Superfood Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

OK, the Holidays have passed, out with all the junky sweets and such (I should not be having) and back to the good stuff! We have been sick with a month long cold and cough here and I'm finally starting to feel better, eat better and exercise again. I came across this recipe and thought it sounded great. I really need to develop my taste for that textural issue of quinoa so I gave it another go. I am happy to report, this is one recipe I like! OK but wait. Now I have a pomegranate aril texture issue. I hate the hard crunchy leftover bits, Hmmm. Oh well, this was great, lots of flavors and textures and will be a wonderful lunch on the go. The original recipe called for corn but I added the edamame (another new food to me), but you can add whatever yummies you like.


Superfood Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette 
slightly adapted from Iowa Girl Eats
Serves 5

Salad Ingredients: 
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 orange, peeled and segments chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup pomegranate arils (about 1 pomegranate worth)
1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper
Cooked shrimp

For the Lemon Vinaigrette: 
2 lemons, juiced (1/4 cup juice)
2 garlic cloves, minced
dash of sweetener (agave nectar, honey or white sugar)
salt & pepper
6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Cook quinoa according to package directions (1/2 cup quinoa + 1 cup water). Set aside to cool.

For the Lemon Vinaigrette:
combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake to combine.

Combine cooled quinoa with red onion, orange segments, avocado, beans, pomegranate arils, edamame, cilantro, salt and pepper and shrimp. Pour Lemon Vinaigrette over the salad and stir to combine. Serve cold or at room temperature.

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Fried Rice

I love fried rice, but sadly can't eat it from take away anymore since I doubt they have a gluten free option, SO I make my own. I have combined two of my fave recipes to one I like. You could call this leftover rice, since it's best made with day old rice, meats and with frozen veggies it comes together quickly. I have been making this for a while now and meant to blog it, so after I made this for dinner tonight, I sat my butt down and wrote this for you. (these photos are from last July!! I've been hiding this recipe from you all since then. lol)


Fried Rice
adapted from Cooking with Kai and Steamy Kitchen

4 Cups cooked leftover rice
1/4 lb thinly sliced or diced raw meat/shrimp/tofu/spam (or use cooked leftovers)
1/4 Cup veggies (frozen peas and carrots)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbl cooking oil
3 green onions, sliced for garnish

Sauce
3 Tbl low sodium tamari (soy sauce)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp shaoxing rice wine
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Combine all sauce ingredients, set aside. Add oil to a large hot skillet, cook meat for 2-3 minutes (you could add a little bit of sauce while cooking the meat). Remove from pan and set aside. Add eggs and scramble for about 1 minute. Add in rice, meat and veggies allow to heat through.
Add in the sauce ingredients, allow to heat through. Garnish with green onions.

spam fried rice

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Grilled Shrimp with Brown Butter and Rice

There are 4/5 of us here who love shrimp, so when one was away at her friend's, guess what we had for dinner! I saw this recipe and decided to try it out, it sounds wonderful, right? Grilled chili garlic shrimp over brown butter rice? It's such an easy recipe and will be ready in no time at all. You may add any veggies you like, I just happened to have peas. The brown butter adds such a nice flavor to all this.


Grilled Shrimp with Brown Butter and Rice
Serves 6
adapted from Coupon Cooking Cook

2 cups instant Brown Rice
1 3/4 cups Water
1 cup frozen Peas
30 raw medium Shrimp deveined and shelled with tails on
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
1 teaspoons Garlic Powder
½ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
¼ teaspoon Salt
6 tablespoons unsalted Butter
4 whole Green Onions, sliced

Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan, add rice, cover and cook on low 5 minutes. Remove from heat, let sit for 5 minutes or until all water is evaporated.

Microwave frozen peas in 1 cup water for 8 minutes, drain, stir into cooked rice, set aside.
While the rice and peas are cooking, start the grill on medium heat.

In a medium size bowl add the raw shrimp, chili powder, garlic powder, pepper, salt and olive oil.
Mix the shrimp in with the spices and olive oil until they’re completely coated. Set aside. (I did this a few hours ahead of time, kept in fridge)
Add the shrimp onto skewers then grill on low heat and cook on both sides until done (about 3 to 4 minutes per side for large shrimp). Remove the shrimp from the grill and set aside for just a moment while browning the butter.

