shrimp

Honey Cilantro Lime Shrimp

January 30, 2018 by Dana

Have you ever been eating shrimp and thought… wow…. I just ate half of what I cooked?!?! This Honey Cilantro Lime Shrimp will quickly vanish into thin air just like shrimp always does! This is a super simple recipe with a nice balance of sweet, acidic, and salty flavors. It is great for parties, game days, or a nice dinner with the hubby and kids. The sauce is customizable so if you aren’t feeling the balance, add some additional acid/sweetness to make it your own. You really just can’t go wrong with a beautiful pile of shrimp and a few fresh ingredients for the sauce!

Welcome to the paragraph on this post about my life in the current moment. I don’t have a ton to write today, other then the fact that I’ve been pondering how Mom’s ever stop looking at all the pretty little things for baby girls!?!

WHEN. DOES. IT. END.

You guys, if you haven’t been following I have 4 boys. For 11 years I’ve walked by the baby girl section longing to buy it all. Like every single cute headband and bow and delicious little onsie with the cupcake and sprinkles all over it. For a really long time I completely shut out that side of the clothing store because I had come to the realization that I was a boy Mom and that meant green and brown striped onesies covered in dump trucks. I didn’t even want to peek at what may be on the other side of the store because I had nobody to purchase the cuteness for.

Until I did! 🙂

Don’t get me wrong, boys clothing has come a long way since my first was born. PRAISE JESUS. However, for me it still just doesn’t even compare to the bows and leopard print and leggings and dresses. It is, in the end, just clothing that will be shat upon and peed in and thrown up on. But the baby girl waiting game has been getting the best of my lately and my internet browsers are filled with all the cuteness that is out there and able to be purchased. Lord help my bank account and self control! Who has a favorite place to shop for little girl’s clothing?

Honey Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe Tips

As mentioned above, if you need to balance out your sauce, go ahead and add more lime/honey to your liking.
I LIGHTLY sprinkled the shrimp with adobo seasoning, and went even lighter with the cumin. These flavors really bring the dish together though, so don’t skip out on them! If you aren’t familiar with adobo seasoning, I use Goya brand and it has never failed me.
If you don’t want to stand and peel two pounds a shrimp like I did, look for the pre-peeled shrimp! Generally I always buy frozen shrimp because… Hello… Mom of 4, soon to be 5 over here doesn’t have a million dollars to spend on seafood each week, so frozen it is! I was not able to find wild caught shrimp that was pre-peeled.
The fresh cilantro kicks this recipe up about a million notches so don’t skip out on it unless you are the 10% who thinks that cilantro tastes like soap. 🙂
I served this shrimp over rice with avocado slices on the side. It made for a fantastic dinner!

Grilled Surf & Turf Tacos

February 19, 2017 by Dana

Tacos are a family favorite here, and these Grilled Surf & Turf Tacos did not disappoint! They are so quick to put together, and a perfect meal for any night of the week.

One quick thing to point out about life in general. Target now has organic flour tortillas and that means my life is basically complete. For years (I’m not kidding) I’ve been looking for a store bought flour tortilla that did not contain hydrogenated oils, also known as trans fats. I was able to find ONE product at Giant that did not. ONE. They are good, but I like options!

Now there are two! So I can now go to Target, get a latte from Starbucks, buy diapers, groceries, and tortillas all in one place. Yeeessss. 🙂

Not only did I find flour tortillas that checked out in the ingredient department, I also found a huge bin of Avocados From Mexico right next to the tortilla section. In the bin I found the perfectly ripened avocado. Not too mushy, not too firm, but right in between. It sliced so perfectly for these Grilled Surf & Turf Tacos. The best part… I wasn’t even there for tortillas or avocados!! haha In fact, I don’t even know what I was there for!

Only. At. Target.

In my Fiesta Grilled Chicken recipe I shared a spice mix that I use for grilled meats for tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc. This recipe is exactly like that one, in that I just use a few spices and I’m done! No packets for seasoning, or out of the ordinary ingredients. I love these simple recipes and my family does too!

Speaking of packets… a friend was just over at my house the other day and mentioned that she has always wanted to make her own taco seasoning mix but she just didn’t know what to use. I got mine off of the back of a can of beans one day. I have honestly not picked up a packet since then. It is so simple! You can totally play around with ratios of course,and add in other ingredients as you taste test and figure out what you like the best. Per pound of ground beef I use:

2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

The adobo seasoning does contain sodium, so I do go light on the salt. This recipe is similar, I’m just using steak instead of ground beef. Those 3 spices are the best together and are a great foundation for making your own taco seasoning. I’m sure I’ll be posting a ton of other recipes using them since my kids love this stuff and so do I!

Creamy Lemon Basil Shrimp Pasta

September 30, 2014 by Dana

This pasta though! Move over fancy-pants Italian restaurants because this pasta just swooped in to remind everyone cooking Italian food at home is SO EASY! That’s right, if you have 25 minutes and a few fresh ingredients then you are on your way to this delicious pasta soaked in a creamy sauce, and topped with fresh basil and parm cheese. You in?

Of course you are in or you wouldn’t be here, gawking at that pour shot like a 13 year old boy with a ~~nudie mag~~. I mean, not that I was ever a 13 year old boy or anything, but I was just thinking.. well.. ya know what forget I ever said that and let’s get back to the food porn!

