Living – Page 71 – Unlikely Martha

{A Quick Meal} New Orleans Style Barbecued Shrimp

Y’all know I loves a quick meal. Nothing grinds my nerves so, than being stuck in a hot kitchen in the summer.

This week I went with a recipe that I’ve made before but it’s been awhile. I even mentioned it last year on my 5 Quick and Easy Meals for Summer post.

I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. The only tweak I made was substituting Old Bay for the Cajun Seasoning in hopes that it wouldn’t be so spicy this time around and it worked. I served ours with rice but I could easily see subbing the rice for grits. I wish I would’ve thought of that. Nothing like creamy grits with fish or shrimp.

Anywho.

Mimimal chopping was involved

You do know everything tastes better with a little butter.

5-7 minutes in the pan

Ready to eat

Here’s the recipe

Ingredients

- Coarse salt
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large celery stalk, diced small ( 3/4 cup)
- 1 small bunch scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
- 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 large lemon, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
- 1 3/4 pounds shell-on extra-large shrimp, deveined

Directions

In a medium saucepan, bring 2 1/4 cups salted water to a boil. Add rice, stir, and return to a boil. Cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook until rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Meanwhile, in a large heavy pot, melt butter over medium-high. Add celery, scallion whites, and garlic and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add Creole seasoning and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.
Add Worcestershire, lemon, and shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are pink and coated with sauce, about 4 minutes. Serve shrimp over rice with scallion greens on top.

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Décor• DIY• Living• Our Home• School

Homework Station Design in Process

Last week it dawned on me that we are nearly half way through Summer Vacation and before I know it the school bell will be ringing again. We’re headed to see the “Mouse” in a few weeks and when we return there will only be 3 weeks left to get school shopping and all of those things done.

I won’t say anxiety set in but let’s just say I’m tired of the clutter that comes with school and I need a solution to keep their artwork, school work, permission slips, book bags, markers, pencils, pens, flashcards, paint brushes, paint and folders off my kitchen table. After being in the house nearly a year we I’ve concluded that the workout room will be turned into a homework station /craft space for the children.

This wasn’t an easy decision to make. There is equipment in there that the previous owners left and while I’m not saying we don’t need a space to workout, I’m thinking the wine room will get refitted with less bulky equipment. My husband recently went and got a gym membership, I took that to mean he was throwing in the towel. It’s now time we I make the space useful….cause there are cobwebs forming in there. Wasteful.

Looking from left to right in the room this is what is currently there

I’m not saying it will be completely done before school starts but by the first day I hope to at least have desks, chairs and lamps in there for them. Funds will be low. I did say we are going to see the “Mouse” so there will be some Craigslist’ing, Ikea’ing, Goodwill’ing and DIY’ing going on. I do like the paint color and may leave it just making that entire back wall chalkboard…or maybe everything above the beadboard will get chalkboarded out. We’ll see.

Here are a few inspiration photos:

Source

Traditional Kids by San Francisco Closet & Home Storage Designers San Francisco Organized Interiors

Source

Do you have a designated space for your children to do their homework? Should I leave the wall green?

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Living

Parties, Relay for Life, & Carrots | A Weekend in Review

Maaaaaaan, I am sure at sometime today I will need to use some of the toothpicks that held my stuffed chicken breasts together for last night’s dinner. This time I’ll be using them for my eyelids, while gulping down a large amount of coffee without coming up for air. This weekend has been draining…..but fun.

My weekend kicked off on Thursday with an amazing luncheon with Momtrends that was sponsored by Aladdin and Party BluPrints. Talk about a good time. I’ll give more deets later in the week.

With the Mom 2.0 Summit blogging conference in town last week there were a number of parties happening around town. Thursday evening after getting home and getting the children settled in I slid back out to a party at the Swan House sponsored by Dixie Crystals. There was a table set up where we could mix and match Dixie Crystals sugar with different oils to create body scrubs. I must say mine turned out to be the bomb. A little sugar, some rosemary and grapeseed oil….Bomb.com. I also had a lot of desserts. A lot.

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Living• Random

I’m Just Livin’

Life around here has been quite uneventful *knocks on wood*

A great deal of my time has been spent working on some personal projects and schlepping my kids to their activities. I’m low key stressed at the fact that school will be out in a little over a month. I can’t even fathom the fact that this school year is already over, and I need to get serious about planning our Summertime activities. Can’t even.

I’ll do a house update sometime this week. There is so much that needs to be done around here that I need to take the time to write it all down and create a plan of attack….kind of like they do on Young House Love. The kitchen is improperly painted, the baby drew on my newly painted cabinets with a pink Sharpie…you know those little things that will drive you batty if you let them. I’m going to create a to do list, post it here and require y’all to hold me accountable.

I’d been moaning and groaning about wanting a rocking chair to put on the front porch but was too cheap to buy one. Finally found one in my price range. Placed it on the porch and now it just looks empty. Headed to Hobby Lobby the other day to get materials to make a wreath. Must’ve walked circles around that store for nearly 2 hours and ended up leaving with a large S. That’s all, not even a candy bar. Please don’t ask me what I am going to do with this S, I imagine at some point it will become a monogram wreath. I’ll keep you posted.

Apparently the front porch needs more than a rocking chair.

Outside of obsessing over what to do with a large S, and a Sharpie emblazoned cabinet I’m really feeling this whole gardening thing. Who knew? My babies are growing well and when I find time this week I am going to finally put them in their permanent homes. It’s going to be like container heaven. I’m taking the deck over instead of raised beds. I just want to make sure the area where I want to put them will get enough sun.

Plant roll call: Strawberries, scallions, watermelon, bell pepper, spinach, collard greens, tomatoes, green beans, kale, Swiss Chard, carrots, squash, lettuce, and mesulin mix.

WAIT.FOR.IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So that’s all going on in this burb’ of the ATL.

What’s going on in your neck of the woods? Where are y’all going for Summer vacation ~~I might steal your idea~~? Summer camp for the kids or days of playing outside and only coming in for restroom and water breaks? Do share friends!!!

I’m running another $100 Kohl’s Gift Card Giveaway. Enter >HERE<

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