Sweet Saturday #8: Sweet Shrimp Stir-Fry with Rice

Let me tell you. It has been a long week. I almost didn't post today, but then figured I really want to get consistent again with my little blog here, at least for as long as I can, so I shook my lazies out and got back on the iMac...

Today's post is sweet in a surprising way. Remember those shrimp kabobs I made for Memorial Day weekend? Well, I marinated a lot of those shrimp, and cut up more than enough peppers and onions (all the pineapple got used though), so I had a bunch of it sitting in my fridge days after the BBQ. I had to use those shrimp before they went bad, so I came up with a stir-fry version of those kabobs, sans-skewers. They came out extra sweet because the shrimp had been sitting in lime juice and Corona for about 5 days, to the point where they almost didn't even taste like shrimp anymore! I was mostly impressed that they hadn't gone bad by then! I hope you like this version too :)

Sweet Shrimp Stir-Fry with Rice
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

1/2 lb cleaned and de-veined large shrimp
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red and green bell pepper
1 cup chopped pineapple (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 chive, diced
1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cups rice, white or brown
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp coconut oil

Marinade:

1/2 bottle of pale lager (I used Corona)
Juice of 1-2 limes
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea slat, course but small

Place the shrimp in large Ziploc bag or lidded container and shake up with the marinade mix. Allow to marinade over night or longer (I went for 5 days!). When they're ready, take out of the fridge and heat the olive oil in a large pot for about 1 minute, then add the rice. Saute stirring constantly for about another minute, then add 3 1/2 cups of water and the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat for about 11 minute or until done.

Meanwhile, it's time to stir-fry. Add the coconut oil to a frying pan and heat over medium-low heat until melted. Add the garlic, onion, peppers and pineapple if using, and cook stirring for about 2 minutes. Then add the shrimp and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until the shrimp is cooked and no longer translucent. Add extra lime if desired.

Serve the shrimp and vegetables over the rice topped with the chive and cilantro. 

This dish did not go over well with Lily, I must admit, but Paul and I enjoyed it. You can serve this to older kids who like shrimp (3 and up is safe) or add some chicken or tofu if that is more appealing to them. Lily had the rice and veggies with chicken fingers the night we had this :)

P.S. The kabob version is featured on Simple Living today! Whoo-hoo!

This dish is filled with vitamin-loaded bell peppers, nutrient-rich shrimp, heart-healthy garlic, and lots of fiber if you use brown rice. This dish is tasty and healthy and I think you will really like it!

Now it’s your turn to share! Follow me if you aren't already, then link-up something sweet to share- a blog, an Etsy store, an FB page, Twitter page, Pinterest, whatever! Hop around and say hi. Grab a button to spread the word! Have a great weekend!

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Post-Memorial Day Highlights with Chili-Lime Shrimp

I just had a weekend full of cook-outs, drinking, swimming, live music, and too much sun. It was good though, and I got to try quite a few tasty dishes. I even got a new recipe for one I intend to share for the next Meatless Monday, so check back for that + recipe link up!


At my cook-out, I prepared chicken teriyaki skewers, chili lime shrimp skewers (recipe below), that sweet fruit salsa recipe I shared last Friday, jalapeno burgers, grilled asparagus, a basic green salad, and a pitcher full of a watermelon-Riesling cocktail (I just love Riesling) I came up with based on this recipe that was featured here last week. My dear friend Mikhail brought an incredible vegetable salad and I also served chocolate fudge cake in honor of my mother-in law's recent birthday. I think everyone honestly liked that best ;)


That was Sunday. On Monday we went to Paul's parents' little get together (where the pool was!) and were served grilled drumsticks, burgers, dill potato salad, and yummy macaroni salad. A cake was also served again for my MIL, this time a red velvet cheesecake! I made myself a fruity pomegranate, lime and Moscato cocktail. It was a good time indeed. I ended the day with a late visit to my bestie's party where a really good jam band/cover band was playing and a variety of beers were available. I tried a new beer that was really crisp and delicious called New Grist Gluten-Free from Lakefront Brewery. I highly recommend it if you are a beer drinker! I am honestly not a big fan of beer, but I do know a good ale when I try one!


Here is the recipe I came up with for the shrimp:


Chili-Lime Shrimp
(serves 12+)


Ingredients


1 lb bag of large de-veined and cleaned raw shrimp
1 large bell pepper
1 large red bell pepper
1 medium onion, red or Vidalia
1 medium pineapple
1/2 bottle of pale lager (I used Corona)
Juice of 1-2 limes (depending on just how limey you want it)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea slat, course but small


Toss the shrimp in a large Ziploc bag or lidded container with beer, lime, chili, and salt. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Meanwhile, cut the peppers, onion and pineapple into pieces to fit onto the skewers. Once the shrimp is ready, pop those bad boys onto the skewers with a piece of fruit or vegetable between each shrimp. Grill for about 3 minutes each side over very hot coals (or until opaque), turning once during the middle of cooking time. Serve as is or with a favorite dipping sauce, such as mango salsa.

I was too busy hostessing to take any pics, but this shot from b is for bedstuy looks a lot like my end result

For the teriyak skewers I just used a store-bought sauce base and beefed it up with extra sesame oil, sesame seeds, and fresh garlic and ginger. Lily liked those best. That is about all she ate besides Stacy's Cinnamon Pita Chips (which I served with the fruit salsa). 

Cute pic of Lily my friend Em caught :)

The fruit salsa was really good, and quite possibly my favorite dish that day, besides the veggie salad my friend made, called Vinegret (vee-neh-GRET). Lily loved that salad  too, and it will be what's featured next Monday, so be sure to check back! Here's a teaser image below of Lily and I sharing some as leftovers yesterday at the park.

