I Finally Cooked Something!

 

     It isn't all that often that my husband actually requests me to make a recipe. So, when he goes to the trouble to actually cut out a recipe and ask me to make it, how could I say no? He found the recipe in the Wall Street Journal and thought it looked good and also healthy enough to fit in with the way we eat these days (most of the time). I did have to "tweek" the recipe a bit based on what I had and what was available in small town Illinois. The actual recipe was called Grilled Shrimp with Watermelon, Basil, Corn and Burrata. Of course I had no idea what Burrata was and when I did figure it out, I knew that I wouldn't find it in my little town. I did find that a good substitute for Burrata is Fresh Mozzarella Cheese. Burrata is an Italian fresh cheese that oozes with cream in the center. Doesn't that sound good? I guess the texture on the outside is very much like fresh mozzarella, but it has a gooey, creamy center.

 

Grilled Shrimp with Watermelon, Basil, Corn and Mozzarella

 

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 1/2 T. olive oil, plus a little extra for drizzling

2 tsp. minced garlic (I left out, we don't like it)

4 T. finely sliced fresh basil

salt and pepper

kernels from 4 ears of corn

1 1/2 T. balsamic vinegar (aged balsamic is worth the extra cost)

3 cups cubed watermelon

1 ball of fresh mozzarella, quartered

 

Toss the shrimp (raw) with 2 T. of the oil, the (optional) garlic,

and 1 T. of the basil along with the salt and pepper. Set aside.

 

     I didn't peel and devein my shrimp until after they were grilled, because they were frozen. Next time I would buy raw shrimp that were already peeled.

 

     The recipe did not call for the corn to be blanched, but I did mine. I didn't want it to be raw. I simply dropped it into boiling water for just a minute or so. Remove the corn, dry and cut the kernels off the ears. Let the corn cool a few minutes before mixing with other ingredients.

 

 

In a large bowl, mix the watermelon with

the remaining basil, remaining oil and vinegar.

 

 

Toss in the corn kernels.

 

Slice the cheese into 4 pieces and set aside until serving.

 

     Grill the shrimp over medium-high heat until pink (1-2 minutes per side). After making this, I decided that while the grilled shrimp does add some color and extra flavor...once the ingredients are tossed together, you can't tell as much that the shrimp was grilled. I think this would be almost as good if you simply added boiled shrimp.

 

     Add the shrimp to the watermelon and corn mixture. To serve, divide the salad onto 4 plates and place a hunk of cheese next to it. Sprinkle the cheese with salt and drizzle with olive oil.

 

Here is the picture from the Wall Street Journal.

I think mine turned out looking similar.

 

It is a delicious, fresh summer dish that I will

be making again soon!

 

I am joining Kim @ Savvy Southern Style for

Wow Us Wednesdays

and

I will be joining Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm for

Foodie Friday

Healthier Cheeseburger Chowder

 

 

     I am trying very hard to eat foods that taste as much like things I "used to cook" and yet have less fat and calories. I think most things can be changed a little bit and still have textures and flavors that taste good. People say that after eating mostly "clean" foods, they no longer want things that aren't healthy. Well, I'm not sure I agree with that. Chocolate still tastes great to me and I have some almost daily. After almost 3 months of healthy eating, greasy things don't sound very good to me anymore (but they never really did). I still would be blissfully happy putting heavy layers of butter and cheese on most everything. I lightened the cheese load in this soup quite a bit and I wasn't sure if we would like it this way, but it was actually quite good for a healthy option.

 

     I bought my first bottle of canola oil to make this recipe. I don't use a lot of oil other than olive oil, but I have noticed that many recipes now call for canola oil instead of vegetable oil.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

8 oz. extra lean ground beef

2 tsp. canola oil

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

1 large potato peeled and chopped

pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. paprika

cayenne pepper (small amount-optional)

2 cans 99% fat free chicken broth

1/4 cup reduced-fat evaporated milk

1 T. flour (I used whole wheat)

3/4 cup shredded reduced fat (not fat free) cheddar cheese

 

     Brown the beef in a small stock pan. Drain, remove from pan and set aside. Add canola oil to same pan and sauté celery, carrots and potato until almost tender. Sprinkle with pepper, paprika and cayenne. Add chicken broth and simmer until veggies are nice and tender. Using a potato masher (or a fork) slightly mash the cooked veggies to thicken the broth a bit, but still leaving large chunks. Mix milk with the flour and stir it into the soup, stirring until blended. Add back in the beef and the cheese and stir until melted.

