Tuesday Tumblings

I'm baaaaackk!!!

Yep, I'm back and I'm doing a Tuesday Tumblings so let's get started!

I wish I was here again.

What, you don't travel with this much stuff in the floorboard of the car?

I found these on vacation.

I don't remember where and that makes me sad because I want some more.

Abogg came home from Geology Field Camp.

He brought home a LOT of laundry and it kind of smelled.

He had a good time so it's all good!

Someone around here was completely fascinated with his tent.

That really isn't an innocent face people.  Do not be fooled.

This is what I've been eating for breakfast.  Sad thing the dog is eating the same thing. 

1) Yes, I cook for the dog 2) No, I have no life.

OH MY WORD.  I made this crazy tomato watermelon salad and my gosh it was so good.

I mean like really good.  Hubster came home and thought it sounded gross but he tasted it and found out how good it was.  I didn't share and I'm not even sorry.

That's water, tea and coffee.  And I wonder why I have to go to the bathroom so much??!!

Yes, I usually have 3 or more drinks going at the same time.

I had a horrible migraine and was cranky but Hubster brought me some flowers.

I think I must have been really really cranky.

We saw this on our way to get ice cream on National Ice Cream Day.

It's been a weird summer but the sunsets have been delightful.

Seriously these bowls are the cutest!!  Abogg says they are a little too small.

I think they are just right for lunch!

Not so innocent people,  not innocent at all.

Yard sale find of the decade.  Over a thousand dollars worth of Fiesta Ware for $150.

I have happy cabinets now!!  I also have 24 dinner plates so come on over, we've got plenty of plates.

My snack life is complete again.  Abogg found these in Waco for me.

Life is good.... well it will be as soon as I find the Ho-Ho's.

You can't imagine how bad I wish this was a video.

Never have I heard that much snoring from an animal.

Even if I had taped it you wouldn't have been able to hear him over my laughter.

And I wondered why my towels were taking so long to dry.

There is a bit of juicing fascination going on around here too.

I like mine without the celery thankyouverymuch.

Juice for breakfast means no guilt ice cream for dinner.

This goofball thinks he is a celebrity or something.

I'm going to make him wear them when we walk every morning.

These 3 ingredients will make you the best stuff 

Just like a Wendy's frosty. Try it you won't be disappointed.

Trust me when I say I would never ever steer you wrong about ice cream. Never.

We have a S'mores addiction in our house so we have a permanent S'more station in the middle of the kitchen table. Sad yes I know but hey, when you need a S'more you need a S'more.

"Do Not EVEN think about touching this bone lady"

I'm pretty sure that is what he's thinking.

We made the MereBear a bulletin board for her dorm room.

Cause we kind of thought it was totally redonkulous what the PB was charging for this!

(that would be 3 Benjamins in case you don't believe me!)

and ours has sparkly clothespins.  

I also made this strawberry ice cream.  It was supremely yummy too.

I also made this crazy crazy good S'more ice cream but for some reason I can't find the pictures.

Don"t worry I'll make it again! I was told it was the best ice cream I've ever made.

How the heck does one make this big of a mess making ice cream??

We are having a fun little "house party" this weekend.  

Oh, we are making stuff thanks to the depot and velcro!

I'm telling you, there is no innocence in that face.

None whatsoever!

So, what have you been doing while I've been MIA?

Come one, surely you've been doing something exciting .

What kind of summer goodies is your family stuck on this year?

Today I bid you....

Peace, Love & Ice Cream

Spicy Butter Shrimp

Well hideee hooo there peeps!!   I've got a quick one for you today because I've whittled away most of the day working on the blog design.  Let me know what you think of the changes.  Any suggestions, please submit those kindly in the comments section.  I'm no web designer so we are working with rudimentary skills at best!

Now then since I cook better than I web design let's get started with this one.  First of all this was kind of an accident.  I thought I had what I needed for the intended recipe however I didn't and even though Kroger is only about 3 minutes from my house I didn't want to go out so this is what happened.  I'm here to tell you this shrimp was CRAZY train good!!  The chicken was good too (which by the way the original intent was chicken only).  Super simple to mix up and make.

First up grab yourself a big baking dish.

We are just going to work in the marinating dish here so stick that in the microwave and melt 1 stick of butter.  Hey, somebody has to take over for Paula Deen you know.

While the butter is melting, juice 2 lemons.

Now that the butter is melted we need to add in the juice of the lemons, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper and 1 tsp. black pepper and 2 cloves minced garlic.

Now if you are thinking WHOA NELLY that is seriously too much cayenne for me then you can cut the cayenne back.  I will tell you that the term spicy is used loosely in this recipe so I encourage the use of the cayenne pepper. 

Now just whisk it all together

and dump your shrimpies in there.  Put a lid on it please so your whole refrigerator doesn't smell like a shrimp boat parked in there.

