When Jay and I were on our honeymoon in the Virgin Islands, we were introduced to the juice of the {soursop} fruit. Wiki describes the flavor as “a combination of strawberry and pineapple with sour citrus flavor notes contrasting with an underlying creamy flavor reminiscent of coconut or banana.”
Yesterday while in Target, I found some {Guanabana} nectar and noticed that the picture on the can looked like the prickly soursop fruit…a quick Google search confirmed it and a couple cans landed in my cart!
39¢ at Target ~ run out and grab some now for your margaritas later!
I’ve been working on a simple, yet festive dinner menu for Cinco de Mayo.
Let me start by saying that I think we’re going to have to fetch the ice cream maker from the garage rafters and make some Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Salted Pecans for dessert!
Secondly, I saw these cactus glasses at Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago and have been thinking about them ever since…..went today and they had ONE left!
Wah.
I just think they are so cute and the perfect vessel to hold these gorgeous pink Cactus Pear margaritas…
Jay and I enjoyed sipping these margaritas at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in Vegas and they are definitely something worth trying to recreate at home ~ the problem is where to find the cactus pear juice?!?
Tomorrow I will be tracking down some more of these {prickly} glasses and the ingredients to fill them on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, we have our vibrant papel picado hung across the kitchen and are ready to celebrate!
{as seen here on our trip to Olvera Street over Spring Break}
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Kicking myself that I didn’t pick up a set of those glasses when I first saw them.
Hope your week has been smooth so far. Mine has been drama-free thus far and I have been able to get up to the gym the last couple nights which was always good for me and seems to make life smoother.
Last week I {invented} a little breakfast smoothie with one of my new finds via Instagram. A friend posted some {Cookie Butter} from Trader Joe’s during Lent and I immediately fetched a jar to enjoy on/after Easter! It is fabulous alone on a spoon, on bagels, Ezekiel toast and graham crackers, but I thought I’d incorporate it into a smoothie in place of peanut butter and see what happened!
{Cookies & Cream} and Banana Smoothie
You will need: 2 cups crushed ice, 1/2 cup almond coconut milk, 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt, 1 banana, 1 tbsp ground flax {flax meal} and 1 tbsp. TJ’s cookie butter
Place all into a blender and blend ’til smooth!
Pour into a glass, add a straw and enjoy!
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And speaking of {sailing}, we plan to take a quick little trip to the beach this weekend.
Last time we went to the beach {in January!} Jay captured some cute pics of the kids just frolicking in the sand…this time I wanted to plan a little better with their wardrobes and hair and have a little Nautical inspired photo shoot at the shore.
I had originally picked up the anchor tee for a gift for a little girl….when the guy rang it up, it came up as boy’s. I thought it’d be cute on Holden so I set out to find something complementary for Elliott and stumbled upon this little striped number with the big bow on the shoulder. Both of them will wear rolled up jeans and bare feet ~ I think it’ll be perfect for some fun photos to get us excited for summer.
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Make the most of the rest of your week…Saturday and Sunday will be here before you know it!
2 Tbsp extract of choice {vanilla, almond, coconut ~ I’ve used all three and they’re all excellent!}
Cinnamon, optional
3 cups water
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Take your french press and add your brown sugar, extract and a couple shakes of cinnamon if you desire. Add in your 3/4 cup coffee and 3 cups water.
Place into ‘fridge overnight.
In the morning {or for an afternoon pick-me-up} just press down the grounds and pour half the press into a tall glass with lots of ice. No need to add sugar, just your favorite creamer or a splash of milk!
{I get two servings out of one press}
Pop it into your cup holder and carry on with your day!
Be sure and give a little honk or a wave at your local Starbucks as you drive past!
