shrimp and avocado salad

This recipe is from Tasty Kitchen.... my new favorite place to go for recipes. It was so, so good! I made this for lunch one day when I had a few friends and their kiddos over to play. It was almost as good as the company:)

15 Minute Shrimp and Avocado Salad

•1 pound Cooked Medium Shrimp (frozen And Thawed)
•1 whole Medium Tomato, Seeded And Chopped
•3 whole Scallions, Thinly Sliced
•1 clove Garlic, Pressed
•2 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
•1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
•1 whole Large Firm Avocado, Cubed
•1 Tablespoon Chopped Cilantro
•1 Tablespoon Fresh Mint
•2 Tablespoons Chopped Pumpkin Seeds
•1 head Romaine Lettuce, Outer Leaves Removed
•Extra Virgin Olive Oil To Taste
•Salt And Pepper (to Taste)

Make sure shrimp is completely thawed if you buy it already cooked. If you buy it raw and cook it at home, make sure it is completely cooled and pat dry with towels. Assemble all ingredients with shrimp in a large bowl (except for lettuce) and mix gently. For optimum flavor, marinate in refrigerator for at least an hour. Serve on a bed of romaine lettuce.

I made pretty much as is substituting pine nuts for the pumpkin seeds (because I had them) and added feta cheese because I like it:)

overdone.

maybe? alright- a little!

Here's the recipe for this one.

OD Chicken

1 chicken breast per person

Season chicken to your liking. Place on grill.
Leave on too long.

(this one is for you, Anita!)


Mmmm.... extra crispy.




I don't know what happened...really I don't! The boys did eat this though...bbq sauce covers anything:) I was actually glad that I cannot each chicken for once.

Here is another classic case of "overdone."







Of course, he didn't do it all by himself:)




Unlike the chicken, this one was overdone only on one side!


But...like the chicken BOTH were perfect in the middle:)

the first of many

Xavier had his first day of pre-school today! AND he wants to go back!! I call that a success. We had an ice cream social on Sunday afternoon at school and then dropped of school supplies and met his teachers on Monday evening. Mrs. Pridemore had an assignment for them already on Monday. He had to find his seat that had his name on it and at his seat there was a folder with info for me and a cutout of a paper person that Xavier was to take home and color in to look like himself and bring it back on the first day of school. Yesterday after lunch Xavier was hard at work making a crayon likeness of himself. He did everything himself with exception of the lines on the legs to denote shorts. After he had finished, he was showing me everything he had done. "Look" he said, "I made my eyes and eyebrows, colored my ears, made my shoes into boots and here is my hoo-doo". WHAT!?! You put a hoo-doo on yourself???? I was starting to panic.....should we just start over I thought? Where on earth am I going to get another cutout? Could I make one??? "Yes" he said proudly..."it is right here" as he pointed to a vibrant orange dot on his crotch. "That is really good" I said "but we are only drawing our clothes so let me scrape that off and you can color over it". What on earth have I been teaching him I thought???? I asked him why he put a hoo-doo on it and he said that he just wanted to make it better. I said better as in more real? YES! he said more real. Whew! He drew it out of wanting attention to detail not to be funny or spiteful. That was close! I also reminded him that we don't talk about or draw hoo-doos outside of the house:) This could be a very lonnnng year of learning the "do's and don't's in a social setting...lucky me!





This is the offending picture after the hoo-doo has been heavily colored over!


Here are some "first day of pre-school" pics taken this morning....and subsequently caused us to be a couple of minutes late! Oh well, it was worth it!










If you are wondering what is up with those shorts, it was "gym day" at school so he had to wear gym shorts to school today:)