Ensenada Shrimp Cocktail

It is almost the Labor day weekend, official end of the summer season.  The weather will be cooling and we won't be at the BBQ quite so often.  Here is a nice little shrimp dish that still feels like summer to me but surely could be eaten anytime of the year.  It only takes about 15 minutes to prepare.  This recipe will serve about 8.

1# peeled and deveined cooked shrimp
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 serrano pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 c. chopped red onion
2 green onions, chopped
2 T. chopped cilantro
2 T. olive oil
1 T. rice vinegar
1 T. lime juice
1 t. adobo seasoning
lime wedges

In a large bowl, combine the shrimp, tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro.  Combine the oil, vinegar, lime juice and seasoning.  Drizzle over shrimp mixture and toss to coat.

Refrigerate for one hour.  Using a slotted spoon place shrimp mixture in a cocktail glass.  Garnish with lime wedges.

Chicken Alfredo and Spinach Pizza

Ok, I am going to be right upfront and say I made this on a low-carb crust made of cauliflower and cheese...I know, ehhhhh...but actually it was pretty darn good.  My sweetheart and I are continuing on our low carb diet with much success so in order to have our Friday night Pizza night we decided to give it a try.  I am going to include the low carb crust recipe (with pics) here, but if you really don't want to go that way just make the pizza topping and sauce on my regular (already posted) pizza dough and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. If you want to try the low carb crust here it is:

Low carb pizza crust

2 c. grated raw cauliflower ( I did it in a food processor}
1 egg
1 c. mozzarella shredded cheese
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. minced garlic
1/2 t. onion salt
After grating cauliflower put it in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 8 minutes.  Allow to cool.  Then mix with remaining crust ingredients.  Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray.  Pat the "crust" int a 9-12" round on the pan.  Spray with nonstick spray and bake for 15 minutes.

Here it is ready to bake:

After baking it looks like this:

That's the little bit of sauce I am about to spread on it.


If you are making the low carb crust, you will put the sauce and toppings on and then broil until the cheese melts.

Topping:
2 1-3 oz. cooked chicken
1/4 c. mozzarella cheese or feta cheese
1/2 c. spinach, cooked and drained

Alfredo sauce:
2 Light Garlic and Herb cheese wedges
2 T. Half and Half or milk
2 t. Parmesan cheese

In a small saucepan combine all sauce ingredients on medium heat, whisking until smooth.  Pour over crust.  Top with spinach, then chicken, then cheese.  Bake or broil depending on which crust you choose.

Now doesn't that look yummy?

Zucchini Chips

It is that time of year when zucchini is in abundance...in fact yesterday was "Leave a Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Doorstop" day.  Ha Ha!  Love it!  Our garden zucchini is doing well so I picked a few before they became huge monsters and made these chips.  Low carb, low calories and really not bad at all.  I would eat them again!  And another great way to use up some of those zucchini people are leaving on your doorstep.

zucchini
olive oil
sea salt

Slice the zucchini very thin by hand or with a mandoline.  Put a piece of parchment paper on a cooky sheet.  Spread the zucchini rounds on the paper, not overlapping.  Sprinkle with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.  Cook at 200 in the oven for 3 hours or until crisp.

Shrimp Salad with Cilantro Lime Viniagrette

4 T. olive oil
1# shrimp
salt and pepper
1/2 small onion. diced small
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/4 c. fresh lime juice
1/4 c. fresh cilantro
1 head Bib lettuce
2 medium carrots, shredded

In a large skillet, heat 2 t. oil over medium heat.  Season shrimp with salt and pepper.  Add shrimp to skillet and cook until opaque throughout, about 5 minutes.  Transfer shrimp to a plate.
To skillet, add 1 t. oil and onion and cook until translucent about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, cumin, and cayenne and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.  Remove skillet from heat.  Add cooked shrimp and toss to combine.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 T. oil, lime juice, and cilantro.  Season with salt and pepper.

Divide lettuce among 4 plates.  Top with shrimp mixture, carrots, and cilantro leaves.  Drizzle with dressing.

Blackberry Upside Down Cake

This is a great little recipe that you can make now with all those fresh blackberries or later with frozen ones.  It goes together in a snap and is great with a little whipped cream.