And now…. it is food blogger confession time brought to you by 3Boys Unprocessed! Confessions are as followed:

This pasta is not whole wheat
I’m not as excited about this post because it isn’t a cupcake
I’ve recently become obsessed with cupcakes
Did I mention the word cupcake?

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m using refined pasta but baking whole wheat cupcakes. That totally makes sense doesn’t it? Hmm… I know, I know it’s totally crazy but just let me go on with my crazy self and let’s all pretend they are both whole wheat so I can feel a little less crazy.

My refined pasta was imported from Italy and had a sparkly and official “Italy” sticker on the bag. You know, like the best sticker EVER that we all longed for in Elementary School. A seal of approval, if you will. I looked at it EVERY TIME I was at the grocery store, longing for it’s beautiful ridges to take pretty pictures of and plop some big bad shrimpies on top of. Last time I was at the grocery store somehow it ended up accidentally falling into my cart and I totally thought it was whole wheat when the cashier swiped it over that cool scanner. You know, because my kids were yelling about wanting coloring books and other crap they throw near the cash registers to lure all the parents into buying. Even though I totally said NO WAY to the coloring book, somehow the pasta slipped by my radar. Ok, truth is, it looked cool so I bought it! A slight lapse in Real Food judgment but hey, we are all human right?

And about those cupcakes… you see I was always kind of obsessed with cupcakes (hence a big ol’ pink cupcake tattoo on my foot), but my cupcake obsession was lying dormant for a while I was on an ice cream binge.. I mean eating healthy. 😉 I kid, I kid! The ice cream binge never happened but babies did and I just haven’t had all the time in the world to bake pretty things. Now I have a food blog as an excuse so the cupcake madness just might be back for good!

Now that all my dirty food laundry is aired I guess we can get back to this creamy and delish pasta that could be served up for any occasion, including a Monday night! You can totally throw a curve ball in your life by making this epic pasta on a Monday and surprising your spouse like you are newlyweds or something. Remember, it only takes about 25 minutes to put together so throwing this together on a weeknight is do-able and easy!

Just a little FYI, I used a homemade chicken stock that I did not season yet. If you are using a boxed stock, check the ingredients for MSG (labeled MSG, autolyzed yeast, yeast extract) and choose a stock that is lower in sodium and doesn’t contain anything you wouldn’t put in your own stock. If you are interested in making your own (super easy I promise!) check out my post on Everything you Need to Know About Making Your Own Chicken Stock.

And then that pesky sauce went all up on the side of my sauté pan to ruin this beautiful picture. Please ignore and maybe it won’t happen again! 😉

Cajun Shrimp and Broccoli Pasta

August 10, 2014 by Dana

My husband went away for an over-night trip with friends and dropped one of my boys off at his Meme’s house on the way. Boy, did my house seem eerily quite! I don’t know if any other moms can relate but don’t things seem so weird even if just one child is gone? Sheesh it was like I was on a vacation from my life or something! So naturally, I decided it would be a great time to cook a spectacular meal seeing I was dealing with a 1 year old who could obviously care less, and a 7 year old who was convinced I was trying to hide copious amounts of broccoli in his food (it was parsley!!) Off to Wegman’s I went to purchase the biggest, most beautiful wild caught shrimp I could find. I came home and slathered those babies with a creamy sauce, cheese, and generous amounts of Cajun seasoning and boy did I ever feel bad that the rest of my family was gone when I sat down to eat this meal!

I mentioned that naturally the baby would care less about this pasta. How wrong did he prove me when he was begging and begging for more! Not only did he beg for more, he continued to climb into his high chair over and over until I fed him more pasta. Then when he was done with that he grabbed his brother’s plate off the table and proceeded to park his little tushy on the floor and have a little feast by himself! How could I really be mad at that cute little face covered in sauce though? 🙂 Plus, he was eating broccoli so that made Mama happy!

For the noodles in this dish I used whole wheat lasagna sheets and cut them in half (they were really narrow to begin with). I have been looking for whole wheat lasagna sheets for the longest time and was finally able to find some! Funny how a product that is so widely used is so hard to find in whole wheat. Regardless, you can use any pasta you’d like for this dish because the pasta doesn’t really make the dish. I did enjoy a different type of noodle in this but if you want to switch it up a whole wheat rigatoni or penne would work fantastic! I used 8 ounces of pasta total.

Here are the Steps I Took to Cook this Meal:

Cook the Pasta: I used 8 ounces of lasagna noodles, you can use any kind of pasta you’d like!
Season and Roast Broccoli: Sprinkle broccoli generously with Cajun seasoning and roast in the oven for about 25 minutes while you are cooking your other ingredients.
Boil the shrimp: Self explanatory! After you boil the shrimp peel them if needed.
Make the sauce.
Layer in skillet.
Bake.
Be Amazed at How Delicious it Was! Ok this is bordering on being a gimmicky catch phrase food bloggers use, but seriously it is really good!

The quicker way to do this would be to boil the pasta, and within the last few minutes throw in the shrimp and broccoli. I prefer oven roasted broccoli so that is why I didn’t do that, but if you are looking to save time this would be the way to do it!