Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour (2024)

We’ve all heard the old adage, “a little goes a long way”. As a teacher, I can tell you that’s true…especially when it comes to using glue :) As a cook, I don’t always abide by the same way of thinking. In my kitchen, there’s no such thing as a little…the more spice/sugar/butter, the better. However, when I’m cooking with shrimp, I feel like a little makes a lot. Instead of buying large shrimp, I like to buy it little. I just feel like I get a lot more food, even though I know that’s not really the case. I like to psych myself into believing it’s true. And when I make myself a plate of food, I always serve myself on a salad plate. That way it looks like I’m eating more than I really am. I guess it doesn’t really make a difference whether I serve myself on a salad plate or not…I always go back for seconds, so I’m pretty sure that defeats the purpose! HA! This little recipe is the prime example of how a little can go a LONG way :)

CHIPOTLE LIME SOFT TACOS

Chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped {I only used one! Those suckers are H-O-T!!!!}

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp. cumin

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 lime {juice & zest}

2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped

1 lb. shrimp; peeled and deveined

CORN AND BLACK BEAN SALSA

3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. white sugar

1/2 tsp. black pepper {I always use coarse ground black pepper}

1/2 tsp. cumin

2 tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 {15 oz.} can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 {15 oz.} can sweet corn, drained

1 red pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, seeded & diced

2 green onions, diced

Alrighty. There are two recipes because that’s what this dinner calls for. Trust me when I tell you that you absolutely DO NOT want to skip out on the corn & black bean salsa. As good as the shrimp turn out, you don’t wanna eat ‘em without the salsa. Let’s do this.

Here’s what you’ll need for the tacos…

As you can see, I grabbed a pound of the SMALL frozen shrimp. I seriously felt like I’d get more for my money, I guess?!?! Whatev. You can make it with small, medium, or large shrimp…whatever your preference! And if they’re fresh, even better!!

Now, go ‘head and chop up that chipotle pepper. Gosh dang…these things bring the HEAT. For real. Don’t go rubbin’ your eyes after you touch this thing. I speak from experience. Ouch.

Now toss the pepper into a bowl and add the olive oil, cumin, brown sugar, lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro. Mix it up real good and let it marinade for about 20 {ish} minutes. Then go ahead and add your {thawed} shrimp to this little marinade and let it sit for about another 20 minutes. Or if you’re like me, and you have ZERO patience, go ahead and throw your shrimp in the marinade as soon as it’s made and let it sit for about 20{ish}.

If you have a Foreman, pull it out and dust it off. You’ll learn real fast that I LOVE to use mine. If you use small/medium shrimp for this recipe, you’ll have no choice. You’ll HAVE to use the Forman. But if you’re a big girl, and you aren’t afraid of the BIG grill {the one only my husband is allowed to touch}, then go ahead and get the LARGE shrimp and put ‘em on {soaked} skewers for grillin’. If you’re takin’ the easy way out and using the Forman, fire it up and get ready to “grill”. Once it’s nice and hot, throw on your marinated, baby shrimp and let ‘em cook. It took mine about 4-6 minutes until they were ready.

Right about now, you’re DYING from the smell. Amazing. For real. And if you’re anything like me, you’re sneaking bites straight from the Forman…before they even have a chance to cool off on a plate.

Okay, so before you can make your tacos, you’ll need the corn & black bean salsa. I HIGHLY recommend you make this while your shrimp is marinating. You’ll want it to be ready to go when your shrimp come off the grill. Here’s what you’ll need…

In a small bowl, mix together vinegar, olive oil, salt, sugar, black pepper, and cumin. Chop up your cilantro, green onion, red pepper, and jalapeno and toss it into a separate, medium bowl. Now you’ll wanna go ahead and add the corn and black beans to the cilantro/onion/pepper/jalapeno.

Mix it up ‘til it’s nice and pretty and pour the vinegar/olive oil mix on top and stir around ‘til mixed well.

YUM!!!!!!

