Grilled Shrimp Tacos With Creamy Cilantro and Jalapeno Sauce

I recently came across one of those Facebook recipe videos for grilled shrimp tacos and I couldn't wait to make them. I changed a few things when I made them on Tuesday and they were such a hit! We had my little sister over for dinner and there was not a shrimp left!

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Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Creamy Cilantro Jalapeno Sauce

 

Ingredients

 

•    1 pound shrimp, deveined & tails removed

•    1 tsp paprika •    1 tsp garlic powder •    1 tsp dried oregano •    1 tsp cumin •    1 tsp red pepper flakes •    1 tsp salt •    6-8 bamboo or metal skewers •    4 tbs olive oil •    6-8 flour or corn tortillas   Creamy cilantro jalapeno sauce: •    1 large jalapeno pepper, diced and de-seeded  •    1 cup sour cream •    3 tbs cilantro, minced •    1 lime juice & zest •    1/4 tsp salt   
Instructions

1. In a large bowl, season shrimp with paprika, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes and salt. Toss gently to combine. 2. Using your skewers poke through the top and bottom of the shrimp. Repeat until all shrimp are used. 3. Right before you put the shrimp on the grill, brush each skewer with a generous amount of olive oil, this will keep them from sticking. 4. Grill over high heat for 3 minutes, brush the top side with more olive oil, flip, and let cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from skewers and set aside for taco assembly. 5. In a small bowl, combine all creamy cilantro sauce ingredients. Stir well to combine.  7. Assemble the tacos on flour or corn tortillas. 
This original recipe used corn tortillas and mixed the creamy sauce with red and green cabage and topped with cilantro and more sauce. Kyle isn't a fan of cabbage on his tacos so we used flour tortillas and topped our tacos with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese then the shrimp and creamy sauce. We loved these and they were super simple to make. It made for a fun dinner with fun company! Enjoy!        

The Ins & Out of Magnolia Market

 A few weekends ago Kyle and I took a weekend getaway down South, you can read about it here. I knew without a doubt that I wanted to visit Magnolia Market as I am HUGE fan of Chip & Joanna Gaines from HGTV's big hit Fixer Upper. As we headed to Waco, Texas I started making my list of items I wanted to be on the lookout for in the shop, places to visit in town and where to have lunch beforehand.

We arrived in Waco and I had read that there was a Torchy's Tacos in town and we are fun fans of tacos so I knew we had to have lunch there. We don't have a Torchy's in Oklahoma so tacos from somewhere new? Sign us up! We stopped into Torchy's which was just a couple blocks from the Silos, which is a part of the Magnolia Market if you are unfamiliar.

To give you the run down, Chip and Joanna had a small shop in the middle of downtown Waco, Magnolia Market before they purchased the Silos which are right outside of downtown. The Silos now are the center of their not so little corner of Webster Ave and 6th Street. The Silos aren't actually occupied but I hear they will be full soon and open to the public!

Then there is the Magnolia Market which is Chip and Joanna's store selling all kinds of home decor, fashion and Magnolia apparel and more. Chip wanted families to be able to have an experience while visiting the Silos and built an huge outdoor turf for kids and adults too to enjoy. On the HOT July afternoon we visited the turf was full of dads and kids tossing footballs, kicking soccer balls and little girls hula hooping as if they didn't have a care in the world under the scorching sun.

Lining the turf field are various food vendors so that you can also enjoy lunch or a yummy snack while visiting. Kyle and I hit up the popsicle cart and enjoy fresh strawberry and watermelon popsicles. Completely hit the spot as the temperatures were in triple digits that Saturday.

There is a beautiful garden full of fresh vegetables and fruit. The garden is complete with a small seed store for customers to purchase some of Joanna's favorite garden items. I had a nice chat with a lady tending to the garden while we were there. I asked, knowing Joanna has her own garden on their farm, what the produce was used for from the Silo Garden. She mentioned that most of it was given to local food banks there in Waco but sometimes Joanna's mom pops in for fresh ingredients for her own kitchen. A little later I saw her mom walking into the garden. So sadly we didn't meet Chip and Joanna but I did see her mom.

 Fan girling...Jo's mom. The sweet employee let me know she would take a pic with me and does it often. I just said I was fan girling but didn't need a pic with her. At least there are other crazy women out there like me hehe.

