Blogspiration

First a word of advice: 
WEAR GLOVES WHEN CHOPPING HOT PEPPERS

I’m sure most of you already knew this, and you’d think I would of thought of this as I’ve experienced this “problem” in the past, once.  However, I don’t use hot peppers often and so it just slipped my mind.

I chopped 2 jalapeños Monday night for chili, and 24 hours later my fingers still taste spicy…and lets just say I finally DID put on gloves to put my contacts in my eyes.  Oh the burn.  After a little googling, sounds like it can get a lot worse for some people, when their hands just start burning on their own luckily mine is only if i put my finger in my mouth (or eye)…yeah. 

GLOVES people.  gloves. 

Blogspiration = Blog Inspiration.

One of the best things about the blog world and keeping up with SO many blogs out there is all the great ideas you get!  As much as I love cooking magazines and cookbooks, I find I get ideas for dinners, desserts, snacks…products, ANYTHING from other bloggers!

Even better when I can take ideas from more than 1 blog and combine them to create my own version of dinner…

Crispy Shrimp Tacos with Mango Slaw

You want to prep the slaw first.  I read about this slaw on Cara’s blog when she made her slow cooker buffalo chicken.

She didn’t give a recipe, but I used her description as a starting point.

My slaw contained:

• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 mango, chopped
• 1/2 head of purple cabbage sliced
• cilantro
• juice from 2 limes
• splash of red wine vinegar
• 1-2 tsp granulated sugar

Adjust the dressing quantities to your taste. 

Let the slaw hang out while you make the shrimp!

The crispy shrimp taco idea came from How Sweet It Is blog.  I used Jessica’s recipe for the preparation of the shrimp.

Crispy Shrimp
from How Sweet It Is

• raw de-veined shrimp, tails removed – I used about 3/4lb
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Clean and dry shrimp with some paper towels. Combine salt, pepper, garlic and cumin and sprinkle it over the shrimp. Add the flour to a small bowl, and dredge the shrimp through the flour to get a very light coating on it. Heat a skillet on medium high heat and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the shrimp and brown on each side, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove the shrimp and let drain on a paper towel.

Brian and I loved how the shrimp came out!  Must use this method again.

I went back to Cara’s recipe and used her method for making the tortilla shells…however, I guess the brand of tortilla’s I use like to “puff” up 

Hard to see (and this was the better of the two) but they puffed up so much in the oven it was hard to get them off the rack without breaking them!!  Next time I’d poke holes in them first.

We topped our tacos with grated Cojita cheese (which reminds me of a saltier, drier feta!), and an Avocado cream:

• 1/2 avocado, mashed
• add sour cream until you’ve reached your desired mix…mine was a very light green.  It was delicious!!

A little hard to eat, but these were incredibly flavorful and we both loved them.

Thanks bloggers!