Easy grilled shrimp marinate

1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails attached
skewers



Combine all the ingredients in a ziplock bag and then add shrimp. Let the shrimp marinate for 2 hours in the fridge. Place shrimp on skewers and grill.

6 servings, a serving is 10 points

Pesto

Pesto is a great thing to have in your kitchen. You can toss it with pasta, use it to coat chicken or fish or use it on homemade pizza.

Ingredients-

2 cups fresh basil

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

2 cups olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt & Pepper

Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor; blend until well mixed. Add Salt & pepper to taste.

Stuffed Zucchini

4 medium zucchini
1 medium onion, minced
1 can roasted red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 egg, beaten
2 thyme, sprigs
1/4-1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper
3/4 lb lean ground beef (or chicken, turkey, fish, 1 can of tuna, or other veggies...you get the idea)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Mozzarella cheese-amount varies according to your liking#

Steps-

1. Wash zucchini, and put in a pot of cold water (do not remove ends).








2.Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes, maybe a little longer depending on the size of your zucchini.




3.Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a fairly large skillet.




4.Sautee garlic first, then add onions, green pepper, thyme, and oregano.




5.When the veggies begin to soften, add ground meat (or whatever you are using), season with salt and pepper, and brown until cooked through.




6.Drain off any exess grease.




7.Set aside to cool slightly.




8.When the zucchini have cooked through, remove from water, and allow to cool enough to handle.




9.Slice cooled zucchini lengthwise, and scoop out center, leaving a little veggie flesh to form a boat.




10Mix ground meat mixture with the red peppers, and the scooped out zucchini (chopped), and the egg.




11.Fill the zucchini boats with the mixture, and top each with some cheese*I use low fat




12.Bake in a 375º oven for 20-30 minutes, until heated through, and cheese begins to bubble and brown.




13.Serve hot









I used lean beef, skim cheese and this was a very WW friendly recipe. Each boat is 4 points.

Things are achanging...

I've been talking about this in passing on FB and emails, so I decided to write a blog post about it. My husband and I are starting our own business. We will be working on developing and selling mobile applications, like games and tools, for cell phones/PDAs. Its been taking up a lot of time lately. We are working till the wee hours, after the girls are in bed, doing research, crunching numbers, etc.
Our goal is to have this be part time for a year and then evaluate our options at that point. Tony is still working at his regular job and I am still at home with the girls. It feels nice to use my education and dust off the old brain cells, but I cant get much done during the day. Its getting to the point where I have to get babysitters for a few hours so I can make calls, email, etc.
Its exciting and scary. While Tony hasnt quit his job as of now, it is a real possibility after the first year.
Just wanted to bring everyone up to speed.

This is a complete vent and somewhat TMI

I know I havent been posting, but I've actually been toying with the idea of making this blog public again. Yeah I know, but my logic is that I dont even post much when it is private and I dont post many pictures either. I would really like to start posting my recipes and craft projects.

Well onto the vent. I feel like my body is my own worst enemy right now. My PCP and my OB both feel like I either have a tyroid issue or PCOS. I've had the bloodwork Rx for three months now and have yet to get the bloodwork done. It is not because of my lack of trying. I have no idea when my period will show up so it has been really really hard to plan, especially since I have to fast. The first month, my period was two weeks early and I didnt even have the bloodwork orders yet. The second month testing day fell on a sunday, no way to get bloodwork done on a sunday without a doctor's order-well I would've called my doctor if I had known but AF decided to show up a week earlier than the previous month's. Now we are into the 3rd time and once again my testing day falls on a sunday and AF is once again two weeks early.

I am seriously in tears with the whole situation. I will end up going to test tomorrow(Monday) and Tuesday but I am sure it will throw off the results since my cyccle usually lasts only 3-4 days. Prior to pregnancy, I was regular. I wasnt ovulating a lot but I was regular, but now there is no way to know.

Sorry if this is too TMI, but I know there are some readers out there who deal with irregular cycles. It not only messes with your body but then you worry about going swimming or wearing white or even trying to schedule a yearly exam with the OB.

Hopefully I will get answers soon.

My stress over the tests is totally impacting my dreams. I had a really vivid dream this week that I was in a lot of pain and ended up in the ER. In the ER, they did an ulrasound and concluded that I was hyperovulating, sans fertility meds apparently, and that I had a large number of mature follices( I hope I have the terms right) and that I was in risk of having higher order multiples if I got pregnant. I think my issues with my cycle were totally messing my mind when I went to bed that night. Crazy dreams.

Birthday round up

Twins are hard. Twins who are cruising machines with Evil Knievel tendencies is even harder. That is my excuse as to why I am crappy blogger : )
My girls officially turned 1 on May 30th. We had a nice relaxed BBQ party to celebrate. I will never ever ever again have 30+ people over and try to grill for everyone. Next birthday party will be chicken fingers from chik fila!


I am finally focusing on decorating the house. We need to go decide on paint colors and I am trying to do things little by little. I really want to do something about our master bedroom. We cant afford new bedroom furniture right now, so our plan is to buy a new mattress and to make our own headboard!
This blog has great instructions and photos on how to make your own headboard. I also like the color she went with.
Ideally I would like to make a headboard that looks like this one-





I love the detail of the metal beads around the outside.
Here are some inspiration pictures-


Our bedroom has a cathedral ceiling and it is rather large. You would think having room would make it easy, but I am having a really hard time setting up everything to get a cozy feel. We are definitional going with brown, blue and silvers.

I suckkkkkkkkkkkk!!!

March and April were crazy for me, so blogging was placed on the back burner. Now I have a few minutes, while the girls nap, so I decided to post an update.

April was busy busy busy. We moved and then three week after that we had my family in town. The girls were baptised(Yay!) so the whole clan came in for the special occasion.

Moving was horrible. It ws pouring that day, our moving truck got stuck in the mud, we almost missed our closing and our buyer was pretty close to not having funding! Yes, it was 4:22PM when her loan finally came through. She was a complete bitch throughout the process. I was kinda hoping that her funding wouldnt come through so we could withhold the keys from her.

All the headache was so worth it though, our new house is awesome. I love all the space but it is more keep up. The girls love the hardwood floors, makes for quick crawling.

As for the girls, they are doing so well. Fiona is cruising around on the furniture. Ashlyn is crawling and attempting to pull up. She doesnt seem like in a rush to walk, but who knows.

The girls at the March for Babies, the March of Dimes walk.