These may be quick to make, but they. are. INCREDIBLE.

Seafood Tacos
source: Brent Bird
Ingredients:

• 1 lb. bag salad shrimp
• 2 (8 oz.) pkg. of Imitation Seafood and Crab, chopped
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• ½ bunch of cilantro, chopped
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Juice of 2 limes
• Salt & pepper
• Hot sauce (I like Valentina Salsa Picante)
• Crispy corn tostada shells
• Farmer’s Cheese (Cotija) or Feta, crumbled
• Sour cream

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, gently mix the shrimp, crab, pepper, onion, and cilantro. Pour juices over the top and stir. 
2. Add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. 
3. Serve on tostada shells with cheese, sour cream and more hot sauce.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! :)

Super Duper Yummy Veggie Soup

Fresh 
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Fresh Vegetable Soup

source: Lisa Hawks
Ingredients:

• 2 T. oil
• 2 c chopped onion
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 c chopped celery
• 2 c cut green beans (frozen work well)
• 1 ½ cups corn
• 1 c sliced carrot
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. rosemary
• 4 cans (14.5 oz) beef broth
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) kidney beans, rinsed
• 2 cans (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
• 2/3 c uncooked macaroni
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 2 c shredded green cabbage
• Salt, if needed
• ¾ tsp. pepper
• 1 c grated parmesan cheese 

Directions:

1. Saute’ onion and garlic in large pan. 
2. Stir in celery and next 9 ingredients. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 30 min. 
3. Add tomatoes, macaroni and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until pasta is tender. 
4. Add cabbage, salt and pepper; cook 5 min. or until cabbage wilts. 
5. Serve with cheese.

If You Like the Hunger Games, Try These!

Unwind 
by Neal Shusterman
The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

Incarceron
by Catherine Fisher
Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison -- a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device -- a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born

Graceling
by Kristin Cashore
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.     When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Uglies 
by Scott Westerfeld
Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

City of Bones
by Cassandra Clare
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . 

Perfect for summer!

Icelandic Cucumbers

source: Lisa Hawks

Ingredients:

• 3 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 c white vinegar
• 1/2 c water
• 6 T. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. Mix all but the cucumbers in a tall jar or bowl.  
2. Add the cukes, cover and refrigerate overnight.

**We LOVE these! Especially delish with fresh cukes from the garden... Such a great summer snack!

Tip #2

Do you ever see a recipe and think, "that looks really good, but we don't have everything to make it..?". Well, this post is for you! First off, this used to happen to us all the time! I think we have been better lately with planning our meals for the next two weeks. Makes it a lot easier to have all the ingredients we need for the meal. But it definitely still happens.
So what do you do? You get creative!
Find a substitute for what you are missing, this does take some practice, but most ingredients can be changed without changing your meal too much. Plus its one of the best ways to learn how different flavors and textures combine!
So, now some examples and ideas. One of the first things you can do is google a substitute, a lot of people post lots of ideas. Second, see if you can think of something you have that can mimmick the characteristics of your missing ingredient, for example substituting pine nuts for waterchestnuts in a lettuce wrap recipe to give it a good crunch, or using oregano in place of marjoram to give it a similar herby flavor. Now, remember, the original ingredient will still probably give you the best results, and you may have a few food disasters - so don't expirement when you have company coming over.
The most important thing though is to learn from your mistakes, if it didn't turn ask yourself why. Try something else and figure out what ingredients you like to keep on hand. Some of our staples are butter, garlic and onions, they do a lot for almost any meal. Don't be afraid of new things and keep track of changes you make that turn out tasty, that's kind of how this blog started!

THE HUNGER GAMES

THE HUNGER GAMES ****

Trailer
OH MY GOSH. I have been looking forward to this movie forEVER. Seriously, since I started reading the books years ago I started dreaming and hoping they would make a movie. I thoroughly enjoy the books and was hoping the movie would at least do it justice. Which it DID. It was AWESOME. OH MY GOSH. Seriously. It was one of the best movies based on a book I've ever seen. It followed the book soo well. They left out a few things, tweaked a few others, and added some scenes but I felt that it all worked. The things that were left out were most likely due to time restraints. The things that were added were things that were talked about in the story but not in detail because Katniss wasn't there. I was really worried about Josh Hutcherson playing Peeta because I had really only seen him in movies that were super cheesy and aimed toward a younger audience. So I was pleasantly surprised to see him play the role PERFECTLY. He was spot on. Jennifer Lawrence was also a perfect Katniss. Everyone in the movie did a wonderful job. I am currently in love with this movie. Almost everything about it was perfect. I can't wait to go see it again. And then own it so I can watch it whenever I want. Yes. GO SEE THIS MOVIE. And READ THE BOOKS if you haven't already. Okay. I'm going to go read the Hunger Games now. :)

. . .

Ahem. So now that I'm over my initial high, and am able to look back on the movie a little more objectively, I would like to add a few more thoughts. There may be some spoilers in here so feel free to just disregard this whole section... :)
Basically, I still think they did a fabulous job. The scenes that take place in district 12 are almost the same as the book, as are the scenes in the capital. They even quote it word for word at times. Things are definitely tweaked, but like I said before, I believe it's for timing reasons, making them understandable. The first half of the movie didn't bother me at all, I thought it was great. It wasn't until after the initial blood bath in the arena that things were changed quite a bit. The important things are still there, but she is in the arena several weeks in the book, whereas the movie portrays it as being more like a few days. Which honestly is totally fine, can you imagine what it would have been like if they HAD tried to drag it out a lot longer? The injuries received by the characters are also downplayed quite a bit. They are still pretty bad, but nothing compared to the book. In the book they are pretty gruesome, if the movie had made the wounds that bad it, probably would have been rated "R" for gore. So I was okay with that as well. Overall I was happy with everything until it got to the scenes with Peeta, once they can be a team. Katniss and Peeta were really great at the roles they played. p.s. Did I mention that I really loved Josh Hutcherson as Peeta? I thought he did a FANTASTIC job. Honestly, it's because he did such a good job that I wish they had done more with it. They just cut the whole thing so short! They could have done a cut scene to show a passing of time and just do a little bit more with their relationship building. Oh well. What they did was pretty good, I just wish there had been more. Outside of that, the ending kinda bummed me out. They just wrapped everything up SO quickly that it felt rushed. The ending was pretty important and they just whipped through it. In the end I have few complaints. The movie was really well done and I can't wait for the next chapter. Honestly, I could go on and on about how I've been obsessed with the Hunger Games since Thursday afternoon, but you probably don't care about that! So go see the movie and enjoy it! It's wonderful! :)

Culver's

Culver's

location: Tucson, AZ
We had heard that this restaurant was really good so we decided to go check it out. YUMMY. They make what they call "butter burgers". Basically they toast the bun in butter before they make your burger. It is incredibly delicious. We loved the milkshake and burgers both. Everything was soooo good.We will definitely be going back. The prices were average I believe. Probably about 3 dollars for a burger, tack on a little more for the fries and 3 to 4 bucks for the milk shakes. They make fresh frozen yogurt daily, it's sooo yummy. MMmm... I'm salivating.