Shrimp Scampi Zinguine

We have been following the Paleo-ish way of eating for over a year now and really love it.  And the spiralizer tool has added a whole new dimension to our meals. I made this last night, and it felt like summertime in your mouth. This will be a repeat performance for weeks to come!

Shrimp Scampi Zinguine

6 large zucchinis (I mixed squash and zucchini) processed through a veggie spiralizer (I used a blade to make the noodle a bit wider than spaghetti thickness

1-1/2 pounds extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined

zest of one lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

3 large cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley

4 Tbsp olive oil, divided

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided

salt and pepper to taste

 Get your squash and/or zucchini cut and set aside. Finish chopping and cutting remaining ingredients. This recipe cooks fast. Heat a large pan (I use my wok) with 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp butter. Add zinguine noodles and cook about 4-5 min (al dente like pasta). Salt and pepper to taste. Remove zucchini from heat and set aside. Back in pan, add the rest of the oil and butter and cook garlic for about a minute. Add shrimp  and cook approximately 5 minutes, turning as you cook. When shrimp is pink and done, stir zinguine back in and add lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley. Cook while stirring for another minute or two until desired tenderness of squash. If you overcook it will fall apart. Serve immediately!!! 

Don't judge me for using butter. Remember, I said Paleo-ish. It's all about balance, although I know some people can not have glutens. On that note, this blog is dedicated to Meg and Rachel, two beautiful, wonderful girls that I adore who KNOW how to do gluten free right! 


Bites of History

The Paleo way of eating dates back to hunter-gatherers in the Paleolithic era. I want you to know, you really have to hunt in Middle Georgia for fresh shrimp. Or buy frozen. 

Strawberry Everything and Chicken

So it turns out that strawberry season starts early in Georgia. Really early. So early, if you don't know this, you just might miss it. After the last few years of living back in Virginia, I had marked on my mental calendar to get those strawberries by late May/early June. Georgia strawberries arrived this year at the beginning of April. That said, I had a little help from the local farms. I didn't do the picking myself, but I made sure the berries were about two minutes off the vine before I took them home with me.

I didn't get to make any jam last year, as we were right in the middle of graduating a high school senior in our house, and we were about to make another big move. This year, I am making up for last year's loss. I have tried several versions of strawberry jam, but I still go back to a simple and flawless recipe right off the back of the Ball Real Fruit Classic Pectin jar. It's easy, and there's not much to it, and it turns out great every time!! *Reduced sugar recipe below. It's still sooooo sweet. 

Strawberry Jam

4 quarts of strawberries 

(8 cups mashed/processed)

9 tbsp Ball Classic Pectin

*6 cups sugar

2 teas butter

After washing strawberries and removing the caps, place them in a long pan and mash with a masher or  pulse in blender or food processor. Barely pulse unless you don't want chunks. I love the chunks. 

The rest is easy. Pour strawberries into a dutch oven or good pot that doesn't stick, and gradually add pectin. Add butter here as well to reduce foam. Stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil that won't stir down. Add in all of the sugar at once, and keep stirring until completely dissolved. Bring to a boil again, and allow to boil hard for one minute. You might want to wear an old tee shirt for this (learned that the hard way). Remove from heat and fill sterilized jars. Place new lids on jars that have been simmering in water and secure with rings. This makes around a dozen half pints or six pints. I process my jam in a water bath canner at a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Then I remove the lid and allow them to stay in canner for five more minutes. Remove and cover jars with a towel overnight.

After a little bit of hard work, I get to share some and eat some. My favorite morning treat is PB&SJ toast. 

While I was making the jam, I set aside enough strawberries for dinner. We love sweet salads, and Strawberry Basil Salad seems like the perfect paring with Lemon Chicken. We are always trying to find new ways to marinate and grill chicken because...we eat a LOT of chicken. I had this one in mind, as it makes for great leftovers to add in to another salad later.

Lemon Chicken Marinade

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white wine 

Juice and zest of one lemon

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

1 tbsp fresh thyme

2 large cloves minced garlic

Combine all ingredients and marinate 4-5 chicken breasts for at least 8 hours, but overnight is better.

We grilled the chicken, and served with Strawberry Basil Salad.

Strawberry Basil Salad

spinach

2 green onions, sliced

4-5 basil leaves, julienned 

strawberries

feta

Craisins

glazed pecans

Dressing

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup vinegar

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 teas sugar

1/4 teas salt

After being so good and healthy for dinner, there was room for a little dessert. This next recipe was the whole reason I decided to blog about strawberries. After four years, I have finally arrived at the best recipe EVER for strawberry ice cream. It's soooo worth the effort, and it's not even that much effort. 

