Family Fun

Hi everyone! I had such a fun day yesterday that I wanted to share it all with you guys! My Aunt Jody who lives in NY is here visiting my parents and yesterday I picked up her & my Mom and brought them over to my house. It’s the first time my Aunt has seen the NEW digs and I was excited to have her come over.

 

After the tour we headed out for some shopping & eating FUN! We are really lucky how close we live to such great places around us! We jumped in the car and within 10 minutes we were up in Napa enjoying the beautiful sunshine as we shopped. I decided to take them to Napa General Store for lunch because Danica took me there and I couldn’t wait to go back!

Great menu filled with lots of different things TONS of daily specials too…but we ALL decided on the Chinese Chicken Salad!

 

YUM! It was the perfect lunch! Not too heavy and left room for what was for dinner!!

It was such a great day! Nice riverside dining!

 

My Aunt pointing out the grapes on the vines  

 

Back to my house for a little relaxing after walking around & shopping. Porch time fun was in order!

We all got a little hungry so back inside for some tasty EATS!

 

Ceviche with corn tortilla chips was the appetizer! WOW! This was delicious! 

Do you remember me telling you about the fabulous recipe that was brought to the Fitbloggin local meet up by Sue? Well this was inspired by that dish with a little tip from Danica on how to make it a little different. If you CLICK HERE to view the original recipe you will see they use ketchup for the sauce…well I used…

Trader Joe’s Red Pepper Spread! That’s right (& why it looked so BRIGHT orange!)   I decided to add it to the blender with the lemon juice the original recipe called for, with a dash of hot sauce and make a great swap for ketchup! Thanks Danica!

 

Red Pepper Sauce Ceviche 

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 6 cups water
• 3/4 cup fresh lime juice, divided
• 1 pound medium shrimp
• 1 cup chopped peeled cucumber
• 1/2 cup Red Pepper Spread-Trader Joe’s
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I used parsley since I do not like cilantro)
• 2-3 dashes hot sauce (or as much as you want to use!)

Bring 6 cups water and 1/4 cup juice to a boil. Add shrimp; cook 3 minutes or until done. Drain and rinse with cold water; peel shrimp removing tails . I roughly chopped the shrimp I used because they were large and I wanted them to fit nicely on chips. Place the shrimp in the fridge to chill while you finish the recipe.

To make the sauce: Add remaining lemon juice and 1/2 a cup of the Red Pepper Sauce to a blender to smooth it out a bit. Add in the hot sauce too!

Chop the onion & cucumber and place in a large bowl. Add in the chilled shrimp and blended sauce to the bowl; cover and chill until you are ready to serve. Tastes great with tortilla chips ! Be prepared to make this again real soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this might be my favorite pizza in the world….wait scratch that. I am a NY girl so I need to take that comment back! lol BUT, this flavor combo is delicious! Again Danica gave me this idea and we used these in our Pizza Puffs that we made last week. You must try a pizza with Sweet Cherry peppers ASAP! WOW! The turkey pepperoni was a nice addition too….then Danica mentioned pineapple added to this and now I think I need to make it again soon, very soon!

Have you had grilled pizza before? WOW I think it makes it taste so much better!  I think I might ONLY make it out on the gill from now on! Seriously!! ya gotta try it! Everyone was loving it! So glad!

 

All fun days must come to an end boo hoo! It was such a fun time and before my Aunt leaves I am going to go visit my parents and say my goodbyes I wish she lived closer!

 

Today was filled with laundry and trying out this NEW (to me) Windows Live Writer that Dainca spoke so highly about at her presentation at the fitbloggin local. This is my 2nd attempt at blogging using it. My thoughts….well considering I am a MAC girl and I have to use a PC to use this program I can not say I am a happy camper about that. lol For one reason this STUPID keyboard we have at the computer reminds me of an old fashioned typewriter and my fingers are actually cramping up typing on it.

 

Don’t the keys look too far apart on this thing? lol

I am also having picture issues. I tried to use the Picasa plug in but for some reason (mainly my not knowing how to REALLY use it) it didn’t work correctly. BUT in all fairness to WLW it does seem like a great way to publish a post….once I get the hang of it. hehe

 

Have a great evening everyone!

BYE!