Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Avocado Salsa

Last week a group of food bloggers and myself gathered together to support those affected by Hurricane Harvey by creating Texas inspired recipes and sharing about different relief efforts.  Today that same group is gathering together to support those affected by Hurricane Irma.  Irma effected areas of the Caribbean, Florida and Southeast United States.  Today we are all sharing recipes inspired by those areas, and once again sharing how you can help!

When I think of the impacted area I think seafood and citrus.  Maybe it's because I live in the Midwest, but anytime I'm on the coast I eat as much seafood as possible.  Not to say we don't have access to flown in seafood here, it is just awesome being able to try so many different kinds of fresh seafood while visiting places like Florida.  Besides seafood, you can't think of Florida without also thinking of oranges, grapefruit, limes, tangerines, etc.  In fact, Florida is the top producer of oranges and tomatoes in the United States.

So what to do with all these traditional foods and flavors?  Why not wrap them all together in a taco, influenced by the area's Hispanic heritage!  Plus I love tacos!  So, that is how I created my Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Avocado Salsa.

Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Avocado Salsa

Shrimp:
2# Shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined
4 Garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 Orange, juiced

Citrus Avocado Salsa:
2 Avocados, decided chunky
2 Roma Tomatoes, diced chunky
1/2 Red Onion, chopped
1/8 cup Cilantro, chopped
1/2 Orange, juiced
1/4 tsp Garlic salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

Start your tacos by peeling and deveining the shrimp.  Pat the shrimp dry and then coat the shrimp with the garlic, chili powder, cumin, onion powder and salt.  Let shrimp sit and marinate while making the salsa.

To make the salsa combine the avocado, tomato, onion and cilantro.  Then toss with the garlic salt, pepper and orange juice.  Lightly stir to combine flavors.  The salsa can sit and wait for the tacos to finish.  Any leftovers need to be refrigerated.

Now start cooking the shrimp.  Warm the oil over a medium-high heat.  Coat the oil along the bottom of your pan and then add your shrimp.  Saute the shrimp til they become pink and opaque.  This usually takes 5 minutes.  About half way through the cooking process, add the other half of orange's juice to the pan.

Serve your Shrimp inside your favorite taco shell with the Citrus Avocado Salsa on top!

My entire family loves these tacos!  My kids consider shrimp a special treat.  They are seasoned with a mild spice so everyone in the family can enjoy them.  The Citrus Avocado Salsa adds richness and freshness to the taco, with a little zing from the orange.  These tacos are easy to make and perfect for feeding a crowd (or a family of six 😉).

Now, how you can help!  Hurricane Irma hit several areas.  These are local organizations that will be working in the impacted areas aiding with ongoing needs:

• Volunteer Florida
• Miami Diaper Bank
• SOS Foundation
• Harry Chapin Food Bank
• Heart of Florida United Way
• All Faiths Food Bank
• Second Harvest Food Bank
• Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency
• Fondos Unidos
• Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands
• St. John Community Foundation
• Anguilla Beaches

Also, be sure to check out all of the awesome recipes shared today as part of our support to bring awareness to relief efforts to those affected by Hurricane Irma:

An InLinkz Link-up

Please consider donating today and remember to Comment for a Cause!

Where to put your Vegetable Garden

Today is an exciting day for me and my mother-in-law, we're going to our local FFA chapter's green house to get some vegetable plants and annual flowers!  But before I buy my plants, I better figure out where to put my garden!  See, this will be the first year of having a garden at our current acreage.  We always had one at our old acreage and it was easy to decide where to put it because we knew where my husband's grandfather had kept his.  But at our new place, we're starting from scratch.  I'm sure at one point in time the former owners had a garden but there is no evidence of a garden now.  So deciding where to place my vegetable garden was exciting and a little nerve-racking at the same time.  So after some research and personal knowledge from my past experiences, I have decided to place my garden here:

My garden's future home

Many factors played into me making my decision on where to place my vegetable garden and I thought I'd share these factors with you to help you when deciding where to place your vegetable garden:

• Place your garden in a well drained soil.  You should pick a level area to help with drainage and also to limit erosion.
• Pick an area with full sunlight.  Most vegetables need at least 6 hours of sunlight.  If you garden is going to be close to a building structure or your home, consider placing it on the south side if available or on the east or west side.
• Be sure to place your garden away from trees and shrubs.  Trees and shrubs will compete with your garden plants for water and nutrients.
• Also, make sure to think convenience when planning your garden's location.  Make sure it is near your home where you'll see or walk by it daily.  Also, it is a good idea to make sure you can reach your garden at least within two hose lengths, otherwise you'll be carrying water a long ways (which might sound like a good exercise plan at the beginning of the season, but by the end of the summer you will most likely have wished the garden was closer.)
• Now at the same time you'll need to keep your garden away from high traffic areas.  Don't place your garden where your kids like to run around and play and don't put it where vehicles (and tractors if you're like me) drive.

This year, similar to past years, I'll be planting a salsa garden.  I love canning salsa and pizza sauce, plus I think salsa garden vegetables are relatively simple to take care of.  Below is an outline of my garden this year.  I'm going to intercrop my garden between long-season vegetables (i.e. tomatoes, peppers), next to short-season vegetables (i.e. radishes, onions).  The short-season vegetables will be harvested before the height of the summer and will be removed, allowing more room for the long-season vegetables.