Strawberry Ice Cream

2 pints fresh strawberries*

(should be around 2 cups after 

mashing or processing)

2 tbsp bottled lemon juice

4 large eggs

3 cups of sugar, divided

2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 cups milk**

1 cup half and half

2 teas vanilla 

*I pulse berries in a food processor so there aren't big ice chunks in the ice cream

** I used 1% milk , b/c that's what we always have in the fridge

Combine mashed strawberries, lemon juice and 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl and refrigerate at least one hour. This next step is optional. I am not a fan of raw eggs, so I temper them first. To do that, I heated the milk and remaining 1-1/2 cups of sugar over the stove until very hot (not quite boiling). I then added a cup of the hot mixture slowly into the beaten eggs while whisking. Mix well, and then slowly add the egg mixture back into the remaining milk/sugar mixture in pot on stove. Continue to heat and stir until almost a boil. Remove from heat and add half and half, whipping cream and vanilla. Stir and refrigerate also an hour, but I recommend longer to make the ice cream process shorter. 

When everything is chilled to your desire, process in whatever type of ice cream maker you have. We used to only have the hand cranking one when I was a kid, but I thought it was so much fun! 

Try not to eat it straight out of the container. 

Naaahhh. Go ahead!! You deserve it!! Look how hard you just worked!! 

My family loved it!! I will make this every year!! 

Bite of history

A woman by the name of Nancy Johnson received the first U.S. patent for the hand-cranked ice cream maker in 1843. I love you, Nancy!!! 

Southern Bean Stew

It's been a while since I've blogged. Let's just say, life happened, and my love for blogging slipped to the back burner. Pun intended. This recipe is worth the effort, so here goes. I saw Southern Living's version of this recipe in the December 2014 issue. It had waaaayy too many ingredients for me and seemed to have somewhat of an Asian twist, which I usually love, but not today. So, I have a base for bean soups and stews and started with that and then added what sounded good to my taste buds. It turned out great!! No meat is necessary, but I did use a little bacon for flavoring. I may actually sauté up some Kielbasa sausage and throw it in later, just to make it feel like a new stew on leftovers night. You can change up the seasonings, veggies or the beans to suit your cravings. 

 Southern Bean Stew

1-16 oz package of dried black-eyed peas

(soaked overnight or for at least six hours and drained)

2 Tbsp butter 

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped 

5 carrots, peeled and chopped 

1 red pepper, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

2 med sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

Small bunch of parsley, chopped

Whew!! The rest is easy, I promise. Here's what else you'll need.

1-32 oz container chicken stock

1-32 oz container chicken broth

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

Bacon slices or ham hock (optional)

(I used three slices of bacon)

1 1lb shredded collard greens

 (I love the bags in the produce section. Huge time saver)

salt and pepper to taste

First, don't forget to get those dried peas going. They need to soak at least for six hours and then drained. In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat butter and olive oil. Add onions, celery, carrots, and peppers (my base for all bean soups). Cook until tender (about 10 min). I put a lid on and let them sweat during this process. 

Add stock and broth, sweet potatoes, and all remaining ingredients except parsley. Your pot will be full, so you may have to add collards in slowly. Cook for about 20-30 minutes on medium-high heat, until sweet potatoes are done, black-eyed peas are tender, and collards are cooked to your desire. Add in parsley and simmer on lowest heat setting for about 30 more minutes. 

If you are feeling the need for MORE carbs, cornbread goes great with this stew. Just sayin'! 

Take Your Vitamins!! Beets, Turnips, and Summer Squash

I visited my produce man this week, aka my dad, and he sent me home with his farm grown beets, turnips, spring onions, and yellow squash. After being fed either boiled or pickled beets all of my childhood, and I hated both, I have had to reintroduce myself to this hardy root vegetable. It is packed full of so much goodness. Did you know consuming beets can help prevent colon cancer? Is good for your cholesterol? Acts as an anti-inflammatory? That's just to name a few of the many benefits. As for turnips, I was able to tolerate them mashed, as that was how my mom would make them, but I feel like the good stuff gets cooked out in that process.  In an effort to add these veggies into our diets (and actually like them), I tested a few varieties. Here was my favorite dish, and it was the most simple of them all. 

Roasted Beets and Turnips

5-6 medium fresh turnips

5-6 medium fresh beets

Olive oil for drizzling

Kosher salt

Pepper

Slice off roots and tops of beets and turnips. Peel and dice. Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes turning once or twice while roasting. Remove when fork tender. Your heart will love you!!!

There are a million ways to prepare yellow squash. Hmmm. So my dad would slice them very thin, then flour and fry them. I'm not gonna lie, they were quite delicious. I have to have them at least once a summer that way, however, for the sake of good healthy eating, here's how I make them. 

Sautéed Squash

4-5 medium to large squash

Onions 

(I used the whites of my dad's very large spring onions)

Olive oil

1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth

Salt and pepper

Fresh thyme

Slice squash and onions to like thickness. In a large sauté pan or heavy dutch oven, heat olive oil and add onions and squash, salt and pepper. Cook about 2 minutes; add broth and cook one to two minutes more or until desired doneness. We like them to be crisp. Remove from pan and top with chopped fresh thyme. 

