I’ve been eyeballing this recipe for Shrimp and Zucchini Pasta for over a week, so I decided to make it for dinner tonight. I used the Skinny Taste recipe above as my starting point, and scaled it down to one serving. I also omitted the olive oil and used extra chicken stock in its place.
I haven’t had pasta in a while, and just the thought of eating it made me want a HUGE plate. So I decided to peel the zucchini into thin pasta-like strips (rather than cubing as per the recipe) to really bulk up the pasta feel.
I tasted the veggie/sauce mixture, and decided it needed a little extra oomph. So I added about a tbsp of balsamic vinegar and a liberal dusting of red pepper flakes (I like it hot!).
Shrimpy pastalicious
Take a closer look:
shrimptastic!
My mouth was on fire after finishing this delicious pasta! I had to eat a couple frozen grapes to cool things off 🙂
Stats on the pasta: 342 calories, 49g carbs, 2g fat, 29g protein, 9g fiber
Here’s a few shrimptastic recipes I’ve stumbled upon that look like things I need to try:
I wanted to do something adventurous for dinner tonight — so I decided to make these stuffed eggplant rolls.
Now, this may not sound adventurous to you,but trust me, this is a very out of the ordinary dish for me.
Remember those meals your parents would cook when you were a kid that you absolutely hated? You know, THOSE meals where you were forced to sit at the table until you cleared you plate? Well, eggplant was one of those foods I just hated as a kid. (In addition to kidney beans and fish)
I think the last time my mom had me eat eggplant I was about 7 years old. I can vividly remember my hatred for the weird mushy yet spongy texture.
Anyway, back to the cookin. I followed shape’s recipe except I used some leftover classico sauce instead of their sauce and I didn’t have any pine nuts on hand, so those were omitted. I seasoned it up with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano and served it up with a side of green beans.
eggplant rolls
There were good parts and bad parts to this dinner.
The good:
the ricotta <3 <3 <3
the spinach
the sauce
the seasonings
the green beans
the ice cold glass of water I drank while eating dinner
the fact that my entire dinner was under 200 calories
The bad:
the eggplant. 🙁
So sad! I was hoping my palate had matured enough since the ripe age of 7 that I would enjoy eggplant. Wrong. One of the eggplant rolls was sliced thinner than the others, and I found that particular roll to be quite tasty. If I closed my eyes, I could almost trick myself into thinking I was eating a lasagna noodle 😉
After dinner, I tried to make some healthy carrot cookies, and they were a big flat flop.
Sooooo I decided to make myself a nice shake for my late night snack 😀
Into the blender went:
1 cup ice
1/2 cup almond breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
Tonight I was craving burgers and fries! Or at least a healthy version of them. So, we decided to cook up turkey burgers and turnip fries! That’s right, turnips.
I had a few snacks while shopping for groceries this afternoon:
This is my favorite of all the luna bars I have tried. Felt like I was eating dessert!
For the turkey burgers, I used this recipe as my guide but modified it slightly. Here’s what our burgers consisted of:
1 lb 97% Fat Free Ground Turkey Breast
1 small zucchini, grated
1/4 cup red onion, grated
1 clove garlic minced
Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes
Now on to the fries! I don’t believe I’ve ever consumed a turnip before. I went to the local produce market to pick them up, and once I walked in the door I realized that I had no idea what I was looking for! After some deliberation, I picked up what I thought were turnips, and asked the nearest employee if they were, in fact, turnips. After a huge smile appeared on her face, she let loose a belly laugh, then told me I had picked up beets–which are not turnips for those who were wondering. 😛
Turnips (as opposed to beets)
With turnips (AKA not beets) in hand I headed to the kitchen to get to fry makin. We gave the turnips a good scrub, then cut then up into thin strips. We were hoping this would speed up the cooking process — next time I’ll go for bigger sticks (more like steak fries size) since the turnips shrink up considerably while cooking.
My arms sure are hairy 😉
We seasoned the turnip fries with salt, black pepper, and cajun seasoning. The first batch we cooked at 450 for about 40 minutes (again — hoping to get things mover fast since we were starving). These turned out good — but were not really crispy (even though some of them were burnt). The second batch we threw in at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
The second batch didn’t really turn out crispy either–I’ll need to play around with the cooking temperature on these guys to get it right. Despite the lack of crisp, they were definitely tasty and definitely healthier than potatoes! They reminded me of the kind of fries you get in a big sack at Five Guys Burgers (minus the grease of course).
