Tag Archives: shrimp

Food

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp With Israeli Couscous & Broccoli

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Last night I decided to make a recipe from my Weight Watcher Weekly handout and it was nothing short of delicious. It’ll definitely be added to the rotation for future meals! Therefore, I wanted to share it with you. I am always looking for more ways to get fish and shrimp onto our meal plans. We eat chicken A LOT! 😉

shrimp

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp with Couscous and Broccoli

{Weight Watchers Weekly ~ May 10-16, 2015}

4 cups low sodium chicken broth, divided

1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous {got it at Trader Joe’s}

4 cups broccoli florets {got it pre cut in a bag}

2 tsp EVOO, divided

1 pound large shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 large shallot, minced

2 tbsp minced garlic

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/4 cup dry white wine {I used Chardonnay}

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon zest

3 tbsp minced fresh basil {I used thyme}

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups broth to a boil over high heat. Add couscous and broccoli to pan; cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until broccoli is tender and couscous is cooked, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large nonstick sauce pan, heat 1 tsp oil over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and cook, flipping once, until lightly seared and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side; remove to a plate.

Add remaining teaspoon oil , shallot, garlic, and hot pepper fakes to pan; cook, stirring a few times, 1 minute. Add wine; stir and scrape up browned bits from the bottom and sides of pan. Add remaining 2 cups broth and increase heat to high; cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced to a thick sauce, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add shrimp to pan; stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and basil.

To serve, spoon shrimp over couscous-broccoli mixture. Yields about 3 1/2 oz shrimp and 1 cup couscous-broccoli mixture per serving. {4 servings, 9 pointsplus/serving}

*****

I hope you enjoy.

Happy Monday!

Food

Spring Break Eats ~ Shrimp Po’ Boys & Orange Cilantro Coleslaw

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Well, we definitely didn’t starve over Spring Break.

We finally went to Toppers Pizza and managed to eat there 4 times in 5 days. I’m addicted to the salad bar, but the pizza is fabulous, too! We took Jay there yesterday for lunch as he was unable to join us in our numerous earlier visits.

During Lent we don’t eat meat on Fridays so we enjoyed a roasted garlic, fresh roma tomato & mushroom pie…

pizza

Like, WOW! Like I could never eat meat again, WOW.

I like the pizza because it is thin, but not too thin and the crust is crispy and not too doughy. They also have a nice, fresh salad bar and a different selection of dressings like maple vinaigrette and chipotle ranch.

Last night for dinner we needed something meat-free, too. While Elliott & I were getting our toes done {finally!?!} I watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and witnessed Guy Fieri inhale a shrimp po’ boy. Bingo. Our dinner idea was taken care of. I had also gotten a recipe from my chef friend, Leslie, for some Orange Cilantro Coleslaw that I’d been dying to try and thought it’d go well with the po’ boys.

When Googling the sammies, I got a little overwhelmed with several recipes and finally just went with Rachael Ray’s version for the shrimp and another one for the remoulade. I used cornmeal rather than the bread crumbs. I had originally wanted Jay to grill the shrimp to make them a little healthier, but then I figured I’d try the traditional way first and then if they were a hit, I’d try to health-ify them the next time around.

Let me just say, they were a TOTAL hit.

poboy2

I ended up kind of making up by own remoulade ~ mayo, spicy brown mustard, lemon juice, sweet relish & Tabasco. Just dump all those things in a bowl, stir it up and spread some on your rolls before building your sandwich. I also used some super fresh Sara Lee French Rolls that were perfect for this. I heated them up slightly under the broiler first, too.

Here is how to prepare the shrimp:

Vegetable or peanut oil, for frying
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, deveined
Salt
1/2 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal or bread crumbs
2 tablespoons seafood seasoning a couple of palm fulls (recommended: Old Bay) —–> I used cajun seasoning

Preheat 1-inch of oil in a deep skillet over medium to medium-high heat. —–> I used about half that and it was plenty {shallow fry}

Pull shells & tails off shrimp. Beat egg and milk together. Salt shrimp then soak in milk batter. Mix together the flour, cornmeal or bread crumbs and seafood seasoning in a bowl. Using tongs, remove a few shrimp at a time and coat in breading. Add breaded shrimp to the hot oil and fry them 5 to 6 minutes or until firm and deeply golden all over. Place on a paper towel lined plate.