I added some oven roasted chicken to this meal for protein. Why worry with something fancy, when the sides are the stars?! 

Sweet summertime!! 

Protein and the porch!!

It's all I need, well, at least for breakfast. The weather is warm and sunny and breezy, and my porch calls out to me every day. I managed to find a little piece of my morning this week to sit and have breakfast in my favorite spot with my high protein smoothie. The best part about this breakfast besides all of the health benefits...it's fast. I keep seeing posts and articles about everyone's quest for good health, especially this time of year. We try to be healthy year round, but let's face it, it's easier to be motivated when the weather turns warm, and we think about wearing those shorts or that bathing suit. Whatever motivates you, I hope you will try my high protein smoothie. There are many variations to it, depending on your taste buds. I like raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries in mine, but my husband doesn't care for the occasional surprise seed in his, so he only gets blueberries. It's fairly low in carbs, which is a good thing, but it's packed with lots of nutrition and most importantly, PROTEIN. If I don't have it, I'm thinking about what I will eat next. This will stick to you and keep you satisfied for a good long while. 

Protein-packed Fruit Smoothie

In a blender add the following:

1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

1 cup berries of your choice (I buy frozen mixed berries or blueberries until they are in season)

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder 

1/2 banana

1 cup fresh raw spinach

1 cup ice

*I decided to include the nutrition content for this recipe in case you'd like to know. It will vary slightly according to your choice of protein powder and fruit. Note...the carbs are mostly from the fruit, which is a good source for carbs, and morning is the best time to have them. Calories 347, Fat 1.3g, Carbohydrates 45g, Protein 44g

Here's to lots of great weather and feeling healthy!!

Warming and Healing - Chicken Soup!

I'm pretty sure God created chickens for soup making!! I'm convinced there are healing powers in all forms of chicken soup. My teenage daughter, Lauren, has been under the weather the past couple of days, and the weather hasn't even that much to brag about. It's March, and we have had cold, rainy days this week, with a little bit of snow coming down as I blog. I'm usually ready to phase out of the soup menu by now, but this week called one last time for it. In years past, this recipe has been my go-to meal to deliver to new moms and dads and to families in need of a pick-me-up. It's easy, and you don't need to cook it all day. I modified this from a Light and Tasty recipe.

Cream of Chicken and 

Wild Rice Soup

1 large onion, chopped

4 large carrots, sliced

4 celery ribs, sliced

small bunch celery leaves, chopped 

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

8 cups chicken broth

3 cups cooked wild rice (I use Uncle Ben's original wild rice)

3-4 cooked chicken breasts, cubed

1/4 teas kosher salt

1/4 teas pepper

1 can low fat evaporated milk

In a large dutch oven or saucepan, sauté onion, carrots and celery in butter and olive oil until tender. Add in chopped celery leaves for one more minute.  Add in flour and cook until well blended (about 1 minute). Slowly add broth while stirring. Stir in wild rice, chicken, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for a few minutes until thickened. Stir in milk and cook on low 3 or 4 minutes longer. Serve, and let it warm your soul. 

People will thank you!!

Share the Love...Cake Balls!!

I love chocolate! And I love my friends!! And I love my friends who love chocolate!!! When I was living in Japan, there was this recipe that everyone knew about except me, the new girl. They called them cake balls, amongst other things. Crack balls, truffle balls, cake truffles. Call them what you want, but they are something to behold. And something to share. My sweet friend and neighbor, Jody, was ever oh so kind enough to share these lovelies with me and the recipe too. I love them because every time I make them, I think of Jody and all of the dear friends I made there, and how much we loved to get together, and how we loved to get together and eat...especially chocolate. All you had to say was...cake balls...and you could draw a crowd. The recipe has been circulating for some time. So, I wanted to share it with you as well. I make them at Christmas for gifts and sometimes for birthdays. Just change out the sprinkles for whatever the occasion. Today, I used a red velvet cake.

Cake Balls

Cake of your choice (chocolate or red velvet)

One can of icing (cream cheese, vanilla, chocolate)

Almond bark or chocolate chips

Shortening

Prepare and bake cake according to directions. Allow to cool. Break cake up in large bowl and add can of frosting (I use cream cheese) and mix well (your hands are your best tools). Refrigerate until completely cool. Next roll into truffle size balls and place on sheet pan. Refrigerate again for about an hour so they are easy to dip. Melt chocolate in microwave or in double boiler (almond bark works great) and add about a teaspoon of shortening to thin mixture out a bit. Dip call balls in chocolate and place on sheet pan lined with wax paper. Decorate immediately, as chocolate dries fast. Now share!!! And enjoy some for yourself too!!


Happy Valentine's Day!!!