Now you’ve got your salsa AND your shrimp all ready to go. Make sure your tortillas {preferably homemade…aka: Kroger flour tortillas made in-store} are nice and heated. Spread a helping of the corn & black bean salsa down the center of the tortilla and top it with a generous helping of the shrimp.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS??!?!?! Hands down, one of the BEST shrimp taco recipes I’ve EVER tasted!!!! It scored a big fat 10+ from Mr. Spouse. He was all, “I could eat these EVERY night!!!!” True story!!! Like I said before, the shrimp are amazing on their own, but the salsa makes the taco. Don’t skip that part!! If you don’t wanna spend time chopping and mixing while your shrimp marinades, make the salsa the night before. You could even make it at the beginning of the week and serve it with several different dishes throughout the week. You’ll see what I mean when you make it for yourself!!!

Get excited people!!! Hook yourself up with some chipotle lime soft tacos and get to eatin’! And go ahead and skip the salad plate. You’ll wanna serve yourself on a regular sized plate because you’ll be eating A LOT. And you won’t wanna waste any time stopping to go back into the kitchen to serve yourself seconds/thirds/fourths/whatever. SO flippin’ YUM!!!!

I don't know about y'all, but I'm *kind of* ready for colder weather. Now, when I say colder, I really mean somewhere in the upper 70's to low 80's. That's just about as cold as I can take it. For real. The weather here in Texas has been less than cool these last few months, so I decided to make some soup the other night to will on the colder weather. All I have to say is, 'who the heck cares if it's cold or not?!' This is the kinda soup that's good in ANY kind of weather!!!

Italian Chicken Soup

from The Pioneer Woman

1 box Ditalini pasta {I used the Barilla brand}

1 tbsp. olive oil

4 chicken breasts

8 cups chicken broth {this equals out to two big boxes of chicken broth}

1 medium onion, diced

2 green peppers, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

2 fresh jalapenos, diced

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 can {28. oz} whole tomatoes, diced

2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup olive oil

4 tbsp. minced fresh oregano

salt & pepper, to taste

Parmesan Cheese shavings, as desired

Alright y'all. Tell me this doesn't look easy enough?!

Now that we've got that outta the way, you'll definitely need to be prepared for this one. There's a lot of "setting aside" goin' on in this recipe, so you'll need to be ready for that. And make sure all your dishes/pots/pans are cleaned and ready to be used because you'll be using several for this one.

First up, cook your pasta according to package directions. I used the whole box of Ditalini, just incase you're wondering. Drain pasta, rinse, and return to pot. Toss in 1 tbsp. of olive oil and mix well. Set this aside.

Now let's go ahead and cook your chicken. The Pioneer Woman used a whole fryer chicken for her recipe, but all I had handy was 4 chicken breasts. Obviously, I used what was available...and cheapest!...for this one. You'll wanna boil your chicken in 8 cups of chicken broth, so make sure you have a pot/pan big enough for all the juiciness. Bring the chicken to a boil and then let it simmer {covered} for about 30 minutes. Now, go 'head and turn off the heat and let it sit there...in all it's wonderful juiciness...covered...for another 30 minutes. Then remove the chicken from the broth and shred. Make sure to set aside the broth because you'll need that for the soup.

Now let's get to dicin', shall we?!

Chop up your bell peppers, jalapenos, celery, and onion. Ohmiword. That's a seriously salivating sight.

While you're choppin', open up those tomatoes and dice those up, too. At this point in the game, you're probably all, "Seriously?! Chopping a can of whole tomatoes?! I'm skippin' that step and buying the can of diced tomatoes next time." Ummmm...yeah, I was totally thinking that, too. But after reading a little bit more about the difference between diced and whole, it sounds like the whole tomatoes are MUCH more flavorful than the diced tomatoes, so don't take the shortcut. Unless you like flavorless tomatoes. Then go right ahead. Once your tomatoes are nice and chopped, return them to their can with all their juices. Set it aside.

Now it's time to chop up the oregano. I didn't have 4 tablespoons worth of fresh oregano, so I improvised and added a mixture of both dried and fresh. Saute this in a little pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. YUM.MO. For real.

You won't wanna saute for too long, just give it enough time to start makin' your house smell somethin' fantastic.

Saute the peppers, onion, celery, and jalapenos in a tablespoon of olive oil until tender {about 10ish minutes}.

Now add the broth, chicken, and tomates {with all the tomato juice} to the pan. Bring to a boil and the reduce the heat to simmer.

