Journal to Healthier Living – Week 10

Welcome my friends.  I’m tweaking my weekly journey with my healthier living.  It’s a step in the right direction for sure.  I hope you come along for the ride.  Instead of day-to-day comments, I’m going to post something from my personal journal to share.  Hope you enjoy.  Remember all of us go down this path and we are all in it together ❤

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Week of 03/11-03/17/2018 – Week 10

“Dear Journal – Do you ever feel like time is slipping away.  You look in the mirror one day and you love your curly hair and your long legs.  You look again and your hair is thinning and those once long giraffe legs now resemble a short buffalo?  LOL – okay nothing that drastic but you get the meaning.  Life is short.  We talked about celebrities aging today… and then realized that we were also aging.  We still act like kids young at heart while our bodies get older every day.  What once we thought would never happen to us when our grandparents couldn’t get up as fast or walk as far has now hit us… no full force yet but knocking on the door for short visits.  We say it all of the time – life is short.  So what do we do?  Live it up every.single.day as if it is the last.  Because you never know – tomorrow is not a given 🙂 ” 

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This week walked: 5.17

TOTAL 2018 Miles:  80.31

TOTAL 2017 Miles:  541.06

 ❤ small goals turn into big accomplishments ❤

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This week the hub unit was craving homemade fried shrimp and his beloved tater tots.  I use to limit these meals because of the deep frying and I still do.  But, I wanted to see what the air fryer could do for my hub’s favorite meal.  I bought fresh shrimp, deveined them and slightly pounded them giving them a ‘flat’ appearance.  I then battered the shrimp with a light coating of egg mixture and seasoned flour.  I placed them in the air fryer for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Have way, I turned them and added the tater tots.  They came out beautifully!  Lightly tanned on the outside, crunchy and so juicy on the inside.

 

Shopping Around the World

Shopping Around the World this month is being hosted by our great friends Shoko and Kali with Canadian Cats – thanks ya’ll! ❤

  This month we are highlighting seafood recipes.  Now mom/dad usually go out to eat seafood but there is the rare occasion when mom uses the big box in the kitchen for something more than a paper weight and actually cooks dinner.  Now having this assignment of seafood, mom thought she would fix one of dad’s all time favorite meals in the world.  She fixed it and then dad sat and wondered did he miss an important date?  Was he in trouble for something?  Did mom overspend on a credit card?  What was the special occasion.  That’s when mom told dad that she loved him ❤  So, here it is my friends – mom’s seafood special.

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 Are you hungry yet looking at that picture?  I had to fix the hub unit’s favorite meal – ribeye steaks, french fries and fried shrimp.  Of course you don’t see the salad on the side.  I have to get the hub’s veggies in somewhere with this meal.  I’ll tell you the prices for everything and break down the shrimp for you.

◊ Ribeye Steak – I had some in the freezer.  I usually buy the entire loin and have the butcher cut them for me.  The last time I bought steaks, it cost me around $50 and I got 16 steaks. I then take them home and wrap everything up individually to freeze.  By buying the entire loin like this when it is on sale, the price per steak comes out around $3.15 per steak.  Two steaks $6.30

◊ Two large baking potatoes.  Buying a pack of potatoes at Sam’s Warehouse it costs $8.00 for about 20 potatoes.  That’s around $0.40 each potato.  Two potatoes $0.80

◊ One pound of fresh shrimp (or frozen but make sure they are thawed out).  I got large 31-35 count shrimp this date from the market.  They cost right $8.00 a pound.  And trust me, I fixed them all for dinner and none were left.  My hub will snarf these down like potato chips ❤

So the entire meal will cost less than $17.00 for two people.  And yes we could stretch the meal; but, this was the hubby’s special meal and he likes to pig out on it – and you will too.

