SouthWest Shrimp Broccoli Pasta Recipe

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A lighter style pasta with a hint of lime and South West flair.



2 cups broccoli florets steamed
1 cup frozen corn
1 pound Rotini style pasta or make your favorite kind
40 large shrimps tails on
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
 1 fresh lime squeezed (around 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 or 2 shakes of hot sauce around a teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
sea salt to taste

Cook pasta to package directions. Drain pasta, place in a large bowl with 2 tablespoon of melted butter and toss. Set aside keeping warm.
In a large fry pan, heat olive oil.  Add the garlic cook for 1 minute. Add the shrimp, saute until it turns pink.
Add the cooked broccoli, corn, spices and lime juice and heat through. Stir in fresh cilantro and hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Make sure the sauce is heated.
Toss sauce with the pasta.  Serve immediately.

If you like Southwest foods try some of these:

Southwest Soup
Tequilla Lime Grilled Shrimp
Grilled Lemon Lime Pepper Chicken and Vegetables
Pumpkin Bread Pudding Recipe
Southwest Crockpot Corn Pudding
Southwest Potato Salad
Southwest Cheddar Scones

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Tuna and Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

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A nice change of pace, Tuna and Rice make this a very delicious combination,
 you can also try using Salmon.

I am still lucky enough to have a great abundance of fresh peppers in the yard to cook with!

3 green or red peppers cut in half
1 cup cooked white or brown rice
1 11 oz pouch drained or 1 large can tuna drained
1 cup shredded mozzarella
3 cloves minced garlic
3 freshly chopped plum tomatoes
2 cups homemade recipe marinara  or store bought
1/2 teaspoon dried herbs  ( or 1 tablespoon fresh herbs finely chopped) oregano, basil, parsley
olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
Italian flavored bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, salt, pepper, grating cheese and pinch of cayenne pepper or fresh if you have it mix ingredients together and set aside:

Clean and slice peppers in half carefully scooping out the seeds. In a medium size bowl, mix drained tuna with rice, herbs tomatoes chopped, garlic, and 3 tablespoon of olive oil.  Mix until well combined.
Stuff each pepper and place into a greased baking pan.

Top with marinara sauce, mozzarella and Italian flavored bread crumbs, drizzle with more olive oil. Bake  at 375 degree hot oven around 45 minutes or until browned and peppers are soft when pierced with a fork.

Chocolate Dipped Spoons for Holiday and Gift Giving Ideas

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I can't begin to tell you the fun I had making these! I felt like a kid just going crazy over the fun ideas to create with these spoons.  There are so many endless possibilities
for gift giving, party favors and much more by making these!  These may be the new Cookie Pop!  I loved making these more! (Psst, oh I must confess I am actually not a fan of cookie pops at all. So these win hands down, fun, exciting to see everyone adore their individual personalized  party spoons and they really did put a smile on everyones face!
Using colored spoons, tinted white chocolate or using dark chocolate just starts one of many endless
 delightful treats ahead and the kids will love them too!
 Get your creativity with imagination going for all your upcoming Holiday and party events.

Adapted from the Bakers Chocolate Recipe Website on Tips:

1 - 7 oz  bowl of Bakers Dipping Chocolate heat as directed on the bowl
1 brick of White Chocolate for melting

plastic spoons to color coordinate to the party or gift theme (they come in all colors)
wax paper
cookie sheet
assorted fillings (Optional see suggestions below or use candy bars IE,  musketeers, milky way, snickers, peanut butter cups, nutella anything you can like to fill the center with)

Melt chocolate to directions on the package.  At this point if you want to use a filling, add to the center of the spoon.  Dip the spoon one at a time into the melted chocolate. Coat the spoon just to the bottom end of the spoon edge. Shake gently to remove excess. Place on a wax paper coated cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator until set around 20 minutes or so. See party and gift giving ideas below or just wrap individually with plastic wrap. Tie with coordinating colored ribbons.



What a great baby shower party favor! Use just dipped spoons to stir their coffee, tea or cocoa with for a delicious cup of sweetness! You can even flavor the white chocolate with almond extract or other favorite flavoring.

 Tips: Decorate your chocolate spoon on top with some Royal Icing using your party themes by using frosting writing tips found in a party store or grocery store. Some ideas to write on them would be special birthday ages, names, it's a boy, it's a girl, special events, Wedding Anniversaries, milestones, holly berries for Christmas, snowman, bells, for Easter bunny and Halloween, pumpkins, spider drawings, ghosts or R.I. P. sayings for Halloween, there are many options. Make sure you dry them completely before wrapping and it is recommended to use a royal icing that hardens quickly.

You can also use silk small rose or other flowers, use edible glitters with silver or gold ball sugar decorations for Weddings and Showers wrapped in colored cellophane or toole netting. Plastic rings (IE spiders for Halloween, bells for Christmas or Bridal gold and silver rings) that will go around the base of the spoon. You can buy most of these at your local party house stores.

Give these out for Halloween treats!  These are filled with chocolate fudge.

