My Recipes: Red Pepper Tilapia & Roasted Veg

After guacamole, crawfish, potatoes, fried shrimp, french fries and cokes, I needed to eat something healthy! This past week hasn't been my, er, best effort at cutting away the calories. Normally we eat very healthy at home, but we'd both found ourselves being invited to crawfish boils or having to grab food on the go. So in my effort to make something good, and avoid the typical approach to steaming everything, I stuck it all in the oven. The results? Delicious!

Red Pepper Tilapia
Garlic powder
Dry red pepper flakes
Fresh ground sea salt & black pepper
Olive oil
Fresh lemon, halved

Roasted Veg
Olive oil and balsamic vinegar or dressing for drizzling
Baby carrots, halved
Asparagus, trimmed and washed
Zucchini, chopped into medium-sized pieces
Golden potatoes, thinly sliced
(Can add or subtract any other veggies you want, just chop or slice them first)

Acorn Squash
1 acorn squash, halved
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp each of cinnamon and sugar

Add about 1/4 inch of water in a glass oven-proof pan and place acorn squash halves face down in the pan. Bake at 425 for 40-45 min.

At about the same time, you'll want to prepare the roasted veg since they can take as long to cook. I took a large metal baking sheet and loaded it up. I think I used one bunch of asparagus, 3-4 small potatoes sliced, 1/2 bag of carrots and two zucchinis. As long as everything can be spread out fairly evenly over the pan, use however much of your favorite bites you want! Drizzle the pan full of vegetables with a teeny bit of olive oil then squeeze a lemon half over it. Next, drizzle balsamic vinegar over them (I probably use about 1/3 cup) and sprinkle liberally with a dry herb mix of things like rosemary, thyme, parsley, basil and oregano. If you don't have a pre-mixed bottle of Italian seasoning, you can concoct your own in a small bowl then use. Top off with a healthy dose of the sea salt and pepper. Bake for about 40 minutes at 425 degrees, or until veggies are soft to the touch.

Prepare the fish once you've placed the vegetables in the oven. I baked mine in a small metal baking pan.  Lay out the fish, drizzle very lightly with olive oil then douse with the remaining half of lemon and sprinkle liberally with the spices. Bake for about 20 min at 425 (I crammed everything into the same oven).

Once it's time to plate your dinner, melt the butter and mix with cinnamon and sugar then pour sparsely over the acorn squash halves.

Daily Pics: Manolo Blahnik to Crawfish!

"Daily Pics" is a new category on my blog I've decided to launch, inspired by a recent post on Dallas fashion & lifestyle blog Sparkle Birds. I like the idea of having a post to include all those fun, random photos that I tend to gather in a week. I never know where to put them, since some of them (like my precious pets) don't always warrant an entire post. What's that? You want to read frequent lengthy, gushy sonnets about my adorable cats and dogs? Ha, didn't think so.

Enjoy these "daily pics," and feel free to leave me a comment on anything you'd like to know, see more of or ask me! 

From top to bottom:

-A recent Manolo Blahnik luncheon at Saks Fifth Avenue

-My gorgeous dog who naps, well, any way she pleases

-Crawfish at the neighbor's house for lunch!

-Kitty lounging at home

-My new Martha Stewart "Cooking School" cook book... an early birthday gift from my mother-in-law. Can't wait to learn some new techniques!

-New beautiful turquoise cross beads to use for necklaces coming soon at Texas Take

Happy Sunday, y'all!

Beach Day Getaway

It had been one of "those" weeks. The kind you just need to get away from. So my friend, Lisa, and I hit the road and headed off to Galveston on Friday for a day in the sun. Neither of us could have been happier the entire time! We started off with cajun shrimp at Benno's on the Beach (a very old seafood restaurant across from the water that I've been going to for ages), then we found the perfect spot to lay out on the sand for a couple hours. After that, we traipsed through the local shell shop that stretches out over the water, Murdoch's, then made a few stops at Hobby Lobby, a thrift store and Michaels on our way out of town. All in all, a perfect day and here's the photos to go with it!

The start of our day, with lunch overlooking the water...

Our beach set-up with gorgeous blue skies and a quiet stretch of sand...

