Exotically Easy Shrimp & Pomegranate Tostadas

This recipe was just too good to keep to myself - Enjoy!

My goal for the evening was to enjoy a delicious meal made from the things I already had in the kitchen. I looked around to see what I had on hand and Googled it; shrimp, bacon, peas. This recipe caught my attention immediately as I have a whole bowl of fresh pomegranates just waiting to be eaten! The original recipe was found on the Food Porn Daily website and I adapted it making a few changes based on my tastes and ingredients. The final result was easy and extremely tasty! Enjoy :)

Shrimp, Sweet Pea and Pomegranate Tostadas

Ingredients:

2 thick-slices bacon, crispy and crumbled
1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
8 shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 tsp granulated garlic & 1/4 tsp Cumin
fresh pomegranate seeds
crumbled feta cheese
2 Tortillas (I used Trader Joe's Handmade Sun-dried Tomato & Habanero Tortillas)

Sweet Pea Puree:
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp Cumin
1 cup frozen sweet peas
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 - 1/3 cup milk
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Preparation:

Make the sweet pea puree. Add canola oil to a small saute pan over medium heat. Once pan and oil are hot, add the onion. Sweat the onion over medium heat until softened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, salt, pepper and cumin to the pan. Cook for another minute. Add frozen peas and lime juice to the pan. Raise heat to medium-high. Cook an additional 4-7 minutes or until peas have been heated through, stirring occasionally. Transfer mixture to food processor or use and immersion blender. Add 1/4 cup sour cream and a splash of water then blend until smooth. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Add 1 1/2 tbsp canola oil to a medium-sized saute pan over med-high to high heat. Season all sides of shrimp with granulated garlic, cumin, kosher salt (just a pinch) and freshly cracked black pepper. Once the pan is hot, just BEFORE the oil begins to smoke. add the shrimp to the pan in a single layer. Sear the shrimp for 1 1/2 minutes per side (3 minutes total) until just cooked through. Shrimp will be completely white and not longer translucent when fully cooked. Remove from heat a begin assembling tostadas.

To assemble, take one tortilla and spread a layer of pea puree over it. Gently layer bacon, and a generous amount of pomegranate over the pea puree. Finish with Shrimp and Feta. Repeat with second tortilla - I just put all the shrimp on one! Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Tackle the Garage in Preperation for Fall

As August charges towards the coming autumn and winter months, now is the perfect time to think about organizing your garage before the cold sets in. If you are like me, you have patio furniture and garden pots that live outside during the summer that will need to come inside the garage soon where they live out the rest of the year.

For many people the thought of having to make space for all this outdoor paraphernalia provokes a great deal of anxiety; so much for any thought of getting the car in the garage this winter! However, it is not necessary for this twice-annual ritual to cause panic, all you need to do is prepare a little in advance and get organized.

First things first, let's evaluate what is taking up all that space in your garage. Now is a great time to go through all your treasures and make three piles; DONATE, DUMP, KEEP. Start in one corner of the garage and work your way systematically around the room. It is extremely helpful during this overwhelming stage of the project to either hire a professional like myself or recruit a friend to help keep you motivated and on track. As you evaluate each item remember to be realistic; are you ever REALLY going to use that extra coffee pot that has been sitting in the garage for the past three years? Really? A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is if you haven't needed or used an item in the past 2 years, you will probably get along just fine without it. You will be amazed how great it will feel to clear the clutter that is taking up valuable space while at the same time offering some great stuff to Goodwill. And don't forget to get a receipt, it's tax deductible!

Once you have sorted through and purged all the stuff that needed to go, take a little time to wipe down shelves and sweep out those corners before you start re-organizing. Don't panic if your garage looks like a bomb went off in it at this point, it will come back together much quicker, this is the rewarding part!

You will want to categorize your stuff to make it easiest for you to access. Here is a sample list of potential categories:

• Camping/Recreation Gear
• Holiday Decorations
• Tools
• Gardening
• Painting Supplies
• Cleaning Supplies
• Pet Products
• Patio Furniture/Cushions

Think about the things that get used most frequently and make them the most accessible, including putting them in closest proximity to where they will be used. Don't forget to utilize your walls and ceiling if it is practical to do so. Do you have a bunch of drill bits rolling around? How about putting a magnetic knife strip on the wall where they are visible and useful. The magnetic strip also works great for holding paint brushes!

Picture Courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens.

Or do you have a large variety of nails, screws and hardware that needs to be corralled? Think about re-purposing those old jam jars and screw the lids to the underside of a shelf and fill the jars with your odds and ends. This provides an easy way for you to see what you have.

Screw organizing , originally uploaded by Chez Larsson.

When it comes to getting your holiday decorations organized I recommend using clear totes so you can see what's inside. If you have lots of decorations for different holidays you might try color coding the lids according to the holiday. Being that these are items you will likely use only once a year they should go in an out of the way spot.

One great product I love for the garage is the Gladiator Claw, an excellent and easy way to get your bike up and out of the way. With a push lock mechanism all you need to do is push up the clasp is released.

Once everything is in its new place stand back and admire your work and breath easier knowing when its time to put away the patio furniture and garden pots you'll be ready for them!

heidi pomeroy * Household Maven

ma⋅ven /ˈmeɪvən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [mey-vuhn]

trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others.

It all started when I was home sick from school with the Chicken Pox in the third grade, I couldn't bring myself to watch one more episode of the Price is Right so I turned to the kitchen instead. I found a turkey that had been thawing in the refrigerator and took it upon myself to prepare a full on Thanksgiving type meal for my family while they were away at work. If only I could have captured the look on their faces when they walked through the door!

Since that day back in third grade I have continued to hone my culinary, household and organizational skills as I have progressed through my education and career. I received my bachelors degree from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration where I had the opportunity to train and cook with top chefs from around the country including Ming Tsai and Marcus Samuelsson. Then, post-Cornell I explored a number of areas within the food and restaurant business including; restaurant consulting & managing, grocery management, catering, etc. I found that I enjoyed each of these jobs for different reasons and not one of them was exactly what I was looking for, so in the fall of 2007 I returned to school to earn my MBA in Sustainable business from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute.

Coincidentally, during grad school I got engaged and was married to my husband, Scott, and people kept making the comment; "heidi, I wish you were my wife." So that's it, the perfect job, I want to get paid to be someone's "wife." Even better, I was hired to be the Household Manager for a family in Seattle which allows me to be their private chef, personal organizer and contractor liason.

So now I have my MBA and an Ivy League education and all I really want to do is play house and help you organize your house and prepare your meals so you can enjoy playing house too!

Enjoy my blog!

heidi pomeroy * Household Maven