How in the world have two whole weeks past since the last time I shared a taco Tuesday? It feels like merely a few days.

How are you guys? Have you been enjoying the year so far? I hope so. My year has been good but a bit of a whirlwind so far. I’ve decided it’s way WAY worse to have a loved one going through something terrible and painful when you’re powerless to help than to be going through it yourself. I mentioned a few posts ago about a family member (my aunt) that has been unwell, and I can’t gloss over the fact that it’s been making my real life a struggle this past few weeks. These things always have a huge ripple effect with family.

For me, I just don’t deal with situations like this well at all. I don’t know, I guess not having much I can physically do to help makes me feel awful, but maybe that’s why I turn to trying to help out in any other way that I can, which often involves making food. It’s been fun to have a very full house though. Some of my extended family are staying here because we live so close to the hospital while their home is about an hour drive from here. #NorthIdahoLife

Yesterday I discovered that taking two teenage boys with you to the gym and grocery shopping with you to get them out of the house may not be the smartest idea in the world. Wow all you moms, how do you do it? Haha, I took my brother and cousin with me and I thought the check-out employee was going to kick us out because of all their shenanigans. Silly boys.

Also, the days seem to drastically be getting longer and our weather has been unseasonably warm here which I think is causing some weird weather. Last night the wind was crazy strong It was actually so strong that we lost power for a little while. With so many people in the house, that was pretty hilarious. Yep, it’s so warm that the snow is almost all completely melted making the grass show through everywhere, and that’s so unusual up here. I’m really glad to start having more daylight hours though. It’s always challenging to catch the right photography light in the Winter.

And speaking of photography, you probably wouldn’t have guessed this since most normal people don’t spend hours of their lives photographing food, but hard-shell tacos are really difficult subjects to make look good, just saying. I rarely use them because my household is primarily on team flour tortilla, but I felt in this case the crunchy route was the way to go.

Of course none of that is really relevant to this recipe, but what is relevant is that these are so easy. Just to prove how easy they are, I’ll even admit that I decided to make them on a whim when I realized taco Tuesday had snuck up on me and I’d forgotten to do a recipe yet. You see, so they were a last-minute meal that I threw together in about 30 minutes total. I really have been much more organized with thinking ahead but life has a way of changing your plans so drastically that it’s simpler to disregard those plans sometimes, you know? This was one of those times that I did that and it turned out pretty delicious anyway.

Anyway, these tacos are pretty versatile as far as ingredients and spice level. My family is pretty evenly split on spice preference, only some like it hot, so I keep it mild and let the spice lovers add their own hot sauces and stuff. However, if you know your family are all fans of spicy food then just adjust the spice to your taste. As far as the ingredients, it’s mostly things that you probably have on hand already. The beans can be replaced with any kind of bean instead and the meat can be traded out for fish, chicken, or even sausage if you prefer. Hey this is Cajun food so you can even add a little bit of them all.

Happy taco Tuesday!

Spicy Cajun Shrimp Crunchy Tacos

Ingredients

Coleslaw:

2 tablespoons chopped scallions or chives
2 cups coleslaw mix
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon celery seed

Tacos:

1 pound uncooked shrimp (devained+shelled with tail on or off)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 large stalk celery, diced
1 bell pepper (any color) seeded and diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 (15 ounce) can cooked kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
12 small crunchy corn taco shells (gf if needed)

Optional Toppings:

hot sauce
sour cream
salsa
chopped chives
guacamole

Instructions

Coleslaw:

Mix the vinegar, mustard, mayo, and celery seed in a medium bowl. Add scallions and coleslaw mix and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to serve tacos.

Tacos:

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat and add the onion, bell pepper, and celery. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add in the tomato, and seasonings and cook about 1 minutes more.
Add the shrimp and beans and cook until the shrimp is fully pink and done. Reduce heat to low and simmer over hear until the mixture has thickened slightly.
Turn off heat and fill each taco shell with the hot shrimp mixture and top with coleslaw and any other desired toppings.

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D5300 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

And, by the way, to all the minnows out there, my intro post did a huge $0.21. The key to success on Steemit is to be consistent and persistent.

Also, a huge shoutout to @rigaronib for designing my logo!

For more great food ideas, please do not forget to look at my other recent food posts

1. Easy Vanilla Marshmallow Milkshakes
2. Gringalicious Snapshot Sundays + Saying Goodbye to January
3. Pistachio+Kale Pesto Feta Pita Pizzas
4. Triple Chocolate Chip Cake Ball Truffles
5. Dairy Queen Cake Batter Blizzard Copycat
6. Braised Slow-Cooker Pork Roast + Rainbow Root Veggies
7. Black Forest Chocolate Chip Morning Buns
8. TUESDAY TOAST: Bruschetta, Goat Cheese, & Almond Toast
9. Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal
10. Frozen Cookie Dough Banana "Nice Cream"