Add the butter to a small skillet and stir as it melts on low-medium heat. Continue stirring. Watch it!! It will burn! When it turns a golden color (and has a nutty aromoa) remove the skillet from the heat.

Add half of the brown butter to the rice and gently mix it together.
Add the rice to a serving dish, top with the shrimp.
Drizzle the remaining brown butter over the shrimp and rice (or as much as you like).
Garnish with the pieces of green onion.

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Shrimp Pad Thai

When friends talk about and post videos of a certain food, you want it. Today it was SHRIMP then Pad Thai. So this was dinner tonight. I've had microwave pad thai before and didn't like it, but this homemade version was SOOO GOOD. It's basically stir fried shrimp and noodles cooked in a garlicky spicy and sweet sauce. I am happy to say that my two little ones, Mr. and I LOVED it, my oldest doesn't like shrimp and said she didn't like the noodles. She's missing out. This recipe is a keeper.

Shrimp Pad Thai {Gluten Free and Diabetic Friendly}

adapted from EatingWell

4 ounces dried rice noodles

2 teaspoons canola oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large egg, lightly beaten

8 ounces small shrimp, peeled and deveined (I cut mine in half)

2 cups mung bean sprouts

1/2 cup sliced green onions

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons sugar (I used 2 Truvia packets)

1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce (I used 1/4 tsp Sambal Oelek)

2 tablespoons chopped dry roasted unsalted peanuts

Soak rice noodles in warm water to cover in a large bowl until they are limp and white, about 20 minutes. (I went ahead and cooked mine in boiling water for about 4 minutes, drained and rinsed)
Heat oil over high heat in a wok until very hot. Add the garlic and stir-fry until golden, about 10 seconds. Add the egg and cook, stirring, until scrambled, about 30 seconds. Add shrimp and stir-fry until they curl and turn pink, about 2 minutes.

Drain the noodles and add to the wok, tossing with tongs until they soften and curl, about 1 minute. Add bean sprouts, scallion greens, vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and chile-garlic sauce; toss until the shrimp are fully cooked and noodles are heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with peanuts and serve immediately.

3 servings, about 1 1/3 cups each. For nutrition info see their site.

enjoy,

Crab Cake Stuffed Shrimp {Gluten Free}

I made these for our Thanksgiving lunch/appetizer/snack time. They were my splurge for everyone. I adapted the recipe for gluten free but if you're not GF, go ahead and use the regular ingredient. The only issue I had with these is, 1 Tablespoon of the crab cake mixture was almost too much per shrimp, so I recommend using a little less or you may not have enough for all the shrimp. They were a great 2 bite appetizer. I had, oh...a few. =)


Crab Cake Stuffed Shrimp {Gluten Free}
slightly adapted from Taste of Home

20 uncooked jumbo large shrimp (about 1 pound)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup soft (gluten free) bread crumbs
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt-free seasoning blend (Mrs. Dash is gluten free)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
Dash cayenne pepper
1 (6 ounces) real lump crab meat, drained if canned
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon paprika

Peel and devein shrimp, leaving the tails on. Butterfly each shrimp along the outside curve (cut almost all the way through). Open shrimp flat and place butterflied-side down in a greased or parchement lined 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine the egg, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, lemon juice and seasonings. Stir in crab. Place about 1 tablespoonful of mixture over each shrimp; sprinkle with cheese and paprika. Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Serve warm. Yield: 20 appetizers.

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New England Clam Chowder

If you like clam chowder here's a recipe I'm sure you'll enjoy. Mr. loves clam chowder but I haven't made it in many many years so I decided I would when I found clams on sale. I lost my Mom's recipe so I searched and searched for one and decided on this one. Of course I changed it up a little but not much. This doesn't take long to make, well under one hour from chopping to table top. It came out great, so great the kids loved dipping their bread into it and Mr. ate 3 bowls of it. So as the warm weather starts to cool, think about making this to warm your soul.

