Shrimp Po' Boy

• We're taking it down south today to give you a GREAT Shrimp Po' Boy recipe. This is super simple, and relatively inexpensive considering most of the ingredients will already be in your pantry. There is practically no prep time and cooking is a breeeeezzzeeee!!! I made minor adjustments to a Cooking Light recipe. (I love my Cooking Light cookbook)

What you'll need:

• 5 tablespoons dry Whole Wheat breadcrumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined 
• 1/4 cup ketchup 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/3 teaspoon hot sauce 
• 2 Whole Wheat  long rolls
• 2 cups lettuce
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

Make It:

Start by cleaning and removing the tails of your shrimp. Next, in a small bowl, add the minced garlic and breadcrumbs and mix these together well. Dredge the shrimp in the breadcrumb mix and cover well. In a medium sized pan, heat some oil on a medium-high heat and begin to sautee the shrimp. Cook the shrimp for approximately 5 minutes on each side or until shrimp browns on both sides.

While the shrimp is cooking, add the wet ingredients in a small bowl along with the seasonings. That includes everything in the list above except for the shrimp, breadcrumbs, garlic, bread, onion, and lettuce! Feel free to adjust this "dressing" according to your likes as this is going to be spread on your bread. Kick it up with extra seasoning and lemon, or tone it down with extra ketchup. However you prefer. I like mine with a little kick! Refrigerate this while we continue to cook the shrimp and let the flavors marry.

While the shrimp is finishing up in the pan, split the bread long ways and lightly toast. While the bread is toasting, shred some lettuce and onion to garnish and add some crunch to your sandwich. Once the bread is toasted, add the lettuce, onion, "spicy ketchup" by spreading it on the bread, and then finally add your shrimp.

Photo shown with a Sweet Mashed Potato side. Recipe to come shortly!

Breakfast Burger

I don't care what time of day it is when you eat this burger. The bottom line is that you MUST eat this burger. It's killer.

What you'll need:

• 1 lb 96% Lean Ground Beef
• 4 Eggs
• 1/2 White Onion
• 4 slices Fat Free Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1/4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning (or your favorite kind)
• Lettuce
• 2 Tomatoes
• Kaiser Rolls
• 6 Bacon Slices (low sodium)

Make It:

In a mixing bowl add the ground beef and burger seasoning and a dash of Worcestershire. Mix this together well. Once mixed, make your burger patties. I make 4 from 1 pound of beef.

On the side, roughly chop up the onion. Once chopped, smash the onions onto one side of the burger while keeping the patty in tact. 

This cooks best in a pan as opposed to a grill because of the onions. Heat the pan on high heat with a tsp of butter and let the pan get super hot. Once there, place the burgers in the pan, onion side down. Let the aroma take over--yuuuumm.

Press on the burgers every once in awhile to keep them flat before they ball up. After 6 minutes, flip the burger and repeat until you reach the desired level of done-ness.

In a smaller pan, cook the bacon until well done on med-high heat. Once cooked, place the bacon slices on a plate with a paper towel to drain the excess grease.

In a separate pan cook your eggs over easy. You read that right, cook the eggs as normal with some salt and pepper. 

After you determine your burgers are done, place the cheese over the top of the burger and put a lid on it and let the cheese melt. This should take all of 45 seconds.

Take your burgers off the heat and put them on the bun, onion side down, layer the egg on top of the burger and then top with lettuce and tomato. Enjoy that bad boy.

Optional: Add Pesto Mayo!

B.L.T. with Pesto Mayo

This is awesome. Thank you, Jesse, for this delicious lunch!

What you'll need:

• 1lb Bacon
• 2 Tomatoes
• 6 Slices Whole Wheat Bread
• Lettuce

Pesto Mayo

• 4tbls Light Mayo
• 10 Fresh Basil Leaves
• 3 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 1 Pinch Salt and Pepper

In a food processor, add of the the ingredients for the Pesto Mayo and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until we need to use it.

Cook bacon until completely browned on med-high heat. Once cooked, place on a plate with a paper towel to drain some of the grease off the bacon. Then, lightly toast the bread. After toasted, lightly spread one slice of bread with the pesto mayo and then add the lettuce, sliced tomato and bacon.

by the way, i'm impressed with my own picture.  yay!

Portobella Burgers!

Tired of your same old ground meat burgers? Don't eat meat? Do you want a healthier version of your burgers without breaking bank?? Well try these bad boys out!

Here's what you'll need:

• Portobella Mushrooms
• A clove of garlic
• Onions
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• A nice bread roll
• Olive Oil
• Your preferred condiment topping

Lets begin
You first want to take the stem out of the portobella mushrooms. Next, the gills have to go too. The gills are those brown/blackish strips under the cap of the mushroom. I suggest using a spoon and gently scraping them out. Next lightly brush the mushroom with olive oil to prevent them from sticking and place them in a hot pan. Cook them until they are soft.
For the bread
Which ever type of bread you choose, cut in half if it isn't already and then toast it. Once you reached your level of toastiness cut the clove of garlic in half and rub it on the inside of the bread.
Once everything is completed serve the burgers topped with lettuce, onions, and tomatoes.
Enjoy!

Lettuce Wraps

Crunchy and delicious. Super Simple. Fun and healthy.  Trifecta! : )

What you'll need:

• 1/2 Head Iceburg Lettuce
• 1lb 99% Fat Free Ground Turkey
• 1 Carrot
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1 Handful Dry Roasted Peanuts
• 1/2 Green, Red, or Yellow Pepper
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 1/2 Jalepeno

Dipping Sauce:

• 2 tbls Hoisin Sauce
• 1 1/2 tbls Peanut Butter
• 1/4 cup Lite Soy Sauce
• 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1 Clove Garlic
• Fresh Lemon
• 1 tbls Rice Wine Vinegar

Start this off with making the sauce. I like to make the sauce as a a little potent because ground turkey is very bland and flavorless and tends to soak up all the flavor of this sauce when it's cooked in. 

Very simply mince the 1 garlic clove and ginger as finely as you can. Add all the ingredients of the dipping sauce together in a mixing bowl and whisk until completely mixed or peanut butter blends completely.

Let this refrigerated while we work on everything else. Taste test...is the sauce a little salty for your taste? Add a little water and a teaspoon of sugar!

Julienne (cut into thin, long strips) the carrot, cucumber, jalepeno and peppers. In a small bowl add some Rice Wine Vinegar and let them soak. Chop up the jalepeno a little more if you're afraid of the heat.

Rise your 1/2 Head of Iceburg lettuce well and gently pull off the "cups" and arrange on a plate.

In a medium dry heated pan, add the ground turkey with the other minced garlic clove. As is begins to cook, start chopping the meat until it starts to look crumbled. Cook thoroughly for approximately 15 minutes.

Once the turkey is about 80% done, add the sauce and let it cook in. (*If you broke the rules and are using ground beef or chicken or turkey that is not 99% fat free, please drain the fat from your pan before adding the sauce we made.) Have extra sauce? Good! Put it in a small cup on the side for dipping! Continue to cook for another 5 minutes, or until the turkey is done cooking.

Then, drain the vegetables that were soaking in the Rice Wine Vinegar.

Arrange the veggie blend on a large serving plate next to a small pile of peanuts with the lettuce cups and a small cup of the dipping sauce in the center.

In a small bowl, serve the ground turkey on the side or on the plate for individual servings.

Let the fun begin by building your wraps with all your favorite pieces!


*Editors note:  I mentioned serving this with peanuts. They are supposed to be on the plate until I realized my lovely boyfriend ate them all. So, you get a dinosaur instead. Don't eat the dinosaur.