My pan wasn't big enough to add the pasta, SO I turned off the heat and added the broth mixture to the pasta {in the pasta pot}. Then add the heavy cream and oregano and stir until well combined. {You won’t need the heat for that part, even if you’re adding the pasta to the same pot!}

Ooooooh. my. GOODNESS.

Don't forget to add the shaved parmesan. MY.WORD. That just takes it to a whole other level. A level of soupy, cheesy decadence.

If this doesn't will on the cooler temps, I don't know what will!!! But seriously...I'd eat this soup in any weather. On a boat or with a goat. Here or there or ANYWHERE :) And I’m pretty much thinkin’ you will, too. My word. That Pioneer Woman is a dang genius!!

I’m sure y’all have seen this darling wreath blowin’ up the boards on Pinterest.

I’d link back to the original source, but the link on Pinterest takes me to a blank page!!!

LOVE it. Infact, I love it so much, I had to make my own.

I’m not really diggin’ the tulle, so I’m on the hunt for the “perfect” ribbon. This was a relatively inexpensive project because I had most of the supplies on hand. I had the grapevine wreath leftover from a shower I helped host back in the summer. I also had the burlap, twine, and tulle. I found the black and orange fabric in the little remnant section at Hobby Lobby and that cost me a little under $5. I also found the monogram at Hobby Lobby for $3 and I wrapped it in twine.

Not gonna lie. It was a *little* time intensive, but I think that’s only because I majorly screwed up on the rosettes until I found this You Tube tutorial on how to make them. Should’ve searched for that first! HA!

After A LOT of twisting and gluing, secure the rosettes to the wreath with a little more hot glue and voila! A festive little pretty for your sweet little home. And a friendly little warning: just be prepared to burn yourself a few hundred times with the hot glue gun :) Now if I could only figure out where to hang it!!!!

I don’t know what it is about Fall that motivates me to start crafting and home improving, but Mr. Spouse says he loves it. Kind of. Actually he really likes my motivation, but hates what it’s doing to the bank account.

Happy crafting!

Raise your hand if you owned a George Foreman grill in college {me! me! me!} Alright, now raise your hand if you still own said grill {ummmm…me?! me?! me!?} It’s true. I still own mine. And I use it ALL the dang time. I flippin’ LOVE that thing! I can’t grill to save my life, and I hate waiting for Mr. Spouse to get home so we can fire up the big one, so you’d better believe that my mini grill…aka: my “Foreman”…gets a lot of play in my kitchen. That’s how I roll. Here’s one of my FAVORITE Foreman recipes. I first started making this when I was on the South Beach Diet about 6{ish} years ago {a mini high school reunion was coming up} and this was one of my saving grace dishes. Even though this recipe isn’t George Foreman endorsed, I have a feeling he’d definitely approve!!!!

GRILLED FISH AND PEPPERS

1 cup Zesty Italian Dressing

2 tsp. crushed red pepper

4 tilapia filets {I use the frozen tilapia :)}

2 red peppers, sliced into thin strips

2 green peppers, sliced into thin strips

2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsp. finely chopped cilantro {optional. I didn’t use it!}

This is all you’ll need.

Mix the dressing and red pepper together until well blended.

Cut the peppers into thin slices and toss into a gallon-sized ziplock baggie with the fish filets.

Now pour the dressing/red pepper combo into the bag of veggies & fish, zip it up, and shake the heck out of it. I mean, really shake it good!!!

Refrigerate the fish/pepper/dressing combo for about 15-20 minutes, just long enough to marinate. Now toss the peppers and fish on the grill and cook for about 4 minutes and then turn the fish over.

Grill until the fish flakes easily with a fork! When it’s finally ready…which WON’T take long at.all…transfer to plate and serve with grilled peppers.

You can sprinkle with cheese…and cilantro, too, if that’s your thing. I actually left out both the cheese and the cilantro and I can honestly say that this is one of my FAVORITE fish dishes!!! We haven’t had this in a while, but when I made it, Mr. Spouse said, “Why don’t we have this more often?!” Good question. If you’re a fan of fish, then you definitely need to add this recipe to your menu!! It’s light, but filling, and a great addition to your “healthy” cooking choices!!