Buttery Shrimp and Green Bean Scampi

 I came home from work and looked in my fridge and freezer. I wanted a quick, tasty meal. I had a Chopped flashback, to when I had cable and watched nothing but Food Network and Discovery ID. Literally those two channels were the only ones I watched, wait no I lied. I watched Animal Planet too. A lack of cable tv is probably for the best, since I was addicted to shows like Deadly Women. My fiance would come home and be terrified that I was going to kill him. Oops, haha.

 I saw some frozen salad shrimp and immediately wanted some garlic and butter. I was feeling lazy so I then looked for a frozen bag of steamable veggies. The only steamy veggies I had were green beans, which worked out perfectly, and delishly if I can say that. I know it's not a word, but it's my blog and I do what I want.

Buttery Shrimp and Green Bean Scampi

3 oz frozen salad shrimp, more if you are feeling hungry
1-2 TBSP butter
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 bag steamable green beans, cooked according to the directions
salt, pepper to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat and add the slices of garlic until cooked, but not brown. Add frozen salad shrimp until thawed and warm. Add salt and pepper to taste. I added some basil in the picture above, because it's the best herb ever. Add cooked green beans, stir and eat it all up!

Lettuce Wraps with an Asian flair

I love lettuce wraps, so cheap, easy, and delicious. These are very customizable,  but hey I think about every recipe is easily changed. 😀

In case you haven't noticed, I don't measure things out. I just add stuff until it tastes good. You should try it. Just keep in mind that you can always add more but you can't take away if you have added too much.

Lettuce Wraps with an Asian flair

1 pound ground turkey
1 small cabbage, chopped finely
2 carrots, shredded
Spices: ginger, salt, pepper, garlic, coconut aminos
Green onion, sliced

Romaine lettuce leaves

Brown the turkey in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the cabbage and carrots and place a lid on top to steam the cabbage, turn down heat to medium low and cook until cabbage is tender. Season to taste with spices and coconut aminos. Spoon mixture onto lettuce leaves and garnish with green onion. Grab some napkins and enjoy!

Tilapia Grilled in Foil Packets

It was too hot to bake, and I wasn't sure how to grill tilapia. Thank goodness for Google. I searched for a grilled tilapia recipe and some lunatics out there actually tell you to grill the fish, right on the grill grates! Oiled of course, but still! There is no way I could pull that one off. Thankfully I happened upon foil packet recipes and came up with this one. I didn't have lemon, so I used lime. I don't really recommend that, it turned really bitter. Is that what happens to limes, but not lemons? Every recipe I saw said to use lemons. Oh well, it was edible. Fiance actually took some to work and ate it cold on a salad. I'm so proud of him! We are rocking this 21DSD journey!

Use lemons not limes, they make stuff weird

Ingredients
12 tilapia filets, thawed
2 small shallots, chopped
4 cloves garilc, chopped
1- 2 lemons, sliced
salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat grill to 350 degrees.
Mix shallots and garlic in a small bowl, set aside. Place fish in the center of a foil square. We had 3 filets in one foil packet, so you'll want to do four packets of three filets each. Evenly divide the shallot mixture amongst the 4 packets. Place a lemon slice or two in each packet. If you like lemon, add more or less to your tastes. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Fold the packet long ways first, then the sides. Google foil packet if you've never done it. You want your packet to be air tight, the fish will essentially steam in the packet.
Place on grill and leave on there at 350 degrees for 15 min. Our grill may have been a bit hotter. These were possibly over done at 15 min. Just make sure you are careful when you open that foil packet and make sure your fish are done.
Enjoy!

Guacamole

Avocados rock, they hit the spot all the time. They are really good especially when you cut carbs and sugar and are craving...well, anything. Guacamole is loaded with good fats, so it might actually replace the ice cream that I'm craving. I cut out nightshades, so this doesn't have any jalapenos, and I actually love it! So does fiance! Also, I forgot to buy cilantro, so there's none in here but I bet that would be a great addition.

