Dino-mite Birthday Weekend!

In about 36 hours I'm gonna have a bunch of energetic boys in our backyard, celebrating Noah's 6th birthday ...Dinosaur style! So much to do on Friday....but the least of these is to CLEAN the house. I swear, everytime I clean the house BEFORE a gathering it's dirtier after it's over than before I cleaned in the first place! :) So the bathrooms will be cleaned and the carpet vacuumed. That's it. We'll be outside most of the time anyway.... And this Jurassic Jumper (above) will decorate our yard for the day. :) (fun for the adults, too!)

I love my husband. He got me a new camera. :) I had been using a really OLD digital camera and had to hold the battery case closed with duct tape (lol) since my other digital camera just decided to quit around Christmas time. So today my new camera arrived and I am SO excited to use it at the birthday party! I cried the other day (hormonal moment) thinking that I was missing out on some really good photos of Noah because my camera STUNK. God bless my husband for being sensitive to that and knowing how important it is to me as a scrapbooker and memory keeper to have these photos. :) So tomorrow I'll become well acquainted with my new Canon Powershot S2 IS. YAY!

Oh man, the other night I made a really YUMMY new recipe! Well, new for me anyway. If you like fish tacos, you gotta try these. I used our indoor stovetop grill and it worked beautifully. You can do them on your outdoor grill, too. Just watch out..the fish flakes easily! The guacamole sauce is TO DIE FOR!

Rachael Ray's Halibut Fish Tacos with Guacamole Sauce

4 pieces fresh halibut, steak or filets, 6 to 8 ounces each (I used Tilapia)

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Salt and pepper

1 lime, juiced

3 small to medium ripe Haas avocados, pitted and scooped from skins with a large spoon

1 lemon, juiced

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, eyeball it

1 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon coarse salt, eyeball it

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle

1 heart Romaine lettuce (I used shredded cabbage, already in a bag)

12 soft (6-inch) flour tortillas (I used corn tortillas that I softened on a non-stick skillet for 10 seconds)

Preheat a grill pan or indoor grill to high heat or, prepare outdoor grill. Drizzle halibut with extra-virgin olive oil to keep fish from sticking to the grill pan or grill. Season fish with salt and pepper, to your taste. Roll lime on the counter top to get juices flowing. Grill fish 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until opaque. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime down over the fish and remove from the grill pan or grill. Flake fish into large chunks with a fork. (this is why it's ok if it falls apart!)
While fish is cooking, in a blender or food processor, combine avocado flesh, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, yogurt and salt. Process guacamole sauce until smooth. Remove guacamole sauce to a bowl and stir in diced tomatoes and chopped scallions. Shred lettuce and reserve. To assemble, break up fish and pile some of the meat into soft shells and slather with guacamole sauce. Top with shredded lettuce, fold tacos over and eat!

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Have an AWESOME weekend! :)

- Jennifer

"A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers." - Robert Quillen