Tasty Thursday - Copy Cat Mexican Shrimp Dish

There's this one Mexican restaurant by my parents house that has a dish called "AC Shrimp."  I haven't seen it at any other restaurant, but it is amazing!  I decided to try and recreate it at home, and while it's not exactly like the dish at the restaurant (really, it's never the same is it!?) it still turned out pretty dang good!

I started some Spanish Rice,

 I cut up a green bell pepper, half an onion, a summer squash, and some broccoli and sauteed them in the skillet until they were soft.  Then I threw in some precooked shrimp to heat them up.

 

 I put some mexican cheese dip in the microwave and melted it,

 

then served it all on top of the rice.

Yum!  

Do you have any good copy cat restaurant recipes?  I know this isn't a complicated dish, but I was pretty proud of myself for thinking this up, and it totally satisfied a craving I was having for Mexican food!  If you try it out, or if you've had it before and have any suggestions for making it better, I'd love to hear!

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Link Parties - I don't get to all of them with each post, but you should check them out!

Sundays:  I <3 Naptime, 1+1+1=1 ( kid friendly), Little Wonders' Days (kid friendly)
Mondays : C.R.A.F.T.,Making the World Cuter, The Girl Creative, Skip To My Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping It Simple, Sew Can Do, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Home Stories A to Z,Ninth Street Notions, Polly Want A Crafter, Ask Anna, Pinkapotamus, So Creative, Mrs. Happy Homemaker
Tuesdays: Today's Creative Blog, All Thingz Related, Sugar Bee Crafts,Tales of A Trophy Wife, Today's Creative Blog, Not Just A Housewife, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Crayon Freckles,
Wednesdays: Fireflies & Jelly Beans, Sew Much Ado, Blue Cricket Design, Lil' Luna, Polka Dots On Parade, Free Pretty Things For You, A Little Tipsy (DIY under $5), DIY By Design, Raising 4 Princesses(kid friendly), This Chick Cooks (recipes), Lollipops (what I love), Sew Much Ado, Organize and Decorate Everything, The Girl Creative
 Thursdays: A Glimpse Inside, My Repurposed Life, Simple Home Life,
Fridays: TaterTots & Jello, Sun Scholars (kid friendly), Remodelaholic, Bacon Time, Stuff & Nonsense, At The Picket Fence
Saturdays: I Can Teach My Child (kid friendly), Be Different, Act Normal,

http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2011/10/halloween-ideas-party.html
http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2011/10/fall-fun-party.html
http://www.craftyconfessions.com/2011/09/pumpkin-addicts-anonymous-link-party.html
ishareprintables 

Toddler Teaching Tuesdays - B is for Brown Bear Unit

This week we're focusing on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See Book by Eric Carle, and the animals and colors talked about in the book.

                                                                                                          

I chose this because K (the toddler) is showing some interest in looking through books, and this is a great book where you can focus on animals and colors.

I found some great printable pages at DLTK- Teach that you can print in color or in black and white.  I printed them out and had Kole color each one the same as in the story, 2 each day.  We've used the sheets to teach and review animal sounds.  At the end of the week we put them all together into a book, and K still loves "reading" it! We'll look through it and imitate the sounds, or even sing an unusual round of Old McDonald.

We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See daily, but then on top of that we divided the week into colors and focusing on those. We took two colors a day, and ate snacks with those food colors and did crafts using the two colors of the day.

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Foods by Colors

Brown foods: chocolate pudding,

Red foods: strawberries, cherries

Yellow foods: bananas, cheese

Blue foods: blueberries, sorted out fruit gushers

Green foods: grapes, green beans

White foods: milk, bread, grits

Black foods: oreos (any ideas for others?)

Purple foods: grapes, fruit juice

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Crafts by Colors/Animals

Brown Bear - printable in color or black and white - works on coloring, gluing, and cutting if old enough

 









Red Bird - printable in black and white - give a craft feather and red paint and let them go to town painting

Yellow Duck - use paper plates, paint,and construction paper

Blue Horse -foot print horse craft - switch brown paper for a different shade of blue from the sky

 Green Frog - brown paper bag frog puppet

Purple Cat - finger puppet using pipe cleaners and pompom balls - change the color to go along with the book

 






White Dog - I cut out this dog and let K glue it down to paper - not particularly crafty or original, but really - how do you make a white dog!?