This was my dinner the first night of my 21DSD, featuring my turkey meatballs that I have yet to create a recipe for, and jicama

Guacamole

1 shallot
4 cloves garlic, peeled, more or less to taste
3 avocados, chopped in big chunks
quarter of a lime
dash salt and pepper

In a food processor, pulse the shallot and garlic cloves until chopped finely. Add the avocado chunks, and squeeze the lime so the juice goes on the avocado. Get as much juice out of the lime slice as you can, this will help keep the guac from becoming brown. Add salt and pepper. Pulse until the guac reaches desired consistency. Some people like it chunky, others like it smooth. Smooth is good, but so are chunks, I can never decide. Keep refrigerated. It can keep for a few days, but will likely start to brown. You can also freeze this, it will keep for months, and defrost in the fridge.

21 DSD Chicken Salad with Mustard Dressing

 Being on Day 2 of  my sugar detox, check out my journey here, I've got a killer headache (I cut caffeine out as well) so I'll keep this brief. I'm also answering a million questions since fiance is now home, he's helping put away my detox ice cream that I made from PaleOMG. Yeah, Aunt Flo is in town and I really REALLY needed some ice cream, that and I had to use up a sweet potato.
 Keeping it simple today with a salad. I know BORING but it's hot as heck out there. Once I start actually eating a salad I realize how good it is and gets better the more I eat it. It usually hits the spot even if I don't think it will.

This dressing recipe is one I made up while on my TLS detox. Instead of oil, I used mustard, but for the sugar detox I'm adding olive oil. I also like my dressing TANGY, which this really is.

1/2 bag salad mix
sprinkle of fresh spinach, torn
capers
radishes
grilled chicken thighs seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic

Mustard Dressing
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
splash of water
1 tbsp spicy brown mustard, or dijon
1-2 tbsp spices including garlic, parsley, chives, marjoram, thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil

Create a bed of lettuce with salad mix and spinach. Add chicken and your toppings, I had radishes and capers on mine. For the dressing, mix everything but the oil in a glass jar until combined, then add oil and mix to combine. This is best done is a glass jar with a lid, I sometimes use my old mustard bottle. Play around with spices, vinegar, whatever suites your tastes. I never measure anything, so just eyeball it. Play with your food and enjoy!

Check out my new blog!

I started a new blog dedicated to living well. It's not just about food, but food does play a large part, mostly because it makes me feel so terrible all the time. Check it out here: Live Well With Sam. I am currently doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox and I'm chronicling my journey on the new blog. I'll try to post recipes and meals, but so far this detox is rough, so we'll see. I know, I'm only on Day One. Haha!

Black Bean PB2 Brownies

So I can't be the only person out there that can't have chocolate or soy. When you have a hankering for brownies, that tends to put a damper on things. I came across Domino Sugar's brownie recipe and this product called PB2 while browsing the interwebz. The future inlaws talked about PB2 and how cool it was a year ago and I just thought that was weird. Who needs powdered peanut butter? Not me. Yeah, no it sure as heck is me. Cocoa powder, being the dreaded chocolate, gives me migraines and is hard to replace in brownies. PB2 solves that problem for me, it's essentially a flavored powder that works great in brownies, and apparently smoothies which I can't wait to try.

Forgot about the walnuts!! I added them just after I put it in the oven. Oh and that pan is not 8X8. It was a gift and I have no idea what size it is. Be sure to actually use an 8X8 pan, it'll probably make for better brownies.

If you think that it's weird that there are beans in these brownies, it's ok. I felt that way too, but with enough PB2, vanilla, coffee, etc. the bean taste gets masked. The black beans are also a fun way to fool all your friends that you made chocolate brownies when in fact you actually made peanut butter bean brownies. If you can have cocoa powder, you lucky bastard you, then feel free to replace the PB2 with it, or use the chocolate PB2.

This recipe was inspired by Domino Sugar's recipe found here.

