Summer Cooking: Grilled Fish Tacos

I heart Wegmans.
Not only because shopping there is such a great experience.
Seriously, it reminds me of going to Busch Gardens as a kid: there is great anticipation building up to it, a great time while you're there, and afterwards, if you close your eyes, you can imagine yourself right back there.
Wegmans is also awesome because they have great prices, and they put out Menu Magazine, which has coupons in it :) And some seriously delicious recipies.

That's where this one is from.

I love grilling out in the Summertime. Even if it is on our apartment-style outdoor George Foreman grill. We can still achieve grill marks, so that feels somewhat legit.

Here's what you need:
I like to prep a meal like this in the morning, then put the chopped veggies in baggies in the fridge, so when I get home from work, getting dinner on the table doesn't take so long.
4 tilapia fillets
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup Wegmans Mojo Marinade
1 cup Mayonnaise
3 Tbsp milk
1 pkg (0.25 oz) Fresh Cilantro (10 sprigs)
Juice of 1 lime (1-2 Tbsp), plus additional lime wedges for garnish
6 Taco Tortillas Gordita Style
1/2 pkg Shredded Red Cabbage (about 2 cups)
1 small red onion, peeled, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 avocado, peeled, sliced
Cilantro leaves for garnish

And here is the recipe from Wegmans:

You'll Need: Nonstick foil

Directions:

Preheat grill on HIGH 10 min.

1. Place fillets in glass dish or bowl. Season both sides of each fillet with salt and pepper; add marinade. Marinate, covered, 20-30 min (or up to 2 hours) in refrigerator.
   
2. Make sauce: Combine mayonnaise, milk, cilantro, and lime juice in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
   
3. Clean grill with wire brush. Cover grill grates with nonstick foil.
   
4. Place fillets on grill. Reduce heat to MEDIUM. Sear 2-3 min, until fillet has changed color one quarter of way up from bottom. Turn over; close lid and cook 4-5 min, until internal temp reaches 130 degrees. Check by inserting thermometer halfway into thickest part of fish. Transfer to clean platter; let rest at least 2 min. Cut fillets into bite-sized pieces.
   
5. Warm tortillas on grill, 10 seconds each side. Remove from grill; keep warm (stack and cover with clean kitchen towel).
   
6. Assemble tacos: Top tortilla with a few pieces of fillet, sprinkle with red cabbage and red onion, 2 slices of avocado and a drizzle of sauce. Fold over. Garnish with a squeeze of lime and a couple of cilantro leaves.

Home Improvement, Craigslist Style!

After our week of vacation with M's family, we stopped at Ikea to "pick up a few things." This inspired me to turn our entire apartment upside down and gut everything and re-organize.

I don't do anything half way.
So, that meant almost an entire month of cleaning, organizing, taking stuff to Goodwill, and buying things on Craigslist.

Here are some of the highlights.

1. We officially have guest quarters. I'm sorry if I have posted about this before. I can't seem to remember what I put here and what I put on Facebook. So, if I'm repeating myself, oh well.
I like to go on scouting missions to Ikea, write down what I like, then stalk that item out on Craigslist, until I can find it for like half price, assembled, and not smelling like a pet store and/or a lot of international food.

We got rid of a bunch of books, etc. out of our office, moved my desk to the back corner, opposite M's desk, and made room for this futon, and a big wardrobe.

I was so proud of myself for figuring out a way to assemble this really heavy wardrobe. I also got an incredible deal on it from Craigslist. This might be the best deal I've ever gotten on there. New, this would cost more than $1,000! It's pretty much in "new" condition, and I paid only $200!! Sa-weeeet!

2. I finally found a small freezer for our apartment!
I've been searching and searching Craigslist for a freezer that is big enough for us to store extra meat and what not in, but small enough for our apartment, for under $100. I had to drive to Maryland for this one, but it fit in my SUV and it was also a steal. Now, we can save money buying in bulk and stocking up on frozen items when they're on sale, yay. Plus, M can get to stuff in this freezer, and he can't reach the freezer on top of our fridge, so that is a bonus. We had to turn our dining room table the opposite way to make room, but it works.

3. Countrifying/Beachifying our living room.
I need to take some more pictures of our living room, because this particular picture doesn't really show you the improvements. But, in this pic, you can see our new curtains, new toss pillows, and decorative stuff we've added to our living room. I'm realizing that my style is changing a bit. It's a little bit beachy, and a little bit country. Not so much modern and empty. Which is fitting, I guess. Because beachy and country is a pretty accurate description of the two of us, don't you think?

4. Creating a beautiful space on our porch.
Michael and I went to Home Depot, and he picked out a bunch of flowers for our porch. He also had a brilliant, and budget-friendly idea to elevate them, cinderblocks! I need to take some more pictures out there, too... because our flowers and plants have really blossomed! And, we've added some teak wind chimes. It really has become a beautiful space! The other day, M said a woman told him she and her daughter always have to walk by our porch so her little girl can see the flowers. That made us feel so good!