Great gifts at work or friends at the office! These were filled with peppermint pattie filling.

Use white chocolate melted instead of dark chocolate. Tinted with the theme for the event or party color. Or use a flavored chocolate for Christmas like mint. See other suggestions for filling them below.



IDEA: Fill the centers of the spoons with these suggestions first before dipping:  fondant, fudge, truffle candy or Nutella, whole nuts, marshmallow fluff before dipping in chocolate for a great gift treat assortment. Any of your favorite candy bars, snickers, mounds, musketeers, milky way, peanut butter cup or use a truffle recipe below to make them extra special.

Keep them simple:  Spoons dipped in just chocolate unfilled, can be flavored first with any type of extracts you like. What kind of coffee are you pairing it up, tea or hot cocoa? Maybe add some almond extract, cinnamon or peppermint to the chocolate while melting it, depending on who and what it's for.

Other ideas for gifts:
Attach a bag of premix cocoa powder to the handle with ribbons. Make you spoons dipped in cinnamon and chocolate mixed, a delicious combination for cocoa!
Attach white baby breath silk flowers to the handle, gold rings and tie with white ribbon for a wedding favors using white chocolate on gold or silver spoons.
Place the decorated wrapped spoon and place inside coffee cup  tied with pretty ribbons and add their favorite packaged, tea, coffee or cocoa.

This gift spoon has been filled with hazelnuts mixed with Nutella then dipped in chocolate and wrapped. The gift cup shown contains a package of Hazelnut coffee, one filled dipped spoon and  one mini Biscotti cookie package in the bottom.

Charity Events:

Make them for Charity events to raise money, IE  Breast Cancer Awareness Month using the symbol in pink on white dipped spoons. You can make them for any fundraiser event.

Hope enjoy making these as much as I did I look forward to seeing what your creations will be!
Have a great Holiday season and hope you loved reading this post as much as I enjoyed making these and writing it!

Try some of these delicious truffle recipes for your fillings:

Curt's Nutter Butter Truffles
Hazelnut Truffles
White Chocolate Truffles
Oreo Cookie Truffles

Halloween Italian Style Butter Cookie Cut Out Recipe with Nutella Filling or Ganache Frosting

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2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons milk
assorted cookie cutters
parchment paper
cookie sheet

Mix all together in a heavy duty mixer until this forms a ball, add more milk by drops if too dry.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
Roll dough out 1/4 inch thick, cut out with assorted cookies cutters. Bake at 350 degree hot oven on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake till edges are  slightly browned around 8 minutes. Cool and sandwich together with Nutella spread or ganache frosting.
1 jar Nutella or if not available make some chocolate ganache filling below.
Ganache frosting:
1 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chopped2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk1/2 cup powdered sugar2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powderMelt chocolate in the microwave in 1 minute intervals. Stir and repeat until melted. Add the rest of the ingredients  beat till smooth and spreadable.
Note: Another option is to substitute white chocolate melted, tinted with yellow and red food coloring to make orange color, add 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk1 cup or more powdered sugar to thickenMelt chocolate in the microwave in 1 minute intervals. Stir and repeat until melted. Add the rest of the ingredients beat till smooth and spreadable.
You can decorate the tops with candy corn, sprinkles or other creative ideas you may have.

Mama's Wagon Wheel Pasta and Peas

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Mom always made pasta fun, here is a childhood favorite!



In a food processor add :
3 cloves of cleaned garlic
1/2 cup fresh celery leaves
1 sprig fresh oregano
4 fresh basil leaves
1 small sprig fresh rosemary
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Puree in a food processor, till it becomes a fine mixture.

In a large deep sauce pan, add the oil mixture, heat, add:
2 drained (14 to 15 oz size) cans of peas,  the above mixture and saute peas till they start to brown, around 10 minutes

Add:
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 small can of tomato paste + fill can with white wine to stir out the leftover paste
1 can of chicken broth
water if sauce gets too thick to add (around 1 cup)
1 cup of  fresh whole tomatoes or 1lb  fresh plum tomatoes pureed in food processor
All all above ingredients in a large saucepan.
Cook until sauce thickens around 1 1/2 hours on low.
Boil 1 pound of wagon wheel pasta in salt water till al dente to the bite. Drain. Pour sauce over and sprinkle generously with shredded grated Romano Cheese.

Eco Natural Soap Review and Giveaway!

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Recently Eco Natural Soap contacted me about doing a product review and a giveaway.  Let me start by saying they do a lot more than soap.  They do balms and shampoos, mineral makeup, and natural pet products!

This couldn't have come at a better time for me because I'd been doing lots of projects, causing my wrists and elbows and shoulders to feel a bit achy.  I was wearing a wrist support and slathered in stinky analgesic cream. So, not only did I look stylish, I smelled great, too. Yeah. It was embarrassing.

The folks at Eco Natural Soap sent me a tub of their Joint Pain Relief. I found it to be very soothing.  It has a pleasant scent.  It is a strong scent, but not overpowering. like the analgesic creams I had been using.  I really like this product and keep it next to my work desk to apply as I need it.