 

This recipe makes 4 servings @ 249 calories per serving.





    

 

Enjoy!

 

I am joining Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday

 

Healthy Tomato Basil Soup (159 calories)

 

     I continue to look for recipes that I can adapt into healthy versions and this Tomato Basil soup was a success. I want to warn you ahead of time that I actually made mine in the crockpot and it worked just fine (4 hours on low heat) but it was really, really ugly before it went into the blender. There is a picture below, just so you know that you didn't ruin it! This would be easy to make quickly without the crockpot, I simply wanted to see what happened when it slow cooked.

 

Serving size is 1 1/4 cups for only 159 calories

per serving when entered into my calorie calculator.

 

 

In your pan or crockpot add:

 

1 T. olive oil

1 T. dried basil (or fresh basil if you have it)

pinch of garlic powder (to taste)

4 cans Fire Roasted Tomatoes (do not drain)

8 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese

2 cups skim milk

salt and pepper to taste

 

Heat through until cheese melts and place in small batches into the blender (the soup will explode when hot if you put very much in the blender-hold the lid on). Pulse until creamy.



 

Tomatoes and oil in crockpot

 

 

All ingredients in crockpot

 

 

Gross and ugly looking soup as I am dipping it into the blender

 

 

Creamy and delicious after blending.

 

     I got a new laptop today and I'm trying to get things switched over and getting a feel for the new keyboard. I also have to learn the tricks of Windows 8 so who knows how many errors you will see in the next few days!

 

I am joining Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm

for Foodie Friday

Simple, Delicious and Good For You!

     I love soup. I think I could be happy having soup every day, even in the summer. My favorites tend to be cream soups, but we know those aren't the best for us. So, I'm always looking for recipes that are both healthy and taste good. I recently read a recipe that sounded delicious and of course I had to change it a bit for our tastes. I think you will like this one.

Hearty Chicken Soup with Beans

Ingredients

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

8 oz. dried pinto beans

8 oz. dried great northern beans (you can either soak both of the dried bean varieties for 2 hours and drain, or do as I did and in a large pan, cover them with water and bring to a boil, then drain them)

2 T. olive oil

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped (I like to add some of the leaves)

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

pinch of garlic powder

32 oz. chicken broth (low sodium)

2 cups of water

Put the chicken in the crockpot.

You can see that mine was still frozen.

Coarsely chop the celery and carrots and add to the chicken

Add the rinsed and soaked (or slightly boiled and drained) beans to the mix.

Add oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, bay leaves, broth and water.

I set my crockpot to 4 hours on high temperature,

you can adjust yours accordingly.

Before serving remove the bay leaves and shred the chicken.

     My husband had seconds...that always means that it is a success. We just had crackers with ours, but cornbread or a crusty French bread would be delicious.

I am joining Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday.

Please visit our hostess.



Healthy Eating in 2011-Foodie Friday

      Like everyone else, I eat way to much "junk" during the holidays. One thing I love about a new year is the opportunity to go back to healthy eating. I'm not one of those people who can live on lettuce and egg white omelets. I like flavor and texture in my food! I love this granola recipe because it has no added fat. Many recipes call for butter (which certainly does enhance the color and flavor) but this one doesn't. The nice thing is that it still tastes great. I love it with low fat yogurt for breakfast or a healthy snack.  

Crunchy Granola

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup water

4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

8 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup walnut pieces

Dried fruit (optional) I used golden raisins for this batch.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, combine oats and nuts, set aside. Combine brown sugar and water in a small saucepan, bring to a low boil and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and add salt and vanilla (it will bubble when the cold vanilla hits the hot sugar). 

Pour brown sugar syrup over nut/oat mixture and stir well until all the oats are coated. Spread granola onto the 2 cookie sheets and bake 1 hour (until golden and crunchy) at 275 degrees. Allow to cool, break into pieces, add dried fruit if you'd like and store in airtight containers.

I am joining Michael @ Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

It is the place to visit for some of the best recipes in all of Blogland!