Smoked Paprika Shrimp

This recipe is from Sheryl and just about the most delicious shrimp appetizer ever. I had never heard of Pimenton before this; Sheryl was nice and bought me a tin of it (you can get on Amazon) but if you don't want to order it and can't find in the store I would substitute any other smoked paprika for the Pimenton.

I made large shrimp for dinner using this recipe and baked them on a sheet pan in the oven instead of skewering and bbq-ing, and they are excellent that way too! (Click here to see how to clean shrimp if you don't already know). She served it with a Green Goddess dressing/dip I'll share with you tomorrow. Oh my gosh these are fantastic. 

Here's what she gave me:

Jill - I don't have a recipe for this but I'll guesstimate the amounts that I used. I was only told the ingredients!

Marinate 1 pound shelled and deveined shrimp overnight in:

1/2 c olive oil

lemon zest from 1/2 medium lemon

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 rounded teaspoons Pimenton (Spanish paprika)-I used sweet, but I bet hot Pimenton would be great, too!

Skewer. BBQ about 3-4 minutes per side at a high temp. 

-Sheryl

Kitchen Tip: Cleaning Shrimp

I love when I can buy nice big shrimp already split, peeled, and deveined - it isn't hard to do, but is time consuming. I wasn't sure how to do this when I first started cooking shrimp so am sharing this little tip to help if you need it. I should have done a video because I couldn't take pictures while actually doing a couple of the steps but I'll talk you thru the process. It's just cleaning shrimp, not rocket science ;)

Two different ways you can do this: 1) if you want to leave the shells on but still devein (say for peel and eat shrimp) cut a shallow slit down the backside of the shrimp thru the shell and a little way into the shrimp. This used to confuse me - which side is the back side? I guess common sense should have told me it's the curved part on the other side from the legs - in this picture my thumb is on the side that you need to devein.

Here I've made the slit along the backside using a paring knife. Next remove the long dark vein that is usually there, you'll find it just under the edge of the shrimp meat, running from head to tail. It's a thin almost string looking thing that isn't actually a vein (so why's it called "deveining"? don't know), it's the digestive tract and maybe it's fine to eat but that's kinda gross so I (and pretty much everyone) remove it.

This is what it looks like after the vein is removed - I rinse it away under
cold water but you can also pick it out with the tip of your knife

The other way to devein is if you are removing the shell before cooking, either leaving the tail on for presentation or removing the whole shell.  If removing the entire shell you can just peel the shell off and then make the shallow slit to devein; or if you want to keep the tails on I still make the slit thru the shell like in the above example which I find helps get the shells off easily while keeping the tails attached. 

To peel leaving the tail on, I firmly hold the shell where I want to keep the tail (so it doesn't get pulled off) and then pull down from one side of the shell where it's cut, up around to the other side in one solid piece. Hopefully you can see in this picture what I mean...make sense? If there is too much shell still remaining (like in the picture below) just hold the tail piece a little further down and peel off the shell until it's where you want - I'd say I usually leave about 1/2" attached. 

smoked paprika shrimp with tails on. check tomorrow for the recipe!

Watch Battery Tip

I got this tip from a watch repairman that replaced some batteries for me - if you pull the stem out when you aren't wearing it, the watch stops ticking and will conserve the battery. Makes sense, don't know why I didn't think of that myself! I wouldn't do this if your watch is hard to set - but my watches are mostly just time and maybe date so not hard to reset every time I want to wear it.

Here's a picture of the stem in and out - not that you can't figure out what I'm talking about hahaha:

'Adorable' Cards

2 more cards I made from Ronda's Hedgehug card class kit (click here for 'sending hudgehugs' and here for 'hi there' and how to use an aqua painter)...I didn't follow her instructions exactly - naturally - but I think they turned out pretty cute.

For the squirrel card:  stamp the tree trunk and squirrel, then hand cut them out (Ronda calls it "fussy cut"). Using an aqua painter color the squirrel in a bit. Stamp sentiment on a piece of coordinating paper the same width as the card base, stick it to the card base, attach the tree trunk and squirrel using adhesive foam squares to give it dimension. Thread of piece of twine thru a small wood button and attach with a glue dot.

For the last of the hedgehog cards: I made the background of the card patterned by stamping a flower image randomly all over a piece of blue cardstock. Stamp a hedgehog onto a small square of white paper and color it in a bit with the aqua painter, and stamp the sentiment on a coordinating strip of paper. Glue a rectangle of woodgrain paper in the center, then stick the sentiment strip down on top in the middle, add the hedgehog using foam adhesive squares to raise it up a little. Tie a ribbon around the blue cardstock and then glue it to a white card base. I attached the glitter heart to the white square using a dimensional square so it would fit over the ribbon.

