Shrimp Scampi

When your pregnant and you want pasta -- you get pasta:

Now, being pregnant and just barely out of my first trimester, there are very few things that I can stomach these days.  My life saver throughout the first trimester (and let's be honest I am still queasy 4 months in) has been carbs.  Anything carbs stays down and keeps me and my baby full and happy.

So the past Sunday, when we were driving home from church and discussing what to have for dinner, I insisted that we have pasta.  But not the tomato and meatballs stuff we had the other night, but shrimp scampi!

On the drive home from church I stopped at the local grocery store and got everything I needed for shrimp scampi.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 of Spaghetti (we used wheat)
1 lb of Shrimp (or about 16 shrimp)
4 Tbs. of Butter
4 Tbs. of Olive Oil
2 Green Onions Chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic (chopped thinly)
1/2 cup of White Wine
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Salt and Pepper
Parsley Chopped, to taste
Parmesan (to top)

Directions:

1.   Boil a large pot of water for the pasta -- Cook 6-8 minutes to al dente.   Drain and set aside.
2.  Season the shrimp with salt and pepper or any other seasoning you prefer.  (The Urban Farmer likes to season with brown sugar)
3.  In a large skillet over medium heat, melt two table spoons of butter with two tablespoons of olive oil and combine.   Saute the green onions and garlic until the green onions are translucent.

4.  Add the shrimp to the pan with the green onions and saute till the shrimp are pink and remove.  You are going to throw them back in at the end, so it is okay if they are not cooked all the way.

5.  Combine white wine and lemon into the pan and bring to a boil.
6.  Add your additional two tablespoons of butter and olive oil and bring to a simmer.  Stir to combine all ingredients.
7.  When the butter is melted, add the shrimp back in and cook five minutes.  Then add the pasta into the pan.  Add Parsley to taste.
8. Remove from the pan and place in a serving bowl.  Top with Parmesan cheese to taste and serve.

I served my shrimp scampi with homemade Italian bread and topped my pasta with LOTS of Parmesan cheese (you can never have too much cheese).

Let's just say the recipe was delicious and mommy and baby were pretty happy with this delicious shrimp scampi recipe.

God Does have a Plan

I fully believe that God does amazing things in people's lives and if something is meant to be it will happen.  My life over the last year is the perfect example of that.

At the end of June 2014, the Urban Farmer and I were settling into our lives together as husband and wife.  To be honest, not much changes from dating to being married, but we were enjoying our time together and our first month and a half of being married.

Although things were moving along and being newly weds was wonderful, the Urban Farmer and I were ready to move, yup, you got that MOVE!

Now, long before I met the Urban Farmer and while I was in college down in Florida the Urban Farmer bought a foreclosure, town home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.  Since buying it, he had fixed the place up, and together we had made it our home.

But living in a 1200 square foot town home was not where we wanted to start our family.  But, living in the pricey, D.C. area offered few options for us young and live kids.  We could live farther and add onto our already 45 minute commute, or live closer and move from one town home to the next.  In a sense we were trapped by the Housing market with no relief in sight.

Then in July, my boss offered me a position in my company's Virginia Beach office.

While this sounded like a great opportunity, was I sure the Urban Farmer and I wanted to pick up our entire life and move to the other end of the state?  At first, the Urban Farmer was against the idea -- but as we thought about it more, it sounded like a great opportunity.

This was a great promotion for me and I really wanted to take it, but I was a newly wed, and now I couldn't take this promotion without the Urban Farmer on board.  So I began to pray that God would give me an answer on what the next step was.  I felt at a crossroads between my career and my marriage and although the Urban Farmer was my first priority I wanted to be able to "make and eat my cake too."  I needed an answer from God and a miracle.

I spent many of nights and time talking to God, praying and reflecting on this promotion.  I put all my faith in God and was sure that he would have an answer.

With moving, the Urban Farmer would have to find a new job in order to make this work -- and with the job market not as good as D.C. we thought that the results would be less than desirable for him. He had a good job, and had been with the company for over 6 years, and was happy.  With his job such a major factor -- the move looked like it wasn't going to go through.

And with God's amazing plan in our life, the next thing we know, the Urban Farmer found out that his company was opening a branch in Virginia Beach and if he wanted, he would have a job there.  It was a MIRACLE.

We were so blessed to have everything fall into place.  Within a month, everything came into place for the Urban Farmer and I to relocate to Virginia Beach.  God had done such an amazing thing in our lives and we were so happy that things worked out amazingly for us to move to Virginia Beach.

So in your own life, when you are feeling like nothing is going right, or that you are stuck at a crossroads my suggestion would be to put your faith in God, pray and know that He has a plan.  I have always found in my life when I give myself to Him he always has the answer.

My advice to you, when you are at a crossroads in your life or faced with a difficult decision, say a prayer and hand your life over to God and let Him put your plan together.

A Picture of us at our New Home in Virginia Beach