Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya

Yay, it's almost the long weekend! 

I'll be off for a few days with some good friends to do a bit of shopping in Edmonton. 

It will be a much-enjoyed break from everything that's been going on in our lives.

What are your plans?

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One of our family's all-time favourite meals that I cook is Jambalaya. And really, this recipe comes together so quickly & is so tasty, that there is nothing stopping you from making it any night of the week.

Let me introduce you to my Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya.

Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya
makes 6 servings

1 tsp. canola oil
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

8 oz. kielbasa, cut into bite sized pieces
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/3 cups mild salsa
1 1/4 cups uncooked rice (I use brown)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
12 oz. uncooked shrimp, tails removed
1/4 chopped, fresh parsley

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add vegetables. Cook & stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 4 minutes.

Add kielbasa & cook for 2 more minutes. Add all remaining ingredients, except shrimp & parsley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom.

Stir in shrimp & parsley. Cook for 5 minutes more or until shrimp turn pink, are cooked through & rice is tender.

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See you again on Wednesday!

Enjoy your weekend!

20 Outdoor Spaces & Garden Ideas

How was your Mother's Day weekend? Did you plant your garden? Do some yard clean up? 

We did some yard clean up, gardening, & got out the patio furniture. 

On with spring!

Here are 20 beautiful garden spaces that are inspiring me...

Let's start with some gorgeous yards & container arrangements:

Source

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Cheery Mother's Day Card

Mother's Day is just around the corner... are you prepared or do you still need to rush to the store? 

I'm a little of both, this year. My cards are done, but the gifts have yet to be purchased. 

(Mom, if you're seeing this, you can just pretend to be surprised on Sunday.) :)

Chevron Wall Art

  Am I the only one who wants to spruce things up in their home in Spring time? Rearranging furniture, bookshelves, pictures on the walls... Spring is a time of CHANGE. Last week, I showed you my family room & a list of small things I wanted to tackle to spruce it up a bit. Here is my first completed project from that list.

  The art in our family room was feeling kind of tired to me {Yawn}. Definitely time for a change. Something fresh & springy.

  I had these 9 canvases that I got at the dollar store several years ago & I covered them with patterned paper to make my own "art". After changing them a couple of times, I was ready for something new again.

BEFORE

  I started thinking chevron... something in chevron. But what colour? How about a few colours? My idea was born: take the existing canvases, take off the paper & paint a chevron print onto them with craft paint. Three rows of canvases, three different colours. Yellow, grey, & aqua.

  I found a chevron template printable here & got all my supplies together.

 After tracing & cutting two stencils out of cardboard, I started painting. Let me tell you from experience that you should first paint your whole canvas your background colour first. It would have made touch ups go much faster. Alas, hindsight is 20/20. :)

Here is the finished product:

  I also moved them to the other side of the room over the couch. Please forgive the poor photos as there is no natural light in this room.

  The total cost of this artwork was very small. I had the canvases already so there was no cost there. The only thing I had to buy was the yellow & aqua paint - a cost of under $5.

  I love being able to cross things off of my to do list!

• New artwork above the couch 
• New artwork for T.V. wall 
• Makeover the little table my map lamp sits on
• Paint the dress-up box (to the right of the couch)

Now on to the other projects!

Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

This project was featured on:

Home Tour (Part 7) : The Family Room

  Wow, it's been several months since I shared the next instalment in my Home Tour. It's about time I showed you another room! 

  I must admit to you that the reason I haven't showed you this room is because I'm not in love with some of the furniture. We are hoping to be able to replace some of it soon, but for now it is what it is. 

  So here's the family room as of last week...

  Sorry about the bad lighting. This room is hard to photograph since it's in our basement & there's no natural light.

Here's what this room looked like when we bought the house. 

Pretty much a blank, boring, & somewhat dirty slate.

(And look how little my daughter is! That was almost 5 years ago now...)

 
  So, as you can see, we ripped up the old, dirty carpet & laid laminate flooring. We painted the walls & trim (No more periwinkle door!) and we updated the lighting.

My Ikea Expedit Bookshelf which I love!

Here are my ideas of how to spruce up the space while we wait for some new furniture:

• New artwork above the couch (I'm in the middle of working on this one & should be able to show it to you next week.)
• New artwork for T.V. wall
• Makeover the little table my map lamp sits on
• Paint the dress-up box (to the right of the couch)

And because we all enjoy before & after shots...

Ta-da!

So, be sure to come back next week for the art project I'm working on for this room.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Haha! Can you guess what it is?? :)

Have a great weekend! See you next week!