My favorite product is their Exotic Butters Luxury Skin Balm in Citrus Sunrise.  It smells divine.  I find that not only does it soothe dry skin, the citrus herbal scent is extremely refreshing.  I loved using this product to soften my cuticles.  DIYers and crafters tend to abuse their hands, so this product was very much a welcome luxury.

The Lip Balm was another favorite. This is not one of those waxy sticks -- it goes on smooth and almost liquid.  We live on the water, and an afternoon of canoeing can leave your lips feeling a bit parched.  The Organic Lip Balm felt very healing.  I got the lip balm in the delicious smelling Citrus Sunrise, so it felt very refreshing when I put it on.

Does anyone else feel weird posting a pic of themselves?  I wanted to show how my hair looked after shampooing with the Eco Natural bar.  Unfortunately, it didn't help with the gray peeking in at my roots!
The Facial Hydration bar left my skin soft and clean.  It didn't dry my skin like many soaps do.  It has a faint pleasant scent. I was a little concerned about the shampoo bar.  It says on the wrapper: Builds Volume and Shine.  I don't need volume, my hair is thick and curly and tends to be a little out of control.  I was surprised to discover that I did not need to use a conditioner with this shampoo bar.  My hair was soft and shiny, BUT in my PNW climate I still occasionally used a glossing cream or other product to tame the wildness if it was rainy or humid. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the shampoo bar.  I have a girlfriend with thin straight hair and I'm dying to have her try it.

Now, for the giveaway details!  
The giveaway includes any two soaps and one balm.  
It is open to persons with a U.S. address.

• To enter go to the Eco Natural website and look at their products.  Come back and leave me a comment telling me which product you would choose if you won.  
• For an additional chance to win follow House Revivals via GFF or by email or RSS feed and leave me a separate comment telling me you follow this blog. 
• "Like" House Revivals and Eco Natural Soap on Facebook and leave a comment saying you liked us for a third chance to win.

So, you have up to three chances to win!  For each chance, leave a separate comment.   The winner will be chosen via random drawing on Monday the 23rd of July.  Be sure I can contact you, so you can claim your prize!  If I cannot contact you, or do not get a reply from the winner within one week of notification, we will draw a new winner.

** this giveaway is now closed.

Linking to: Snag a Bargain,   Free Hot Samples Pot of Gold Giveaways Kate and Kaboodle Coupon Clippin' Mommy I Could Use a Deal Mom in Training
Mommies with Cents
Win it Mama 
Someday Crafts 
Eighty Mile Per Hour Mom
disclaimer:  Eco Natural Soap sent me free samples of their products for this review.  However, the photos and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Make a Starburst Mirror from Recycled Magazines

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I'm still loving all the gorgeous starburst mirrors out there! I liked the mid-century inspired mirror so much I decided I needed another.  It's such a classic form, I'm glad it's been seeing a revival in the last few years.  I especially like carved reeded mirrors, like this one from Layla Grayce.

 Layla Grayce
At six hundred dollars, it is a little out of my reach, so I decided to make my own.   I wasn't quite sure how I would make it until I was bundling up a stack of old magazines to recycle.  Then the light bulb came on, and I created my own version of a carved and gilded mirror. I love how it turned out!


To make your own starburst mirror, start by tearing magazine pages into strips.  I used magazines with really good heavy paper.  Next, I just rolled the strips around a chopstick to create little narrow cones. Although I only used one thickness of paper at a time, if I were to do it again, I would double the paper strips before rolling to make the cones extra strong.  I wrapped a little painter's tape around the chopstick to keep the paper from slipping while I rolled it.  Secure each cone with glue.


Repeat the first step about two million times, then, using the wide end of your chopstick, push the wide open end of your little paper cones closed.  I pushed some a little more than others, so I would have about three different finished sizes to work with.


Keep pushing and folding the wide end in on itself until you get to the really strong part of the cone.


Glue groups of five to seven cones together to form the starburst rays.


 Glue a piece of recycled cardboard to the back of each group of cones.


Decide how you want to place the rays and glue them to a piece of cardboard. For my starburst, I stacked one group of cones on top of another to give the finished starburst greater depth.


Next, I took shorter single cones and glued them in the spaces between the rays.  I honestly think you could have a fantastic mirror at this point, if you just glued on a mirror.  The graphics on the magazine pages look really colorful and pretty.  I was on a mission, however, to create a gilded knock-off.


Prime, and paint your starburst as desired.  I used gesso as a primer, to give the project more strength and texture.  Glue your mirror to the cardboard and add a "frame" around the mirror if desired.  I used a thrifted woven belt, weaving the ends together to form a continuous circle.  I then filled in the gaps between the belt and the rays with joint compound, gessoed it and painted everything.


The back of the starburst was reinforced with additional cardboard and a hanger was added.


I REALLY like how it turned out!





This project is being linked to the following lovely places:The Shabby Nest My Repurposed Life Restore it Wednesday Sew Can DoSew Chatty Today's Creative BlogMy Romantic Home Funky Junk Interiors Tatertots and Jello