Trust me, this image does not do the beauty of those dishes justice. I truly regret not getting a good shot of them, I will have to make it up! They still tasted awesome nonetheless!

Now, I know I mentioned a bit about beers earlier, and I thought you might want to know there are actually quite a few health benefits to drinking a good lager every now and then that you may not know about. They contain bone-strengthening benefits, the hops can help fight kidney stones, and the healthy cholesterols found in beers can even help boost heart power! Something even more surprising I read is that it can even prevent dementia, which most people probably believe the opposite would happen from drinking beer. Of course, don't go running out to the bars just yet- always in moderation, people!


What did you do for Memorial Day weekend? What delicious meals did you have? Share in the comments or link up below! This is just for fun, no rules! 


Check back Friday for the next Sweet Saturday blog hop and then come again for Meatless Monday recipe link-up. Have a great day!


P.S. Forgive the weird spacing on here today, something is going on with the html and I can't figure it out so I hope it's not too distracting!

More reasons to love coconut

My sister came to visit me shortly after Lily was born with the intention of trying out a coconut shrimp recipe she’d came across recently. My sister has the same passion for cooking and baking that I do, although she normally chooses to go with the more flavorful and fatty recipes rather than the healthier ones I choose. When we made the shrimp together, she wanted to deep-fry them, and even though I rarely ever fry anything (unless you count sautéing), I didn’t protest and figured I’d treat myself to a little deep-fried naughtiness for once. Frying is also a lot faster than baking anyway, so we got to enjoy our food sooner.

They definitely came out being quite yummy, although I felt kind of gross afterwards from all the oil I consumed. We used canola oil that time and the shredded coconut had sugar added to it. We also didn’t have any dipping sauce as we were a little short on time when we actually got around to cooking the shrimp (we’d spent so much time shopping and talking prior to actually executing our original plans).

I enjoyed the recipe so much, I decided to make it myself later for my husband and I, but this time I baked them instead and they came out tasting just as good if not better than when they were fried. I also used smaller shrimp, thus dubbing them “Coconut Popcorn Shrimp” and although we didn’t have the delicious mango dipping sauce (see recipe below), we used cocktail sauce and that worked too. Recipes for both are below, but this time I suggested using coconut oil instead of canola, although either one is fine.

Coconut Popcorn Shrimp

Baked:

1 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined

½ cup flour

½ cup breadcrumbs

½ cup shredded coconut

1 egg beaten

1 tsp coconut oil

Note: you may need to add a little more of each coating ingredient as you go, so keep extras handy

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Have 2 cookie sheets greased with the coconut oil ready to place shrimp onto. Mix the breadcrumbs and coconut together. Put the breadcrumb and coconut mixture, egg, and flour each into separate dishes ideal for dipping the shrimp into. Dip each shrimp first into the flour, then the egg, then lastly into the breadcrumbs and coconut, and then place gently onto cookie sheets. Place into oven on center rack and bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy-looking. Serve with mango sauce for dipping.

Served with brown rice with edamame

Fried:

This recipe requires all of the same amount of ingredients for baking, only you’ll need enough coconut oil so that there is about 1-2 inches of oil in the pan or wok you use for frying. Heat the oil to 350 degrees, then use the same steps you would use for coating the shrimp as you would in the baking recipe, and place each shrimp gently into the frying pan. Cook for about 2 minutes each side, or until golden brown and crispy-looking, then place on dishes or a large platted lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes then serve with mango sauce for dipping.

Each recipe variation makes 4-6 servings.

Mango Sauce

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 lime, juiced

½ tsp red pepper flake

½ tsp ginger powder or 1 tsp fresh chopped ginger

Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth with some pulp still intact.

Lily is not really into shrimp yet, so I made her a small piece of tilapia using the breadcrumbs and coconut mixture alongside the shrimp topped with some of the mango sauce. I also gave her a couple slices of fresh mango.

For baby (age 6 months+):

2 tbsp pureed mango

1 tbsp plain yogurt

Mix together and serve. Delish!!

Coconut oil is recently gaining popularity for cooking with. Also being a widely used ingredient in body products, coconut oil is a great replacement for just about any cooking oil you normally use. It is full of healthy fatty acids and vitamins E and K, as well as iron and amino acids. It’s also good for the heart, boosts immunity, and also has anti-viral, -fungal, and –bacterial properties.

Besides being good for your body, coconut oil also has a high heating threshold, which means it’s less likely to burn and become carcinogenic (do not heat higher than 350 to prevent carcinogens). I do want to point out that although coconut oil clearly has many health benefits, that does not mean it makes it ok to start deep frying everything all the time just because you’re using a healthier oil. Frying food makes it fattier no matter what oil you use, and eating burned oil will increase cancer risks no matter which oil you use. Frying foods should always be kept to a minimum to maintain a healthy diet.

You may now be wondering, but does coconut oil make everything taste coconutty? The answer is no. Coconut oil has a very delicate taste, one that is almost non-existent. That’s why it is ideal for recipes that require oil that doesn’t affect the flavor of what you’re cooking. Of course I wouldn’t recommend using coconut oil in place of olive oil for certain Italian dishes, or using it in place of peanut oil for certain Asian dishes, but I think it works particularly well with chicken, fish, and vegetables. It also isn’t too expensive, costing about the same as a good bottle of olive oil. It typically comes packaged in a jar in solid form, but it melts very quickly.

Like I said before, coconut oil is used in body products and can be applied directly onto lips and skin for an all-natural moisturizer. Only use if you have dry skin, it’s a bit too greasy for oily skin. Smells and feels great! I recently started using it for a variety of things, and I think once you try it, you just might do the same.