{I’m not telling you to boycott your fave coffee establishments, just letting you know you can save a little green here and there when it comes to caffeinating yourself!}
Note: I enjoy the almond the most. Almond extract is easy to find, but it comes in itty bitty bottles. To remedy that, just run to your nearest Smart & Final and pick up a 16 ounce bad boy for less than 6 bucks…
I used a 1.25 lb pork tenderloin from Trader Joe’s {this was plenty for 2 meals for 2 adults}
¼ cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Cut the tenderloin in half and place it into your CP. Mix the above ingredients in a small bowl and then pour onto the pork. Cook on low for about 5 hours or until it shreds easily. Shred with two forks and skim off any fat. Add 1/4-1/2 cup peanut butter {I used creamy} and stir to incorporate. Enjoy immediately or keep on warm in crock pot until ready to serve. Sprinkle in chopped cilantro or Thai basil before serving.
I chopped some romaine and added 2 Tbsp Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette from Trader Joe’s to make a little salad to go onto the tacos.
Slice up a cucumber in long strips.
Building your taco from the plate up:
Warm some small flour or corn {I used white corn} tortillas on your burner or in the microwave.
Place a few cucumbers on the tortilla.
Put some pork followed by some of the romaine salad.
Top with some Sriracha for heat and some chopped peanuts for crunch.
These would also be fabulous as wraps in a larger tortilla, but all I had on hand was the corn and they were absolutely to-die-for.
I served with some garlicky Asian sugar snap peas…
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
Mix these three ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Mince 6 cloves of garlic and put into a pan sprayed with Pam. Cook, stirring constantly for a minute or so.
Add two 8-ounce bags of sugar snap peas and the marinade and stir over medium heat until all peas are coated. Place a lid on it and stir every so often until peas are tender and sauce cooks down {about 5-7 minutes}.
Then plate it up with your Thai tacos!
The flavors are amazing.
This meal is a must if you, too, adore Asian flavors.
First grab the ingredients shown above: package buttermilk biscuits {10}, your favorite pizza toppings {I used 4 ounce bag mini turkey pepperonis, 2 red peppers, 1/2 onion, 8 ounces white mushrooms, 6 garlic cloves}, 15 ounce can pizza sauce {I had a little extra leftover in the fridge that I added in}, 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese.
Chop your veggies of choice and sauté in a little olive oil for about 10 minutes…
While those are cooking, cut your 10 biscuits into quarters, like this…
Add the sauce and stir…
Add the pepperonis, biscuits and 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and mix gently…
Spray your 9X13 pan and dump mixture in. Bake in a 350* oven for 25 minutes. Remove, sprinkle with another 3/4 cup mozzarella and place back in over for 10 more minutes.
{makes about 6 servings}
Top with a dusting of parmesan cheese and serve!
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It’s delish…as the biscuits cook, they puff up and act as the crust. There are so many different options here ~ just be sure whatever meat you use is cooked first!
I’m thinking next time I want to try the TJ’s garlic and herb pizza dough and drop that in instead of the biscuits for added flavor.
Meant to sit down and do a {turn your old, outdated framed print into a chalkboard} tutorial this week, but others things happened.
On Tuesday morning I got caught in some traffic on the way to Woodland Hills…
Because of a darling striped, ruffled shirt I spotted in Instagram {thanks, Richelle!}, I went on a wild goose chase for one {or two} for myself:
{now can you see why I had to have one? I got yellow & white…the pink is for the person responsible for all this! [wink wink]}
While whizzing through Wal-mart, my no sweets havin’ self spied these…
{it’s ON after Lent}
On Wednesday morning, I started a load of laundry before walking Elliott to school. By the grace of God I was upstairs brushing my teeth when the washer started overflowing. I immediately turned off the water, placed a call to the management office and waited for the fix-it guy…
{turns out there was just a hole in some hose that didn’t allow air in for the sensor thingy to signal that the water level was high enough…or something technical like that}
Fix-it guy said we could’ve had LOTS of water damage of I hadn’t been there to turn off the machine. Phew!
{this is Rascal sitting on my lap while we were waiting for fix-it guy}
Just when I was feeling down about our WHITER than WHITE walls, I realized that I will take white walls any day of the week if the are home to my babies’ fun artwork.
Cheeseburger Chopped Salad was what was for dinner on Wednesday…
Everything you’d put on a burger, but the bun!