Polenta Parmesan with Spinach and White Beans

I love white beans baked with spaghetti sauce (click here for that recipe), this recipe combines those flavors with polenta and spinach to make a delicious dish that could be either a side dish or a stand alone meat-free dinner option.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tube polenta
• 1 (15 oz.) can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 large handfuls baby spinach leaves
• 2 1/2 cups tomato sauce, divided
• 1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400'. Slice polenta in about 1" thick slices, you want to get about 7 slices. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil and polenta slices. Cook polenta until crisp, about 5 minutes on each side.
2. In a medium sized oven safe pan mix together white beans, 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce and spinach. Top with polenta slices and then top each one with a spoonful of tomato sauce and some shredded cheese. 
3. Bake until heated through and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. 

click here for the original recipe

21st Birthday "Cake"...by Jenny

Nothing says “great parent” like this 21st birthday gift. We made this for my Stepsons birthday to celebrate his FIRST (cough cough) drink.  We started with a cardboard cake stand (in the cake decorating aisle), added 21 bud lights, candles and some dollar store shizzle. We got out the hot glue gun and bbq skewers, stuck everything on and made the tower. Easy and adorable. (Which this non crafty sister is all about).  We decided to forgo little airplane shot bottles of vodka for fear the grandmother would disapprove but that could definitely be added sticking out as well as lottery tickets. TA-DA! The best Birthday Cake a 21 year old boy could hope for.

40 Minute Workout...by Mickey

The last post in my takeover of Make my Day Camp is a workout you can do at home or the gym with no equipment! This 40 minute workout will kick your butt, in a good way! 

Start by jogging, or fast walking for 10 minutes. If you can't go outside or have access to a treadmill, substitute jumping (like you are skipping rope), high knees, marching in place, jumping jacks... really any exercise to get your heart rate up! 

Round 1 (Repeat as many times as you can in 5 minutes): 

12 walking lunges on each leg (24 total)

15 pop squats (jump in the air, land in the squat position) 

15 body weight squats 

25 high knees

30 second rest

Round 2  (Repeat as many times as you can in 5 minutes): 

12 push ups

25 toe touches (lay on your back with feet up in the air and touch your toes. Make sure you lift your shoulder blades off the ground)

12 tricep dips (use something sturdy like a couch or chair, see below for a picture)

24 bicycle abs (see picture below)

1 minute rest

Repeat round 1

30 second rest

Repeat round 2

1 minute rest

**Finisher** (As many rounds as you can do in 7 minutes)

60 high knees

20 sit-ups

60 mountain climbers

tricep dips: 

bicycle abs:

Summer is coming, and this will make sure you beach bod is ready! 

It has been so much fun blogging for Make My Day Camp the last few days, Have an awesome rest of your week! :) 

Protein Pancakes...by Mickey

Kyle has been working the early shift at work, which means he gets up at the butt crack of dawn. When he’s in a rush, (because he always gets up too late) he skips breakfast! After some googling, I came across this recipe for some pancakes that are high in protein, easily freezable and reheated and easy! We modified it a little but, but the end result was a delicious, on the go pancake! 

1 cup of Siggi’s yogurt (we did vanilla for the chocolate chip pancake, and blueberry for the blueberry one) 
1/2 oats
1 egg
1 banana
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 vanilla 

I added more oats than necessary because the batter was super runny, and some flaxseed! 

Cook over medium heat, like a normal pancake, and viola! Delicious!

Garbanzo Bean Cookie Dough...by Mickey

For those who know me, know I LOVE sweets. Like it’s a terrible obsession. One of my friends brought this to a party and I knew I had to make it for myself. Cookie dough... made from garbanzo beans. Oh my lanta. Total game changer. She made hers in a food processor, which would have been so much easier, but because I don’t have one, I used my Vitamix. 

The recipe is as follows:

One can garbanzo beans, rinsed

1/8th tsp salt

1/8th tsp baking soda

1/4 cup milk of your choice (I used skim)

1/4 cup nut butter of choice, I used almond butter but you could use peanut butter too

2tsp vanilla

Sweetener of choice if you want it (I added 1/4 cup brown sugar)

Chocolate chips

I added a little more almond butter, baking soda, and vanilla to give it more of a dough taste and I used brown sugar to sweeten it. 

Dip with graham crackers, pretzels or just eat it with a spoon!! 

Oh my gosh. It’s amazing! 

Smoked Meat/Part 2...by Mickey

If you read yesterday’s post, you read how to cook a good Boston butt on a smoker. A secret trick to having delicious tasting meat, comes from the wood portion of the smoking process. Two years ago, when we traveled to NC for job interviews, we stayed at this adorable bed and breakfast in Edenton North Carolina. We couldn’t help but notice the walls were covered with trophies and plaques. Turns out the owner of the bed and breakfast had won several contests and awards for his smoked meat. According to him, people come from all over to take his meat smoking classes in the summer. Since we were here in the off season, we didn’t get to take a class, but that didn’t stop Kyle from picking this mans brain about his tips and tricks. The key to smoking great meat is to soak the wood chips prior to putting them in the smoke box. Once they’re soaked, wrap them in foil with holes poked in it. This prevents steam from getting on your meat, but still allows that great flavor from the wood to come through. 

This all seems like way too much work to me, but I definitely don’t complain when I get to eat the delicious meat!