All About Kimberly

Sailing Along the Life of Single Parenthood

Monthly Archives: July 2008

Disney & Toys R US ~ Exclusive Costume Designs

I think I’ve written enough about costumes for you to know we put a lot of thought into the costumes for Halloween, trips to Disney, and even Dress up at our house.  I just read about a new set of Disney costumes.

Disney and Toys R Us are joining together to create and sell an exclusive set of ten (10) costumes that will only be available through Toys R Us and Babies R us and part of the proceeds will go towards the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF).

Unfortunately for me it looks like these costumes aren’t going to be large enough for Cameron, but for other Disney fan Moms out there, I wanted to pass this on.

A Seafood Recipe

I LOVE seafood – absolutely love it, but I’m usually leery to cook it.  I don’t know why, but I just don’t have a lot of luck when it comes to seafood, but I do have a couple favorites that I’ve learned to cook over the years. My favorites (for me to cook) are my slow cooker seafood recipes.  I’m a big lover of pasta and seafood so this is probably my favorite crock pot seafood recipe. I call it Seafood Pasta and makes enough for the three of us to eat it and then have leftovers for lunches the next day so probably about 5 servings.

Seafood Pasta

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 lb. crab meat (If I can’t get my hands on this I have used the imitation crab meat sold at all grocery stores and it turned out fine)
  • 1/2 pound bay scallops, already lightly sauteed
  • 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and also cooked
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 3 cups Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
  • 2 Tbsp. melted butter (if no butter is on hand margarine is ok)
  • Touch of pepper

As I mentioned, your seafood should actually already be cooked. I usually saute everything, and I’ve also just boiled the shrimp too.

Directions:

  1. Combine sour cream, butter, and cheese in the slow cooker
  2. Slowly stir in each remaining ingredient.
  3. Cover and cook on low for one to two hours.
  4. When you are almost ready to eat, boil linguine to package instructions and then pour your sauce out of the crock pot onto the dishes of linguine.

Accompaniments: I accompany this with sauteed veggies particularly yellow squash and zucchini.

Do you have any favorite seafood meals? I’d love to hear about them, and if you try this recipe, please come back and let me know how your family like its. Do you think this would be worthy of the Great American Seafood Cook off? Or even better yet, do you have any recipes that you think are worthy of the cook off?  If so, let’s link up and create a great seafood recipe selection.

If you aren’t familiar with the Great American Seafood Cook Off, this is an annual contest for great recipes for domestic seafood. The contest will be held in New Orleans this weekend and the price of admission is really cheap ($10).  How cool would it be to watch the 5th Annual Cook Off that is showing us great ways to utilize local and fresh seafood.

Contests & More Contests – ONE STOP ENTRY

Wow! I can’t believe all the contests going on over at JoJo’s Place.  If you haven’t participated in this party yet, you better head over there. I found them tonight and she’s already got 16 contests going.  (And yes, I’ve entered each one!) There are baby/kid contests for some of the most adorable things I have ever seen in my life, and if you don’t have a little one (or know anyone that does), she’s also got a ton of jewelry and other great items she’s giving away. Be sure to go check her out and get entered in all the contests she’s already listed. And that isn’t all of them so keep checking back. She’s going to continue listing 4 new ones EVERY day.

I’ve done some searching but not been successful yet, but if anyone out there has some tips for getting started with blogging contests and getting donations to review and host giveaways, I’d sure like some insiders tips. I think it would be so much fun to host my own contests!!

$3.68 = Lines, LONG Lines

Yes..gas today at our local grocery store was $3.68 and I had to wait behind TWO cars to get gas.  I know I need to adjust, but this still just blows my mind – $3.68 and we are excited!  So excited we are all filling up our cars with gas!!  In my defense, I actually NEEDED gas to get home, but I would have probably still been in the line – even if not in that situation. I actually was able to fill up for $3.61 as you get a discount every time you spend $100 on groceries. I’m not old – really I’m not, but gas prices are one of the things that make me feel old. I worked at a local grocery store that also had gas pumps in high school and even the first couple years of college, and do you know how much gas  was then?  $0.86 a gallon!!  That’s how much!! Less than a $1.00 and now we are excited to see it less than FOUR DOLLARS!!! WOW!!

Other Budget Savers

As I was finishing up the previous posts on saving money, I thought of another item we are now workign on going to that will end up saving us money – solar powered light fixtures outside. I have replaced one outside light already and have it running only by solar power, and hope to replace the second main one in the next month or two. I’ve also been thinking of installing another one inside my shed if that’s possible. (My dad’s not looked at the solar lights, but said he would next time he goes to a home improvement store.)  I would love to find some other ways to incorporate solar power into our home (especially during the summer when we have SOOO much solar power).

Are you making any changes in your lifestyle with the increase in fuel and energy prices?