Do you plant a garden?  What plants are you including in your plan for this year?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

I went to the #IAblogger meet-up last week and was inspired to try setting up my own Linky Party.  So here we go!  Link up your garden posts (tips, plans, recipes, etc.) here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Green Thumb Journey

At the beginning of the spring when I first planted my salsa garden and began my Green Thumb Journey I said one of my goals was to have enough tomatoes to make salsa this year.  I am proud to announce that I made my first batch of salsa today!

I am so excited that this year I had a bumper crop of tomatoes and that I actually have some extra that I can make salsa with.  In fact, I have so many tomatoes this year I think I am going to have to do something more with them than just BLTs, cooking and canning salsa.  Do you have any suggestions?  What do you like to do with your tomatoes?  Any good recipes to share?

Green Thumb Journey

It has been quite awhile since I gave my last "Green Thumb Journey" update.  Overall, I feel pretty good on how well I've kept up on taking care of my garden this summer.  This summer's drought's dry conditions were both positive and negative to my gardens.

The negative:  My pumpkin & gourd patch!

My pumpkins and gourds have flowered two different times but still have developed nothing.  Usually I never have to worry about getting a crop from my pumpkin and gourd patch, but this year I'm worried.  I just don't think my patch got enough water and I think they were competing too much with the neighboring corn - which didn't result well for either.  Luckily for me there is a new pumpkin patch that will be open this fall in our area!


The positive:  My tomatoes!

I can't believe how many tomatoes I have this year!  They have really liked the dry conditions.  I have so many tomatoes that some plant branches are almost touching the ground they have so much weight on them from all the tomatoes!

I picked my first tomatoes (and peppers) about a week and a half ago.  Now I pick several tomatoes every other day, and I have literally over 100 left to ripen and pick.  Earlier this week I got all of my canning supplies ready to make a lot of homemade salsa!

My first tomato and pepper pick - August 6th

Besides my tomatoes, my peppers are doing fairly well and my onions are doing okay.  I think my onions would be doing better if I had planted then deeper.  I also had a lot of weed pressure at one point this summer that I think hurt my onions.

Did you plant a garden this year?  Did the drought effect your garden positively or negatively in any way?

Green Thumb Journey

I promised a couple weeks ago in my original "Green Thumb Journey" post that I'd give an update on my garden today.  I'm proud to say that things are going pretty well.

My pumpkin and gourd garden (photo above) has many plants that have popped out from the ground.  Looking at the photo it looks like I need to do some weeding, but I have to admit it is hard to weed a pumpkin and gourd patch when you know they'll grow through anything!

Here a look at my salsa garden (photo above).  I weeded on Sunday but I see I need to do it again already.  I thought about taking a picture after I weeded it the other day but figured by today it wouldn't be that bad...

Both my tomato plants (photo above) and pepper plants (photo below) are flowering now.  I took the milk jugs off my tomato plants on Sunday, and a couple of my pepper plants are getting ready to grow out of the top of their tiles.

My radishes (photo above) still need a little bit longer.  I picked a couple today and the ones I picked tasted good at dinner!  I hope to have all my radishes ready by Sunday so I can give some to my Dad on Father's Day - I know he'd really like that.  And if they aren't done by Sunday I have some relatives coming to Iowa next week that hopefully I'll be able to share some with.

 The best part of gardening this year is that LP is able to be a part of it more.  Last year I did everything while he took naps and now he is out in the garden with me every day helping.  He loves carrying the watering can to the hydrant and playing in the dirt!


How are your gardens coming along?  Any advice on gardening for someone trying to become a "Green Thumb"?

Green Thumb Journey

For the last couple of years I have had a garden and I have to admit, I haven't been the best gardener.  Areas where I have stumbled include:  letting weeds overtake my garden and not keeping up on watering the plants.  Now I haven't been a "brown thumb" and just kill everything I lay a hand on, but I am a far cry from being a "green thumb."  I figured if I updated my blog throughout the summer on the progress of my garden, I just might keep up on my garden better - think of it as an accountability thing.

So, here is a look at my garden:

Salsa Garden plus Radishes, planted on May 19th

In my "salsa" garden I have planted five different varieties of tomato plants, six varieties of peppers, onions and radishes.  My goal with this garden is to be able to make and can some salsa at the end of the summer.  So you all know, I also keep a pot of cilantro in my kitchen, so I'll be adding that to my salsa too.

Salsa Garden on May 29th

I'm happy to report that so far I have been keeping up on the weeds (but I realize I haven't had too much of a battle yet), and I have been keeping up on daily care.  Everything is growing nicely so far.

I also love to plant pumpkins and gourds.  One mistake I made in the past was having my pumpkins and gourds in the same area as my salsa garden.  This doesn't work because the pumpkins and gourds overtake the entire garden, so this year I have a separate pumpkin and gourd patch!  I planted it yesterday, so you obviously can't see too much from it right now but I hope to have some nice pumpkins and gourds for LP to carve and share with family and friends.

Pumpkin & Gourd Patch

My plan is to update you on my "Green Thumb Journey" every couple weeks.  Here is to yummy salsa and lots of pumpkins and gourds!