Italian Style Shrimp- Clean Eating

This is one of my go to clean eating recipes. 

It's a quick and easy dinner that is perfect for any weeknight.  

It's filling enough that you don't miss the carbs, but if you really wanted you could add brown rice to the mixture.  

Enjoy!

Clean Eating Italian Style Shrimp

Courtesy of Gracious Pantry

*I made a few changes to the recipe, noted in red. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound frozen, pre-cooked shrimp
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste, no sugar added
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• *1 package of turkey sausage 

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a skillet and cook until the shrimp and sausage are warmed through, stirring regularly.

Garlic Lemon Shrimp

One thing I always have in my freezer is frozen cooked shrimp.  

It's quick to thaw and can be used for lots of healthy recipes.  

Last night, the day got away from me. 

It was 5:00 by the time I looked at the clock and I didn't have anything out for dinner. 

I had already played the breakfast for dinner card this week,  I needed something different.  

So, I pulled out my shrimp and by the time it was thawed I had found a recipe. 

Dinner was ready by the time hubs was home. 

I liked it, he liked it. 

Success.  

Garlic Lemon Shrimp

Courtesy of Taste of Home

4 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 20 min.

Ingredients

• 1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• Hot cooked pasta or rice

Directions

• In a large skillet, saute shrimp in oil for 3 minutes. Add the
• garlic, lemon juice, cumin and salt; cook and stir until shrimp turn
• pink. Stir in parsley. Serve with pasta or rice. Yield: 4 servings.

Spiced Pork Chops with Apple Chutney

Before the days of Pinterest, I used to subscribe to lots of cooking magazines.  I would look forward to them arriving each month.  Once they did I would spend mornings flipping through the pages, ripping out recipes, all while enjoying my morning coffee.  Of course those were the days before motherhood as well.  Now, I pull up my computer sometimes just minutes before dinner hoping I have the ingredients for a somewhat decent meal.  

Last weekend, I decided to pull out the recipe binder I created with all the recipes I had ripped out from years past.  Hubs was home, the baby was napping and I was enjoying my coffee.  I was determined to not only meal plan for the week but plan some healthy yet delicious meals.  This recipe was one of the first I ripped out.  Hubs loves apples with pork chops, I knew he would love this recipe.  

Results:  Amazing.  Absolutely delicious.  Not hard to make.  The tartness of the cranberries paired with the sweetness of the apples made the perfect topping for the pork.  The only change made to the recipe was an addition of 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the apple cranberry topping.  We had leftover pork and topping so the next night we made sandwiches with it.  We blended the apple cranberry topping in the Magic Bullet to create a spread.  We put it on top of the pork on a roll, hubs also added cheese to his.  It was a sandwich that reminded me of Thanksgiving.  I have a feelings hubs will be asking for this meal again very soon!

Spiced Pork Chops with Apple Chutney 

Courtesy of Cooking Light 

Ingredients

Chutney:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 5 cups (1/4-inch) cubed peeled apple (about 3 apples)
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon all spice 

• Pork:
• 3/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed
• Cooking spray 

Preparation

1. To prepare chutney, melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add apple; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Add cranberries and the next 6 ingredients (through allspice); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until apples are tender; stir occasionally.

2. To prepare pork, while chutney simmers, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine chipotle and next 4 ingredients (through black pepper); sprinkle over pork. Coat grill pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Serve with chutney.

Slender haricots verts are a pretty and quick-cooking complement to the meal. Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 12 ounces haricots verts to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, and 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves; cook 5 minutes or until garlic is lightly browned.

Meatloaf Muffins with Barbecue Sauce

I'm back on the meal planning wagon and I have to say, it's so nice.  My nights run so much smoother when I know what we're having for dinner and all the ingredients are already at home.  Last night, hubs was home early so we were able to cook together. We talked about our days as we cooked, enjoyed guacamole while it was all in the oven with a glass of wine as the baby sat quietly in her highchair and ate {rare}.  It was a perfect night. 

