Simply Me

My Baby Ballerina

Lela is my favorite subject…mostly because I can take as many pictures of her that I want.  For Christmas her auntie made her a tutu.  She’s had it on several times and each time I can’t help but take photos of her.   This morning my brother and I tried everything we could think of to get her to dance…I think her mommy (me) needs to remember that you have to learn to walk before you can learn to dance.  Her toddling is so cute, and when I put her pink shoes (not visible) on  she started walking on her tip toes like a ballerina.  We started throwing a favorite toy back and forth to get her to turn and spin.  It took a bit of “work” to get some “movement” into the photo.

It’s been a little crazy around here. I’m pregnant with my second, and the first is growing like a weed. They’re going to be 15 months apart and things are going to be crazy. To make everything even crazier we’re “trying” out a great dane puppy, did I mention we still have baby parrotlets? Thankfully we’re down to 2 of 5 (parrotlets that is) and hoping that we’ll get rid of another tomorrow. So I haven’t gotten around to many photos of my baby, and as much as I wanted to take one of her and myself for this, getting a picture with me in it is just beyond me right now. So this is a picture of my neice and sister in law. When the niece and nephew came into our lives EVERYONE fell head over heals for them. I can’t help but feel this picture shows this.

This recipe was the product of my twisted brain.  I was menu planning and the idea of adding lemon to pesto just burst into my consciousness and I have to say…it was quite yummy

1 lrg bunch of basil
3/4 cup of marscapone
3 tbsp of pine nuts
3 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of lemon zest
10-15 Jumbo Prawns
Spaghetti noodles
Parmesan cheese

In a food processor blend basil with pine nuts and salt, slowly drizzle in olive oil.  When well blended add the lemon zest and marscapone cheese.  Prepare your noodles as the package directs and in a frying pan sear the prawns with a little olive oil and let them cook until they are 3/4 way cooked.  Top with the pesto then cover the pan, remove from heat, and let sit 5 minutes.  Mix with pasta and serve.  Top with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

My first real job was working in the same real estate office as my mom, awkward at times, but it had some perks.  Lunch was one of them.  We’d often go to this Mexican restaurant and I ALWAYS ordered the same thing.  A chicken chimichanga.  I’ve never been able to find another to compare, and since that’s the only thing I like from that restaurant and that restaurant is 250 miles away, I had to come up with my own recipe.   The most important thing for me is large amounts of jack cheese.  YUM that’s my favorite part lots of cheese.  Unfortunately there is one hard to find ingredient…GIANT 13 inch flour tortillas.  I get mine from Winco, they also make great salad wraps that I send my husband to work with. Read the rest of this entry »

Next time you buy green onions stick them in a cup of water on your windowsill. They just keep growing. So any time in the next 6 months that you need green onions…snip, snip and there you are. I couldn’t believe how fast they grow, my hubby was a little annoyed at how long they got and I actually had to trim them…it usually spurred me on and we would end up with an Asian inspired dish that night.

It’s not secret that I love tuna, I love it raw and cooked every which way.  But growing up tuna was not something we EVER (and I do mean ever) cooked.  In my family tuna came in a can.  It’s rather sad but I never thought past that.  When I first saw tuna raw and in the flesh I was flabbergasted…I mean it was purple!!!  I was perplexed in my experience tuna was white and so dry that it had to be mixed in equal part with mayonnaise.  Well I’ve learned that tuna is a delicious fish, and properly cooked it in no way resembles the dry white flakes in the can.  The most important thing to realize when cooking tuna is that it should be seared and preferably rare on the inside (make sure you have a good quality fish so there’s no fear of…)  This is a recipe that was inspired in part by a delicious meal I had at a restaurant and in part by the finale of a season of Hell’s Kitchen. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a left over recipe. When I made my fish balls half the mixture was leftover so I made one LARGE patty, dipped it in the tempura and fried it. Then I refidgerated it. The next day I heated a teaspoon of oil in a frying pan and crisped up the outside. I toasted an english muffin and slathered on some skipper’s tarter sauce and finished it off with thinly sliced carrot, some baby spinach leaves and white onion. It was so good.

MMmmMM good! I was going to make fish and chips. Another of the hubby’s favorite (seeing a theme yet?) when he asked me to make him some potstickers…what? For those of you who don’t know my hubby and his legendary pickiness, this is as unsual request as a vegan asking for chicken. So I tweaked my meal planning and made some asian flavored tuna balls. They were quite good. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m obsessed with sushi, I mean seriously OBSESSED! I could eat it almost every day. There is an art to making sushi, but it’s fairly simple to make a yummy bowl to enjoy at home. If you are using raw fish make sure it’s extremely fresh, and should NOT smell like fish, but like the sea.

This is a single serving…because I’m the only sushi aficionado in the home.
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My husband LOVES fish tacos whenever we go out to Mexican food restaurants it’s what he orders. His favorite to date come from a chain restaurant (HORRORS!) called Acapulcos. This was my attempt at copying them. Read the rest of this entry »