Best Thing I've Ever Made

Holy moly. Last week I made Broiled Herb Marinated Shrimp from March's Cooking Light. These shrimp were AMAZING. I would have been impressed if I had gotten these in a restaurant. Best part is that the herbs I used were from my little patio garden project I'm trying out this year!!! I just went out side, snipped the needed herbs and was ready to go!!!!

Here is the amazing recipe:

Broiled Herb-Marinated Shrimp Skewers
Ingrdients:
3/4 cup fresh cilantro
3/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup basil
3 tablespoons EVOO
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves
24 jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined

1. Combine first 10 ingredients in a food processor, process until smooth. Place in a bowl, add shrimp, toss to coat, and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 mins, stirring occasionally.

2. Preheat broiler to high

3. Remove shrimp from marinade, thread 6 shrimp on wooden skewers. Place skewers on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 5 inches from heat for 2 minutes on each side.

We just had the shrimp by themselves with a vegetable. I think next time I would serve them over pasta with a light lemon garlic sauce.

AMAZING.

black thumb?

This year I decided that I wanted to try and grow some vegetables and herbs on our balcony. I love the idea of just picking fresh vegetables and taking them straight to the kitchen for dinner.

We bought two large pots to start our container garden. We got two different varieties of tomatoes and three types of herbs, cilantro, basil, and parsley. We spent just under $100 to get everything, the bulk of which was the pots. I don't expect to break even this year in savings, but I think next year when all we need is plants and soil we might actually be saving some cash.

The tomatoes said they would take 60-70 days, I'm getting impatient!!! We bought the plants already started, I didn't trust myself to start from seeds. Perhaps we can try seedlings if we have good veggies and herbs this year.

 Cilantro

 Parsley

 Sweet Basil (which smells AMAZING)

I've already used the herbs in several dishes. I love just going out to the balcony, snipping off what I need and using it that night!!! The cilantro seems to be the most resilient, growing back quickly after I use some. The parsley and basil seem to be taking a bit longer to grow back, I hope I can keep everything going to have a fresh supply all summer long.

One of the two tomato plants seems to be thriving while the other doesn't seem like it's doing so well. The taller one has starting sprouting small yellow flowers, which I've learned through some research, will be where the tomatoes will eventually be. This morning I saw a little pea sized bulb from one of the flowers, I think it's the beginning of my first tomato!!! I can't wait to see how everything grows.

 Thriving Tomato Plant (with Basil)

 Not So Thriving (with cilantro and parsley)

 The yellow flowers and first little bud of a tomato!!!!!!

I wish I had taken pictures when we first got started, I can't even remember how small the taller plant was when we brought it home, but I know it's grown leaps and bounds! I'll keep you updated with the progress as we hopefully get a plentiful bounty all summer long!!!

Have you ever tried container gardening? Besides tomatoes and herbs, anything else seem to grow especially well in container gardens?

Happy Birthday Hubs!!!!

Happy Birthday to my most favoritist person in the world. 

You are my best friend and my partner in crime. 

I can't imagine life without you in it every single day.

I missed the heck outta you this weekend, but I think the pups missed you more.

Never, EVER stop rocking out exactly like this.

I love you.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo (over a week late)

Hello my lovelies!!!! I hope you are having a fabulous weekend. I'm a bit late in posting my mexican favorites, but better late than never, right?

As I said before, I am love love loving Hungry Girl's recipes. Hubs' favorite is by far the taquitos. Don't worry, they are super east and low in WW points too! #winning

So here is the Hungry Girl Recipe for exploding chicken taquitos:

You will need:
One 9.75 can of fat free chunk white chicken, drained and flaked
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup shredded fat free shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon of dry taco mix
8 6-inch tortillas

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• combine chicken and salsa, cover and refrigerate for 15 mins
• remove chicken from fridge and drain any excess liquid. add cheese and taco seasoning
• spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray
• dampen two paper towels and place tortillas between them, microwave for 1 minute
• take one tortilla from the stack, spray both sides lightly with nonstick spray. Lay flay and spoon about 2 heaping tablespoons of filling onto the tortilla and spread evenly. 
• roll tortilla up tightly and secure with a toothpick
• repeat with all of the remaining tortillas
• bake for 14-16 minutes until crispy
• serve as they are or add red enchilada sauce, additional salsa, or sour cream

Makes 4 2-taquito servings. Only 197 calories per serving, 2.5g fat, 594mg sodium, 22.5 carbs, 3g fiber, 20.5g protein (using Hungry Girl's nutritional info, I calculated this to be 5 pts per serving)

Of course to go with taquitos, you need margaritas. My current fav cocktail is the Skinny Girl Margaritas with an extra shot of tequila. Just pour over rocks and serve!!! YUMMMMMMM and guilt free!!!!! I had three of these and it was a total of 9 points, not too shabby for a cocktail!