Spread some sauce onto your rolls followed by some lettuce and tomato slices. Add several shrimp and you have yourself a taste of Louisiana.

So good.

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Orange Cilantro Coleslaw 

{ recipe courtesy of Leslie Babikan by way of Jo Lafferty 😉 }

1/4 cup fat free plain yogurt {I used Greek}

1/4 cup light mayo

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup orange juice {I used the juice of one orange and the zest, too}

3 tbsp. white vinegar {I used rice vinegar}

1 1/2 tsp. honey

7 cups shredded green cabbage

1 cup shredded carrot

1/2 cup chopped red onion

salt & pepper to taste

Whisk together the first 6 ingredients for dressing. Add cabbage, carrot and onion. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to blend flavors.

So light and summery. I love different variations on coleslaw and will be making this lots.

Thanks, Leslie!

Thanks, Rachael!

Thanks, Toppers!

Because of you all, our Spring Break eats were super great.

Back to eating bananas, yogurt, kale smoothies, grilled chicken and boring salads.

And drinking more water.

Food

Fruit Of The Sea

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“You can barbeque it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it, there’s shrimp kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fry, deep fry, stir fry, there’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burgers, shrimp sandwiches, That… that’s about it.”

Private Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue forgot one important thing you can do with {the fruit of the sea}…

SHRIMP TACOS!

That was what was for dinner this Lenten Friday evening. I followed this recipe for the marinade.

{1 chipotle in adobo, chopped * 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil * Zest & juice of 1 lime * 1 tsp. cumin * 1 Tbsp. brown sugar * 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped}

Marinate 1 pound peeled & deveined shrimp for 20 minutes. Skewer it up and grill for a couple minutes on each side.

Chop shrimp and then build your taco from the tortilla up! I would prefer these with small flour tortillas, but we’re trying to be more healthy so we used corn. Warm your tortilla on the stove top and then pile with shredded lettuce or cabbage, black beans, shrimp, chipotle lime crema drizzle {sour cream [I used reduced fat], juice of 1 lime & one chipotle pepper, chopped ~ mix together. Will be runny so you can drizzle it on…you don’t need much}, lowfat shredded cheese, cilantro confetti, avocado chunks, a squeeze of lime and a shot of Sriracha!

These were absolutely delish. The slight sweetness from the brown sugar is balanced out by the heat from the chipotles. Sweet & spicy shrimp tacos are a must for your Lenten Friday meals or just whenever! We will be eating a lot of these this summer, I’m sure. This shrimp would be excellent on a salad or in a burrito, too!

Now to find a recipe for that coconut shrimp Bubba was talkin’ about!

*****

Next Friday we hope to make thresher shark tacos ~ hopefully it won’t be too hard to find. If you haven’t had shark, you must try it.

Off to pour a little Friday night sumpin sumpin….

Have a great weekend!

Family, Food

Ancient {Filipino} Secret

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I think it’s safe to say that {everyone} knows what lumpia is…but if you’ve never had it, well, I’m sorry, but that can change. They are just a Filipino egg rolls I guess is the best way to describe them.

And they are DE-LISH!

*****

Lumpia Shanghai Recipe

{from my mother-in-law, Lucy AKA “Lola”}

1 lb. ground pork

½ lb shrimp, chopped

2-3 stalks green onions, finely sliced

½ cup water chestnuts, chopped

(The shrimp, water chestnuts and green onions can be chopped all together in a food processor or chopper)

¼ cup soy sauce

½ tsp salt

Mix all together.  Add 1 slightly beaten egg and 3 tablespoons corn starch to hold the meat together and mix again.

Look for square, thin wrappers brand Spring Home TYJ Spring Roll Pastry or something similar.