Black Sheep -lamb hand print craft - I left this activity how it is instead of making the sheep all black because it's just so cute, however to stick to the book you could color the cotton balls with paint or marker

Gold Goldfish - use this printable of a fish, and cover it with glue and gold glitter

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Songs About Colors

I've found all of these songs on Tammy's Teaching Tips

Blue...
( Are you Sleeping?)
B-L-U-E
B-L-U-E
That spells blue!
That Spells blue!
Buttons are blue
Eyes are too
Blue, blue, blue
Blue, Blue ,Blue

Red...
( Three Blind Mice)
R-E-D
R-E-D
Red is the word.
Red is the word.
Apples & Strawberries both are red.
Tomatoes & Cherries are also red.
R-E-D
R-E-D

Red...
(Three Blind Mice)
Red, red, red.
Red, red, red.
What is red?
What is red?
Apples, cherries, and-me, oh my-
Tomatoes to bake in a pizza pie.
Red is the color, and that is why
We sing of red.


Green...
( BINGO)
There is a color we all know
Can you guess what it is?
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
Green is what that spells.
The grass and leaves outside
are green as green as they can be.
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
Green is what that spells!

Pink ...
( Are you sleeping?)
P-I-N-K
P-I-N-K
That spells pink.
That spells pink.
Bubble gum is pink
Pigs and piggies pink
Pink, Pink, Pink
Pink, Pink, Pink

Black ...
( Put your little foot)
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black
Hat are black
Some cats are black
Yes both of these are black
So if you really really like black
What you need to know is that
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black!

Brown...
( The Farmer and the Dell)
B-R-O-W-N
B-R-O-W-N
B-R-O-W-N
That's how you spell brown
Big Trees are brown
Big trees are brown
B-R-O-W-N
Big trees are brown
And Acorns are brown
Yes acorns are brown
B-R-O-W-N
That's how you spell brown!

Orange...
( Ten Little Indians)
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
Orange like the fruit you like to eat.
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
Orange like Jack-O-lanterns bright
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE

Purple...
( Turkey in the straw)
P-U-R-P-L-E
Can you guess what that spells?
P-U-R-P-L-E
Do you know what that spells?
Yes purples what that spells.
Like the grapes on the vine.
Yes purple's what it spells
Like the Kool-Aid in your glass.
P-U-R-P-L-E
Yes purple that does spell.
P-U-R-P-L-E
That is all I have to tell!

White...
(Happy Birthday)
W-H-I-T-E, W-H-I-T-E
Snowballs and popcorn
Are as white as can be!

Yellow...
(Baa, Baa Black Sheep)
Yellow Yellow is the sun
Shining down on everyone
Y-e-l-l-o-w, Y-e-l-l-o-w
Yellow, yellow is the sun
Shine on me so I can have fun.

The Rainbow Song...
(Jesus Loves Me)
Red, orange, green, and blue
Shiny yellow, purple, too.
All the colors that you know
Show up in the rainbow.


When I say RED put your hands on your head.
When I say BLUE put your hands on your shoe.
When I say BLACK put your hands on your back.
When I say BROWN move your hands all around.
When I say GREEN wipe your face real clean
When I say PINK just think, think, think. (tap temple with finger)
When I say PURPLE make two little circles
When I say WHITE squeeze your fingers real tight
When I say YELLOW wave to the fellow
When I say TAN throw up your hands
When I say GRAY say have a nice day
When ORANGE is found make it big and round 


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Hope your kiddo enjoys it as much as I did K did!



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Linking Up To
Todays Creative Blog 
Sugar Bee Crafts 
Raising 4 Princesses
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Home Stories A to Z
Not Just A Housewife
Confessions of A Stay At Home Mommy
Sun Scholars
1+1+1=1 Tot School



Wordless Wednesday

I'd love to stay and chat, but really I...

Fun With Food

I decided to make a fun lunch for the boys today. I found this site and this site that have some great ideas, so I chose some and improvised with what we had at the house. The kiddos have lots of sensory issues, and are very limited in what they'll eat, so I'm always trying to introduce new foods and in ways that will entice them to eat.
I made a fish with mandarin oranges and blueberries,

and turned a bologna and cheese sandwich into a monkey (truthfully it was supposed to be Mater from Cars but that didn't turn out so well so I turned it into a monkey)

Unfortunately I think it was too abstract of a concept for them because when I showed it to them and asked them what it was/ what it was in the shape of/ what it looked like (believe me I asked a million ways before giving them the answer) the kiddo who got the fish just kept saying oranges, and the one with the monkey said "Oh wow!" (it got my hopes up here that he got it) then followed it with "A bologna sandwich! Thanks Jessica!"...at least I had fun making them! :D