1 1/2 c. blackberries:  fresh or frozen
1 c. butter
1 c. sugaar
3 eggs
2 t. lemon juice
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2/3 c. milk

Line the bottom and sides of a 9" square pan with foil. spray with nonstick spray.  Place 1/2 c. berries into the pan. 
In a bowl combine butter and sugar.  Add eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add remaining ingredients.  Fold in remaining berries.  Carefully spoon batter over berries in the pan.
Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Invert onto seving platter and carefully remove foil.  Can be served with whipped cream, a sprinkle of powdered sugar or frosting.

Chicken Parmesan on Zucchini Ribbons

The zucchini is beginning to take off in the garden.  This recipe uses zucchini instead of pasta as a base for your chicken to sit on.  It is a great way to get in those veggies!  If you would prefer, you can always cook up some pasta instead of the ribbons and serve your chicken that way.  Either way, this is a delicious recipe.

1 large or 2 small zucchini, sliced very thin lengthwise
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 c. of spaghetti sauce
3 chicken breasts
1/8 c. Parmesan cheese
2 T. olive oil
Pound chicken with a meat mallet until flat.  Put 1 T. olive oil in the pan and heat to medium heat.  Add chicken breast and cook until browned and no longer pink in the middle.  Pour spaghetti sauce in with chicken and allow to simmer on low.  
In another pan, heat the remaining 1 T. olive oil and add in the zucchini and garlic.  Cook about 6-8 minutes, or until zucchini softens and warms but does not brown.

Place a serving of zucchini on plate, top with a chicken breast, spoon on sauce and sprinkle with cheese. 

Tiki Party: Blue Hawaiians and Bengal Seafood Salad

OK..it is really hot here in the Northwest today..we hit the 90's.  We only have a few of these days a year, but when we get them...we are all just way too hot.  Today's weather reminded me of a trip to Hawaii in June that I made several years ago.  It was just about this hot.  Of course, in Hawaii it seemed a lot more tolerable.  Anyways, I thought we should have a little Tiki party in tune with our hot weather.  To begin:
a nice cool drink.  Followed by a Trader Vic's Seafood salad with crab and shrimp.  This salad is great served on lettuce leaves, spread on toasted bagettes, or served as a buffet salad.

Blue Hawaii
 3/4 oz. rum
3/4 oz. vodka
1/2 oz. blue caracao
3 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. sweet and sour
Pour into a tall glass and stir well.  Serve over ice with a pineapple slice and little umbrella on the side:)

Trader Vics's Bengal Seafood Salad
4 oz. crabmeat
1# tiny shrimp, cooked
1 stalk celery, diced
12 water chestnuts, finely chopped
2 c. chopped pineapple
1/4 c. pine nuts (optional)
2 T. currants or raisins
1 T. mango chutney
1 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice
Dressing:
1/2 c. mayo
1/3 c. coconut milk
1/4 c. sour cream
2 T. curry powder
2 Hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced for garnish
black olives and cherry tomatoes as garnish

Combine all dressing ingredients mixing well.  Combine celery, water chestnuts, pineapple, nuts, raisins and lemon juice.
Mix dressing into the celery mixture.  Place lettuce leaves on platter.  Spoon celery mixture on top of lettuce then top with shrimp and crab.  Garnish with eggs, olives and cherry tomatoes.

Mulitas

Fair food!
Down here in Hermiston there is a lot of really good Mexican food.  Today at the fair, we tried a new recipe:  Mulitas.  Basically they are a large folded soft taco shell filled with meat, cheese, sour cream, lettuce,  tomatoes, and salsa.  They are heated until the shell is just crispy with all ingredients inside.  Then a squirt of lime and yum yum.

To make one mulita:
1/2 c. cooked shredded chicken, season with taco seasoning
1/4 c. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/4 c. pico de gallo or taco sauce
1/4 c. shredded lettuce
3 T. sour cream
1 large burrito size tortilla
1/4 lime
Layer first 5 ingredients on 1/2 of the tortilla shell.  Fold over.  Grill until tortilla is slightly brown and crunchy.  Squeeze lime juice over filling.

Caprese Chicken Breasts

I love summer when the vegetables and herbs are fresh picked from my garden.  Right now I have a wonderful bunch of basil growing...so I put that together with some sliced tomato and mozzarella, stuffed it into a chicken breast..and mmmmmmm dinner is served.  Since we are still eating low carb we had this with a nice salad but it would be lovely with some bruschetta too.