One of the magazines we were reading had an article on how to successfully get away on vacation without having calls or inquiries from the office. Seeing as I run my own company from home and my friend is currently in between jobs, we are worry-free when it comes to beach getaways! Although I have to say that I was pretty disappointed in the article... it even suggested getting four hours sleep before  your last day of work prior to leaving for vacation so that your boss will think you look tired and worn out and really need to get away. It said disheveled hair was a bonus! What a crock!

Office or not, we both snoozed on the sand, waded in the water and listened to Roger Creager tunes before heading back to the mainland. Though Galveston isn't the prettiest of beaches, I was craving the start of summer so bad it might as well have been white sand and clear water. And I got my first burn of the year! If you know me, you'll know I prefer to be tan year-round and whenever I'm poolside I'm slathered in a coat of tanning oil like a turkey in a baster. (Hey, I gave up fake baking and aspartame. Not every moment of my life is dedicated to wholesome-ness... if that's even a word. I'm a sun-worshipper!)

Hope you are having a great Saturday! I'll have a new recipe post coming soon as well as the start of a new blog post category known as "Daily Pics," which will be a montage of random photos from the week.

Weekend Recap: Crawfish Boils & Mother's Day

The in-laws came for a visit this past weekend and we enjoyed some early summer time fun at a good friend's crawfish boil on Saturday. While I'm not an avid crawfish fan, there was tons of other good foods to eat like jalapeno cheddar sausage, zucchini casserole, banana pudding, mac and cheese, shrimp and more! We ate so much I could've been rolled outta there twice. The husband's younger brother and his girlfriend also joined us and we all enjoyed the festivities until the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday, mother's day, was a special occasion since we were all able to spend some time together. The husband and I fired up the grill and peeled and cooked some fresh Gulf shrimp to go with the fajita feast we assembled for lunch. Some Aggie Blush wine poured over ice with sparkling water, apple and lime was a perfect lunch time cocktail. (The vino came from Bernhardt Winery.) I honestly don't think I got enough to eat over those two days, do you? Brownies and guacamole be damned. ;)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a fabulous mother's day! 

Front Porch Sittin'

I wish I've been doing a lot of front porch sittin' lately, and that it's why I haven't posted on the blog in nearly a week! But alas I've been swamped with work and preparations for the in-laws who just visited this weekend. Every time I want to work on my Etsy shop or put together some posts, I think about the long to-do list I have sitting in my office and decide to be responsible.

I did get a couple minutes to make a few improvements on our front porch, though. It needed some help and I'd been wanting to get a bench ever since we moved into our house. That mixed with some new flowers, a DIY chalkboard paint-pot and housewarming gifts from friends equals a much prettier porch, perfect for sittin'.

BEFORE

AFTER

Just having a nice bench makes such a difference, and I love the pattern of the bench cushion as well. Both items are from Garden Ridge, the oak bench was on sale for $40 (normally $80) and the cushion was $25.

This super cute wreath was a housewarming gift from friends, who spotted it a boutique out in Boerne, Texas while away for the weekend. Isn't is perfect for us? I love the "howdy" at the top. :)

I replaced the plastic hanging pot with a much more eye-pleasing version that I scored at Big Lots for $5. The pink geranium is from Houston Garden Centers and was on sale for $2. 

I have been trying to think of ways to use my chalkboard spray paint again, and when I spotted this terra cotta pot for $6 at Garden Ridge, I instantly envisioned a chalkboard welcome sign on the front. I used painter's tape to tape off a large rectangle and covered the rest of the exposed pot with newspaper. Then I sprayed two coats of the chalkboard paint, letting it dry in between. Some of the paint seeped down on the bottom, but a little sand paper (my husband's genius idea!) got it right off and you can't even tell. Then I took a piece of chalk and rubbed it all over the painted square, wiped it off and scripted my message.

I also added a planter hook in the backyard, and suspended two pots of white begonias. I planted the red flowers before our housewarming party, and added a row of red geraniums to the very back. (They were $1 each at Houston Garden Center.) The dogs look pretty happy with the additions, don't ya think? :)

This weekend, we did quite a bit of grilling, including some delicious shrimp fajitas for mother's day today. I'll have a weekend recap coming up soon, along with an event for Manolo Blahnik and some new additions to my Etsy shop, Texas Take.

Hope you had a great weekend!