They are really thin since I was a rebel and used a larger pan. Don't be a rebel, use an 8X8 square pan

Black Bean Brownies 

Ingredients List 

1 can (14.5 oz or something like that, didn't write that down) - canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon - brewed coffee, cooled
1/2 cup - sugar
1/4 cup - coconut oil
1/4 cup - unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup - PB2 powdered peanut butter
2 - large eggs
2 teaspoons - vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon - salt
dash cinnamon
1/4 cup - chopped walnuts, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Grease top of parchment. Set aside.
In a blender/food processor, blend black beans and coffee until smooth. Add sugar and remaining ingredients. (Do not over mix.) Scrape down sides of the bowl. Fold in walnuts, if using. Pour batter into the pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes until the brownies begin to pull away from the side of the pan. Cool and cut into 16 squares.

In the spirit of full disclosure, please note that when you click links and purchase items, I may receive a commission. I only recommend products & systems that I use and love myself, so I know you’ll be in good hands.

Sweet Potato Hummus aka Yummus!

Gotta have your carrots to keep it healthy, and orange!

  This paleo hummus recipe has gotten rave reviews at work, boys included, and everyone has asked me for this recipe. So, I figured that I wouldn't deprive the world, here it is! This is a simple recipe that anyone can alter according to his/her individual tastes. You could add pesto, roasted red peppers, spinach, what ever you want! Also, there are no chick peas in this, which makes it paleo, but also doesn't make it "hummus." So I've endearingly titled it Yummus, patent pending. Not really, let's be serious. If I had the time and money I would though.

INGREDIENTS 

1 Medium sweet potato, baked then cooled 

2 Tbsp Oil 

1 tsp Water 

1-2Tbsp Lemon juice, to taste 

1 tsp Cumin 

½ tsp Salt 

¼ tsp Pepper 

3 Cloves roasted garlic, to taste

DIRECTIONS 

1. Blend all ingredients in food 

processor/blender. Adjust seasonings to taste, 

add more water if it's too thick- 1tsp at a time. 

Feb 2014

  Hey there! It's been a while. I gotta say, when I jumped into this food blogging thing, I didn't realize how much work goes into these things! Wow! I'm really picky about eating cold food, so taking 20 pictures of a plate that I may (or may not eat) to post to my blog is really not my thing. I want to EAT it, not act like it's model posing for the cover of Vogue. I come home from work, and just want to eat that bomb looking/smelling food. Pictures are hard work! Not only do I have to make cauliflower LOOK good to me, but then my camera has to make it look good to you. Where am I supposed to take these pictures anyway? In a grocery store, or at Sur La Table? Shoot I'm just an office worker that gets migraines a lot, working towards not being an office worker one day ;)
  Speaking of migraines, I don't really get them as much as I used to. I've finally identified my food triggers, most of them if not all. There is probably no way for me to tell what all my food triggers are, heck what all of my migraine triggers are in general. The weather is a trigger for me for crying out loud. When it rains, snows, temp goes up or down, barometric pressure changes, etc. So the best thing is that even if I identify all my FOOD triggers, there will still be a chance for me to expect (or not expect) a migraine. Which is really a bummer for pretty much every social outing. Although I just realized that my last social outing yesterday I didn't have a headache. It was a clothing swap at a friend's church, and it was a BLAST. I highly recommend you go to one in your life, it was so much fun swapping my fat clothes for cute clothes. Of course there was a potluck, in which I only ate my food, but it was still fun. And guess what? NO MIGRAINE! I even went back to my parents' place and hung out doing shots of Cabo with my dad until 1am. Good times, truly.
  I may have gotten to a point that where I can be social and do normal people stuff. I honestly credit this to reading up on paleo blogs and eliminating foods that hurt me, in addition to losing 50 pounds and taking supplements. Danielle Walker at Against All Grain is simply an inspiration. I only hope to be as beautiful, successful, and a great food photographer as she is. She's not the only one out there, there are plenty of great paleo blogs, which are always gluten free. Juli at paleOMG, who is hysterical and has some EPIC recipes, and Louise at Ancestral Chef, who is super smart and has simple, elegant recipes, are both great paleo blogs as well.
  I want to get back into the blogging arena soon, so I will be posting new stuff in the coming weeks. And while my photo skills may be lacking, I make food that tastes good. Even my boyfriend said that "You don't make any BAD food" after 3 years! If that isn't the world's best compliment I don't know what is! If only I got that in writing, and notarized.