Jul 16 2010

Foo's Cucumber and Shrimp Bites

I’ve been trying to come up with fun ideas for my lunches. I think I’ve already mentioned this, but for any new readers – I go home for lunch every day. I have the luxury of working only a few miles from my house. I get to spend time with Higgy, save money and eat healthier – it’s a win, win.

The problem is that I keep running out of clever ideas. I stopped buying frozen meals when I started this blog and my time is limited. I came up with something yesterday that will definitely be in my weekly rotation –  not to mention, an awesome appetizer idea for parties.

A girlfriend introduced me to a shrimp dip at one of her holiday parties. I decided to make it this morning so I could have something new for lunch. The cans had just been sitting in the pantry for months. She serves the shrimp mixture on a plate surrounded by crackers. I wanted to go veggie, so I played off my love of sushi.

Ingredients:

2 Cans of Shrimp – I used Geisha Tiny Shrimp – never had canned shrimp until trying the dip
2 Stalks Celery – finely chopped
3 Green Onions – white and green parts
2 Tablespoons Light Mayo
Several shakes of Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

You want to drain and then rinse the shrimp. I set mine between paper towels to dry. I added all of my ingredients and then gave it a good stir. 2 Tablespoons of mayo doesn’t seem like enough, but you want a chunky texture – you don’t want it to be wet like tuna can get.

I then peeled and sliced a cucumber, added salt and pepper to the cucumber slices, put a spoonful of the mixture on top and then drizzled a spicy island ponzu dipping  sauce on each one. (Two Sisters Gourmet by Partylite – my friend Michelle sells it and I love the taste and thickness, it’s awesome!)

Super low calorie – 200 calories for both cans of the shrimp, 60 for the mayo, 20 for the ponzu sauce, and if you’re a Weight Watcher – the cucumber is free right? Hah! – less than 20 calories for that. My serving size was 10 – because 9 fit on the plate and I had to test one with sauce before I did them all.  I have lots of the shrimp mix left in the fridge – one batch could easily make a tray of 20-25 depending how generous you get with the mixture. That makes them right around 15 calories each.

Yay for me – I stepped away from my slicer. Can’t wait to come up with other new lunch items.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=679

Jul 15 2010

Mo' Faux Pasta

Sometimes it’s just got to be super simple. While the recipes are fun, fun, fun – I don’t always plan ahead and ingredients don’t get purchased. I had some yellow squash and since I had only used my slicer with zucchini, I thought I’d give it a try. I ended up slicing 1 large yellow squash with the spaghetti shaped cutter.

I put chopped black olives, marinated sun-dried tomatoes and garlic in a sauté pan with some of the flavored oil from the jar of tomatoes. I added some oregano, Italian seasoning, fresh basil, salt and ground pepper.

I am not kidding when I say, “I could eat this every night!” – no joke. I’d have the most boring blog on the Internet, but a heaping bowl or plate of this actually tricks my brain into believing I’m eating a huge portion of pasta – yet I don’t get the bloated feeling pasta gives me.

I used the same sun-dried tomatoes and garlic combo to whip up a shrimp dish a few nights back.

I swear, if the slicer was sold on HSN, I would be the caller ordering up one for every friend I have – I’m loving it THAT much – best gift ever Mom and Dad.

Sure, a good pasta craving would send me to the nearest Italian restaurant… but quick mid-week meals of mostly veggies are a much healthier option.

I still want to try a terriyaki stir fry with my faux noodles, that might be next on the list!

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=656

Jul 14 2010

Kielbasa and Apple Kabobs

I apparently didn’t get enough sodium from the Pretzel Dogs Friday night – I decided to continue the sodium fest theme through Saturday evening.

I am a huge fan of the kabob. Nothing beats being able to cook everything at once on the grill. I was looking online for different kabob recipes and stumbled upon a Kielbasa and Apple Kabob that really looked interesting. I love that the Allrecipes.com website has lots of reviews for every recipe. Most of the kabob reviews stated that they were surprised at how good they ended up tasting.

Why not? I knew I wanted to give the recipe a try. Our friends were game for being guinea pigs – so I ran with it.

The Ingredients:

I had a weird setting on the camera and didn’t notice until it was too late – it created a lovely haze on the products, whoops!

1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
3/4 Cup Cranberry Juice
2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar
2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce
1 Pound Fully Cooked Kielbasa or Polish Sausage – cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces – I used 2 lbs.
2 Medium Tart Apples – cut into wedges – I used 3 Granny Smith Apples
1 Medium Sweet Red Pepper – cut into 1-inch pieces – I used a combo of red and orange peppers
1 Medium Green Pepper – cut into 1-inch pieces – I didn’t use green, because I already had the orange and thought the green from the apples would be enough

I prepped my keilbasa, apples and peppers and got them onto the metal skewers.

I was able to make 5 large kabobs out of the ingredients. I got the kabobs covered and placed them into the fridge while I prepped the glaze.

In a saucepan, I combined the sugar and cornstarch.

I gave it a good mixing before adding the cranberry juice, cider vinegar and soy sauce.

Bring the sauce/glaze to a boil – cook and stir for several minutes – I had mine on the burner for about 4 minutes.

The sauce smelled delicious. I used a brush to coat the kabobs before placing them on the grill.

While the kabobs were grilling, my girlfriend Michelle and I were thinking of different combos we could use with the glaze. I thought it would be screamin’ good with chicken and pineapple – she mentioned nectarines and chicken – both of us thought the cranberry juice could be switched out with orange, mango, etc.

I kept turning the kabobs – which became quite comical with my big BBQ mit and tongs – I think I finally got it down on the second to last kabob.

I can’t say enough about the flavor. The sweet and tangy combo of glazed kielbasa and apples were awesome! I loved the texture of the apples. They were just soft enough, but they still had crunch to them.  The glaze/kielbasa combo made me want to eat an entire plate of just that. Yum x’s 10.  I think you could pretty much put the glaze on anything and it would taste good. O.k., maybe not everything… hah!

I made wild rice as a side dish and also had a loaf of rustic European bread – fresh from the bakery.

The dinner get together was a huge success! We ended the evening with a plate of cake samples. Michelle stopped at a local bakery and got a great selection – lemon cooler cake, lady finger and choc. cake, almond cake with berries and raspberry cream torte – not sinful at all.

I love getting together with friends to share lots of laughs and a good meal.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=635