Usually on Friday nights, my BF (AKA man candy) and I order up some Gionino’s pizza with hot sauce. This week, however, we’ve got big plans for dinner Sunday night ( 😉 😉 Tim), so we decided to go the healthy route tonight.
The BF follows a strict diet and workout plan, which I have declared the “Road-to-Ultimate Fitness.” He eats the same meals every day. Day in and day out. I would never succeed on the road to ultimate fitness. I love food far too much, and get bored far too easily to do such a thing.
Although the plan was to eat healthy tonight, there were no pizza sacrifices on my behalf! I whipped up a flat bread pizza using a Joseph’s Middle eastern Bakery Lavash bread, some Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic sauce, leftover grilled chicken, thinly sliced tomato and onion, and a random assortment of cheeses that have accumulated in my fridge.
pizza makin goods
It’s real easy to go over board on the cheese – so I made sure to measure everything out. 1 tbsp Kraft Italian Style Five cheese blend, 1 tbsp Athenos Reduced Fat Feta, 1 tbsp Digorno Shredded Three Cheese, and 2 tbsp fat free ricotta. That’s ten — count ’em — ten cheeses 😀
pizza into the oven
Some people hate ricotta cheese but I adore it. I feel it adds a layer of delicious decadence to any meal. (Which reminds me — I’ve been wanting to try out this recipe for Lemon Ricotta Cookies)
So back to the main event–THE PIZZA. I seasoned the pizza up with some garlic salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and some dried parsley and baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Served up with some leftover cucumber salad.
For a person whose favorite part of a pizza is the crust, I was extremely happy with how this turned out! The flavors of the cheeses and seasonings were perfection! Only item to modify for next time will be to put the Lavash in the oven for a few minutes before topping it — that will give it time to crisp up so the sauce doesn’t make it soggy in the middle.
Stats for the whole lavash pizza (and I was only able to eat 2/3 of it): 431 calories, 35g carbs, 13g fat, 48g protein, 10g fiber
I do want to make side note of my afternoon snack — I had an afternoon meeting so I grabbed a Peanut Butter Cookie Luna bar to take with me. I’ve heard mixed reviews on this specific flavor, but I thought it was downright tasty! Though, it did remind me more of a peanut butter rice crispie treat than a cookie, but I’m content with that!
Luna on the keyboard so I wouldnt forget her 😉
After the pizza eatin’, I decided to mix up a breakfast cookie. I follow a few different food blogs, and I kept seeing this “breakfast cookie” popping up so I decided to look into it. According to her website, Fitnessista is the brains behind the breakfast cookie. I’m pumped to give this one a go!
My cookie consisted of oats, optimum nutrition chocolate whey, Trader Joe’s crunchy Almond butter, skim milk, some mashed up blackberries, and little brown sugar.
It’s Friday, and I’ve got eggs on the brain! I think my body was upset with me for not taking the time to make eggs yesterday–so I decided to have them for breakfast AND lunch to make it up to myself!
This morning, I took a look in the fridge to see what I could throw into an omelet. I decided to go with 1 egg, 3 egg whites, splash o’ skim milk, chopped up red and yellow peppers, black beans, salsa, and spinach. Kind of an odd combo… but throw some hott sauce on there and you’ve got a Mexicomelet!
peppers and beans
mexicomolet
This was very yummy and very filling. I should have topped it off with salsa, green onion, and a small dollop of sour cream (duh!) but that didnt dawn on me until I was half through devouring it. Next time!
Greek yogurt is just amazing. How did I live without it?? This was my first time trying the cocoa roast almonds–and I’m a big fan. Went perfectly in the yogurt.
When I was young, my mom used to take me to a restaurant called the Sandwich Board. Their egg salad sandwich had about 13 eggs and 2 pounds of bean sprouts on it, and I absolutely loved it! So today for lunch I decided to make my own egg salad sandwich.
I had light mayo in the fridge, but I really wasn’t feeling it. So, I decided to try and make a healthified egg salad consisting of 1 egg, 3 egg whites, 1 tbsp fat free sour cream, 1 tbsp mustard, green onion, salt, pepper, and dill weed served up with sprouts, tomato, and red onion in 1/2 a Joseph’s Low Carb Pita.
This was a quite tasty first stab at healthy egg salad. Note for next time: double up on the seasonings, less sour cream, more mustard (as if it wasn’t yellow enough already).
