Today I’m going to share with you my favorite dog toys! Our dog, Cooper, is a lab-shepherd mix, and he loves chew toys. We’ve tried many different chew toys, but he destroys them within a few days! If he doesn’t have a toy, then he will start to eat my stuff, like blankets, pillows, table legs – in short, anything he can get his mouth on. So I started on a mission to find the longest-lasting dog toys, and I’m sharing my findings with you. I found some amazing toys that have (so far) last 1.5 – 2 years long and are still going! That’s absolutely astounding, considering that Cooper destroyed a Kong toy in a just few days.
The first one isthe M.C. works Mango Dog Toy. It even smells like a mango! This was the first one we found, and we’ve had it for nearly 2 years now. Cooper did eventually manage to bit off the smaller end, but that’s about it.
After trying and loving the Mango Dog Toy, we searched for more and found this pineapple. It is about 1.5 years old and still wholly intact!
We also tried a toy that is also considered a toothbrush for dogs. The exact one we still have is no longer available but the one below is very similar!
Please note the above are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I do earn a small commission. The good news is that it won’t cost you any extra!
These toys are loved by Cooper and have added sunshine to my life because it makes me happy to see Cooper enjoying his toys and also because my furniture lasts longer. I know you will enjoy them too!
Whenever my hubby and I are cooking meat, our go-to seasoning is Paleo Powder – Pink. This stuff is to die for! Every time we use it, we are in heaven. Our guests rave about this seasoning and immediately ask what it is and where they can get it. I’m not being paid to share this; this is my personal opinion. But I love it so much and want everyone to get the chance to enjoy it too! If you want to try this, go to my link below:
I was inspired to make Baja shrimp tacos this weekend and scoured Pinterest for ideas and inspiration. Since I grew up in California, shrimp tacos with a delicious sauce were something available at most Mexican (or Texmex) restaurants. They are easy to make, although in this instance I put in a little extra time and effort to pickle the vegetables, but even that is pretty easy and quick! These tacos also can be made with fish instead of shrimp and will be equally delicious.
This recipe makes 6 tacos.
Ingredients:
6 flour tortillas (I used low-carb tortillas), warmed
1 lb raw shrimp, defrosted (My shrimp were not labeled with a count, but I’d guess there were 35-45 per pound.)
1 tsp. chili powder (I like Gebhardts)
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
Handful of Cilantro, chopped
1 tomato, diced
1 avocado, sliced
1 lime, quartered
Pickled Onions (see recipe below)
Pickled Cabbage (see recipe below)
Baja Sauce (see recipe below)
Step 1:
Make the pickled onions and pickled cabbage (see recipes below) a few hours ahead at a minimum. It would be even better to make the day prior. Alternately, you could choose not to pickle them and instead serve diced onions and sliced raw cabbage.
Pickled Onions:
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 C. Apple cider vinegar (alternately could used white vinager)
2/3 C. Water
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Kosher Salt (do not use table salt for pickling process)
Add vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a sauce pan and heat over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar and salt. Once those are dissolved, add onion to vinegar mixture in sauce pan and let it cook for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, turn off heat and pour mixture into a glass bowl or glass jars, e.g. mason jars. Cover, then place in fridge to marinate (minimum of an hour, but preferably overnight).
2 tsp. salt – use kosher or sea salt; do not use table salt when pickling
Place the cabbage and onion into glass jars, e.g. mason jars, or into a glass bowl. Mix the vinegar and other ingredients in a glass bowl. Then pour vinegar mixture over the cabbage. Cover and place in fridge to marinate for a least a few hours, preferably overnight.
I used the Spicy Curtido recipe here for inspiration, but chose not to include carrots or jalapenos, and used less onion. Also, I found that I needed to increase the amounts of vinegar and water to cover the cabbage and onion, but that likely could be because I used a glass bowl versus using mason jars.
Step 2:
Make the baja sauce (see recipe below).
I used the Chipotle Crema recipe here for inspiration, and I used sour cream instead of mayonaise. I also used a hand-held blender so that I have less equipment to clean!
Step 3:
Rinse and dry the defrosted shrimp. Mix together the chili powder, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle the chili powder mixture over the shrimp. Heat 2 tbp. of oil in a saute pan. Once the oil is heated, add half of the shrimp to the pan. Cook 1-2 minutes per side until shrimp is cooked through. Place cooked shrimp on a plate and then cook the remaining shrimp.
Step 4:
Make tacos! My husband’s favorite trick is to put the Baja sauce on the tortilla before adding shrimp, cilantro, tomatoes, pickled onions, pickled cabbage, sliced avocado, and a squirt of lime. I do that plus add more sauce on top!
Step 5:
Enjoy! Feel free to use paper plates (like we did) for easy clean-up! 🙂
I’m in love with our new dining room color! It is the happy ending of a water leak from our upstairs bathroom. As part of the house repair, the dining room and kitchen both needed to be repainted, and the painters kindly offered to paint any color we wanted, even if dining room would be a different color from the rest of the house, and for no extra charge! We had picked out this color many months ago, but then we started working on our masters degrees (yes, both of us on separate degrees!), which left little to no spare time or desire to spend a weekend painting the dining room. It’s no surprise we took them up on their offer and requested this blue color. It’s amazing the depth it’s given to our dining room.
Turquoise is a color I’ve been adding in small ways throughout our main living area (kitchen/family room/entry) I love mixing spots of turquoise in with warm colors, like red, yellow, green and brown. It adds balance since it’s a soothing color, and I personally just happen to adore the color turquoise!
Instead of having a runner that is on the middle of the table, add the runner at the end. Side note, the word ‘Blessed’ is grey but doesn’t stand out enough against the blue, so we will be spray painting it white!
We’ve mixed prints with the rug and the curtains, yet the red chairs, green table runner, and blue walls, pull them together by picking up and emphasizing their color similarities.
I hope you are inspired to add a little sunshine to your life by trying a new color in your home!
