Jalapeno Lime Shrimp

I know what you’re probably thinking right now, “You cooked twice in one week, let alone in one day?” You must be feeling feverish right? Well, I’m just trying to get ready for a week back to work after 10 whole days off. They weren’t completely off since I did still have school, but it was relaxing none-the-less. I worked out a ton (crossfit rocks, I’m sure I’ll be doing a post about that real soon too), read a few books (currently really into the Stephanie Plum series), bought a new/used beach cruiser and actually had sunny enough weather to use it, and did homework.

I found this recipe through Pinterest. The original can be found here on the Alaska from Scratch blog.

Here’s the recipe:

Jalapeno Lime Shrimp

Ingredients

            1 tablespoon olive oil

            2 tablespoons butter

            1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes

            1 small onion, chopped

            1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

            2 cloves garlic, minced

            2 tomatoes, chopped

            1 cup chicken broth

            1 pound shrimp, peeled (I removed the tails, but that is up to your preference)

            1 lime, zested

            juice of half the lime

            3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

            salt to taste

            lime wedges, for serving

           

           

Instructions

To a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil and butter. Stir in the red chile flakes. Saute the onions and jalapeño until tender, 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, but not browned, about 1 minute. Toss in the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes begin to break down and release their juices, another 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Then, add the shrimp to the skillet and season with salt, cooking and tossing until shrimp just turn pink and are cooked through but still tender, being careful not to overcook. Add the lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro. Taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed. Serve promptly with crusty bread, or over rice or noodles.

I served mine over cauliflower rice (paleo friendly). The next time I make this I will attempt to try to remember that it is worth it to spend more on the shrimp and not have to peel them yourself, what a pain! Also, I’d opt to use ½ cup of chicken broth rather than a whole cup because mine turned out much runnier than the original picture. It’s very good though, very limey and of course I added extra garlic (because that’s what I do)!

Bubble Up Pizza

I’m stuffed!  So much for not cooking for a week in preparation to leave for a month.  I cleaned out the refrigerator and everything but having absolutely no food in the house sucks.  So I made a quick trip to the grocery store today for just enough stuff to make a recipe I found on Pinterest.  Find the recipe here.

Here’s what the final product will look like, or close anyway….

I generally love all things vegetarian, but I’ll be honest, I had fully intended to pick up some pepperoni while I was at the store and totally forgot.  So, this is a veggie version.  1 can of artichoke hearts chopped, sliced pickled jalapeños (like for nachos), 1 can of sliced olives, 1 can of mushrooms, nearly an entire bag of spinach, and lots of cheese!  I ended up having to bake this much longer than the site suggested.  I’m not sure if it’s just my oven or the fact that I couldn’t find biscuit dough that came in a size of six biscuits, the smallest I found was packages of 8.  It still turned out really good though.  So much easier than rolling out dough. 

Quinoa Mac & Cheese

 

I found the most amazing mac and cheese recipe on Pinterest the other day and finally got around to cooking it up today.  This uses quinoa rather than macaroni, therefore making it gluten free if that’s a concern for you.  It’s not for me, I just prefer to eat healthy and try new things!

Check out the recipe here!  Give the rest of Leanne’s blog a look too.  It quickly becoming one of my favorites!  She has tons of great recipe ideas.

I used the recipe as a guide and changed it up how I wanted to, but not much really.  Everything is the same except that I took a bag of frozen cauliflower florets and boiled them until soft, pureed them in the food processor (which sadly died during the making of this meal, it will be missed).  After pureeing I added the milk/cheese/egg and blended it all together.  Then I transferred the quinoa and cheese mixture to a large bowl and stirred it all up.  Lastly I cooked up a bag of frozen broccoli and stirred that in before putting it all into the oven.  The only other real change was that I added two cups of cheese rather than the suggested 1 1/2 cups.  You can never have too much cheese!

Before Baking

After Baking

 

And, the final product!  It is really good!  I guess I’d say that you can tell it’s not your standard mac and cheese, but it’s too good to care.  Give it a try, especially if you’ve never tried quinoa before.  I think you’ll really like it.

Post Juice Fast

Yay for solid food!  Although, I have to tell you, so far it’s not tasted nearly as good as I had imagined it would in my head.  Starting out fairly slow though.  My breakfast was an orange, and I just got done making my lunch, my portabella pizza that I’ve been craving this whole time.  It was pretty delicious, but still not real pizza.

Portabella Mushroom “Pizza”

1 Portabella Mushroom

Marinara Sauce

Mozzarella Cheese

Spinach

Brush enough olive oil to coat each side of  the portabella.  Sprinkle with garlic powder or any other seasonings you want to use.  Then place into the oven, set to broil, five minutes on each side.  Remove from oven and add marinara sauce, cheese, and any other toppings you want on there.  Add back into the oven and keep a close eye on it so that the cheese doesn’t burn.  Heat just until sauce is hot and cheese is melted.

Ok, now the grand totals for my weight loss!  As you know I started out at 146.4 and my final weigh in this morning was 134.8.  That’s a total weight loss of 11.6lbs!  I also measured my stomach, hips, and thighs, and I lost a total of 4 1/2 inches.  To put it into another perspective, my BMI went from 20.42 to 18.8.  That’s a big difference, and it gives you more of an idea since that takes into account height and weight, not just weight.

I’m happy with my results!  I’m really hoping that I will be able to keep most of the weight off.  I realize that there will be some weight gain just due to the fact that I’m eating solid foods again, and they take some time to travel through the body.  I plan on still drinking juices from time to time, maybe even one a day.  I think it’s a good way to get all of my fruits and veggies. 

Would I do another juice fast?  I would have to say yes.  It’s been a little challenging to not eat food, but overall my experience was not a bad one.  I’m thankful for the fact that my stomach has shrunk down again.  I know that it doesn’t take that much food to fill my stomach.  I just need to remember to eat a little, and save the rest for later.  That’s a tough one because I love food.  But I’m going to do my best!

Gruyere Macaroni and Cheese

I made this recipe as an adaptation from a blog written by Katie, which you can check out at: http://parkerkatiecasey.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/272/

The only thing I did a bit differently was to puree the cauliflower with a bit of milk in my food processor after it was done cooking.  Then I added the cauliflower puree to the cheese sauce once it was all melted.  So good, and you can’t even tell there’s cauliflower in there for any of you picky eaters!

Crock-Pot Turkey Corn Chowder

I thought I’d share one of my favorite, easy recipes, at least of the moment.  I’m making some now and it’s the second time this month, so you know it’s pretty good.  The fact that it doesn’t take much prep time, or ingredients helps too!  Plus, living alone, I can make this and bring it to work for dinner a couple of nights which saves me from stopping at the grocery store on the way to work!  It would be delicious  served in a sour-dough bread bowl…but then, what isn’t? Ingredients: 1 lb ground turkey (I like to use the spicy type) 3 cups frozen diced hash browns with onions and peppers (I never measure, just dump in the whole bag!) 2 medium carrots chopped 1 10 3/4 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup 1 15-16 1/2 ounce can creamed corn 2 1/2 cups water I usually cook the turkey and make sure it’s broken into small pieces, plus drain out the fat before adding it to the crock pot, but you don’t have to. Add everything into the slow cooker, give it a stir, set to low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours and forget about it.  Delicioius! Here’s a picture of what it looks like.  Keep in mind this just went in the crock-pot.  It’ll look much yummier after it cooks for 8 hours! Update:  Here’s what it looks like after cooking for about 8 hours!