dish for grilled food. I have given out this recipe to friends and  most of them double the dressing. I , however, do not. I do not like so much dressing , it takes away from the pecans,cranberries and broccoli. But the dressing is really good, so if you like lots of dressing on your salad, then I would suggest doubling the dressing recipe.

Broccoli Pecan Salad

Ingredients

•  1/3  cup  chopped pecans
• 1  cup  light mayonnaise
• 1/3  cup  sugar
• 2  tablespoons  cider vinegar
• 1 1/2  pounds  fresh broccoli florets, chopped*
• 1/4  cup  chopped red onion
• 1/3  cup  sweetened dried cranberries or raisins
• 4  cooked reduced-fat bacon slices, crumbled

Instructions
1. Place chopped pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan.
2. Bake at 350° for 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly toasted.
3. Stir together mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar in a large bowl; add broccoli, onion, and cranberries, gently tossing to coat. Cover and chill 2 hours. Sprinkle with bacon and pecans just before serving.

Easy Weeknight Enchiladas

This recipe is one my husband always raves about when I make it. It is a very easy dish to put together and the flavors are so good together. I use reduced fat cream cheese and reduced fat shredded cheese. You can make it  easier if you use  rotisserie chicken. I always serve with a side of sour cream mixed with a bit of cilantro. Perfect with a salad and cumin black beans.


Easy Weeknight Enchiladas

3 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 can Rotel tomatoes ( i use mild)
1  3oz can diced green chilies
1  tsp taco seasoning ( I use a bit more, to taste)
1 onion, diced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese ( or cheese of your choice.my kids love colby jack)
8 10in flour tortillas


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, tomatoes, chiles, taco seasoning,  and onion. Mix well and distribute the chicken mixture evenly onto 8 tortillas. Roll up each tortilla and put seam side down into a casserole pan. Top with 1 cup shredded cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese has melted. Top with sour cream, cilantro and tomatoes.

Христос Воскресе!

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me."
-- Matthew 28: 6-10 KJV

Nesting Spoons

A few weeks ago, I happened upon a cute craft project over at The Nester . I had all of the supplies that I had already in the house, so I made a few. I love the way they turned out. I hung a couple of them from a lamp in the living room and will use the smaller ones as place settings for our Easter table. They turned out beautiful.

Spring Birds

I am one of those people who decorate for the season. I change out my wall art, pillows, rugs and bed linens. This year for my spring/summer bedding I am seriously considering The Spring Sparrow Duvet at Pottery Barn. I love it. Problem is, I share a room with a very big, italian specimen of masculinity. I don't think he will like it. And since he has yet to say anything negative about the birds, nests and flowers all over my house, I think I might be pushing it if I decorate his  bed with birds and flowers.That may be pushing it. But I love it anyway. See it for yourself HERE .

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter. May you be blessed this holiday. I am off to spend  these next few days with my family. See you next week.

Spring Mantle

Kimba, over at A Soft Place to Land has a spring mantle mclinky going on this morning. Let me start off by saying that my living room is a work in progress. I am constantly changing furniture , color, carpets, knick knacks and plants. I am never, ever satisfied with the way it looks. But it is getting there. My spring mantle is all about the color green and birds. I found a huge framed print of a tree at a yard sale and brought it home and stuck it in my basement. I have been searching for the right picture for above the mantle for the warmer months but have found nothing I like. So I cut out wrapping paper and added it on top of the tree picture. It will do.For now. I will find what I am looking for one day, but the green isn't bad. Be sure to check out Kimba's blog for other links to some amazing spring mantles. Happy Easter all.