Memorial Day Weekend (Monday)

 Joseph decided to take the day off.  It was so nice having him at home all day.  Mom, dad, tio Gualberto, tia Leonor, Tia Chela, Tio Marcos and Josh were all coming over for lunch.  Joseph and I woke up bright and early.  Joseph brought the ladder out and we dusted and cleaned our high ceilings.  My hubby is a little scared of heights so he held the ladder and I climbed and cleaned.

After cleaning up, Joseph and the kids went to the Mexican grocery store in Gainesville to buy meat and veggies.  It's so much better when you buy it there and cheaper too!  On the way there they stopped by Nana and Papa's house to check on them.  Papa is war veteran, I thought that was sweet of Joseph to go by there with the kids on Memorial Day. 

When Joseph and the kids returned I went to Kroger to buy a couple of more things and then came home to start preparing the meat.  We celebrated Memorial Day...Mexican style!

My uncle has got to be the best "griller" out there!  He does an amazing job at grilling the meat.  It's juicy and tender and well done! 

The finished product!  Carne asada, rice with veggies, pico de gallo, guacamole, salsa, chiles and no Mexican meal is complete without tortillas! 

I was so happy to have my family over for lunch.  Also happy because they all helped with lunch.  It's so nice to have family close by and to see them often.  Most of our family on my side live in another state or country.  It's nice to have my tias and tios (aunts and uncles in spanish) here for a while!

Tia Leonor made the pico and guacamole

Tio Gualberto

Tia Chela made the salsa

Such a nice afternoon with family!

Thank You Smart Balance Buttery Spread

 After Mary Elisabeth was born I started to experience some tummy troubles.  It was pretty severe, but I pretty much summed it up as stress.  If you knew me back then you would probably agree that stress dominated my entire life.  So after numerous days of stomach aches, multiple trips to the bathroom (tmi, I know), and just being plain miserable I thought to myself "somethings has got to give."  Never did it occur to me that the milk in my cereal every morning, the mac n' cheese for lunch and the pizza for dinner were making me one sick girl!  Slowly I came to realize that milk was just not sitting well.  I decided to take it out of my diet and after a couple of days, I felt better.  Joseph thought I was crazy...he would say "how in the world are you lactose intolerant when you have been drinking milk all of your life?"  When I finally went to the doctor I was so HAPPY to hear that some women develop a mild case of lactose intolerance after having babies.  Not happy because I developed lactose intolerance, but happy because I was not crazy!  I LOVED milk and cereal was my lifeline so I was pretty bummed at the thought of living with no dairy.  But I made adjustments and cut out milk and most cheeses from my diet.  To my surprise when I was pregnant with Mackenzie Faith I was able to eat cereal every day and eat anything cheesy even my worst tummy enemy Alfredo sauce!  I was in heaven.  I think that would be the ONE AND ONLY reason I would be pregnant again...to eat cheese and drink milk ha!  I was still able to tolerate dairy a couple of weeks after Mackenzie Faith was born...but imagine my sadness when I spent hours in the bathroom, (tmi again...sorry...) curled up with a heating pad on the recliner after eating Alfredo Pasta Bake...  It was enough to scare me from eating anything dairy ever again!  Fast forward to Mother's Day at Nana's when Nacho Cheese Doritos upset my stomach.  I came home feeling defeated because I thought I had a handle on it.  I never expected it to be worse.  I researched lactose and realized that pretty much everything contains lactose.  I had planned on making one of my favorite meals, but I was too scared to use butter.  Butter has never sent me to the bathroom haha, but I was too scared to even risk it.  I searched for a while and finally found this...

It is lactose free!  I can bake or spread it on some toast and not worry about having to camp out in the bathroom (yes, tmi...again...last time I promise).  I am very thankful to Smart Balance Light Buttery Spread because tonight, I was able to enjoy one of my favorite meals...

...Shrimp Scampi!  This was such an easy meal and it literally took me about 30 minutes to get it all together.  I decided to include the recipe for a couple of my Facebook.

This came from Southern Living's Dinner in a Dish cookbook.

Shrimp Scampi

1lb peeled, large raw shrimp (I didn't use raw.  I prefer the pre-cooked shrimp)

1 (12-oz) angel hair pasta

1/2 cup of butter or in my case Smart Balance Buttery Spread :)

1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I used 1/2 an onion)

3 garlic cloves, finely-chopped

1 tsp. salt-free Italian-herb seasoning (I used way more than just 1 tsp.  I sprinkled a good bit in there!)

1 Tbsp. Fresh lemon juice ( I used 1 lemon, but didn't squeeze it all the way)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (didn't use that...not tummy friendly)

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (I didn't use fresh parsley and it was still good!)

1.  Prepare your pasta according to package.

2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onion and garlic, and saute 3 to 5 minutes or until tender.  Stir in Italian-herb seasoning.

3.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add shrimp and cook stirring occasionally for 3 to 5 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice.  Toss shrimp mixture with pasta, and sprinkle with cheese.  Serve immediately.  

It was not overwhelmingly garlicky and it was a  light meal.  Try it and tell me how it turns out!  I think the only thing I will add next time is some salt and pepper but other than that it was delish!

I'm on the look out for more lactose free products!  Let me know if you know of any and when I find them I'll make sure to share.

Learning New Things

The kitchen and I have always had a love/hate relationship.  Yes I am Mexican and I should be able to make these elaborate Mexican meals.  BUT.  I.  Can't.  I did however learn to make rice and that's about it.  Shame on me for not being an observer in the kitchen while my mom cooked dinner.  I will never forgive myself ha!  I've had to learn a lot now that I am a wife and mom.  During our first years of marriage, Joseph and I spent a lot of time in restaurants and drive-thrus.  I didn't even know how to cut an onion!  But my prayer the past few years has been for wisdom and the capacity to provide nutritious meals for my family.  I've slowly  learned a few things and have come to love being in the kitchen.  A couple of months ago during Apples of Gold, I felt challenged to be a better wife and mother.  One of the areas that I felt I needed to work on was cooking.  Since then I have spent many hours searching the Internet, flipping through books, trying to find new ideas for meals.  On Monday, I was able to have the current Apples of Gold students at my house and showed them how to make a very yummy, easy meal!  I definitely feel like I'm on the right track and pray each day.  It's hard...menu planning, grocery shopping (with three kids), preparation, cooking, but It's become very enjoyable.  

Last night Joseph helped me with the prep work.  It was fun being in the kitchen together, but of course with three kids, it was cut short ha!  He sat with the kids while they watched Toy Story 3 and fed Mackenzie Faith.  This was a very simple meal to make.  I did however, add an iron skillet on my "to get" list.  With the iron skillet I could have put it straight in the oven after cooking it on the stove instead of putting it in a casserole dish.  Next time, I'm going to leave the cornbread topping off so that I won't feel too bad about adding the rolls to the meal!  We're watching our carbs ha!

This recipe is from Kellys Korner, but I believe she got it from Paula Deen!