Place 2 tablespoons of the mixture in a wrapper diagonally across.  Fold the pointed edge over the meat and then the sides of the wrapper.  Roll tightly and seal edges with warm water.

Here comes the bad part…shallow fry:

When golden brown on both sides, remove and place onto a paper towel lined plate.

We like to cut ours in half before serving. I found this sweet chili sauce {brand: Maggi} at Albertson’s in the Asian aisle. You can also use plain ‘ol sweet and sour sauce for dipping.

Tip: after the lumpia are all rolled, you can freeze them for future enjoyment. So make a lot of them because, trust me, they will fly off the plate.

Many people have asked for this recipe….so glad I can share this {secret} with you!

Happy Sunday!

Family, Food, Friends, Fun

A “PW” Weekend

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Wow! I’m recovering from another awesome weekend.

A “PW” weekend, if you will…

It consisted of “P”lentiful “W”orkouts….

….all because of several “P”ioneer “W”oman recipes that I tried.

We took a little drive and played in some “P”owdery “W”hite!

There were a couple “P”igskin “W”ins to determine this year’s Superbowlers.

So I guess you could say that it was a “P”erfectly “W”onderful weekend!

On Saturday night I made Pioneer Woman’s “most favorite burger ever (for now)”. You can find the recipe here.

They were delish and a nice departure from the turkey burgers with cheddar and horseradish that I’ve been making for the past few years now! Jay was pleased that I finally made some HAMburgers with real ground BEEF!

Here is a “before” pic:

Um, let me just say that what you see above is 2 pounds of meat…PW uses 2 pounds of meat for TWO burgers! What? I mean I know cowboys work hard and all and can put some food away, but WOW! Those’d be some GRANDE burgers! Half pounders are MORE than enough for us!

Here is the “in process” pic:

And, my friends, here is the “after” pic when these babies are all dressed up and ready to go:

Please don’t tell PW that I served her fave burgers with Ore Ida Seasoned Crinkle Fries! Shhhhh!

I tell you, I have a whole new appreciation for the Kaiser Roll! I usually use toasted english muffins for my burgers, but kaisers are a tad crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside! I followed PW’s orders and buttered and toasted them and OMG! Sorry, little english muffins, but these were fantastic and the tabasco mayo, caramelized onions and bleu cheese put them over the top. I used fresh baby spinach as my “green” just so I could feel like there was some sort of healthy component to this meal!

After this scrumptous dinner, I ran to Target to get Holden some boots for the snow since we had a little mini road trip planned for Sunday morning. This is what I found:

Lovin’ all the Paul Frank stuff at one of my favorite stores these days!

I got up early Sunday morning and made some Monkey Bread. Another evil concoction that PW has on her blog!

Now this stuff is like a drug so be careful!

After we ate the sinful Monkey Bread, we headed to Frazier Park for some fun in the snow!

It was a blast and only about 45 minutes away!

And the weekend wouldn’t be complete without me trying PW’s Quesadillas de Camarones.

The quesadillas were good…Jay said the shrimp was “not evident”…hmmm, I think the camarones should be evident in a quesadilla named after them so next time I’ll add more of the little critters. He also wasn’t a big fan of the green salsa, so next time maybe some homemade red salsa to go alongside. After indulging in the monkey bread earlier in the day, I felt guilty about adding butter to the pan to brown and crisp up the tortillas…but I had to follow PW’s orders. Next time I may try to make them a little more figure friendly….I tried to go a little lighter on the queso, too. But overall, they were good!

I also made some quacamole….I can’t blame PW for that. That was all MY doing, unfortunately.

Guac:

2 ripe avocados

1/4 onion (red or white), minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small tomato, seeded & chopped

bunch cilantro, chopped

juice of 1 lime or 1/2 lemon

salt & pepper to taste

dash cumin

That’s it! Mix it all up and dig in with your favorite tortilla chips.

I think I’ll have to incorporate more “P”lentiful “W”orkouts into this week’s agenda because there are a couple other visions of yumminess I’d like to try on PW’s blog…it’s a vicious cycle!