4 chicken breasts
1 c. fresh basil
1 large tomato, sliced
1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese

Cut chicken breast almost thru the middle, leaving attached.  On one side place basil leaves, then tomato slices, and a little mozzarella cheese.  Cover with the top of the chicken piece, and place several toothpicks through the chicken to hold everything in place.  Do this for each breast.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or grill until done.

Peach Raspberry Crisp

My mom gives me a bag full of women's magazines about once a month.  She has the corners carefully clipped off each one indicating to herself that she has finished with that magazine.  They rarely arrive with anything ripped out, and then I proceed to tear them apart.  This is a good summertime recipe I recently ripped out of a Good Housekeeping magazine that arrived in the last bunch.

1 lemon
1 1/3 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
3 T. brown sugar
1/2 c. plus 3 T. granulated sugar
10 T. butter, melted
6 ripe peaches, peeled and halved
1 pt. raspberries
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
whipped cream or ice cream

Grate 1 T. lemon peel with a zester.  Squeeze 3 T. lemon juice. 
In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and lemon peel.  Blend in butter until small clumps form.
Cut peaches into 1/4" slices.  In a bowl toss peaches, berries, cornstarch, salt, lemon juice, and 1/2 c. sugar.  Let stand 15 minutes.
In a 2 quart baking dish, spread fruit.  Top with crumbs.  Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes.  Cool 30 minutes.  Serve with whipped cream or ice cream on top.

Applebee's Mud Slide

OK it is really hot for the Pacific NW:  we registered in the 90's today.  We don't have air conditioning out here because 99% of the year the climate is cool.  Then August comes and we get a few hot days and we all think we are going to melt.  So here is a nice cool drink for a hot day...meant to refresh and add some sweetness to your life.

2 c. vanilla ice cream
2 oz. Kahlua
Hershey's syrup
whipped cream

Measure ice cream into your blender with the Kahlua.  Blend until smooth.
Hold a wine glass by the stem with one hand and twirl the glass as you squeeze the Hershey syrup ..slowly move upward so that the chocolate makes a continuous spiral inside the glass.  Pour the drink from the blender into the glass.  Top with a squirt of whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate.

Hot and Cold Gazpacho with Grilled Shrimp

It looks like summer has really arrived here in the Pacific Northwest.  Today we made it over 80 degrees for the second day in a row! How about a nice cool Gazpacho with some grilled shrimp, tortilla chips and avocado?  Yummy!  And it didn't heat up the house making it!

24 shrimp
1/3 c. olive oil
2 limes, juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
a handful of fresh cilantro
1 t. cumin
1 t. Old Bay Seasoning
1 t. paprika

Put the defrosted shrimp in a bowl.  Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour over shrimp.  Marinate for 15 minutes.  Grill shrimp until cooked -about 6-7 minutes

Gazpacho:
1 can (28 0z.) tomatoes
1/3 c. peeled and diced cucumber
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cubanelle pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 c. chopped red onion
Put all ingredients in blender or food processor and process until smooth.

Pour into cold individual serving bowls.  Top with shrimp, a little chopped avocado and some crushed tortilla chips.

Broiled Tilapia

Tonight we needed a quick yet healthy low carb dinner.  I had been off shopping all day with my daughter and grand daughter.  It was time to eat when we got home.  This comes together quickly and is very tasty.


4# fresh tilapia fillets
4 t. dill
4 t. paprika
sea salt to taste
1 lemon, cut into slices
4 t. lemon juice
Preheat broiler.  Place fillets in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with dill and paprika.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired.  Drizzle lemon juice on top of each fillet.  Broil for 8-10 minutes.
Serve with lemon slices.

Mixed Berry Pie

As the berries of summer ripen, it is time to make some pie!  Now the husband and I are eating low carb right now, so I don't have a beautiful pie picture to post with this recipe.  I have made it many times and every time it was delicious.  Serve it up with a nice scoop of ice cream for me!

1 pie crust, top and bottom
6 c. berries:  any mix of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or blueberries ( I usually pick 3 types and put in 2 c. of each)
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
Mix berries, sugar and flour.  Put bottom piecrust  in pan.  Pour in berry filling,  then cover with top pie crust.  Crimp edges and cut several cuts into the top of the crust to vent.  Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.