More Penzeys Spices

I recently ordered some more seasonings and spices from Penzeys Spices. I'm pretty excited to bake with the vanilla extract. It smells absolutely amazing!! The best thing about this order: the jar of Ruth Ann's Chicken and Fish Seasoning and the jar of Mitchell Street Steak Seasoning were FREE! 

Every catalog comes with a coupon and it's always a surprise on what their free item will be. I look forward to it arriving in the mail! Their catalog is also unique in the fact that it features recipes from readers and customers all across the US. I highly recommend that you check out their website www.penzeys.com and sign up to get a catalog! You won't regret it! After all, who can say no to free spices and seasonings?!

Here's a little update on my windowsill herb garden. My herbs are growing pretty well!

Can you tell which one I use the most of?!

 

Progress from their teeny tiny beginnings. :)

My Backyard Garden

It's been quite awhile since I've written a post and I apologize. I've been real busy doing lots of random things. May was quite a month...busy every weekend and so far June has been the same. Sometimes time just runs away from us! Don't you worry though, I have a few really yummy recipes lined up and almost ready to go up. 

One thing I've been busy with: gardening. I've got my little plot all planted! My neighbor is a sweetheart and not only allowed me to plant in his garden space, but also takes care of my vegetables when I'm gone on weekend trips.

There are flowers on all of the pepper plants, and the tomatoes are already showing fruit! I'm pretty excited! It's a small little space, but I filled it to the max with lots of yummy vegetables!

I have lettuce, tomatoes, peas, broccoli, carrots, red onions, and green, yellow, and red bell peppers planted.

It's going to be a good summer! :) 

Mushroom Scrambled Eggs

I'm a mushroom lover. No doubt about it. I could probably eat portabella mushrooms everyday of my life and be okay with it. :) This is a recipe that's easy to make and only has a few ingredients. It's good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

What You'll Need:

Olive Oil Spray

1/2 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1/4 green pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Spray the skillet with olive oil spray. Add the mushrooms and green peppers. Cook and stir the vegetables for 5-7 minutes, or until they are tender.

Add salt and pepper and rosemary.

Add eggs. Cook without stirring until the eggs are set around the edges.

Sprinkle with cheese. Stir and continue cooking over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the eggs are cooked completely, but are still a little moist. Enjoy!

Garlic Grilled Shrimp

I've recently discovered how much I love my George Foreman grill. Thanks, Lisa! :) If you're looking for a quick and easy weeknight dinner, it's very simple to grill up some shrimp and make a healthy salad! 

You could also make some grilled veggies!

Ingredients:

1 cup small shrimp (thawed if frozen) 

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon marjoram

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon shallot, minced (optional)

Combine olive oil, herbs, spices, and garlic together in a bowl. Add thawed, cooked shrimp. Let sit to marinate for about 20 minutes. Plug in your Georgie, give it a good coat of olive oil cooking spray and you're all set to go! If you are using pre-cooked shrimp, all you need to do is heat them long enough so they're warm. If you're using uncooked shrimp, cook them for about 3 minutes on each side (or until they're pink in color).

The cool thing about this recipe is that the juices that are created when the shrimp are "cooking" make a great vinaigrette dressing for a salad!

Grilled shrimp + spring salad mix + tomatoes + avocado = big smiles.

Spicy Baked Tofu Tacos

This recipe for spicy baked tofu tacos caught my eye on Pinterest (a borderline obsession of mine). I had half of a package of tofu and needed to find a yummy recipe to make. I found one! It comes from a blog called Peas and Thank You. So cute! Here's my take on her recipe.

What You'll Need:

For Marinated Tofu:

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

Juice of 1/2 a Lime

1 Teaspoon Granulated Sugar

1 Tablespoon of Water

1 Clove of Garlic, Minced

1/2 Teaspoon Chili Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Cumin

1/2 of a 14 ounce package of Extra Firm Tofu 

(drained and pressed if packaged in water, and cut into thin slabs)

For Tacos:

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Shredded Green Cabbage

Guacamole

Salsa

Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade in a container that has a lid. Slice the tofu into thin slabs (about 1/4 inch thick) and add to the marinade container. Gently shake the container until the tofu is covered with marinade. Tip: Don't go nuts...tofu is delicate! :) Refrigerate for about 2 hours.

You can also let this sit overnight to really soak up flavor!

To bake the tofu: Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil and spread out the tofu slabs so they are about an inch apart. Drizzle the remaining marinade over the top of the slices.

Bake the tofu for about 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, flip the slices, and bake again for about 10-15 minutes, or until the slices get crispy on the edges.

To make tacos: Spread guacamole on your tortilla, and add tofu slices. Top with chopped green cabbage, and salsa. I used fruit salsa... yummy! Makes about 4 tacos.

Enjoy! :)

Windowsill Herb Garden Update

It's been a month since I first posted about my windowsill herb garden. I was so excited to see some green coming up and now I have actual herbs! They're still pretty tiny, but it's nice to see some progress! 

My Saturday morning project: replanting the herbs into their new homes.

Nichole and I found these cute little herb garden planters when we bought our windowsill greenhouses. Fun fact: they're biodegradable! They're made by Rush Creek Designs. Visit their website here! 

They have a lot of biodegradable products that last years in your home, but once they're thrown out they will biodegrade in 2-3 years. They're made of bamboo fiber, rice husks, wheat straw, and corn stalks. How neat!! 

I took the netting off of the herbs and planted them into the planters. It was easier to work with them when the netting was off and I was able to move them around easier so they fit into the containers.

It got a little messy, but I'm happy with the results! 

Spicy!

My amazing, fun-loving, thoughtful, warm hearted Uncle Kirby and Aunt Stephanie gave me the BEST housewarming/staring out on your own gift that any girl who loves cooking and spices as much as I do could ask for! :) A whole bunch of my favorite spices! Penzey's spices at that. Penzey's = love. In fact, their slogan is "Love people. Cook them tasty food." Find their website here! Request a catalog. You won't regret it.

In order to get the biggest bang for their buck, they ordered the spices in bags. I tried to find a bunch of cool, random jars while thrift shopping, but I didn't have much luck. Finally, I ended up getting jars from Penzey's. And so began my weekend craft project. 

Each jar comes with a label that you can write on, but I wanted to save the label that came on the bag. They give information about the spice and also include recipes and tips on how to use the them. In order to keep it uniform with the other spices that I already had in jars, I decided to get creative and find a way to put the label from the bag onto the jars. This was done using double sided tape, contact paper, and a lot of patience.

I now have a beautiful collection of spices, and each has their very own special container. It's much more convenient and they look so good! I'm going to have a fantastic time adding to this collection. :) Each Penzey's catalog brings more temptation. Soon I'll have to find a bigger shelf! 

Thank you so much Uncle Kirby and Aunt Steph. I think of you every single time I cook. Love you.