{turkey burger sliders, chopped romaine, cheddar cheese shreds, tomato, red onion, pickles, jalapeños, real bacon bits and avocado all tossed in a bit of ranch dressing}
It was deee-lish.
Thursday Woody went to school for share day. When the letter of the week was K. Oh well, at least he buckled up for safety.
My brown-eyed, freckle nosed, side pony wearin’ girl….
Fish sticks for dinner…
Friday morning brought this gorgeous sunrise…
Getting a quick Easter gift ready for Elliott’s sweet, deserving teacher…
{reusable tumbler with little iced tea packets inside}
A trip to the mall to scope out some Easter duds…
Found some possible options for next to nothing…
{dress, $6-something and shirt, $4 ~ The Children’s Place}
Next a trip to have a picnic and feed the {duckings} as Holden calls them…
{with Ryan stocking up on bread}
{tossing bread}
{Fought the crowds at Circle K for our chance to be gazillionaires}
{we’re not gazillionaires after all}
Hit up Mickey D’s for a cone to kill time before dance class…
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Not too bad of a week leading up to Spring Break!
Looking forward to a fun-filled week at home ~ visiting with friends that are moving to Australia {wah!}, coloring Easter eggs, sending off Easter greetings in the mail, frolicking with Gramma, hopefully painting a chalkboard or two and making some headway on sanding and painting my little table that I’ve been putting off for a year and a half!
Linking up with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged! Come over and say, “Hello!”
{followed the link above, but subbed almond/coconut milk and coconut extract}
Such a fun twist on regular ‘ol boring oatmeal…next time I’m adding some fresh berries to the mix.
2. We had an impromptu garage sale on Saturday morning. It was more like a rummage sale. I just threw a bunch of stuff out there and came up with a price when they asked!
Made about $20 an hour for stuff that I would have driven to Goodwill…I’ll take it!
3. Holden cried when a woman walked off with his Baby Bjorn potty chair. He said, “You’re selling all my stuff!” About broke my heart, but he wasn’t about to coax me into keeping stuff that I’m trying to get rid of, so he went inside and watched a movie while mama purged!
4. Fun bowling birthday party with this delicious pizza for lunch.
5. Little Church and my scripture study were cancelled for Sunday morning, so we went to Saturday evening mass instead.
I think I got a little too aggressive with the fillings, but they were to-die-for.
8. Kids talked me into taking them to Elliott’s new dance studio’s grand opening in the POURING rain just to jump in the germ infested bouncy….
Chaos.
Waste. Of. Precious. Gas.
9. Jay didn’t like the quote the dealer gave him for new brakes on his Jeep, so he did it himself.
{We did have to make one minor trip to a “professional” for a quick fix-it, but other than that we saved a ton of cash. Thanks Pep Boys for the parts and YouTube for the brake changing tutorial!}
10. Had the Sushi Bake again for dinner last night. We’re hooked.
The other day I was thinking back to when I started going to Starbucks. It seems like now, after almost a couple decades, that it is just part of life. Just as we drop off and pick up our kids from school, run errands, fix dinner, etc. we run to the Starbucks drive-thru or pop into a store to fetch our morning, afternoon or evening cuppa joe {or tea. or hot chocolate.}.
It’s become part of the routine. At least for ME anyways.
My first real memory of Starbucks dates back to 1993 when I worked in Hillcrest at a doctor’s office. The office manager, Susan, and I would run across Washington Street to the corner Starbucks and always get a grande nonfat no foam latte with two Equals. A half caff coffee of the day for Dr. Schmidt.
A couple years later when I moved to Pacific Beach with my best friend, Denise, our thing was the coffee frappuccino. I remember one summer when a day might consist of a morning frap and an afternoon frap!
Then around 2000, my co-worker Deb, introduced me to the americano and it was over from there. We would go down to the little coffee cart at our building in the mornings and get a hot one, but once summer came I immediately started ordering them iced. I will say that a venti extra extra ice americano with 2 Splendas and a splash of half & half is my go to coffee beverage 9 months our of the year.