New England Clam Chowder
adapted from Cooking Light Jan. 2008

6 bacon slices

2 cups diced onion

1 1/4 cups diced celery

1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 (6 1/2-ounce) cans chopped clams, undrained

5 cups diced peeled baking potato (about 1 pound)

4 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice

1 bay leaf

3 cups milk, warmed

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon chopped chives

Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add onion, celery, salt, thyme, and garlic to drippings in pan; cook 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Drain clams, reserving liquid. Add clam liquid, potato, clam juice, and bay leaf to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Discard bay leaf.

Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 12 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add clams; cook 2 minutes. Sprinkle with bacon and chives. Serve with fresh bread or oyster crackers.

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Honey Walnut Shrimp! Oh Yum!!

-sorry for the night time photo-

If you have ever have honey walnut shrimp at a Chinese take out, then you'll love this recipe even better!! We recently discovered it at Panda Express, but I had already found this recipe before going, so I compared theirs to this. Well I love theirs but homemade is SO MUCH BETTER! You just cannot get that light crispy tempura from take out. Oh man! I made this for Mr. and I (actually we had a small 3 course dinner, Carbonara for kids, lobster raviolis & this shrimp for us) and we even had leftovers. My last words before falling asleep was, "That shrimp was so good, but I am so stuffed I don't even want to think about it!". lol. Give this one a try, I think you'll love it  too!

Here is Kai's YouTube video, but I'll add the ingredients below.




Honey Walnut Shrimp

Tempura batter:
1 C. all purpose flour
1 TBL baking powder
1 egg
3/4-1C. water
-Whisk all together, until desired consistency. Add 1 pound of cleaned shrimp (tails off), and set aside.

Honey Walnut Sauce:
1 TBL sweetened condensed milk
1/4 C. mayo
1 TBL honey
squeeze of lemon
-Stir all until combined, set aside.

In a large saute pan or wok, heat about 2" canola oil. Fry shrimp in batches until just golden, drain on paper towel set aside until all batches are cooked. (I kept them in a warm oven)

Walnuts:
1 C. chopped walnuts (can leave whole)
2 TBL granulated sugar
2-3 TBL water
1 tsp honey

In a clean dry hot large saute pan/wok, add sugar and water, stir until sugar dissolves. Add honey, stir then add nuts to coat.
Then add in fried shrimp and sauce then gently toss to coat all.




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enjoy,
Rachelle

Shrimp and Chicken Scampi with Linguini

One of my favorite dishes to order at that Italian Restaurant chain is their chicken scampi. When I saw Tyler Florence make it the other day on his show, I had to make it. I was craving it so much just thinking about it, that I made it 2 days later. I adapted his recipe to include bell peppers and chicken, since the kids won't eat shrimp. As I was cooking the oil, butter, shallots, red pepper flakes and garlic together, I ran into the garage where Mr. was to get a clean dish towel from the laundry, and he said "It smells SOOOO good!". This was good, we all enjoyed it! It's similar to another one I made, but that has a little cream in it if you like that.

Shrimp and Chicken Scampi with Linguini
adapted slightly from Tyler Florence

1 pound linguini
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 large shallot, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, diced
Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
1/2 pound chicken breast tenders
10 large shrimp, about 1/2 pound, peeled and deveined, tail on
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine, Sauvignon Blanc (TIP: freeze leftover wine into ice cubes for later use)
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
 
For the pasta, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When it has come to the boil, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and the linguini. Stir to make sure the pasta separates; cover. When the water returns to a boil, cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the pasta is not quite done. Drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of water.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) until the shallots are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper; add them to the pan and cook until just golden, turn and cook the other side until just golden also, remove and set aside. (You may have to add a little more oil & butter to continue cooking shrimp and peppers) Season the shrimp with salt and pepper; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan; set aside and keep warm. Saute the bell peppers until just tender, set aside.
Add wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil. When the butter has melted, return the shrimp to the pan along with the parsley and cooked pasta and reserved pasta water. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil and serve immediately.

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enjoy,