How to fix the shrimp:

I like to put all of my shrimp in a colander and run them under cold water for a few minutes.  This makes sure that they are all thawed out.  Shake the colander and make sure all of the excess water is out and pour them in a bowl.  Here’s the fun part – making sure they are all clean and deveined.  Take this kitchen hint, you can buy them cleaned and already deveined.  You may have to pay a little more.  I have been cleaning shrimp all of my life.  It’s something that my dad taught me so it takes no time to fix them right up.  Once they are all cleaned, wash them again to make sure all of the ick is removed.  Once you start cleaning the shrimp, you will know exactly what that ick is that I’m talking about – LOL.  I like to take a mallet and pound my shrimp out a bit.  Don’t whack them too hard.  Just enough to smoosh them a little so they will lay flat.  (Look at mine above for size for flattening).

In a bowl mix together a cup of flour, a cup of cornmeal, salt, pepper and a little cayenne flakes.  In another bowl mix together, milk, 3 eggs, salt, pepper and cayenne.  (We like them a little spicy – you put as much or not at all according to your tastes).  Go ahead and put your grease on the stuff and let it get hot.  Here’s the secret to a really good crust on shrimp or chicken.  You want to dip your shrimp in the flour/cornmeal first, then to your wet mixture and then back to your dry.  After that, the little shrimp go for a swim in the hot oil.  When they turn a pretty brown, they are done.  If it’s like our house, most of the shrimp won’t make it to the dinner table because every one is hanging out in the kitchen eating them as they come up hot from the grease.  They are highly addictive.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you 🙂

 

Bashful Out and About

   Oh friends – here’s another adventure that my little tyke Bashful had while he was home here at the Hotel Thompson in the past couple of weeks. We had quite a few people call and ask to go out with Bashful while he was home – we had a schedule of events – this is one of them.

Some friends wanted to meet at our local Red Lobster restaurant for a meet and greet.  When we finally got seated, our table section had a blue light over it and mom *had* to take a picture.

Daddy said that it should be fine as long as it wasn’t in a ‘red light’ district.  Shaking piggy head.  I didn’t get that joke but apparently mom did and she snorted.  I wonder where she gets that from?

So everyone huddled around our table looking at and discussing the menu options.  Of course, Bashful was right there in the middle of it all putting in his two cents of what he wanted to eat – you might as well just ordered one of everything – snorts.

 Bashful was really excited about going to Red Lobster.  He told me that he has fallen in love with seafood of any kind… a long with all kinds of other food.  What can I say?  The little bloke likes to eat.  I wonder where he gets that from?  Shakes head wondering.

Well, don’t you know the first thing Bashful did was jump on one of Red Lobster’s famous cheesy garlic biscuits.  They were hot and straight from the oven.  Mom told him to blow on it first because she didn’t want him burning his tongue.  Bashful told mom that some of his ancestors can withstand heat so he was fine jumping right in the biscuit and eating his way out.

  Then daddy had ordered some Clam Chowder.  And guess who had to take a chunky dunk into it to eat his way out?  Yep, shaking head.  You guessed it – Bashful.  I tell you for a small tyke, that rock can eat!  He said it was delicious.  Dad said he thought it was good but the only thing he got to taste was one single potato.  Thanks Bashful for sharing – snorts with piggy laughter.

Then, it was time to order the main entrees.  Now during this time at Red Lobster, they had their shrimp special taking place – it was all you can eat Shrimp.  One of mom/dad’s favorite times of the year for this particular restaurant.  Mommy couldn’t wait to taste her food.  She ordered succulent Shrimp Scampi – look at the size of those shrimp, fried shrimp and french fries well done.

Doesn’t that plate look awesome?  I have to admit it.  I licked mom’s iPhone when I saw the picture.  And I also have to admit that Bashful, of course, jumped right on mom’s plate and started gobbling like he had never eaten before.  I tell you my friends.  If I ate like that little guy, this little oinker would be 400 pounds!  But thank goodness it was all you can eat so mom could get some more since Bashful ate it all.  And hey you know what?  They brought me home a piggy bag – happy dance – shake your butt – happy dance.  Hope you enjoyed this little adventure with my guy.