The latest addition to the Silos is Magnolia Flour which had just opened the week before we were there. This is the Magnolia Bakery that was so popular there was a line out the door. We had already had a popsicle but still waited in line just to see the new bakery and their delicious looking treats. Their cupcake line looked to die for and I heard great rants about their cinnamon rolls which we probably would have gotten one for the road but they were sold out.

The bakery was our last stop before leaving the Silos. We then headed to Harp Design Co which is the carpenter used by Joanna on Fixer Upper, Clint Harp's shop. Most of their merchandise is handmade by Clint himself. I picked up a few handmade wooden chalkboard signs.

Sadly, we completely forgot to stop by Chip and Joanna's Bed and Breakfast, The Magnolia Way. Next time, because I know I will be back! A quick stop by the Waco lake and we were headed back North.

It was a great experience, I was completely smitten and I can't wait to go back. Hopefully at some point we can snag a room at the B&B! Thanks to my great husband for being so wonderful and such a trooper while I shopped my way through the market!

Have you been to the Silos yet? Are you a fan of Chip and Joanna's?

     

Weekend Family Trip to St. Louis

Ah, ok y'all I have fallen off the blog wagon. I'm going to blame it on Summer. I really don't even know, so much going on worth blogging and so much content but no motivation. Here I go...trying to do better now!

Lets start off with a recap of our first family vacation in ten years. It wasn't a full family vacay because we were missing my older sister and her family and Kyle. All which couldn't go, we missed them! My parents, little sister and I headed to St. Louis for a weekend getaway a couple weekends ago. My dad is the biggest, die-hard Cardinals fan! I don't know a bigger fan and it was so fun to get to experience a game with him again. My mom scored the best seats in the house and my dad was as giddy as five year old on Christmas morning which made my whole year!

 

St. Louis is about a six hour drive from Tulsa and we made it in about seven hours...thanks to Pokemon Go and a few potty breaks. My little sister Caileigh was in Pokemon heaven and taught us all about the game as she even took us into a random small town cemetery for a "Poke Stop" along the way. We all had no clue but her but it was fun! 

 

Friday night after arriving and freshening up at our hotel we headed down to The Loop for dinner at Salt & Smoke for some great BBQ. The food was delicious and the portions were HUGE, if you go I highly recommend sharing plates. 

 

 

We had plans to go downtown for dinner and to visit the Arch but after hearing of a planned Blake Lives Matter Protest we decided the Loop was the way to go. It was packed with people walking the streets, live music and Pokemon Go players uhum, Caileigh.

 

We walked Delmar Street and then headed for frozen custard at Ted Drewe's. The famous frozen custard is a very known stop along Route 66 in St. Louis and was on my mom's list of places to stop in and try. They were beyond packed and obviously a very popular place for locals as well. The lines went fast and the custard was delicious!

Saturday morning we headed downtown to the Soulard Farmer's Market. And we did not get lost in East St. Louis first trying to find it, no we did not. But lets say we were so excited to find the market.  The Soulard Market opening its doors first in 1779 is HUGE and puts Oklahoma Farmer's Markets to shame. We spent over an hour just shopping to produce, hot food and spice vendors. I was wishing I could have bought lots of goodies to take back home but I didn't want to hassle with trying to keep it cool. I did test the egg rolls, delicious!

These cute little old men stole my heart as they played Bob Dylan on the guitar and harmonica. 

 

Once we left the farmer's market we headed over to the Budweiser Brewery.  We had planned to take a tour because only my parents had before but they were outside only tours and it was pretty toasty outside. We decided to just look through and enjoy a drink before heading to get some lunch.

I LOVE this picture of me and my dad

 

After we grabbed some lunch we started to head towards the stadium. We took the train to beat all the traffic and it was so convenient and perfect. It was the night of the ten year anniversary of the 2006 championship so the first few thousand people in the gate got a replica of one of the guy's championship rings. We of course couldn't miss out on this!

We saw a great game and my dad said it was the best one he's ever been to! It was close to no hitter and we won 5-0!! Thanks mom for the great seats, we had the best time! Oh and all I really wanted was dip in dots in a helmet, I got them. Yes, I'm five. 

I'm going to do a major photo dump of the trip because honestly I use this little space of mine to cherish memories so I want all these pictures here for me and my family to come back to over and over. And if you made it this far, you practically went on our trip with us!

That's a wrap ladies and gents, our weekend trip as a partial family! Stop back in tomorrow, I'll have a full recap of our recent trip to Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas!