Thai Shrimp Curry

Another night another dinner! Thai Shrimp Curry!! This tasted so good my husband told me it was his favorite meal I have EVER made for him!!! So excited to try out these recipes I found on Pintrest! Next week I will get everything figured out on Pintrest and get organized.

This recipe was so easy to make! I can't wait to try it again and maybe make some adjustments to the recipe to save some calories. My husband and I love curry so this was the perfect dinner for us. Since January I decided to make the switch to eating a more vegetarian diet. I decided that I would cut out meat but continue to eat fish making me a Pescatarian?! Life without meat actually hasn't been too bad. Years ago I was vegetarian but didn't do it right. Ate a lot of processed foods, tons of soy and ended up getting horrible stomach pains very frequently. I eventually gave up, sick of having stomach problems, and ate meat again. I decided this year to try it again but do it a little differently.

I keep my soy consumption to a minimum. I found that I'm sensitive to soy so I have to eat or drink it in low amounts. Now I really only use vanilla soy milk for my cereal. I know there are other milk replacement options but I like it so for now I will continue to use it. I try my best to stay away from any "fake" meat products as well. For me changing to a mostly vegetarian diet I find that even without working out I can maintain my weight. Also because I'm not eating meat that really cuts out most fast food restaurants out of my diet. Which only when I am on the go can be difficult to find something fast to eat. I am still trying to learn my best options but with summer break from school I am sure i will come up with something!

Now back to the food...Thai Shrimp Curry! The only change I made to the recipe was not topping it with fresh basil. Aside from that I followed the recipe exactly how it was written.

The recipe:

What it took for 2:

* 2 cups cooked jasmine or basmati rice
* 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
* 1 (14.5 oz) can coconut milk
* 3 Tbs. red Thai curry paste
* 1 Tbs. brown sugar
* 1/2 red bell pepper, finely sliced
* 1/2 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 lime
* 1/4 cup fresh basil, torn

In a medium skillet, bring 1/4 cup coconut milk to a boil. Add the curry paste, whisk together and bloom for 30 seconds. Add the rest of the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add the brown sugar and stir to combine.

Add the red bell pepper and asparagus to the skillet and cook until crisp tender, 6 minutes. Spritz in some lime juice, uh huh.

Add the shrimp and cook until opaque, 3 minutes.

Serve curry over rice and top with torn basil and more spritzed lime!
(found via Pintrest - http://bevcooks.com/2011/08/thai-shrimp-curry/)

Roasted Vegetables & Black Bean Tacos

My new challenge is to actually plan dinners for the week. Monday night dinner Roasted Vegetables & Black Bean Tacos! I have been following others and decided to use Pintrest to find recipes. I found is wonderful recipe looked very good so I decided to give it a try.

For once in my life I actually followed the recipe exactly how it was. No changes! It was very yummy! Even my husband Howard loved it! So let's see what other recipes I can try on pintrest! I need to start pinning some ideas. First need to really figure out that website. :)



Here is the recipe:

roasted vegetable and black bean tacos
Yield: 10 to 12 tacos
Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 55 min
ingredients:
1 medium yellow squash, chopped into small chunks (1 cup)
1 medium zucchini, chopped into small chunks (1 cup)
1 small onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 medium red bell pepper, de-seeded, ribs removed and chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 medium sweet potato or yam, peeled and chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 tablespoon olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
One (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
One (10-ounce) can original Ro-Tel (tomatoes + chiles)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
10 to 12 taco-sized corn tortillas
canola or vegetable oil
suggested add-ins: avocado, cotija or feta cheese, lettuce, sour cream)

directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a large, rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray.

2. Add all of your vegetables to a large bowl and toss with the olive oil. Spread the veggies on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 15 minutes, stir to re-distribute, roast another 15 minutes, stir again, and roast one more time for 15 minutes (45 minutes total). This step may be prepared ahead of schedule- just refrigerate your veggies until ready to make your tacos.

3. In a medium skillet, heat the black beans and Ro-Tel tomatoes over low heat. In a small bowl, combine the spices (cumin through pepper). Sprinkle the spices over the beans/Ro-Tel and stir to combine. Add the roasted veggies, stir to combine and continue to heat until the mixture is completely warm.

4. In a small skillet, heat 1/2 inch or less of oil over medium-high. When you can flick a drop of water in the oil and get a sizzle, you're ready to fry your tortillas. Place one tortilla in the hot oil and use tongs to press it down so it cooks on both sides- you only need to cook it for about 20 to 30 seconds to soften it up. Remove the tortilla to a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas, placing paper towels in between each cooked tortilla to absorb the oil.

5. Assemble tacos: Place a scoop of the roasted veggie/black bean mixture into a tortilla and add desired fixings. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Leftovers are good for a couple of days!

tips:
*To prepare this recipe as GLUTEN-FREE, just be sure to use brands of beans and tortillas that are GF.
*Chili powder may be substituted for smoked paprika, if necessary.
*If you don't wish to fry your tortillas, you can soften them by heating 3 at a time in damp paper towels in the microwave (they'll be more susceptible to tearing though). Or flour tortillas are a good choice too.

*Sub your favorite shredded cheese for the feta, if desired.

Source: RecipeGirl.com

Happy Mothers Day!