 For dinner I chose this mini meatloaf recipe from Rachael Ray.  I've never put celery and peppers into my meatloaf and thought it looked really good.  The recipe calls for onions as well but I left those out because hubs doesn't like it unless it's sautéed.  Something I would do differently next time is use a brush for the sauce on top.  I just spooned it over and thought it would spread a little. As you can tell from the pictures, that didn't happen.  I used a large scoop to put the mixture in the muffin pans and next time I need to push the mixture down and fill it all the way.  That would give them more of a muffin shape instead of the oversized meatball look I have going here.  We will be enjoying these again tonight for dinner since we had so many leftover.  I'm sure they would also freeze well. 

 I'm looking forward to making these again.  Enjoy!

Meatloaf Muffins with Barbecue Sauce 

Courtesy of Rachael Ray 

Ingredients:

1 2/3 to 1 3/4 pounds ground sirloin
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
2 ribs celery from the heart of the stalk, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 green bell pepper
1 large egg plus a splash of milk, beaten
1 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
1/2 cup tomato salsa
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil
Micro-way-cool Bacon and Green Beans, recipe follows
Smashed potatoes and cream cheese, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Put ground beef into a big bowl. Put onion and celery into a food processor. Cut the bell pepper in half, rip out the seeds and throw them into your garbage bowl. Cut the pepper into a few pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse the processor blades to finely chop the vegetables into very small pieces then add them to the meat bowl. Add egg, beaten with milk, bread crumbs and grill seasoning to the bowl. Next, mix together the smoky barbecue sauce, the salsa and the Worcestershire sauce. Pour half the sauce mixture into the bowl with the meatloaf mix. Mix the meatloaf together with your hands. Wash up. Brush a 12-muffin tin (1/2-cup each) with vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil. Use an ice cream scoop to help you fill meat into a each tin. Top each meat loaf with a spoonful of extra sauce. Bake about 20 minutes. Cut open 1 muffin to test that the middle is cooked through.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/meatloaf-muffins-with-barbecue-sauce-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

This past week we had some friends over for dinner.  I had intentions of going to the store the day of to grab something to make for dessert but it rained all day.  Trying to go to the store with a baby in the rain just doesn't mix.  So I searched for a quick cookie recipe that I could make with ingredients I had at home.  Thankfully peanut butter was BOGO the week before and I had enough for this recipe.  

Results: By now you should know that I am all about quick recipes.  Especially now since my baby girl is on the move and I don't have much time in the kitchen unless she's eating.  I was able to get these made during an hour nap.  The batter took no time and I decided to make the cookies with my medium sized scoop, so the recipe yielded about 26 cookies for me.  The cookies didn't have an overwhelming oatmeal taste and the perfect amount of peanut butter.  I decided to add white chocolate chips to mix in and added just over a half of a cup. Enjoy! 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies 

Courtesy of Averie Cooks

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter

1/3 c peanut butter

1 c brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

1 egg + 1 yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 c old fashioned whole oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 c white chocolate chips

1/2 c peanut butter chips (or use butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, toffee bits, raisins, nuts, seeds, etc.)

Directions:

In a medium-sized microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and peanut butter together.  Power on for 30 seconds, take out, stir.  Repeat.  Should take no more than about 90 seconds.

Add the brown & white sugar to the melted butter & peanut butter mixture and stir.  Set this is the freezer for a couple minutes.

Remove from the freezer (or just wait for the mixture to come to room temp on it’s own) and add the egg + yolk (you just don’t want to add eggs to that hot mixture.  We don’t want scrambled eggs here), add the vanilla extract, and stir.

Then add the flour, oats, baking soda and stir.  You should have cookie dough consistency dough and if you don’t, either add a touch more flour if it’s too wet or a touch more peanut butter if it’s too dry.

Finally, add the white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and stir.

Roll or spoon out golf ball sized balls onto a cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.  They spread but not tons.

Bake at 325F for approximately 10-12 minutes.  (I like very underdone and soft cookies so I baked for 10 minutes)  The cookies will look pretty raw even at 12 minutes and that’s ok.  Take them out and let the sit and cool well before eating.

Yields: 22 to 24 cookies