Food for Thoguht...

Happy Friday friends! Wow this week has flown by! Has it for y'all too?!

I am SUPER excited for this weekend because for once in a LOOOOONG while, hubs & I don't have to be anywhere or there aren't a million things going on or to-do's jam packed in there! I LOVE weekends like that!... I can't wait to just relax, cook for my family & hang out with my sweet baby girl & husband at home all weekend! (p.s. I am fully aware I will be somewhat irritated & sick of my family and ready to get out of the house by Sunday afternoon because that's usually how it always works for me... but for now, I'm looking forward to family time! ;-)

To kick off our weekend family extravaganza, when sweet baby girl woke up from her nap today I had a special surprise treat waiting for her...

That's right... me & my sweet little girl sat down & watched MY favorite Disney movie together...She has never seen any of the Disney Princess movies (never ANY movies for that matter) and I thought it was HIGH TIME!... Surprisingly, she already knows most of the Disney Princesses by name without watching any of their films but today when we were running errands, I put on a Disney Princess music CD in the car and she was in heaven! (I was too, I'm not gonna lie! :)

So at that moment this morning, when I saw the look on her sweet little face as we drove down the road (and I sang every word to the songs!), I knew the time had come!...

I tried to make it as special as possible & put pink Sixlets mixed in with the popcorn (P.S. why have I never combined these two before is beyond me because the salty/buttery goodness of the popcorn with the chocolaty morsels were BEYOND WORDS DELICIOUS! This is my new FAVORITE snack!!)

I think she enjoyed it too... :)

But as with anything in life... a good thing only lasts for so long (an hour in this case)... before my "sweet" little girl got antsy & dumped out her popcorn onto my freshly vacuumed & steam cleaned carpet to "pick out" all the pink Sixlets... *sigh* we were just about to my favorite part too when Sebastian sings "Kiss the Girl" while Ariel & Prince Eric sail into the blue lagoon... :-(

Oh well... it was good while it lasted...

In other food news...

Tonight, I made this for dinner... (that pretty yellow tomato is from my garden!! And it was delicious! I'm so proud!! :-)

It's "Grilled Fish with Gremolata"... I got the recipe from Publix a couple weeks back & had a little sample while I was grocery shopping & it is YUM-O!... I'm always looking for easy grilled fish recipes & this is a good one- especially since it mainly uses stuff I keep on hand! (I don't however suggest making this for a 1st date because you will have garlic seeping out of your pores when you're done!!)

Ingredients:

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 bunch fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped

5 gloves garlic, finely minced

4 fish fillets such as snapper, orange roughy or tilapia (1 1/2lb)... *I used salmon because that's what I had already*

1 cup Italian-style panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon chipotle hot pepper sauce (I used Frank's cause that's all I had)

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Greek seasoning (I didn't have any of this either, so I just sprinkled a little salt, pepper & lemon juice on the fish before i cooked it & it was fine..)

Steps:

1. Combine lemon zest, parsley, garlic, bread crumbs, pepper sauce, & 2 TB olive oil. Mix well, using fingertips, until blended; set aside.

2. Brush both sides of fish evenly with 1 TB olive oil, then sprinkle with pepper & greek seasoning (or in my case- fresh lemon juice, salt & pepper). Place fish on heated grill & grill 2-3 minutes on each side until 145F (PS. I baked mine in the oven at 350 for about 20min)

3. Transfer fish to plate & top each fillet with a generous portion of herb-crumb mixture, Drizzle with remaining 2TB olive oil; serve. (I also squeezed a bit more fresh lemon juice over top of mine before I served...)

On a different food for thought note...

I read this on Pinterest the other day & it really struck home with me! I hate to admit it, but I get so wrapped up with the stresses of daily life that so often I forget to just STOP and thank the Lord for all his blessings!... For the ones I CAN see, as well as the ones that mask themselves in trials!... Thank you! :)

I also read this and I hope to do a little of this this weekend...

I hope you all find the time this weekend to do something just for you! I also hope you take the time to thank God for whatever that "something" is...

I also hope I "find the time" this weekend to get rid of this annoying rodent!

SERIOUSLY! This squirrel is a PAIN IN MY SIDE!!... Look what these little creatures are doing!...

It is DRIVING ME BANANAS!!! Several times a day I catch these pesky animals eating up all the bird food & leaving a HUGE mess on my deck! Too many times a day, I run out from the back door, BIG plastic soup ladle in hand, screaming at the squirrels! (oh, my poor neighbors have to get a kick out of watching me because it is quite comical!)...

I am probably more scared of these rabies-infested rodents than they are of me, but without fail, everyday I come barreling out of the door, banging my ladle & screaming at the squirrels on the deck! I've even got my child involved! Several times, I've turned around to come back in the house to see my sweet daughter with a flip flop in each hand & smacking them together saying "GET SQUIRREL! GET!" lol ;-) Precious! ... But as angry as I get, I just try to remind myself, God is probably putting them there to get happy full bellies so they stay away from my veggie garden... right?!

Anyhoo, that's all I have for now bloggie friends... Nite Nite!