As some of you may know my mother has been very sick. I haven't gone into much detail as to exactly what has been going on with her so now I will. She has always had medical issues starting with diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and so on. Then because of all her health issues she went into kidney failure. Through all of this she kept her head up high and kept pushing. Honestly most people in her situation would give up but she kept on truckin! Then after years of dialysis she started having some problems. She started passing out during dialysis. She then stopped breathing and went into respiratory arrest. After that she was in the hospital for over a month. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong. She went into cardiac arrest and we thought that was it...but she came back. The doctors found out she had a rare blood disease which was causing her to have difficulty getting her dialysis. They gave her some plasma treatments and she started to get better. They then tested her bone marrow to see if she had any other blood diseases and everything came back negative. She was then moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center.

Now my mom is acting more like herself and definitely getting better. She has a long way to go but I am happy that for this mother day she is with me. She is my perfect mom and she has made me into the women I am today. So a very happy mothers day to my mom. I hope to celebrate many more with you!

My last week of school before finals!

This semester in school has flown by! I took two classes online and one class at school. My sculpture class was the only class I had to take in school. When I started the class I never really thought I would love it but now that the class is coming to the end i want it to keep going! Having way too much fun and still have so much to learn! I wish there were more sculpture classes. The biggest thing I have taken from this semester is that I really need to step up my game! I haven't been giving my all and I need to start getting noticed by my professors. So by fall that is my plan...no more slacking! :)

The picture above is the bronze process. First you start with your idea and mold it out of clay, then I coated the clay mold in latex, next I poured wax into my latex mold to make a wax positive of my original clay creation. My idea was based on something I was proud of. For me that was signing up for my first Ragnar Relay and finishing it! I thought if I was going to create a bronze sculpture that a race medal would be perfect! When we poured the bronze it melted the wax and then you had your original sculpture now in bronze! I still have some work to do on my bronze sculpture but I am happy it worked out! Now I want to make more bronze sculptures!

Here are more pictures of the bronze sculptures by some of my classmates:

I will not give up!

I have been wanting to challenge myself to be more creative and push myself a little harder to accomplish my goals. As some of you know I have taken a few photography classes and have always loved taking pictures.  But after my father passed away I lost all my passion and became scared.  I still took pictures but nothing really artistic.  All of this photography knowledge and I never pushed myself to use it.  Last year I was able to finally upgrade my digital camera I went from a Kodak to a fancy Canon Rebel T3.  Once I had my new "toy" I was still afraid to use it. Then the unthinkable happened my mom who has been sick for a while now was in the hospital.  All I could think about is I don't think I can do this.  Losing my father was horrible and now I may lose my mom.  I started to give up. Even though I know it would make my mom and dad happy to actually accomplish something.  But I became scared. Crawled in a hole and wanted to give up.  Stopped doing my homework, reading and decided that this was it for me.  Maybe this is as good as I can be. 

Then something happened. A fire was lit and I decided to not let it consume me.  I decided to fight back, which I still am doing, and actually try a little.  Instead of eating crappy food I decided to start logging my food intake and watch what I was eating. I decided to start doing some of my homework, still need to catch up but I think I will pass! Then I decided to take the camera out and start taking pictures. And during this time is when I started this blog. I have so much to offer I just need to start offering it!!

Then while drinking some coffee at Coffee bean & Tea Leaf...I saw this ad.

I looked at my husband and said...I should enter this contest! Knowing I only had a week to enter I had to think about some of the photography I have been taking.  Is any of it good enough to enter? Well I decided that I needed to at least try. If I don't win no big deal! I just need to keep on trying and maybe...just maybe..something may come of this.

Check out what I entered!!!

So I will enter in contests, I will try new forms of art, and I will keep taking pictures.  If anything I would love to build my portfolio, try new things and make new friends!

Lets see what else I can come up with! =)

Finished with my sculpture!

 My first foam sculpture finished!!

My finished foam sculpture! In my sculpture class we were told to use one large piece of foam and create a sculpture from it.  We were given a word mine was FALCON.  We had to base our sculpture on a biomorphic abstract idea of what we think our word is.  So I choose to focus on the speed of a falcon. They are one of the fastest birds in the sky.  I could have worked on this project forever but because I had a deadline this is what I came up with.  The next time I do a foam sculpture I will definitely know what not to do haha. But that is what school is about...learning!! Also since it is coming towards the end of the semester we finally did our BRONZE POUR!!!! The beginning of the semester we started working on making a bronze sculpture.  It was many steps but we finally came to the end! I was so proud to be chosen as one of the students to be apart of the pour. It was really amazing! I would love to do this process again!And yes it was VERY hot!!! We had to wear these cool heat suits!

We had our open house last night for the art department and my sculpture, among others, was chosen to be featured in the event! So exciting! I can't wait to get more involved with the art department. Maybe next time I will get an award?! Gotta keep pushing!

Sculpture in progress

Right now I am in sculpture class and we are working on making a piece out of foam. This is an interesting process and makes a huge mess! Definitely learning a lot about design but it is really hard! I can't seem to get it right. Currently I am at a stage where I am trying to perfect the shape and then I can coat it and either paint it or put some type of finish on it. Can't wait to see how it turns out! Work in progress....due next week!!