Thursday "Stuff"...

So, I tried a new recipe last night...not only was it a new recipe, it was my first time ever cooking Shrimp!  I'm having a lot of "first-time's" in the kitchen lately, lol.  I apologize for the lack of photographic evidence of how great they looked just coming off the grill, all piled on the platter still on their wooden skewers...but, with 2 hungry guys to contend with, I had to get eating in a hurry!

I started with the recipe for Fiery Skewered Shrimp over at Epicurious, but added a few things and changed the recipe to suit me.  So, I will include "my" version here, but the link above is to the original recipe.  I really like that website!  I know, I'm late to the party...but, better late than never, right?

My version of Fiery Skewered Shrimp:
(This served 2 adults and a kid who only ate 6 shrimps...)
Next time I will do the whole 2 pound bag of Shrimp!  Both adults could have eaten more if it had been there...

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil (I was Extra Virgin), plus a glug or 2...TBExplained
3 Large Galirc Cloves, pressed (I ran mine over a fine cheese grater, my Garlic Press has grown legs)
1 Tablespoon minced Gingerroot (First time working with this...I don't own a microplane, so again with the small grater...I grated an entire piece about the size of my thumb)
1 1/2 teaspoon Dried Crushed Red Pepper (I eyeballed this, shook some into the palm of my hand until it looked "close enough")
40 uncooked Shrimp, peeled, deveined (I used most of a 2 pound bag of "little" shrimps I bought at Costco...they're the 31-40 count size)
1/2 cup chopped Herb of choice (I used Pineapple Sage from my garden!)
A squirt of Lime (or Lemon) Juice (I used Lime because that's what was in front of my fridge)

12" Wooden skewers (plan on 1 skewer per 5 shrimp you have to cook)

Start by chopping Herb of Choice into a large bowl (I use my kitchen shears).  Add to that, the 3 Tbls Olive Oil.  Add Garlic, Ginger root, and Red Pepper Flakes to the bowl.  Combine, if it appears too "thick" to coat shrimp add a splash or two more of Olive Oil (I added maybe another 1-2 Tablespoons).  If you have a "squirty" Lime or Lemon juice, just give it a god squirt...this step really depends on how much you like citrus, if you have a large container (like my lemon juice) you'll have to guess at it until I break out the measuring spoons!  Mix everything together and add Shrimp.  Lightly toss shrimp (by hand) and let sit to marinate for 30 or so minutes.  After getting the Shrimp soaking, get your skewers soaking!  The wooden skewers need to soak for 30 minutes as well.

Depending on your grill, start preheating it so that it is HOT when your 30 minute wait is up!  I went out about 10 minutes before and got the grill heating.  It was up around 500 degrees when we took the meat outside.  Remember to skewer your shrimp, 5 to a skewer, or whatever fits, remember to leave space so the shrimps cook evenly!  Add skewers to the grill and DO NOT LEAVE!  Seafood cooks very quickly, and these only need a minute or three to cook!  Get them all on the grill and shut the lid.  Talk to a buddy while you stand there...or argue with a Significant Other about lifting the lid like I did.  As soon as you see the grill side turn orange & white, start turning!  Put the lid back down for a minute...continue argument over "letting the heat out of the grill" for another minute or so.  Once they are all white with pretty orange on them (rather than that nasty grey they are when raw) and just a little charred up, pull them off the grill and onto a pretty platter!  Dinner is now served!

This would go awesome with a salad, but I live in a household where Veggies are avoided at nearly every twist and turn.  This is a super fast, super tasty meal though!  From starting to cook to putting away the dishes and taking the tails out to the chickens (they got a treat), it took an hour and a half!  I really want some of those "kabob baskets" they sell in the grilling section of Fred Meyer...then, I could just load up the baskets and grill!