That isn't all we've done around here. It was a busy month, but very productive. And, we are so blessed to live in a space that we love. Our home is so colorful and beautiful, I love being here! I do wish this joint would clean itself, though! Oh well.

On Making Homemade Dog Food

For the past month, Princess has been on a little food trial.

She is itchy all the time, so she constantly chews and licks herself all the time, and therefore smells like old lady dog breath.
God love her.
Bless her heart.
But it's bad.

Our vet thinks she might be allergic to something in dog food.
So, for the last month, I have been making her food. She can only eat sweet potatoes and pinto beans. That. Is. It.

I tried cooking some for her in the crock pot, but she actually seems to prefer the canned stuff.
Thank God for Aldi, or this diet would cost a small fortune!
Princess did like the homemade sweet potato skins as treats. But there haven't been any of those since the crockpot meal she wasn't a fan of, so, it's organic sweet potato chips for her!
Two more months of this food trial before we will know anything. It doesn't seem to be making a difference so far, but I'm hoping it will.

Because even though hand mixing "dog food" by hand is more time consuming and more expensive, I'm willing to to that for our little Princess.
And, ahem, for a better smelling house.
I'm not sure if Mr. Corn Chip feet is going to like going back to bit having sweet potato/pinto coated dog food. It seems he has become quite spoiled. (what else is new, right?)

Shower Chair #FAIL

I took these pictures of these two shower chairs a couple of months ago, anticipating writing a blog post about them.

Now, I'm digging the pictures out and writing a blog post. But it's not the post that I thought it was going to be. At all.
You see, I thought I was going to write all about how happy we were to have this new shower chair, because it is better, lighter, cleaner, and it's not as bad looking. I thought about how wonderful it was going to be to have a shower chair we could fold up and take on trips with us and such.
And I thought I was going to tell you about how happy I was to get rid of this old clunker because it was mildewey, and it kept scratching and cutting M's feet with it's jagged edges. And he had to wear flip flops. And the backrest was stretched out and always falling down.

Sigh.
But, no.
I'm actually going to write a blog about something I thankfully only have a couple of, regrets.

I regret that I wheeled that old clunker to the dumpster, with a smile on my face, practically before I had all of the plastic off the new one.

Because this shiny, sparkly new, lightweight foldable thing is a MESS.
I hate it. I curse at it sometimes, even.

Because it has taken something away from us, it has caused us to move backwards.
This awful situation has been going on for a couple of months now. At first, there were a lot of tears. Out of all four of our eyes. It has caused us to confuse our anger with the situation as anger toward each other. It has been down right awful! Even on vacation. Twice.

But, I am glad we were able to fold the stupid thing up and take it with us. So, that is one good thing.

We have been back and forth with the insurance company and the maker of the chair about the chair's horrible design and how, despite the modifications we've made, it just doesn't work for Michael to be able to handle his bathroom stuff independently, and that just doesn't work for our life!!
Hopefully we will have a new chair that works much better, very soon.

We don't really cry about it anymore. I can only tell you from my perspective, and that is this: it's not necessarily that this situation has gotten any easier, it's just that I've gotten used to it. I've gotten faster at working with this nemesis, I've gotten used to the routine, and breathing through my mouth for an hour or so.

So, yeah. Even though I hated that old chair because I thought it looked awful, like an electric chair or something, I wish I hadn't thrown it away.
Because as much as I am into the way things appear... In this case, the ugly one was WAY better.

Bottom line, unless you are at least 7 feet tall, seriously think twice before you buy this chair! For search engine purposes, the name of the chair is: Invacare Mariner Rehab Shower Commode Chair

Ritter Family Vacation (Part 2)

The resort where we stayed was also home to a bunch of beautiful horses.
We missed this part, but the kids got to go on pony rides!
Well, Brody did...
And Marissa did...
But Grey?
We heard that while he really loves the "horsies," he did not really love the idea of getting ON one!

In keeping with tradition, we did a family photo shoot. Last year it was the ocean, this year, the country!
I'm just going to do a massive picture dump here.. but pay attention, because some of them are from setting up/just funny moments caught in between the real shots!
I'm going to stop there because I love my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law! :)

Ritter Family Vacation (Part 1)

Back in May, yes, May... told you, I'm really behind... we went on vacation in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, with Michael's family. I'm just getting to posting some of the millions of pictures that were taken, now.

We stayed in a darling little cabinet in the woods. It was really peaceful and quiet.

Which was nice.
We spent one day in Charlottesville with my in-laws. Shopping on the Downtown Mall...
And brilliant, delicious lunch at a darling little cafe.
We enjoyed time not only with Michael's parents, but also his brother and sister in law, Jarred and Crystal, and their boys, Brody and Grey. And his Aunt Tonja, Uncle Robby and cousin Marissa. We missed Caitlin though!!!
We played and played...And ate and ate...
I have a picture of LaDonna doing this very same thing from every vacation we have ever taken together.
And this same picture of Buddy too! Haha.
Of course, there was picture time on the deck...
And LOTS of time at the pools... (indoor and outdoor)
More to come... I think I have now maxed out Blogger's ability to upload photos! :)