Think about throwing the chicken in with the shrimpies but decide there is probably some "health" reason not to do that so make a second batch for the chicken.  

That all needs to get covered and chilling in the fridge for several hours.

The longer the better when marinating is my policy you know.

Take those little jobbers out to the grill and get 'em cooking.

And hey, if you have any corn on the cob toss that on the grill too!

I'm telling you these were soooooo good.

Watch those shrimp so they don't overcook. (which in Samma terminology means take your glass of wine with you to the grill)

Now in the world of not so surprising news we had those little beauties on a big salad.

I think we ended up picking the shrimp off and eating them by themselves and just had a bit of chicken on the salad.  I had also made some kind of rice you can see hanging out back there but quite frankly I do not remember what kind it was at all.  We probably didn't eat much of it since we devoured those shrimp!  I probably didn't have any bread on hand so I made rice of some sorts.

Here you go, a nice little compact list of ingredients:

1 stick butter, melted

Juice of 2 lemons

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 cloves minced garlic

Whisk together and marinate the protein.

Since I haven't done a Tuesday Tumbling in like forever I just know you are dying to see what the mutt is up to so here's an idea of what we deal with around here.

Look closely under the tent, that's Sir Winston chillin'.

(this was 4th of July by the way)

Chillin' and sleeping is his special talent.

He pretty much only gets up to go to the bathroom.

(technically that could be said for me too)

Ah the life of a celebrity, gotta wear shades there's so much paparazzi!

Try the marinade, check out the new page design, be grateful Mr. High Maintenance doesn't live in your house and drop me a comment!

Peace, Love & Shrimp!!

Southwestern Cornbread Salad

Hey there peepers!!!  WOWZA is it ever hot!!!  The thermometer on our back porch hit 108 today!!
Craziness I tell ya pure craziness!   So if it's raining where you are could you send us some please?












Maybe I should get these guys to come perform their song for us?!





Okay enough tom foolery for the day let's get to making this salad.  I shouldn't say this is the recipe for it but more like assembly instructions.  But nonetheless here is the nice little printable that you can have to take to the grocery with you.

First things first we need to make some cornbread.

If you want to get all fancy smancy fru fru and make yours from scratch, just go right on sister (or bro)!

I however decided to use the Jiffy cornbread mix because you only need an 8x8 pan and that's exactly what the Jiffy mix makes.   I used the directions for corn muffins and I also tossed in a small can of green chili's into the batter before baking.  Bring the cornbread out of the oven and set it aside to cool a bit while you get busy with the remainder of ingredients.

(2) 2.25 oz. cans of sliced black olives, drained well

1 small container cherry tomatoes cut in half or 1 cup chopped tomato's.

15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained well

15 oz. can corn, drained

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped

1 small red onion, diced

And some of this:

well maybe not exactly that kind but some kind of southwesterny dressing. 

This was very good tho.

Now then lets get to assembling.

You will need a large glass bowl or trifle dish.

It's pretty if you can see the layers!!

Crumble 1/2 the pan of cornbread into the bottom of the dish.

Add the black beans on top of the cornbread.

Next go the tomatoes;

then the lettuce and pour 1/2 cup of the dressing.

Keeping the dressing to the center of the pile of lettuce so it doesn't run down the sides.

(As you can see I didn't heed my own advice on that detail)

Now the black olives;

then the corn;

red onions; 

 and green bell pepper.

It's looking scrumptious isn't it?

Now add at least 1 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded.

If you add more I'll never tell but I'll be your friend forever!

Pour the other 1/2 cup of dressing over the shredded cheese also keeping to center as much as possible.

Don't worry it will spread out.

Top the cheese with the other half pan of cornbread crumbled.

I added a little more cheese over the cornbread and a few tomatoes and a couple of jalapeños if you so desire.  I meant to toss a few more black olives but I forgot to save any...duh!!!

Now look how pretty!!!

It's so pretty you'll feel like this

But you should share it with friends because it makes a LOT!!

Oh and the next day...just as yummy!!!

Here's the printable again for ya.

Thoughts:   The next time I make this I'm considering adding a layer of grilled chicken or beef fajita meat.   I could take the lettuce layer out, add in the meat then serve the whole thing over a plate of greens for dinner.  You know how we love our salad around here!!

So there you go, a nice big swap on a salad for a potluck or for dinner and don't worry, the oven was only on for about 15 minutes. In this weather that's a good thing because we're all feeling like this:

What's up with you guys? You are awfully quiet this week!!!

Peace, Love & Summer Salads

p.s.  Last nights dinner, Abogg made us hamburgers and sweet potato home fries. We also had regular potato home fries and cole slaw.   Just keeping you updated on the dinner situation so you know we're not off doing anything fancy and leaving you out.   :-)