I did start a "Pillow Puppy Pal" yesterday to...I think this might be the one that ends up living at my house, but we shall see!  The main color for this one is "Frosty Green"  by Red Heart (I buy the Super Saver kind).  I'll either use one of the variegated colors I already have that match it or I will go back and get a dark brown with flecks of color in it for the nose, ears, and part of the tail and paws.  I really like the brown, but since I was buying 6 other skeins of yard yesterday, I didn't get it.  I did get two shades of Blue (one of my nephew's favorite color), another skein of Frosty Green, a skein of Black for Eyes (though I'm not sure how to put those on just yet...), and since the oldest Nephew is here, he got to pick out the colors for his puppy!  He picked Bright Yellow and "Banana Berry" for his!  They are both really bright...  The Banana Berry is a variegated with Green, Blue, and Yellow, all very bright colors!

I decided to continue crocheting only in the back loop because I like the spiral effect, but it isn't called for in the pattern.  I forgot to get the stuffing last night (half the reason we went to the store), but the head portion is complete and waiting to be stuffed (and have eyes sewn in...), also, I am nearly half way done with the body section!  This is going much faster than I expected it to!  I did go in search of stitch markers last night as well...turns out my Wal Mart sucks...lol, no surprise there!  The only way to get a little box of stitch markers was to buy the $10 knitting accessory kit!  I have been thinking about learning to knit for a while now (since my other half insists that I do in fact knit all the time), so since I was "having" to buy the accessories, I also bought the $10 "I taught myself to knit" kit.  That one came with 2 sets of knitting needles, a clippy looking thing, a small bent "thing" and some other unidentifiable odds and ends of the knitting world.  I'm sure I will learn what they are in the future, lol.  I do now know how to "cast on" stitches using the "thumb technique" and the "two needle technique"...I prefer the the first way though.  I'm working on "lesson 2" now...stitching!  I'm at a loss there though.  So, I went back to crocheting my puppy.  Those little rubber rings are wonderful!  I will take more picture today to show them off, I was using a small ball chain to mark my first stitch of a new row, but had to move it with each row, I have a whole case of these markers, so I can just keep adding them for each row!  If I had done this from round 1, I would even know what round I'm on without keeping notes!

Baby really loves it when I crochet, even though he rarely even tries to touch the yarn, he loves watching it go by, lol.  He laid on top of my pattern for hours yesterday!  Yesterday was an "interesting" sort of day...the nephew played Pants Vs. Zombies all day long and (with help) beat the game!  This also means I didn't have access to my own computer all day long though.  Hence the marathon crocheting, lol.  My other half also decided to shave off his goatee and mustache.  He looks "weird" without them, but I can get used to it if I have to...I'd rather not though, lol.  It's been 5 or 6 years since the last time he did this.  At least this time his plan is to grow out a "new start" to his "normal" look!  He goes back to work in 5 days, so he should look semi-normal by then!  As for the shirt...that's from Think Geek!  He ordered 2 shirts recently from the "overstock", all you get to pick is the size for those...he got this red shirt with the Mars Rover saying "help" and a grey one that looks to be a promo shirt for something, I wasn't impressed, so I forget what it was promoting, lol.

In the world of low-carbing it...I was all prepared for another weight gain this week.  We "cheated" and had ice cream at Baskin-Robbins on Sunday (I had no sugar Thin Mint, which was mint ice cream with little chunks of chocolate in it) and we have been "hitting the Mockalua" almost every evening this week.  It's nice to have a small drink after dinner and everything that needs doing is done, and once this bottle is gone, we probably won't make more for several months anyway.  I also swiped a gummy bear from our nephew's "movie goodies" stash, it wasn't very satisfying though...  Anywho, after a week of being a "bad" low-carber, I was prepared for disappointment this morning.  To my surprise, I was down 2.4 pounds!  Of course, last week I had gained 3 pounds, so they almost cancel each other out, but I was ready for a gain.  It's "that time" of the month where I generally add a few pounds no matter what I do, so yep....pleasantly surprised!